Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada commissioned a translation of the Qur'an in the early 13th century as part of his attempt to assert the dominance of his arch-episcopal see over all the Spaniards, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. As it happened, however, this new translation by Mark of Toledo was virtually unread in Spain, but thrived almost entirely in later medieval Italy. To patronize a translation of a holy text was one thing; to control who read it and how it was read was something else altogether. This paper will explore the limits on patronage and the unpredictable results of translation.