Constantine the African
Castilian nobleman and military leader
Years: 1030 - 1098
Constantine the African (Latin: Constantinus Africanus) (died before 1098/1099, Monte Cassino)is an Arabic Zirid era doctor of the eleventh century.
The first part of his life is spent in North Africa and the rest in Italy.
He first arrives in Italy in the coastal town of Salerno, where his work attracts attention from the local Lombard and Norman rulers.
Constantine then becomes a Benedictine monk, living the last decades of his life at the abbey of Monte Cassino.
It is in Italy where Constantine compiles his vast opus, mostly composed of translations from Arabic sources.
He translates into Latin books of the great masters of Arabic medicine: Razes Ali Ibn Massaouia Baghdad, Ibn Imran, Ibn Suleiman, and Ibn Al-Jazzar.
These translations are housed today in libraries in Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, and England.
They sre used as textbooks from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century.
