The author

Katarzyna Starczewska has presented her PhD dissertation Latin Translation of the Qur’ān (1518/1621) commissioned by Egidio da Viterbo. Critical Edition and Introductory Study, awarded ‘Apto Cum laude’ within the Doctorate Programme: Cultures en contacte a la Mediterrània Antiga, in 2012 at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Between 2008 and 2012 she was a graduate student research fellow PIF of the Departament de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i de l’Edat Mitjana Àrea de Filologia Llatina of the same university where she was a member of research group Islamolatina. La recepción del Islam en la Europa Latina. In 2009 she presented a research thesis titled El retrato de Mahoma en la Historia Arabum de Jiménez de Rada y en el Prologus Alcorani de Marcos de Toledo. Ejemplos de literatura de confrontación islamocristiana. She has authored numerous contributions and conducted research stays in the UK and Italy.
Katarzyna is also a member of L’Institut d’Estudis Medievals (The Institute of Medieval Studies)
She is currently working on a number of topics which revolve around the theme of Muslim culture being explained in the Latin language. Amongst her areas of interest are the various translations of doctrinal and philosophical terms, the Latin Qur’anic glossae, a study of the networks between the early modern translators whose target language was Latin, and the reflection of Latin polemics on early-modern treatises in national languages.
Within the framework of the CORPI Project, Katarzyna presented a number of papers, amongst which are:
– “Leo Africanus’ contribution to a Latin translation of the Qur’an: A case study of intellectual activity after conversion” presented at the conference held at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Italia), Christian-Islamic Interactions: Mobility, Connection, Transformation (1450-1800)
– "Apology in Notes - Venues for Encounters. Trajectory of Glossing Practices from Robert of Ketton’s Translation of the Qur’an to that of Egidio da Viterbo." presented at the Polemical Encounters. Polemics between Christians, Jews and Muslims in Iberia and beyond.
– Together with Mercedes García-Arenal she co-authored “The Law of Abraham the Catholic’: Juan Gabriel as Qur’ān Translator for Martín de Figuerola and Egidio da Viterbo” has been published in Al-Qantara XXXV 2, Julio-diciembre 2014, pp. 409-459.

(Source: http://www.proyectos.cchs.csic.es/corpi/en/participants/katarzyna-starczewska)

Presentation (Doctoral Thesis)

Latin translation of the Qur’ān (1518/1621) commissioned by Egidio da Viterbo. Critical edition and introductory study (794 p.)

This document contains a critical edition, an analytical study and indices of a Latin translation of the Qur’ān prepared for the Italian cardinal Egidio da Viterbo (c. 1465 – 1532). The edited text was first translated in 1518, although its complete and corrected copy dates to 1621. The preliminary study, which forms the first part of the introduction, embraces a summary of the known translations of the Muslim holy book into Latin, an edition of the prologue to one of the manuscripts, presentation of the historical persons who were intellectually involved in the translating and studying this text as well as a study of selected glossae. The second part of the introductory study is dedicated to the manuscripts and the editorial principles and it focuses on the different transmissions of the text. The critical edition is based on two manuscripts, Cambridge MS Mm. v. 26 (C) and Milan MS D 100 inf. (M). The critical apparatus incorporates the differences in transmission between C and M, corrections and clarifications added between the lines in both manuscripts, corrections and annotations added by the second hand of the C and some glossae containing either philological or cultural information related to the translation.The book includes Index nominum personarum, locorum et rerum.

Nota: Tesi doctoral - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i de l’Edat Mitjana, 2012

(Source: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/141269 with modifications)

Credit Photo: Katarzyna Starczewska.

NB: I would like to thank Katarzyna Starczewska to have gently improved this presentation and sent a page of the manuscript she edited!