THE LIFE AND LEGEND
OF MICHAEL SCOT
EDINBURGH: Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE
FOR
DAVID DOUGLAS
LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT AND CO., LTD.
CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN AND BOWES
GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS
[Illustration]
An Enquiry into
The Life and Legend of
Michael Scot
BY REV. J. WOOD BROWN, M.A.
AUTHOR OF ‘AN ITALIAN CAMPAIGN,’ ‘THE COVENANTERS
OF THE MERSE,’ ETC.
[Illustration: ‘Michael next ordered that Eildon
Hill, which was then a uniform cone, should be
divided into three.’—_Lay of Last Minstrel, note._]
EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS
1897
[_All rights reserved_]
D. D. D.
ALMAE MATRI SUAE
EDINBURGENSI
HAUD IMMEMOR
AUCTOR
PREFACE
After some considerable time spent in making collections for the work
which is now submitted to the public, I became aware that a biography of
Michael Scot was in existence which had been composed as early as the
close of the sixteenth century. This is the work of Bernardino Baldi
of Urbino, who was born in 1553. He studied medicine at Padua, but
soon turned his attention to mathematics, especially to the historical
developments of that science. Taking holy orders, he became Abbot of
Guastalla in 1586, and in the quiet of that cloister found time to
produce his work ‘De le vite de Matematici’ of which the biography of
Scot forms a part. He died in 1617.
This discovery led me at first to think that my original plan might with
some advantage be modified. Baldi had evidently enjoyed great advantages
in writing his life of Scot. His time lay nearer to that of Scot by
three hundred years than our own does. He was a native of Italy, where
so large a part of Scot’s life was passed. He had studied at Padua, the
last of the great schools in which Averroës, whom Scot first introduced
to the Latins, still held intellectual sway. All this seemed to indicate
him as one who was exceptionally situated and suited for the work of
collecting such accounts of Michael Scot as still survived in the south
when he lived and wrote. The purpose he had in view was also such as
promised a serious biography, not entirely, nor even chiefly, occupied
with the recitation of traditional tales, but devoted to a solid account
of the philosopher’s scientific fame in what was certainly one of the
most considerable branches of science which he followed. It occurred to
me therefore that an edition of Baldi’s life of Scot, which has never yet
been printed, might give scope for annotations and digressions embodying
all the additional material I had in hand or might still collect, and
that a work on this plan would perhaps best answer the end in view.
A serious difficulty, however, here presented itself, and in the end
proved insuperable, as I was quite unable to gain access to the work
of Baldi. It seems to exist in no more than two manuscripts, both of
them belonging to a private library in Rome, that of the late Prince
Baldassare Boncompagni, who had acquired them from the Albani collection.
The Boncompagni library has been now for some time under strict seal,
pending certain legal proceedings, and all my endeavours to get even a
sight of the manuscripts were in vain. In these circumstances I fell
back upon a printed volume, the _Cronica de Matematici overo Epitome
dell’Istoria delle vite loro_, which is an abbreviated form of Baldi’s
work and was published at Urbino in 1707. The account of Michael Scot
which it gives is not such as to increase my regret that I cannot present
this biography to the reader in its most complete form. Thus it runs:
‘Michele Scoto, that is Michael the Scot, was a Judicial Astrologer,
in which profession he served the Emperor Frederick II. He wrote a
most learned treatise by way of questions upon the _Sphere_ of John de
Sacrobosco which is still in common use. Some say he was a Magician,
and tell how he used to cause fetch on occasion, by magic art, from
the kitchen of great Princes whatever he needed for his table. He died
from the blow of a stone falling on his head, having already foreseen
that such would be the manner of his end.’ Now Scot’s additions to the
_Sphere_ of Sacrobosco are among the more common of his printed works,
while the tales of his feasts at Bologna, and of his sudden death,
are repeated almost _ad nauseam_ by almost every early writer who has
undertaken to illustrate the text of Dante. So far as we can tell,
therefore, Baldi would seem to have made no independent research on his
own account regarding Scot’s life and literary labours, but to have
depended entirely upon very obvious and commonplace printed authorities.
To crown all, he assigns 1240 as the _floruit_ of Michael Scot, a date at
least five years posterior to that of his death! On the whole then there
is little cause to regret that his work on this subject is not more fully
accessible.
My study of the life and times of Scot thus resumed its natural tendency
towards an independent form, there being no text known to me that
could in any way supply the want of an original biography. It is for
the reader to judge how far the boldness of such an attempt has been
justified by its success. The difficulties of the task have certainly
been increased by the want of any previous collections that could be
called satisfactory. Boece, Dempster, and Naudé yield little in the way
of precise and instructive detail; their accounts of Scot fall to be
classed with that of Baldi as partly incorrect and partly commonplace.
Schmuzer alone seems by the title of his work[1] to promise something
more original. Unfortunately my attempts to obtain it have been defeated
by the great rarity of the volume, which is not to be found in any of the
libraries to which I have access.
This failure in the department of biography already formed has obliged
me to a more exact and extensive study of original manuscript sources
for the life of Scot than I might otherwise have thought necessary, and
has proved thus perhaps rather of advantage. It is inevitable indeed
that a work of this kind, undertaken several ages too late, should be
comparatively barren in those dates and intimate details which are so
satisfactory to our curiosity when we can fall upon them. In the absence
of these, however, our attention is naturally fixed, and not, as it seems
to me, unprofitably, on what is after all of higher or more enduring
importance. The mind is free to take a wider range, and in place of
losing itself in the lesser facts of an individual life, studies the
intellectual movements and gauges the progress of what was certainly a
remarkable epoch in philosophy, science, and literature. The almost exact
reproduction in Spain during the thirteenth century of the Alexandrian
school of thought and science and even superstition; the part played by
the Arab race in this curious transference, and the close relation it
holds to our modern intellectual life—if the volume now published be
found to throw light on subjects so little understood, yet so worthy of
study, I shall feel more than rewarded for the pains and care spent in
its preparation.
In the course of researches among the libraries of Scotland and Italy, of
England and France, of Spain and Germany, I have received much kindness
from the learned men who direct these institutions. I therefore gladly
avail myself of this opportunity to express my thanks in general to all
those who have so kindly come to my help, and in particular to Signor
Comm. G. Biagi, and Signor Prof. E. Rostagno of the Laurentian Library;
to Signore L. Licini of the Riccardian Library; to the Rev. Padre Ehrle
of the Vatican Library; to Signor Cav. Giorgi, and the Conte Passerini
of the Casanatense; to Signor Prof. Menghini of the Vittorio Emanuele
Library, Rome; and to Signor Comm. Cugnoni of the Chigi Library. I am
also much indebted to the kindness of Professor R. Foerster of Breslau;
of Mr. W. M. Lindsay, Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, and the Rev. R.
Langton Douglas of New College, who have furnished me with valuable
notes from the libraries of that university, and, not least of all, to
the interest taken in my work by Mr. Charles Godfrey Leland, who has
been good enough to read it in manuscript, and to favour me with curious
material and valuable suggestions.
If the result of my studies should prove somewhat disappointing to the
reader, I can but plead the excuse with which Pliny furnishes me, it is
one having peculiar application to such a task as is here attempted: ‘Res
ardua,’ he says, ‘vetustis novitatem dare, novis auctoritatem, obsoletis
nitorem, obscuris lucem, fastiditis gratiam, dubiis fidem, omnibus vero
naturam, et naturae suae omnia.’
17 VIA MONTEBELLO, FLORENCE, _November 17th, 1896_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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._
But though the nature of this primitive life in early Scottish days
could not hinder the appearance of men of thought, and even helped
their development as soon as they began to show the movements of active
intellect, yet on the other hand Scotland had not reached that culture
which affords such natures their due and full opportunity. Centuries were
yet to pass before the foundation of St. Andrews as the first Scottish
university. The grammar-schools of the country[2] were but a step to
the studies of some foreign seat of learning. The churchmen who filled
considerable positions at home were either Italians, or had at least been
trained abroad, so that everything in those days pointed to that path
of foreign study which has since been trodden by so many generations of
Scottish students. The bright example of Scotus Erigena, who had reached
such a high place in France under Charles the Bald, was an incitement to
the northern world of letters. Young men of parts and promise naturally
sought their opportunity to go abroad in the hope of finding like
honourable employment, or, better still, of returning crowned with the
honours of the schools to occupy some distinguished ecclesiastical
position in their native country.
This then was the age, and these were the prevailing conditions, under
which Michael Scot was born. To the necessary and common impulse of
Scottish scholars we are to trace the disposition of the great lines
on which his life ran its remarkable and distinguished course. He is
certainly one of the most notable, as he is among the earliest, examples
of the student Scot abroad.
There can be little doubt regarding the nation where he had his birth.
Disregarding for a moment the varying accounts of those who lived
centuries after the age of Scot himself, let us make a commencement
with one whose testimony is of the very highest value, being that of
a contemporary. Roger Bacon, the famous scientist of the thirteenth
century, introduces the name of Michael Scot in the following manner:
‘Unde, cum per Gerardum Cremonensem, et Michaelem Scotum, et Aluredum
Anglicum, et Heremannum (Alemannum), et Willielmum Flemingum, data sit
nobis copia translationum de omni scientia.’[3] In this passage the
distinctive appellation of each author is plainly derived from that of
his native country. That Bacon believed Michael to be of Scottish descent
is therefore certain, and his opinion is all the more valuable since he
was an Englishman, and not likely therefore to have confused the two
nations of Great Britain as a foreigner might haply have done. To the
same purpose is the testimony of Guido Bonatti, the astrologer, who
also belonged to the age of Bacon and Scot. ‘Illi autem,’ he says,[4]
‘qui fuerunt in tempore meo, sicut fuit Hugo ab Alugant, Beneguardinus
Davidbam, Joannes Papiensis, Dominicus Hispanus, Michael Scotus,
Stephanus Francigena, Girardus de Sabloneta Cremonensis, et multi alii.’
Here also the significance of _Scotus_, as indicating nationality, is one
that hardly admits of question. It was in all probability on these or
similar authorities that Dempster relied when he said of Michael:[5] ‘The
name Scot, however, is not a family one, but national,’ though he seems
to have pressed the matter rather too far, it being plainly possible that
_Scotus_ might combine in itself both significations. In Scotland it
might indicate that Michael belonged to the clan of Scott, as indeed has
been generally supposed, while as employed by men of other nations, it
might declare what they believed to have been this scholar’s native land.
At this point, however, a new difficulty suggests itself. It is well
known that the lowland Scots were emigrants from the north of Ireland,
and that in early times _Scotus_ was used as a racial rather than a local
designation. May not Michael have been an Irishman? Such is the question
actually put by a recent writer,[6] and certainly it deserves a serious
answer. We may commence by remarking that even on this understanding of
it the name is an indefinite one as regards locality, and might therefore
have been applied to one born in Scotland just as well as if he had
first seen the light in the sister isle. So certainly is this the case
that when we recall the name of John Scotus we find it was customary
to add the appellative _Erigena_ to determine his birthplace. At that
time the separation of race was much less marked than it had become in
Michael’s day, and it seems certain therefore that if _Michael Scotus_
was thought a sufficient designation of the man by Bacon and Bonatti,
they must have used it in the sense of indicating that he came of that
part of the common stock which had crossed the sea and made their home
in Scotland. But to find a conclusive answer to this difficulty we need
only anticipate a little the course of our narrative by mentioning here a
highly curious fact which will occupy our attention in its proper place.
When Michael Scot was offered high ecclesiastical preferment in Ireland
he declined it on the ground that he was ignorant of the vernacular
tongue of that country.[7] This seems to supply anything that may have
been wanting in the other arguments we have advanced, and the effect
of the whole should be to assure our conviction that there need be now
no further attempt made to deny Scotland the honour of having been the
native land of so distinguished a scholar.
Nor are we altogether without the means of coming to what seems at
least a probable conclusion regarding the very district of the Scottish
lowlands where Michael Scot was born. Leland the antiquary tells us that
he was informed on good authority that Scot came from the territory of
Durham.[8] Taken literally this statement would make him an Englishman,
but no one would think of quoting it as of sufficient value to disprove
the testimony of Bacon and Bonatti who both believed Michael to have
been born in Scotland. If, however, there should offer itself any way in
which both these apparently contending opinions can be reconciled, we are
surely bound to accept such an explanation of the difficulty, and in fact
the solution we are about to propose not only meets the conditions of
the problem, but will be found to narrow very considerably the limits of
country within which the birthplace of Scot is to be looked for.
The See of Durham in that age, and for long afterwards, had a wide sphere
of influence, extending over much of the south-eastern part of the
Scottish Borders. Many deeds relating to this region of Scotland must
be sought in the archives that belong to the English Cathedral. To be
born in the territory of Durham then, as Leland says Scot had been, was
not necessarily to be a native of England, and the anonymous Florentine
commentator on Dante uses a remarkable expression which seems to confirm
this solution as far as Scot is concerned. ‘This Michael,’ he says, ‘was
of the Province of Scotland’;[9] and his words seem to point to that part
of the Scottish lowlands adjacent to the See of Durham and in a sense its
_province_, as subject to its influence, just as Provence, the analogous
part of France, had its name from the similar relation it bore to Rome.
The most likely opinion therefore that can now be formed on the subject
leads us to believe that Scot was born somewhere in the valley of the
Tweed; if we understand that geographical expression in the wide sense
which makes it equivalent to the whole of the south-eastern borders of
Scotland.
Nor is this so contrary as might at first appear to the tradition which
makes Scot a descendant of the family of Balwearie in Fife. Hector Boëce,
Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen, who first gave currency to the
story,[10] could hardly have meant to imply that Michael was actually
born at Balwearie. It is to be presumed that he understood _Scotus_ to
have been a family name; and the Scotts, who became of Balwearie by
marriage with the heiress of that estate, did not enter into possession
of it till long after the close of the twelfth century.[11] To call
Michael a son of Balwearie in the genealogical sense, however, is in
perfect agreement with the conclusion regarding his origin which we have
just reached; for the original home of the Scotts who afterwards held
that famous property as their _chef lieu_, lay by the upper streams of
Tweed in the very district which every probability has already indicated
to us as that of Michael’s birthplace. In 1265 we find an entry of money
paid by the Crown ‘to Michael Scot and Richard Rufus who have occupied
the waste lands at Stuth,’ near Peebles.[12] Identification is here
out of the question, as Michael the scholar, of whom we write, was by
this time long in his grave, but the entry we have quoted shows that a
family of this surname, who still used the Christian name of Michael,
was flourishing in this part of Scotland during the second half of the
thirteenth century.
It is to be remarked, too, that the Scottish tales of wonder relating to
Michael Scot have a local colour that accords well with the other signs
we have noticed. The hill which the sorcerer’s familiar spirit cleaves
in sunder is the triple peak of Eildon; the water which he curbs is that
of Tweed; from Oakwood he rides forth to try the witch of Falsehope,
and in Oakwood tower may still be seen the _Jingler’s room_: a curious
anachronism, for Oakwood is a building much more recent than the days of
Michael Scot, yet one which fixes for us in a picturesque and memorable
way the district of country where, according to the greatest number of
converging probabilities, this remarkable man was born.
As to the date of his birth, it is difficult to be very precise.
The probability that he died suddenly, and before he had completed
the measure of an ordinary lifetime, prevents us from founding our
calculations upon the date of his decease, which can be pretty accurately
determined. A more certain argument may be derived from the fact that
Scot had finished his youthful studies, made some figure in the world,
and entered on the great occupation of his life as an author, as early as
the year 1210.[13] Assuming then that thirty was the least age he could
well have attained at the period in question, the year 1180 would be
indicated as that of his birth, or rather as the latest date to which it
can with probability be referred; 1175 being in every way a more likely
approximation to the actual time of this event.
It is unfortunate that we find ourselves in the same position with regard
to the interesting question of Scot’s early education, having only the
suggestions derived from probable conjecture to offer on this subject
also. Du Boulay indeed, in his account of the University of Paris,[14]
pretends to supply a pretty complete account of the schools which Scot
attended, but, as he adds that this was the usual course of study in
those days, we find reason to think that he may have been guided in his
assertions, rather by the probabilities of the case, than by any exact
evidence. Nor is it likely that any more satisfactory assurance can now
be had on this point: the time being too remote and the want of early
material for Scot’s biography defeating in this respect all the care and
attention that can now be given to the subject.
We know, however, that there was a somewhat famous grammar-school at
Roxburgh in the twelfth century,[15] and considering the rarity of such
an opportunity at so early a period, and the proximity of this place to
the district in which Scot was born, we may venture to fancy that here
he may have learned his rudiments, thus laying the foundation of those
deeper studies, which he afterwards carried to such a height.
With regard to Durham, the matter may be considered to stand on firmer
ground. The name of Michael Scot, as we have already seen, has for many
ages been associated with this ancient Cathedral city by the Wear. If
the question of his birthplace be regarded as now determined in favour of
Scotland, no reason remains for this association so convincing as that
which would derive it from the fact that he pursued his education there.
The Cathedral School of Durham was a famous one, which no doubt exerted
a strong attraction upon studious youths throughout the whole of that
province. In Scot’s case the advantages it offered may well have seemed a
desirable step to further advances; his means, as one of a family already
distinguished from the common people, allowing him to plan a complete
course of study, and his ambition prompting him to follow it.
The common tradition asserts that when he left Durham, Scot proceeded to
Oxford. This is not unlikely, considering the fame of that University,
and the number of students drawn from all parts of the land who assembled
there.[16] The only matters, however, which offer themselves in support
of this bare conjecture are not, it must be said, very convincing. Roger
Bacon shows great familiarity with Scot, and Bacon was an Oxford scholar,
though his studies at that University were not begun till long after the
time when Scot could possibly have been a student there. It is quite
possible, however, that the interest shown by Bacon in Scot’s labours and
high reputation—not by any means of a kindly sort—may have been awakened
by traditions that were still current in the Schools of Oxford when
the younger student came there. Near the end of his life, Scot visited
in a public capacity the chief Universities of Europe, and brought
them philosophic treasures that were highly thought of by the learned.
It seems most probable, from the terms in which Bacon speaks of this
journey,[17] that it may have included a visit to Oxford. This might of
course be matter of mere duty and policy, but one cannot help observing
how well it agrees with the tradition that these schools were already
familiar to Scot. As a recognised alumnus of Oxford, he would be highly
acceptable there, being one whose European fame shed no small lustre upon
the scene of his early studies.
As to Paris, the next stage in Scot’s educational progress, the historian
of that University becomes much more convincing when he claims for
_Lutetia_ the honour of having contributed in a special sense to the
formation of this scholar’s mind. For here tradition has preserved one
of those sobriquets which are almost invariably authentic. Scot, it
seems, gained here the name of _Michael the Mathematician_,[18] and this
corresponds, not only with what is known concerning the character of
his studies, but also with the nature of the course for which Paris was
then famous. There is another circumstance which seems to point strongly
in the same direction. Every one must have noticed how invariably the
name of Scot is honoured by the prefix of _Master_. This is the case not
only in his printed works, but also in popular tradition, as may be seen
in the well-known rhyme:—‘Maister Michael Scot’s man.’[19] A Florence
manuscript, to which we shall presently refer more fully, throws some
light upon the meaning of this title, by describing Scot as that scholar,
‘who among the rest is known as the chief Master.’[20] It is matter of
common knowledge, that this degree had special reference to the studies
of the _Trivium_ and _Quadrivium_, being the scholastic crown reserved
for those who had made satisfactory progress in the liberal arts. Scot
then, according to the testimony of early times, was the supreme Master
in this department of knowledge. But it is also certain that Paris was
then recognised as the chief school of the _Trivium_ and _Quadrivium_,
just as Bologna had a like reputation for Law, and Salerno for
Medicine.[21] We are therefore warranted to conclude that Michael Scot
could never have been saluted in European schools as ‘Supreme Master,’
had he not studied long in the French capital, and carried off the highly
esteemed honours of Paris.
Another branch of study which tradition says Scot followed with success
at Paris was that of theology. Du Boulay declares, indeed, that he
reached the dignity of doctor in that faculty, and there is some reason
to think that this may actually have been the case. There can be no
doubt that an ecclesiastical career then offered the surest road to
wealth and fame in the case of all who aspired to literary honours. That
Scot took holy orders[22] seems very probable. He may well have done so
even before he came to Paris, for Bacon makes it one of his reproaches
against the corruption of the times, that men were ordained far too
readily, and before they had reached the canonical age: from their
tenth to their twentieth year, he says.[23] It is difficult to verify
Dempster’s assertion that Scot’s renown as a theologian is referred
to by Baconthorpe the famous Carmelite of the following century.[24]
This author was commonly known as the _Princeps Averroïstarum_. If he
really mentions Michael, and does not mean Duns Scotus, as there is some
reason to suspect, his praise may have been given quite as much on the
ground of profane as of religious philosophy. On the other hand we find
abounding and unmistakable references to Scripture, the Liturgy, and
ascetic counsels in the writings of Scot, from which it may safely be
concluded that he had not merely embraced the ecclesiastical profession
as a means of livelihood or of advancement, but had seriously devoted
himself to sacred studies. It is true that we cannot point to any
instance in which he receives the title of doctor, but this omission
may be explained without seriously shaking our belief in the tradition
that Scot gained this honour at Lutetia. During the twelfth century the
Bishop of Paris forbade the doctors of theology to profess that faculty
in any other University.[25] Scot may well, therefore, have been one of
those philosophical divines who taught _entre les deux ponts_, as the
same statute commanded they should, though in other lands and during
his after-life, he came to be known simply as the ‘Great Master’: the
brightest of all those choice spirits of the schools on which Paris set
her stamp.
At this point we may surely hazard a further conjecture. Bacon tells us
that in those days it was the study of law, ecclesiastical and civil,
rather than of theology, which opened the way to honour and preferment in
the Church.[26] Now Paris was not more eminently and distinctly the seat
of arts than Bologna was the school of laws.[27] May not Michael Scot
have passed from the French to the Italian University? Such a conjecture
would be worth little were it not for the support which it undoubtedly
receives from credible tradition. Boccaccio in one of his tales[28]
mentions Michael Scot, and tells how he used to live in Bologna. Many of
the commentators on the _Divine Comedy_ of Dante dwell on the theme, and
enrich it with superstitious wonders.[29] It would be difficult to find
a period in the scholar’s life which suits better with such a residence
than that we are now considering. On all accounts it seems likely
that he left Paris for Bologna, and found in the latter city a highly
favourable opening, which led directly to the honours and successes of
his after-life.
He was now to leave the schools and enter a wider sphere, not without the
promise of high and enduring fame. A child of the mist and the hill, he
had come from the deep woods and wild outland life of the Scottish Border
to what was already no inconsiderable position. He knew Paris, not, need
it be said, the gay capital of modern days, but Paris of the closing
years of the twelfth century, _Lutetia Parisiorum_: her low-browed houses
of wood and mud; her winding streets, noisome even by day, and by night
still darker and more perilous; her vast Latin Quarter, then far more
preponderant than now—a true cosmopolis, where fur-clad barbarians from
the home of the north wind sharpened wits with the Latin races haply
trained in southern schools by some keen-browed Moor or Jew. And Paris
knew him, watched his course, applauded his success, crowned his fame by
that coveted title of _Master_, which he shared with many others, but
which the world of letters made peculiarly his own by creating for him a
singular and individual propriety in it. From Paris we may follow him in
fancy to Bologna, yet it is not hard to believe he must have left half
his heart behind, enchained in that remarkable devotion which Lutetia
could so well inspire in her children.[30] Bologna might be, as we have
represented it, the gate to a new Eden, that of Scot’s Italian and
Spanish life, yet how could he enter it without casting many a longing
glance behind to the Paradise he had quitted for ever when he left the
banks of the Seine?