Chapter I: 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_