Gerard of Cremona arrives in Toledo

1148

An Italian scholar traveled to the recently reconquered Spanish city specifically to read Ptolemy's Almagest, which he had heard existed there in Arabic. He stayed for decades, mastering Arabic and eventually translating some ninety scientific and philosophical works into Latin. Gerard's translations introduced the Latin West to Aristotle's natural philosophy, Galen's medicine, and the mathematical works of al-Khwarizmi, reshaping European intellectual life.