Corpus Cluniacense

The Corpus Cluniacense or Corpus Islamolatinum, sometimes erroneously the Corpus Toledanum, is a collection of Latin writings about Islam compiled in 1142–1143. At its centre are translations from Arabic of five Islamic works, including the Qurʾān. The corpus was commissioned by Abbot Peter the Venerable of Cluny during a trip to Spain. The team of translators was led by Robert of Ketton, who translated the Qurʾān. The other translators were Herman of Carinthia, Peter of Toledo and a Muslim named Muḥammad. They were assisted in their Latin by Peter of Poitiers.

The Corpus comprises:

a brief introduction

Summa totius haeresis ac diabolice secte Sarracenorum ('Sum of all the Heresies and Diabolical Sect of the Saracens'), a summary that Peter of Poitiers composed of Peter the Venerable's Liber contra sectam siue haeresim Sarracenorum

Epistula domini Petri abbatis ad dominum Bernardum Clare Uallis abbatem, the letter of Peter the Venerable addressed to Bernard of Clairvaux

Prologus ('Prologue'), an introduction written by Robert of Ketton to the two or three works which follow, sometimes interpreted as a letter to Peter the Venerable

Chronica mendosa et ridicula Sarracenorum ('Mistake-Laden and Ridiculous Chronicle of the Saracens'), a history of Islam translated by Robert of Ketton from an unidentified original

Liber de generatione Mahumet et nutritura eius ('Book of Muḥammad's Genealogy and his Nurturing'), a translation of Abū al-Ḥasan Bakrī's Kitāb al-anwār by Herman of Carinthia

De doctrina Mahumet ('Doctrine of Muḥammad'), a translation of the Masāʾil ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām, an apocryphal account of Muḥammad answering questions from four Jewish inquirers led by Abū al-Ḥārith ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām, originally of the 7th or 8th century, translated by Herman of Carinthia

Prephacio ('Preface'), Robert of Ketton's introduction to his translation of the Qurʾān

Lex Sarracenorum ('Law of the Saracens'), Robert of Ketton's translation of the Qurʾān

Epistola Saraceni et rescriptum Christiani ('Letter of the Saracen and the Response of the Christian'), Peter of Toledo's translation of the Apology of al-Kindi

The earliest manuscript containing most of the Corpus is Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Lat. 1162, which dates to the 12th century. This manuscript also contains the earliest depiction of Muḥammad in western Europe. It also contains a unique heading, Fabulae Sarracenorum ('Tales of the Saracens'), before Robert of Ketton's prologue to the chronicle.