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Alfred of Sareshel (Alfredus Anglicus)

ألفرد السارشيليّ

Notable figure c. 1215 · Source: Alfred of Sareshel or Shareshill, Science and Its Times, Encyclopedia.com · Second source: Arabic and Latin Corpus, ed. D. N. Hasse (Würzburg): On Plants, Latin

Field: Translation

Affiliation

Latin On Plants and Avicenna on minerals, from the Arabic

Biography

An Englishman known as Alfredus Anglicus, he was among the earlier translators from Arabic into Latin of material on Aristotle's natural works. He translated the book On Plants ascribed to Aristotle, in fact by Nicolaus of Damascus, and two chapters on minerals from Avicenna's Shifa. Around 1215 he wrote the first European commentary on the Meteorology, and he wrote other works in Latin. The sources do not say how he learned Arabic or that he had a helper.