Workshop : The Latin Qur’an, 1143-1500: translation, transmission, interpretation

In 1143 Robert of Ketton produced, at the behest of Abbot Peter of Cluny, the first Latin translation of the Qur’an. This translation, extant in 24 manuscripts, was one of the main ways in which Latin European readers had access to the Muslim holy book. Yet it was not the only means of transmission of Quranic stories and concepts to the Latin world: there were other medieval translations into Latin of the Qur’an and of Christian polemical texts composed in Arabic (in particular the ninth-century Risalat al-Kindi) which transmitted elements of the Qur’an (often in a polemical mode).

This workshop is part of “The European Qur'an. Islamic Scripture in European Culture and Religion 1150-1850” (EuQu), a six-year research project funded through a synergy grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Its four principal investigators (and host institutions) are Mercedes García-Arenal (Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain), John Tolan (Université de Nantes), Jan Loop (University of Kent) and Roberto Tottoli (Università di Napoli l’Orientale).

The project studies the ways in which the Islamic Holy Book is embedded in the intellectual, religious and cultural history of Medieval and Early Modern Christians, European Jews, freethinkers, atheists and European Muslims. We will conduct research on how the Qur’an has been translated, interpreted, adapted and used in Christian Europe from the Middle Ages through to early modern history, in order to understand how the Holy Book has influenced both culture and religion in Europe. EuQu will look at the role of the Qur’an in interactions with Islam, in debates between Christians of different beliefs and in critiques of Christianity during the Enlightenment.

Read the program

This workshop is organised by the ERC Project EuQu, by Islamolatina by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.



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