Philip of Tripoli, sometimes Philippus Tripolitanus[1] or Philip of Foligno[2] (fl. 1218–1269), was an Italian Catholic priest and translator. Although he had a markedly successful clerical career, his most enduring legacy is his translation of the complete Pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum secretorum from Arabic into Latin around 1230.
Little is known of Philip's origins and early life. He seems to have received a good education, specializing in law. His career was divided between various appointments in the Holy Land, where he spent most of the 1220s and late 1250s, and service to the Papacy. He was a canon of Antioch by 1222. In 1225, he briefly held the castle of Cursat. In 1227 he was made a canon of Tripoli and in 1238 of Byblos. In 1238 he served as apostolic legate in Frankish Greece. In 1248 he exchanged his canonry in Byblos for another in Tyre and added an archdeaconry in Sidon to his portfolio.
Philip won a disputed election to the archdiocese of Tyre during the vacancy of 1244–1250, but declined to accept it. He took up a cantorship at Tyre in 1250 instead. In 1251 he was made a papal chaplain, an office he held until his death. In 1266–1267 he was deputy apostolic legate in the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1267 he accepted an archdeaconry at Tripoli. He served the cardinals during the papal election of 1268–1271, being appointed an auditor general in 1269. He died not long after.
- ^ Manzalaoui 1982, p. 55.
- ^ Haskins 1925, p. 481.