Robert of Ketton: Praefatio in Translationem Alcorani

Robert of Ketton, an English scholar working in Spain, completed the first Latin translation of the Qur’an in 1143 at the commission of Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny. This preface, addressed to Peter, presents the translation. Robert praises the abbot’s zeal to make fertile ‘the barren marsh of the Saracen sect’, to drain its well and tear down its ramparts, and says that he himself has served only as a foot soldier going ahead, opening the roads and approaches. He complains that Latin Christendom had so far allowed itself to ignore its enemies’ beliefs, and describes his method: he has brought stones and timber for Peter’s building, omitting nothing and altering nothing except for the sake of understanding.

The preface is a key document for the Toledan collection, the group of translations Peter assembled to refute Islam from its own texts, and for medieval Christian approaches to Islam. Robert’s translation, though paraphrastic, remained the standard Latin Qur’an for centuries and was printed by Theodor Bibliander in 1543. The preface also shows the elaborate, metaphor-laden style Robert adopted for his patron.