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On the notion, meaning and importance of the Toledo School

Abstract:

The main intellectual and translation center in the Iberian Peninsula in the twelfth and thirteenth century, without a doubt, was the School of Toledo, or also called School of Translators of Toledo. Jourdain was one of the first to realize the importance of it, and he gave an account in the preliminary results of his research in 1819. Since then, references to the Toledo School, and, especially, disputes over its significance, existence and importance have not ceased, and so, there are no agreements on certain basic aspects, due above all to a mixture of intellectual, political, social and identity interests. Naturally, in this work I do not intend to solve these controversies, but only to offer some historical and semantic precisions regarding the meaning of the School of Toledo notion. So, first, I will contextualize the origin of the denomination School of Translators of Toledo; for this, I will analyze the germinal contributions of Jourdain and Rose; then, I will describe the reception of these notions in Renan and Menéndez Pelayo, and finally, I will offer some notes for the understanding of the notion of Toledo School, which will be focused on examining: (1) the importance of Toledo; (2) the existence of a formal school; and (3) the activity carried out in Toledo.