A number of
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
biographies of Muhammad were written during the 9th to 13th centuries.
Overview
The earliest Latin biographies originated in Spain before the mid-9th century. They had a limited circulation and influence. All other Latin biographies are ultimately based on the tradition of the ''Chronographia'' of
Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking u ...
(d. 818), translated into Latin in the 9th century by
Anastasius Bibliothecarius, which contained a chapter on the life of Muhammad.
While Latin biographies of Muhammad in the 11th to 12th century are still in the genre of anti-hagiography, depicting Muhammad as an
heresiarch, the tradition develops into the genre of
picaresque novel, with Muhammad in the role of the
trickster
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...
figure, in the 13th century.
The ''Vita Mahumeti'' by
Embrico of Mainz is an early example of the genre. The text, in rhyming leonine hexameters, was modelled on the verse
hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
of contemporaries such as
Hildebert of Le Mans. It was most likely written between 1072 and 1090. It is in the tradition of the ''Chronographia'' of Theophanes, including the account of Muhammad's epilepsy and his body being eaten by pigs after his death.
A 12th-century versions include ''Otia Machometi'' by
Walter of Compiègne (c. 1155) and ''
Vita Machometi'' by Adelphus.
[Ed. B. Bischoff, "Ein Leben Mohammads (Adelphus?) (Zwölftes Jahrhundert)", ''Anecdota Novissima'', 1984.]
Thirteenth-century works of the
romance type, written in
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
, include the ''
Romance of Muhammad'' (1258), based on the ''Otia''.
List of works
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Storia de Mahometh
The ''Storia de Mahometh'' (or ''Istoria de Mahomet'') is a short anonymous polemical Latin biography of Muḥammad written from a Medieval Christian views on Muhammad, Christian perspective, probably in al-Andalus between about 750 and 850. It ...
'' (before 848)
*''
Tultusceptru de libro domni Metobii
''Tultusceptru de libro domni Metobii'' is a short Latin biography of Muḥammad written in the 9th or 10th century in the Iberian Peninsula. It is a polemical text designed to show that Islam is a false religion and Muḥammad the unwitting dup ...
'' (9th/10th century)
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Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking u ...
, ''Chronicle'', trans.
Anastasius Bibliothecarius, in ''Chronographia tripartita'' (870s)
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Embrico of Mainz, ''Vita Mahumeti'' (11th century)
*Adelphus, ''
Vita Machometi'' (12th century)
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Walter of Compiègne, ''Otia de Machomete'' (12th century)
*''
Apology of al-Kindi'', trans.
Peter of Toledo (1142), for the ''
Corpus Cluniacense''
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Vita Mahometi'' (1221/1222)
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De Machometo'' (13th century)
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Liber Nycholay'' (13th century)
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Where Wicked Muhammad Came From'' (13th century)
*''
Book of Muhammad's Ladder'', trans.
Bonaventura da Siena
Bonaventure of Siena ( it, Bonaventura da Siena) was a Tuscan scribe and translator who worked at the court of Alfonso X of Castile in the 1260s, when Alfonso was claiming the Holy Roman Empire. His most famous work is a translation of the ''Book o ...
(13th century)
See also
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Medieval Christian views on Muhammad
References
Further reading
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{{Depictions of Muhammad
Biographies of Muhammad
Latin biographies