290 Gerard of Cremona
the Welsh clergy, treatises on ecclesiastical institutions,
letters and sermons, and a handbook for the guidance of
princes. He died in 1223.
Further reading: Gerald of Wales, The Journey
through Wales/The Description of Wales, trans. Lewis
Thorpe (New York: Penguin Books, 1978); Gerald of
Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland,trans. John
J. O’Meara (New York: Penguin Books, 1951); Robert
Bartlett, Gerald of Wales, 1146–1223(Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1982); Brynley F. Roberts, Gerald of Wales(Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1982).
Gerard of Cremona (ca. 1114–1187)translator of
Greek scientific texts from Arabic into Latin
Gerard was born in Cremona in Lombardy in about 1114.
His achievements in science and translation were impor-
tant in the intellectual renewal of the 12th century. Ger-
ard of Cremona’s translations from Arabic to LATIN
allowed university teaching of several important texts
over the following centuries. He completed nearly 80
works in Latin, in several disciplines: PHILOSOPHY, mathe-
matics, astronomy, MEDICINE, ALCHEMY, and divination.
He brought to the West important authors of Greek
antiquity who had already been translated into Arabic,
such as ARISTOTLE, Ptolemy, Archimedes, Euclid, and
Galen, and the philosophers or scientists of the eastern
and western Muslim world, such as IBNSINA(Avicenna),
AL-FARABI, and AL-KINDI.
In about 1145 Gerard moved to TOLEDO, where he
remained the rest of his life. There was still a large num-
ber of Arabic manuscripts there, even 70 years after the
Christian RECONQUEST, as well as scholars with different
backgrounds. All this laid the basis for the important
translating accomplished there, almost unique in
medieval culture. He died in 1187 in Toledo in Castile.
Further reading:Euclides, The Latin Translation of
the Arabic Version of Euclid’s Elements Commonly Ascribed
to Gerard of Cremona,ed. H. L. L. Busard (Leiden: Brill,
1984); Charles Homer Haskins, Studies in the History of
Medieval Science(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1927).
Gerbert of Aurillac SeeSYLVESTERII, POPE.
Germanus of Auxerre, Saint(Germain)(378–ca.
446/448)lawyer, bishop of Auxerre
Prosper of AQUITAINE(ca. 390–after 455) recorded that
Pope Celestine I (r. 422–432) sent the Gallo-Roman Ger-
manus to confront PELAGIANISM, then a grave HERESYin
Britain, at the request of Saint Palladius (ca. 365–425). In
general we must depend for details of his life on a biogra-
phy written by a Constantius of LYONbetween about 460
and 490. Constantius described Germanus’s training as a
lawyer, promotion to provincial governor, his acclama-
tion as bishop of Auxerre in 418, his two visits to Britain
to combat Pelagianism, and his final journey to RAVENNA,
where he died traditionally on July 31, 446/448. His body
was returned to Auxerre for a magnificent funeral and
burial. His tomb became an important site of pilgrimage.
Constantius portrayed Germanus as an ascetic bishop,
much respected, who intervened with secular authorities.
Little is known about Germanus’s visits to Britain apart
from reports of MIRACLEstories. Germanus also might have
had links with Palladius’s mission to IRELAND.
Further reading: Raymond van Dam, Saints and
Their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1993).Germany The name Deutschlandor Germany did not
appear until after 1500. A collective feeling of identity and
language was doubtless apparent before the 12th century,
but regional loyalties tended to prevail throughout the
Middle Ages. An elective imperial monarchy, with no fixed
capital, included a succession of several dynasties, from
the Ottonians of the 10th century to the HABSBURGSof the
15th century. Never, in fact, were the kings able to amass
sufficient resources to assert fully their authority. Their
finances were limited and fleeting, and their army was
usually at the mercy of the unstable allegiance of vassals.
There was usually a strong military and political
drive toward great expansion to the East and in particular
in the 13th century. The churches of the kingdom of Ger-
many were distinguished by the strong and disruptive
political role they played in political life. German animos-
ity to the PAPACYwas consistent throughout the Middle
Ages. The oppressiveness of papal taxation was berated
by prelates and clerics, then repeated by chroniclers. It
became one of the foundations of German nationalism by
the second half of the 15th century.
Occupying a vast territory, the kingdom of Germany
was able to attain political unity only fictitiously or for
short periods under the various dynasties and even more
rarely after the central Middle Ages. Despite these vicissi-
tudes, the economy, religious feeling, and culture devel-
oped. As a political unit, its history is best followed by
those of its ruling dynasties enriched by its most impor-
tant towns and ecclesiastical institutions. The CAROLIN-
GIANS, the SAXONdynasty even under the able OTTOI,
the SALIANDYNASTY, the HOHENSTAUFEN, or Habsburgs
were able to maintain more than a temporary political
control or effective state. The church had considerable
temporal power and possessions and cooperated with the
secular rulers only on its own terms and sometimes
according to the political needs of the PAPACY. Princes
always followed a similar policy. There clearly was a
culture and considerable linguistic unity, but throughout
the Middle Ages Germany as a political unit was a mere
expression and a battlefield among the emperors, the
princes, and the church.