Life
In his own account he was born in "central Istria" circa 1100, then part of the Duchy of Carinthia. He died circa 1160.
Most likely he went to a Benedictine monastic school in Istria. He went on to study in France. It was probably in France that Herman's attention was drawn to the classical texts which were becoming available via Arabic sources. This was before the time of the first university in France, but at Chartres he attended one of the cathedral schools which were the predecessors of universities and he also studied in Paris in the 1130s. The teachers at Chartres included Thierry of Chartres to whom Herman was to dedicate a translation in 1143. The school of Chartres was known for its interests in Christian platonism and the natural sciences.
One of Herman's fellow students in France was Robert of Ketton with whom he travelled for four years in the Eastern Mediterranean. Both men became translators from the Arabic. At Constantinople and Damascus Herman took note of the Arabic science of that period. Circa 1138 he returned to Europe, and was active as a scholar in Spain (an important country for translations from the Arabic) and southern France. A huge part of his work remained anonymous.
Read more about this topic: Herman Of Carinthia
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