Robert of Ketton

Robert of Ketton was an English monk best known as the first to render the meaning of the Qur'an into Latin, in 1143, and he also worked on Arabic astronomy. Carlo Nallino calls him "Robertus Retinensis" or "Cestrensis", and says he was English by birth, alive in 1141 and 1143, and died at Pamplona in Spain. ¹

Rudolph of Bruges, in his translation of Ptolemy's Planisphaerium (1143 or 1144), wrote that the "most fitting translation" of al-Battani's Zij by the industry of "my Robert" had enriched the treasury of Latin. ³ Nothing of this version survives, so it is not known whether it covered the whole work or a part. ¹

Robert composed "Canons on the motions of the celestial bodies for the meridian of the city of London" from al-Battani's tables, from which Nallino infers that Robert had the whole of al-Battani's work, chapters and tables, in hand. ^{2 1}

The report of his Qur'an translation and the death year kept in this record from an earlier card are not yet checked on the page; what is said here about astronomy comes from Nallino's preface. ¹