Muslim science in medieval and Renaissance Poland.Hypothetical influences

Summary

Abstract

The Middle Ages were a period of Golden Age of sciencein the Islamic world. Building upon the Greekscientific treatises the Muslims created outstandingworks in the fields of philosophy, mathematics,physics, optics, astronomy, medicine and many other.By virtue of the Latin translation movement a largepart of these treatises had been assimilated intothe Latin Europe. In the Middle Ages Poland had veryfew active contacts with the Islamic world. It istherefore impossible to argue it was the Muslimscience that had directly inspired scholars stemmingfrom the territory of today's Poland. However, insome works one can find threads and references toMuslim scientific treatises, although most probablyin the form of already assimilated Latin ideas.Scholars such as Vitello (d. after 1280) andCopernicus (d. 1543) belonged to the cross-borderrealm of academics writing in Latin and associatedwith the Roman Catholic Church. They could have comeupon the works of Muslims in Latin translationduring their travels across Europe. Vitello occupiedhimself with optics and did not hide his close linksto the Muslim scientists. In the brilliant works ofCopernicus contemporary researchers discoverpowerful influences of the treatises of astronomersfrom the Maragha school. Renaissance scholarsconnected with the Jagiellonian University werefamiliar with the Arabic astrology and alchemy. Theproposed paper will point both to the commonelements in the works of the Muslim and Polishscholars as well as to the hypothetical influences.It is meant as an attempt at reconstructing themodel of transmission of scientific knowledge intimes of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Keywords: Islamic science, Copernicus, optics,astronomy, Vitello

The Arab-Islamic science in all its aspects, from thetranslation movement of Greek scientific works,through the magnificent development of science inthe Caliphate, to its transfer to Latin Europe, is atopic both rather well-known and still beingdeveloped. I would like to focus on the subject ofthe possible influence of Muslim scholarly works inPoland, as this is an issue that does often escapethe attention of the Polish researchers of thehistory of science. It is inadequately known outsidePoland too. In addition, my intent is to refrainfrom poring over the details of the process.