Editing Herman of Carinthia (section)

==Works==
===Translation of Islamic works===
In 1142 Herman was in Spain and became involved in [[Corpus Cluniacense|a project to translate Islamic texts]].
[[Peter the Venerable]] recruited a team, including Herman, to translate five texts about [[Islam]] into Latin.  Different members of the team appear to have concentrated on different works, and Herman is credited as the main translator of two of them: ''De generatione Muhamet et nutritura eius'' and ''[[Liber de doctrina Mahumet|De doctrina Muhamet]]''.

The most significant translation in the collection was that of the [[Qur'an]].  This was entitled ''[[Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete]]'' and was the first known translation of the Qur'an into a European language. Robert of Ketton was its principal translator, according to most sources (including the ''Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete'' itself). However, Herman may have had some input, given the team nature of the project.
Despite being an imperfect translation, ''Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete'' remained the standard one for centuries, circulating in manuscript before being printed in the 1543 edition published in [[Basel]] by [[Theodor Bibliander]]. In this edition both Herman's above-mentioned translations of treatises about Islam appeared together with a preface by [[Martin Luther]].

===Translations of the classics===
*Herman translated [[Euclid]]'s ''[[Euclid's Elements|Elements]]'' around 1140, possibly in collaboration with Robert of Ketton.  (There were also other twelfth century translations).
*Herman translated [[Ptolemy|Claudius Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Planisphaerium]]'' in [[Toulouse]] in 1143. Herman translated it from an Arabic translation from the Greek (jointly with commentaries of [[Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti]], who worked in [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] in the 10th century). Western European [[Scholasticism|scholastics]] became aware of Ptolemy's astronomical views via this translation dedicated to Thierry of Chartres. (This translation was for a long time believed to be the only surviving link to Ptolemy's original. Later another Arabic translation was found to have been preserved in [[Istanbul]]).

Herman also translated Ptolemy's ''[[Canon of Kings]]''. For long many thought that Ptolemy was translated by German Herman Contractus and not by Herman of Carinthia.

===Astrology and astronomy===
Herman's first known translation was the sixth book of an astrological treatise ''Liber sextus astronomie'' by the Jewish writer  [[Sahl ibn Bishr]].  It was released in Spain in 1138 under the title ''Zaelis fatidica'' (''Prophesy'').  Sahl ibn Bishr had been writing in the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] astrological tradition. Ibn Bishr's first five books were preserved in the translation of [[John of Seville]] (Johannes Hispanus) (circa 1090 – circa 1150). The sixth book deals with three thematic topics regarding the influences on the world and its inhabitants. The work contains [[divination]]s based on the movements of the planets and comets.

Circa 1140 Herman translated into Latin the astronomical work of [[Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi]] ''Kitab al-madkhal ila ilm ahkam al nujum'' (''Introduction to Astronomy'').<ref name=WDL1>{{cite web|title=Introduction to Astronomy, Containing the Eight Divided Books of Abu Ma'shar Abalachus|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2998|work=Astronomy & allied sciences|publisher=[[World Digital Library]]|access-date=27 February 2013}}</ref>  The work contains problems from Greek philosophy, Arabic [[astronomy]] and Eastern [[astrology]], and was first translated into Latin by John of Seville in 1133.  Herman's less literal translation was published several times under the title ''Liber introductorius in astronomiam Albumasaris, Abalachii'' (Augusta Vindelicorum, [[Augsburg]] 1489; [[Venice]] 1495 and 1506). A large part of Herman's translation was copied into [[Roger of Hereford]]'s ''Book of Astronomical Judgements''. Sections of Herman's translation were also compiled by the otherwise-unknown medieval author [[Georgius Zothorus Zaparus Fendulus]] into his richly illustrated ''Liber astrologiae'' (''Liber Abumazarus'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burnett |first=Charles |title=Liber astrologiae (Abū Maʿshar Treatise) |publisher=M. Moleiro Editor |year=2023 |isbn=9788416509607 |location=Barcelona |pages=83–103 |language=en |chapter=The History of the Text: From Abū Maʿshar to Georgius Fendulus}}</ref>

Herman produced a version of [[Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Ḵwārizmī]]'s astronomical tables (''zij'') – they were also translated in 1126 by [[Adelard of Bath]] (1075–1164).

Charles Burnett (2001) postulates that Herman collaborated with Robert of Ketton and [[Hugo of Santalla]] on the ''Liber novem iudicum'' (the Book of Nine Judges), a collection of translations of Arabic astrologers, notably [[al-Kindi]]. Their project may have been to supplant the current superstitious Latin astrology with Arabic astronomical science. Arabic texts cite often [[Hermes Trismegistus|Hermes]] as an authority. Burnett postulates that Renaissance magi merely continued this Hermetic tradition begun by Herman, Robert and Hugh. Herman shares technical terminology with Hugh and a penchant for evocation of the ''[[Hermetica|Asclepius]]'', most notably in ''De essentiis'' (see below)

===Original writings===
His original contribution to philosophy was ''De essentiis'' (''On essences'').{{sfn|Burnett|1981|p=167}} In this work Herman deals with five [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] categories ([[cause|causa]], [[motion (physics)|motus]], [[space|spatium]], [[time|tempus]], [[habitat (ecology)|habitudo]]). He started to write this treatise in 1143 in Toulouse and he completed it the same year in [[Béziers]].{{sfn|Burnett|1976|p=231-232}} In 1982 this book was reprinted in Germany.

Some other works are believed to be Herman's:
* meteorological ''Liber imbrium'' (''A book about precipitations'') (1140 to 1141)
* astrological ''De indagatione cordis'' (''About heart researches'') (after 1140)
In the text (or ''a manuscript'', the syntax of this article was not clear) of ''De indagatione cordis'' there are many names of scientists and scholars whose work Herman knew and used: [[Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi]] (787–886), Sahl ibn Bishr, Aomar Tiberia, Abu [[al-Kindi]] (801–873), the eighth-century Jewish astrologer Al Batrig [[Mashallah ibn Athari|Mashallah]] (Messahalla), Hermes, and Dorotheos of [[Sidon]].
*mathematical and astronomical ''De mensura, De utilitatibus astrolabii'', ''De compositione et usu astrolabii'' (before 1143 – Herman was certainly interested in the [[Astrolabe]] – the portrait shows Herman with one)

Many medieval authors refer to Herman's work, for instance Albert the Great (Albert von Bollstädt, [[Albertus Magnus]]), instructor to [[Thomas Aquinas]], in his work ''Speculum astronomiae''.