IS A SOCIAL HISTORY OF ANDALUSI EXACT SCIENCES POSSIBLE?
JULIO SAMSÓ Universidadde Barcelona
A social history of Andalusi exact sciences should deal with scientific schools, teaching, travels to the East, patronage and scientific professions. I claim that such a social history of Andalusi science is almost impossible because of the lack of sources.
l. The state of affairs
The main extant biographical dictionaries (eight items covering five hundred years) have been explored by M. G. Balty-Guesdon, M. Forcada, and R. Puig.1 Their efforts should be placed into the con- text of a research programme on Andalusi biographical dictionaries the main result of which has been the publication of eleven volu- mes of the Estudios Onomistico-Blogrdficos de al-Anadalus.2 Sources on the history of the exact sciences such as Sd'id's Tabaqat a/-Lz7M (1068) contain little information on biographical details, whereas biographical dictionaries were only interested in scientists when they also cultivated the religious sciences.
1 M. G. Balty Guesdon, Médecinset hommesde sciencesen EspagneMusulmane (III V7II-V/Xts.). Unpublished doctoral diss., (La Sorbonne Nouvelle, 1992), available in microfiches in Atélier Nationalde Reproductiondes Thèsesde l'Universitide Lille (Lille, 1992). Miquel Forcada, "Biografias de cientificos," in Biografiasy génerobiogtdftco en el Occidente15lámico (Estudios Onomástico-Biográficosde al-Andalus8), eds. M. L. Avila and Manuela Marin (Madrid, 1997), 201-248. Miquel Forcada, "De Avempace a Averroes: la transmisi6n de las ciencias de los antiguos de la epoca taifa a la almohade," in Biografiasalmohades I (studios Onomástico-Biográficosde al-Andalus9), eds. Maribel Fierro and Maria Luisa Avila (Madrid & Granada, 1999), 407-423. Miquel Forcada, "Las ciencias de los antiguos en al-Andalus durante el periodo almohade: una aproximaci6n biografica," in Biografias almohades II (Estudios Onomástico-Biográficosde al-Andalus 10), eds. Maria Luisa. Avila and Maribel Fierro (Madrid & Granada, 2000), 359-411. Roser Puig, "Ibn Arqam al-Numayri (m. 1259) y la introduccion en al-Andalus del astrolabio lineal," in Vernet, J. (ed.), Nuevos Estudiossobre Astronomia Espanola en el Siglode AlfonsoX (Barcelona, 1983), 101-103. Roser Puig, "Dos notas sobre ciencia hispano-drabe a finales del siglo XIII en la Ihata de Ibn al-Jatib," al-Qantara 4 (1983), 433-440. Roser Puig, "Ciencia y tecnica en la Ihata de Ibn al:Jatïb," 1)ynamis4 (1984), 65-79. ' Published in Madrid and Granada between 1988 and 2000. 297
2. Scientific schools and travels to the East
The extant sources show that a major scientific school was created by Maslama al-Majriti (end of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh century). Maslama's disciples apparently contributed to the development of two new schools, one in Toledo (Sa`id, Ibn al- Zarqalluh), the other in Zaragoza (al-Mu'taman), during the ta'ifa period (1035-1085), i.e., the period of the small kingdoms. The Toledan school of astronomy had a strong influence on later developments (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries) in al-Andalus and the Maghrib. Travels to the East are an important topic because of the mutual exchange of knowledge, writings and instruments between al-Andalus and the Near and Middle East. Vernet and Grau have studied such travels for scholars (not only scientists) from the Ebro Valley.' They found that, in the tenth century, 25% of the Andalusis of that zone who travelled went to the east, while in the eleventh century, the percentage fell to 11 %. This is one of the many symptoms of the tendency towards cultural isolation which began during the ta'ifa period. It also helps to understand why very few eastern scientists born after ca. 950 were known in al-Andalus and, consequently, translated into Latin during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
3. Science and religion
Mathematics and astronomy are sciences, not professions. However, there are a few professions that require mathematical or astronomical knowledge: faradis (who calculate inheritance shares according to religious law), calculators, land surveyors, teachers, artisans who manufacture astronomical instruments, muwaqqits (timekeepers) and astrologers. Balty-Guesdon has emphasized the importance of the faradis for the origins of Maslama's school. It seems clear that if a social history of mathematics in al-Andalus were to be written, one should begin by an analysis of all extant sources relating to fara'id, muCämalät (business calculations) and misaha(surveying). This kind
3 M. Grau, "Contribucion al estudio del estado cultural del Valle del Ebro en el siglo XI y principios del XII," Boletinde la Real Academiade Buenas Letras de Barcelona 27 (1957-58), 227-272. Juan Vernet, "El Valle del Ebro como nexo entre Oriente y Occidente," Boletinde la Real Academiade Buenas Letras de Barcelona23 ( 1 950 )249- , 286. [Reprint in Juan Vernet, De 'Abd al-Rahman I a Isabel II(Barcelona, 1 989) , 259- 296].