An Enquiry Into the Life and Legend of Michael Scot

CHAPTER I. State of Scotland in the Twelfth Century—Necessity of Foreign

State of Scotland in the twelfth century—Necessity of foreign travel to scholars bred there—Michael Scot: his Nation and Birthplace.—The account given by Boece, how far it is to be believed—The date of Scot’s birth and nature of his first studies—Scot at Paris: his growing fame, and the degrees he won in that school—Probability that further study at Bologna formed the introduction to his life in the south, 1

CHAPTER II. The Position Held by Scot At the Court of Sicily—His Service

The position held by Scot at the Court of Sicily—His service under the Clerk Register, who seems to have been the same as Philip of Tripoli—Scot appointed tutor to Frederick II.—Advantages of such a position—He teaches the Prince mathematics and acts as Court Astrologer—Publication of the Astronomia and Liber Introductorius—Frederick’s marriage—Scot produces the Physionomia and presents it on this occasion—Account of this the most popular of his books, and of the sources from which it was derived—Scot quits Sicily for Spain, 18

CHAPTER III

An important moment—The history of the Arabs in their influence on the intellectual life of Europe—The school of Toledo—Scot fixes his residence in that city—The name and fame of Aristotle—Scot engages in translating Arabic versions of the works of Aristotle on Natural History—The De Animalibus and its connection with the Physionomia—The Abbreviatio Avicennae and its relation to former versions of the Toledo school—The date when Scot finished this work.—Frederick’s interest in these books—The De partibus animalium—Did Scot know Greek?—How the Arabian Natural History contrasts with the modern—Toledo, 42

CHAPTER IV. Alchemy: Its History, Both Primitive and Derivative—the

Alchemy: its history, both primitive and derivative—The Gnostics influence it, and it passes by way of the Syrians to the Arabs—Disputes divide their schools in the twelfth century regarding the reality of this art—Spain the scene of this activity and the place where alchemy began to become known among the Latins—The time when the work of translation commenced, and the course it followed—Scot’s position in the history of this art, and an examination of his chemical works: the spurious De natura solis et lunae, the Magisterium, the Liber Luminis Luminum, and the De Alchimia, 65

CHAPTER V. Connection Between Alchemy and Astronomy—Scot’s Interest in the

Connection between alchemy and astronomy—Scot’s interest in the latter science—Toledo a favourable place for such study—Progress made by the Moors in astronomy—Scot translates Alpetrongi—Relation of this author to those who had preceded him: to Albategni; to Al Khowaresmi and to Alfargan—The fresh contributions made by Alpetrongi to a theory of the heavenly motions—His solution of the problems of recession and solstitial change—The date of Scot’s version of the Sphere, and its possible coincidence with that of the great astronomical congress at Toledo, 96

CHAPTER VI. Averroës of Cordova and the Fame He Enjoyed Among the Latins—His

Averroës of Cordova and the fame he enjoyed among the Latins—His works condemned by the Church—Frederick II. likely to have been attracted by this philosophy—Michael Scot at Cordova—Constitution of a new College at Toledo under imperial patronage for the purpose of translating the works of Averroës into Latin—Correspondence between this and the similar enterprise of a hundred years before—Andrew the Jew interprets for Scot—Defence of this literary method—Versions of the De Coelo et Mundo, the De anima, the Parva Naturalia and others—The Quaestiones Nicolai Peripatetici: with a summary of this important treatise—Works found in the Venice manuscript—The Nova Ethica—Michael Scot shines as a translator from the Greek—Comparison between him and Bacon in regard to this, 106

CHAPTER VII. Scot Returns From Spain to the Imperial Court—Dante’s Reference

Scot returns from Spain to the Imperial Court—Dante’s reference to this and to the costume worn by the philosopher—Probability that he is represented in the fresco at S. Maria Novella. The Latin Averroës suppressed and Scot resumes his post as Imperial Astrologer—He publishes on this subject—Remarks on Scot by Mirandola, Salimbene, and Bacon—He comments on the Sphere of Sacrobosco—A legend of Naples and its interpretation—Testimony of Leonardo Pisano—Scot’s medical studies and skill—He composes a treatise in that science—Two prescriptions, and some account of the plagues then prevalent, 137

CHAPTER VIII. Scot on the Way to Ecclesiastical Preferment—Honorius Iii. Exerts

Scot on the way to ecclesiastical preferment—Honorius III. exerts himself to obtain a benefice for the philosopher—He refuses the Archbishopric of Cashel—A similar case of conscience in the same age.—Gregory IX. applies again to Canterbury but without result—Effect of these disappointments on Scot.—His prophecies in verse and prose—The Cervilerium—His mental state at this time; and an attempt to estimate his real character—The publication of Scot’s version of Averroës now possible—Frederick II. indites a circular letter to the Universities—Scot travels through Italy, France, and England to the borders of Scotland—His death—The Emperor permits a copy of the Abbreviatio Avicennae to be made as a tribute to Scot’s memory, 157

CHAPTER IX. The Legendary Fame of Scot—Nature of the Magic Then Studied

The legendary fame of Scot—Nature of the magic then studied in Spain—Reasons for thinking that Scot’s fame as a magician is mostly mythical—Origin of the story in his connection with the Emperor, and from the place and nature of his Spanish studies—Probability that he composed a work on algebra, which was afterwards mistaken for something magical—His association with the Arthurian legend in its southern development confirms his character as a magician, and may have suggested several details in the stories that are told concerning him, 179

CHAPTER X

How Dante used the legend of Michael Scot—The nature of subjective magic or glamour—Stories told by those who commented on the Divine Comedy—Boccaccio’s reference to Scot, and sundry tales of court and camp—The fifteenth century produces spurious magical works under Scot’s name—Folengo introduces him into the Baldus.—Dempster and the Scottish tales.—The tasks of Scot’s familiar spirit.—His embassy to Paris—Story of the witch of Falsehope—The Book of Might—Two stories of Scot as told by an old woman of Florence in the present year of grace—Conclusion, 206

APPENDIX, 231

INDEX, 277

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Frontispiece, A Magician, from the S. Maria Novella Fresco—Photogravure by Alinari, Florence

Vignette on Title—The Eildons, from an engraving kindly lent by Messrs. A. and C. Black, London

Facsimile of colophon to Scot’s Abbreviatio Avicennae (Fondo Vaticano 4428, p. 158 recto), to face page 55

CHAPTER I. Birthplace and Early Studies of Michael Scot

BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY STUDIES OF MICHAEL SCOT

In the Borders of Scotland it is well known that any piece of hill pasture, if it be fenced in but for a little from the constant cropping of the sheep, will soon show springing shoots of forest trees indigenous to the soil, whose roots remain wherever the plough has not passed too deeply. Centuries ago, when nature had her way and was unrestrained, the whole south-eastern part of the country was covered with dense forests and filled with forest-dwellers; the wild creatures that form the prey of the snare and the quarry of the chase. In the deep valleys, and by the streams of Tweed and Teviot, and many another river of that well-watered land, stood the great ranks and masses of the oak and beech as captains and patriarchs of the forest, mingled with the humbler whitethorn which made a dense undergrowth wherever the sun could reach. On the heights grew the sombre firs; their gnarled and ruddy branches crowned with masses of bluish-green foliage, while the alders followed the water-courses, and, aided by the shelter of these secret valleys, all but reached the last summits of the hills, which alone, in many a varied slope and peak and swelling breast, rose eminent and commanding over these dark and almost unbroken woodlands.

Such was south-eastern Scotland in the twelfth century: a country fitted to be the home of men of action rather than of thought; men whose joy should lie in the chase and the conflict with nature as yet unsubdued, who could track the savage creatures of the forest to their dens, and clear the land where it pleased them, and build, and dwell, and beget children in their own likeness, till by the labours of generations that country should become pastoral, peaceful, and fit for fertile tillage as we see it now.

Already, at the early time of which we speak, something of this work had been begun. There were gaps in the high forest where it lay well to the sun: little clearings marked by the ridge and furrow of a rude agriculture. Here and there a baron’s lonely tower raised its grey horn on high, sheltering a troop of men-at-arms who made it their business to guard the land in war, and in peace to rid it of the savage forest-creatures that hindered the hind and herd in their labour and their hope. In the main valleys more than one great monastery was rising, or already built, by the waters of Tweed and Teviot. The inmates of these religious houses took their share in the whole duty of peaceful Scottish men by following trades at home or superintending the labours of an army of hinds who broke in and made profitable the wide abbey lands scattered here and there over many a lowland county. All was energy, action, and progress: a form of life which left but little room for the enterprises of the mind, the conflicts and conquests which can alone be known and won in the world of thought within.

These conditions we know to have reared and trained generations of men well fitted to follow the pursuits of hardy and active life, yet they cannot have been so constraining as to hinder the birth of some at least who possessed an altogether different temper of mind and body. The lowland Scots were even then of a mixed race: the ancestry which tends more than any other to the production of life-eddies, where thought rather than activity naturally forms and dwells, while the current of the main stream sweeps past in its ordinary course. Grant the appearance of such natures here and there in these early times, and it is easy to see much in the only life then possible that was fit to foster their natural tendencies. The deep woodlands were not only scenes of labour where sturdy arms found constant employment, they were homes of mystery in which the young imagination loved to dwell; peopling them with half-human shapes more graceful than their stateliest trees, and half-brutal monsters more terrible than the fiercest wolf or bear. The distant sun and stars were more than a heavenly horologe set to mark the hours for labour or vigil, they were an unexplored scene of wonder which patient and brooding thought alone could reach and interpret. The trivial flight and annual return of birds, tracing like the wild geese a mysterious wedge against the sky of winter, gave more than a signal for the chase, which was all that ordinary men saw in it. To these finer natures it brought the awakening which those know who have learned to ask the mighty questions—Why? Whence? and Whither? demands which will not be denied till they have touched the heights and fathomed the depths of human life itself. Our life is a bird, said one in these early ages, which flies by night, and, entering lighted hall at one end, swiftly passeth out at the other. So come we, who knoweth whence, and so pass we, who knoweth whither? From the darkness we come and to the darkness we go, and the brief light that is meanwhile ours cannot make the mystery plain.

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