Lupitus of Barcelona, identified with a Christian
archdeacon called
Sunifred, was an
astronomer in late
10th century Barcelona, then part of the
Marca Hispanica between Islamic
Al-Andalus and Christian
France (in
985 changing from Christian back into Muslim hands by the conquest of
Al-Mansur).
Lupitus was instrumental in the transfer of Arabic mathematics, including the astrolabe and the Hindu-Arabic numeral system to Christian Europe. Gerbert of Aurillac in a letter of 984 asks Lupitus for a translation of an Arabic astronomical treatise, the Sententiae astrolabii.
References
- Juan Vernet, The pursuit of learning - Moorish rule in Spain - Al-Andalus: where three worlds met, UNESCO Courier, Dec 1991.
