The Role of Translation Movements in the Formation of the Renaissance in Europe: Presentation of Toledo Translation Movement

Abstract

The European renaissance, as the historians claim, is a scientific, cultural, artistic, literary, political, and economic “rebirth”. Their approach in defining renaissance is not flawless, and it reminds the famous quotation: “history is written by the victors” because such a definition of renaissance presents it as a separated historical period born independently in the course of history. It seems that the renaissance was the beginning of all changes and discoveries in the world where before, in the Middle Ages, there did not existed significant events worth mentioning. The present research is a response to this mistaken reading of the history of the renaissance in Europe. By focusing on the establishment and development of the Toledo translation movement, the present research tries to highlight the significant role of the translation movements in the construction of the renaissance and all its related important events and phenomena. Furthermore, the research depicts the evolution of scientific and cultural streams in the Moslem world and their gradual transference to Europe through translation movements. This article demonstrates that how multicultural, multilingual, and stable political conditions convert Toledo into the cradle of the Translation movement in which many scholars from different countries by their translations paved the way for the development of science in different fields for upcoming periods.

Keywords

• islam
• renaissance
• school of translators
• spain
• toledo
• translation movement