Pedro González Pérez (c. 1197 – 19 November 1267), known as Pedro Gallego (Latin: Petrus Gallecus or Gallegus), was a Franciscan scholar and prelate. He was the first bishop of Cartagena from the diocese's restoration in 1248 until his death, and played a prominent role in organizing the church in the region of Murcia after 1243. He also compiled, abridged and adapted previous translations from Arabic into Latin, producing books on zoology, astronomy and economics.
Pedro was born about 1197 in Galicia, whence his nickname Gallego. According to the 18th-century historian Pablo Manuel Ortega, his birthplace was Santa Marta de Ortigueira and his father was Gonzalo Pérez Gallego.[1] He was probably of noble birth, and may have been educated at the Franciscan convent of (Vallis Dei) near Santiago de Compostela, where he may have learned Arabic.[2] He entered the Franciscan order before the Spanish peninsula was divided into separate provinces. According to Juan Gil de Zamora, he joined the convent of La Bastida in Toledo under the superior Alfonso Martínez shortly after its founding in 1219.[1] [2] He succeeded Alfonso as superior and in 1236 became the first minister provincial of Castile after a chapter-general held at Soria in 1233 divided Spain into three provinces.[1] [2] This brought him into contact with King Ferdinand III.[1]
In the 1240s, Pedro served as confessor to the future Alfonso X. He accompanied Alfonso when the latter established a Castilian protectorate over the Muslim Kingdom of Murcia in 1243.[1] [3] The city of Cartagena submitted to Castilian rule in 1244 and Pope Innocent IV restored its bishopric,[3] which had been vacant for over two hundred years, the last reference to a bishop being from 988.[2] Pedro was made bishop of Cartagena probably by 1248, certainly by 1250, when he travelled to Lyon to be consecrated by Innocent IV on 31 July.[1] [3] [2] On the same day, Innocent issued a bull to Alfonso, In plenam volentes, asking him to endow the new diocese.[2] In Lyon, Pedro also obtained independence for his church from the metropolitanates of Toledo and Tarragona through the bull Novella plantatio Carthaginensis, making Cartagena subject directly to the Holy See.[1] [2] The old see of Cartagena that had disappeared after the 10th century had been a metropolitanate itself.[2]
Up to this point, Pedro's career must be reconstructed from the chronicles of the contemporary Gil de Zamora and the much less reliable Manuel Ortega, but after his appointment as bishop his career can be traced in numerous documents, such as royal privileges and papal bulls.[3] In the 1250s, he frequently served on commissions for the organization of conquered territory. On 23 December 1252, he was authorized to select candidates for the new bishopric being set up in conquered territory. He also obtained buildings for the church in Murcia and property in Seville from the king. He took an interest in the Christian communities of North Africa.[1] His knowledge of Arabic, certainly acquired before he became bishop, was probably key to his successes on the frontier.[2] He collaborated with the Dominicans in setting up a language school, the Studium arabicum et latinum, in Murcia.[2] [4]
In 1265, on account of the revolt of the Mudéjares, Pedro had to abandon the city of Cartagena and take refuge in the countryside, only returning after James I of Aragon had crushed the rebels and conquered Murcia.[3] Pedro died in Cartagena during an epidemic of fevers on 19 November 1267 at seventy years of age.[1] [3] His body was transferred to the cathedral of Murcia in 1291.[3]
Three works by Pedro Gallego are known. None were known before 1924,[1] when published editions of two from manuscripts he found in Rome and Paris.[5] In 1943, Gaudenzio Melani discovered two chapters of a third work in the municipal library of Sarnano. Since then José Martínez Gázquez has discovered the rest of this work in a Spanish manuscript, now Biblioteca Nacional de España, MS 8918.[3] All three works have been edited and published by Martínez Gázquez.[6]
Although often labelled translations,[7] Pedro's works are now seen as compilations and adaptations of existing translations. Pedro affirms in a prologue that he could read Arabic, but the incipits of his works describe him variously not as translating but as reading, compiling, selecting, abridging, shortening, subtracting, adding, copying, transferring and transforming. Nonetheless, some of his citations may be to Arabic originals and some of his words even true translations from the Arabic. His works are not wholly unoriginal. Hugo Marquant compares him to a modern translator creating a new translation of an already translated work and constantly looking back at his predecessor's work.[3]