"Research on medieval encyclopedism has generated excellent results in various fields so far, but it still suffers at times from a propensity for compartmentalization, with the result that Arabists, Byzantinists, Latinists, and Romanicists are only rarely involved in common schemes. With this regard, the project Speculum arabicum: Objectifying the Contribution of the Arab-Muslim World to the History of Sciences and Ideas: the Sources and Resources of Medieval Encyclopaedism was funded from 2012 to 2017 by an ARC--Actions de Recherche Concertées at the Université catholique de Louvain. The present volume includes 13 papers presented at the closing international symposium of the project. After an introduction by the three editors, B. Van den Abeele (UCLouvain) brings a panoramic state of the art on Latin medieval encyclopedias, starting with the delicate question of a definition of the genre, and delineates some lines for future research on these works. The first section of the volume, «Knowing heaven and earth», includes articles by G. de Callatay and L. Saif (UCLouvain) on astrological and prophetic cycles in Islamic esoterica, Ch. Burnett (London) on the astrological Liber novem indicum, J.-Ch. Ducène (Brussels) on geography in Mamluk encyclopedias, and F.S. Eryilmaz (Barcelona) on the Ottoman Imperial Scroll. In the second section, «Studying and using the animal world», G. Clesse (UCLouvain) looks at the transmission of oriental knowledge to Western encyclopedic compilations, with respect to the pharmacological properties of animals, G. Zarra (Florence) studies the influence, in the vernacular encyclopedia of Brunetto Latini, of the Thesaurus pauperum, as to the use of animals products, M. Ben Saad (Paris) revisits the Kitäb-al-hayawän by the ninth-century naturalist Jahiz, focusing on the way he classifies animals, and Thierry Buquet (Caen) examines the chapters on exotic animals--especially Eastern--in the encyclopedia of Thomas of Cantimpré. The last section, «Diffusing knowledge», starts with an overview of vernacular translations of Bartholomaeus Anglicus's encyclopedia De proprietatibus rerum by J. Ducos (Paris) and continues with F. Ninitte (UCLouvain), who shows how the Speculum historiale of Vincent de Beauvais plays a leading role in the Christian West's knowledge of the Arab-Muslim tradition; L. Mainini (Roma) argues that the scientific tradition, far from being confined to a marginal or specialized field, truly irrigates medieval vernacular production, as evidenced by works written in Tuscany and Emilia. Finally, M. Cavagna (UCLouvain) presents the results of an investigation of the scientific manuscripts and early prints preserved at the Royal Library of Belgium, highlighting some little known texts and translations."-- Provided by publisher.
Encyclopedias and dictionaries--History and criticism
Université catholique de Louvain. Publications de l'Institut d'études médiévales. Textes, études, congrès ;
Introduction / Godefroid de Callatay, Mattia Cavagna, Baudouin Van den Abeele -- Encyclopédies latines du Moyen Âge : acquis et perspectives de la recherché / Baudouin Van den Abeele -- Knowing heaven and earth. Astrological and prophetical cycles in the pseudo-Aristotelian hermetica and other Islamic esoterica / Godefroid de Callatay, Liana Saif -- The astrological Liber novem iudicum : a kind of encyclopedia? / Charles Burnett -- La géographie dans les encylcopédies mameloukes (XIIIe-XIVe s.) : entre vision figée du monde et mise à jour / Jean-Charles Ducène -- The manipulation of ancient and medieval knowledge in the Ottonian court / Fatma Sinem Eryilmaz -- Studying and using the animal world. De la source au confluent : les citations de médecins arabes par les compilateurs latins du XIIIe siècle / Grégory Clesse -- Le Thesaurus pauperum et l'encyclopédisme medieval / Giuseppe Zarra -- Spécificité du discours naturaliste d'al-Gazih (776-868) : quelle influence sur la zoologie arabe médiévale? / Meyssa Ben Saad -- La faune exotique dans le Liber de natura rerum de Thomas de Cantimpré. Quels nouveaux apports? / Thierry Buquet -- Diffusing Knowledge. L'encyclopédisme au carrefour des langues : l'exemple du De proprietatibus rerum de Barthélemy l'Anglais / Joëlle Ducos -- Secundum fratrem Vicentium : qu'ont retenu les lecteurs du Speculum historiale au sujet de l'Islam? : Le cas de Giovanni Colonna et de Laurent de Premierfait / Florence Ninitte -- «Il Dizionario enciclopedico politico-scientifico-filosofica» : Pratique des textes et théorie de la culture, des « volgarizzamenti » jusqu'à Dante / Lorenzo Mainini -- Traduire, écrire et imprimer la science : notes sur quelques manuscrits et imprimés encyclopédiques et scientifiques conservés à la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique (XIVe-XVIe siècles) / Mattia Cavagna.
3 contributions in English, 10 in French.