28 ms·

I was specifically writing about the works of Aristotle. Also: [1] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/medieval-philosophy/index.html#note-21 https://plato.stan

• mkempe 9y ago
  I gave you a reference to a scholarly book that traces the path of Aristotle's most crucial work through the ages, instrumental in triggering the Renaissance. The links you provide support my argument, although they incorrectly claim that knowledge of the Greek language and Greek texts themselves at some point almost disappeared from the West. This is false. For instance Pépin le Bref, father of Carolus Magnus (Charles the Great) petitioned pope Paul I and was gifted a large collection of Greek works including a copy of Aristotle's works, as well as access to a contingent of translators (over the centuries Byzantine monks regularly travelled to Italy, teaching Greek and bringing Greek works with them). The Carolingians did not primarily rely on Arabic texts to access the Greek works, and those who did initially use these texts quickly turned to original Greek copies for the sake of quality and completeness. One of the key Latin translations of Aristotle's works in the 12th century was made directly from Greek by Iacobus Veneticus Graecus (James of Venice) who studied in Constantinople; that translation was the one read by Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.