Translatio studii

Translatio studii (Latin for "transfer of learning") is a historiographical concept, originating in the Middle Ages, in which history is viewed as a linear succession of transfers of knowledge or learning from one geographical place, and time, to another. The concept is closely linked to translatio imperii, which similarly describes the movement of imperial dominance. Both terms are thought to have their origins in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible (verses 39–40).

It is a celebrated topos in medieval literature, most notably articulated in the prologue to Chrétien de Troyes's Cligès, composed ca. 1170. There, Chrétien explains that Greece was first the seat of all knowledge, then it came to Rome, and now it has come to France, where, by the grace of God, it shall remain forever more.

In the Renaissance and later, historians saw the metaphorical light of learning as moving much as the light of the sun did: westward. According to this notion, the first center of learning was Eden, followed by Jerusalem, and Babylon. From there, the light of learning moved westward to Athens, and then west to Rome. After Rome, learning moved west to Paris. From there, enlightenment purportedly moved west to London, though other nations laid claim to the mantle, most notably Russia, which would involve a retrograde motion and rupture in the westerly direction. The metaphor of translatio studii went out of fashion in the 18th century, but such English Renaissance authors as George Herbert were already predicting that learning would move next to America.

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