Michael Scot
Encyclopedia
Michael Scot (1175 – 1232?) was a medieval mathematician
and scholar.
, and studied first at the cathedral school of Durham
and then at Oxford
and Paris
, devoting himself to philosophy
, mathematics, and astrology. It appears that he had also studied theology
and become an ordained priest, as Pope Honorius III
wrote to Stephen Langton
on 16 January 1223/4, urging him to confer an English benefice on Scot, and actually himself nominated him archbishop of Cashel
in Ireland.
This appointment Scot refused to take up, but he seems to have held benefices in Italy
from time to time. From Paris, Scot went to Bologna
, and thence, after a stay at Palermo
, to Toledo
. There he acquired a knowledge of Arabic
. This opened up to him the Arabic versions of Aristotle
and the multitudinous commentaries of the Arabs upon them, and also brought him into contact with the original works of Avicenna
and Averroes
.
attracted him with many other savants to his brilliant court
, and at the instigation of the emperor he superintended (along with Hermannus Alemannus
) a fresh translation of Aristotle and the Arabian commentaries from Arabic into Latin
. There exist translations by Scot himself of the Historia animalium, of De anima and of De coelo, along with the commentaries of Averroes upon them.
His manuscript
s dealt with astrology
, alchemy
and the occult
sciences generally and account for his popular reputation. These works include:
The Physiognomia (which also exists in an Italian translation) and the Super auctorem spherae expressly state that the author undertook the works at the request of the Emperor Frederick.
"Every astrologer
is worthy of praise and honour," Scot wrote, "Since by such a doctrine as astrology he probably knows many secrets of God, and things which few know."
He was offered the role of being the Archbishop
of Cashel in Ireland by Pope Honorius III (1223), as that of Canterbury in 1223 and later in 1227, then by Pope Gregorious IX.
and others to identify him with the Sir Michael Scot of Balwearie, sent in 1290 on a special embassy to Norway
, have not convinced historians, though the two may have had family connections.
He is said to have turned to stone a coven of witches, which have become the stone circle of Long Meg and Her Daughters
.
But Michael Scot's reputation as a magician had already become fixed in the age immediately following his own. He appears in Dante
's Divine Comedy (Inferno
, canto xx.115-117) in the fourth bolgia located in the Eighth Circle of Hell that's reserved for sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets who claimed they can see the future when they could not.
Boccaccio
represents him in the same character, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola arraigns him severely in his work against astrology, while Gabriel Naud finds it necessary to defend his good name in his Apologie pour les grands personages faussement accusés de magie.
's novel The Three Perils of Man.
Allan Massie
's novels The Evening of the World and Arthur the King (as well as a third projected novel) are written in the format of a romance composed by Scot on the theme of empire for the instruction of Frederick II; it implies that Scot and Frederick were lovers.
Scot is the title character in the historic fantasy novel The Lord of Middle Air by Michael Scott Rohan
, who claims descent from the magician.
Jane Yolen
's Tartan Magic series features Scot as a villain.
In the children's television fantasy Shoebox Zoo
, Michael Scot has survived to the present day, where he acts as a Gandalf
-like character, serving as the mysterious, if somewhat grouchy, advisor to the protagonist, Marnie. He is played by Peter Mullan
.
Michael Scot is raised from the dead in "The Adept", by Katherine Kurtz
and Deborah Turner Harris
. He is reincarnated in the sequel, "The Adept Book Two: The Lodge of the Lynx".
Michael Scott [sic] was the teacher of the wizard Prospero in John Bellairs'
novel The Face in the Frost.
In John Buchan’s The Three Hostages (1924), Scot and his work Physiognomia are mentioned in reference to the arts of spiritual/mind control, a subject of great interest to Dominick Medina, the tale's antagonist.
Scot appears as an Archmage in the White Wolf
Mage/Changeling supplement Isle of the Mighty. (1996)
In the book "Falketårnet" (English: "The Falcon Tower") by Erik Fosnes Hansen
, he is one of the important characters. In this book he is known as an astrologer who gives another main character, Wolfgang, a horoscope.
In the short story "The Perils of the Double Sign" by Robertson Davies
, (which appears in a collection called High Spirits,) the narrator mentions that Michael Scot is one of his favourite authors, and his knowledge of Scot's work on the occult aids him in his encounters with a genie.
Michael Scot plays a small but significant part in the Petroc Trilogy of novels by Pip Vaughan-Hughes and also appears in the latest related novel 'The Fools' Crusade'.
Original detail from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and scholar.
Early life and education
He was born in ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and studied first at the cathedral school of Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
and then at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, devoting himself to philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, mathematics, and astrology. It appears that he had also studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and become an ordained priest, as Pope Honorius III
Pope Honorius III
Pope Honorius III , previously known as Cencio Savelli, was Pope from 1216 to 1227.-Early work:He was born in Rome as son of Aimerico...
wrote to Stephen Langton
Stephen Langton
Stephen Langton was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1207 and his death in 1228 and was a central figure in the dispute between King John of England and Pope Innocent III, which ultimately led to the issuing of Magna Carta in 1215...
on 16 January 1223/4, urging him to confer an English benefice on Scot, and actually himself nominated him archbishop of Cashel
Archbishop of Cashel
The Archbishop of Cashel is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. The title is still in use in the Roman Catholic Church, but in the Church of Ireland it was downgraded to a bishopric in 1838....
in Ireland.
This appointment Scot refused to take up, but he seems to have held benefices in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
from time to time. From Paris, Scot went to Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, and thence, after a stay at Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, to Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
. There he acquired a knowledge of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. This opened up to him the Arabic versions of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
and the multitudinous commentaries of the Arabs upon them, and also brought him into contact with the original works of Avicenna
Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
and Averroes
Averroes
' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
.
Career
Scot began his scholarly career as a translator. Frederick IIFrederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
attracted him with many other savants to his brilliant court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
, and at the instigation of the emperor he superintended (along with Hermannus Alemannus
Hermannus Alemannus
Hermannus Alemannus translated Arabic philosophical works into Latin. He worked at the Toledo School of Translators around the middle of the thirteenth century and is almost certainly to be identified with the Hermannus who was bishop of Astorga in León from 1266 until his death in...
) a fresh translation of Aristotle and the Arabian commentaries from Arabic into Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. There exist translations by Scot himself of the Historia animalium, of De anima and of De coelo, along with the commentaries of Averroes upon them.
His manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s dealt with astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
and the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
sciences generally and account for his popular reputation. These works include:
- Super auctorem spherae, printed at Bologna in 1495 and at Venice in 1631
- De sole et luna, printed at Strassburg (1622), in the Theatrum chimicum, and containing more alchemy than astronomyAstronomyAstronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, the sun and moon appearing as the images of gold and silver - De chiromantia, an opuscule often published in the 15th century
- De physiognomia et de hominis procreatione, which saw no fewer than eighteen editions between 1477 and 1660.
The Physiognomia (which also exists in an Italian translation) and the Super auctorem spherae expressly state that the author undertook the works at the request of the Emperor Frederick.
"Every astrologer
Astrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
is worthy of praise and honour," Scot wrote, "Since by such a doctrine as astrology he probably knows many secrets of God, and things which few know."
He was offered the role of being the Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Cashel in Ireland by Pope Honorius III (1223), as that of Canterbury in 1223 and later in 1227, then by Pope Gregorious IX.
Death
The date of Scot's death remains uncertain. The efforts of Sir Walter ScottWalter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
and others to identify him with the Sir Michael Scot of Balwearie, sent in 1290 on a special embassy to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, have not convinced historians, though the two may have had family connections.
Scot in legend
The legendary Michael Scot used to feast his friends with dishes brought by spirits from the royal kitchens of France and Spain and other lands.He is said to have turned to stone a coven of witches, which have become the stone circle of Long Meg and Her Daughters
Long Meg and Her Daughters
Long Meg and Her Daughters, also known as Maughanby Circle, is a Bronze Age stone circle near Penrith in Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BCE, during...
.
But Michael Scot's reputation as a magician had already become fixed in the age immediately following his own. He appears in Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's Divine Comedy (Inferno
Inferno (Dante)
Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as...
, canto xx.115-117) in the fourth bolgia located in the Eighth Circle of Hell that's reserved for sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets who claimed they can see the future when they could not.
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
represents him in the same character, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola arraigns him severely in his work against astrology, while Gabriel Naud finds it necessary to defend his good name in his Apologie pour les grands personages faussement accusés de magie.
Scot in modern fiction
Scot is portrayed as a black magician given to practical jokes in James HoggJames Hogg
James Hogg was a Scottish poet and novelist who wrote in both Scots and English.-Early life:James Hogg was born in a small farm near Ettrick, Scotland in 1770 and was baptized there on 9 December, his actual date of birth having never been recorded...
's novel The Three Perils of Man.
Allan Massie
Allan Massie
Allan Massie is a well-known Scottish journalist, sports writer and novelist.-Early life:Born in 1938 in Singapore, where his father was a rubber planter for Sime Darby, Massie spent his childhood in Aberdeenshire...
's novels The Evening of the World and Arthur the King (as well as a third projected novel) are written in the format of a romance composed by Scot on the theme of empire for the instruction of Frederick II; it implies that Scot and Frederick were lovers.
Scot is the title character in the historic fantasy novel The Lord of Middle Air by Michael Scott Rohan
Michael Scott Rohan
Michael Scott Rohan is a Scottish fantasy and science fiction author.He had a number of short stories published before his first books, the science fiction novel Run to the Stars and the non-fiction First Byte. He then collaborated with Allan J...
, who claims descent from the magician.
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Jane Hyatt Yolen is an American author and editor of almost 300 books. These include folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and children's books...
's Tartan Magic series features Scot as a villain.
In the children's television fantasy Shoebox Zoo
Shoebox Zoo
Shoebox Zoo is a children's fantasy TV series made in a collaboration between BBC Scotland and various Canadian television companies. It is mostly live-action, but with CGI used for the animal figurines. It was first broadcast in 2004 by CBBC...
, Michael Scot has survived to the present day, where he acts as a Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
-like character, serving as the mysterious, if somewhat grouchy, advisor to the protagonist, Marnie. He is played by Peter Mullan
Peter Mullan
Peter Mullan is a Scottish actor and film-maker who has been appearing in films since 1990.-Early life:Mullan, the sixth of eight children, was born in Peterhead in the northeast of Scotland, the son of Patricia, a nurse, and Charles Mullan, a lab technician who worked at Glasgow University. He...
.
Michael Scot is raised from the dead in "The Adept", by Katherine Kurtz
Katherine Kurtz
Katherine Kurtz is the author of numerous fantasy novels, most notably the Deryni novels. Although born in America, for the past several years, up until just recently, she has lived in a castle in Ireland...
and Deborah Turner Harris
Deborah Turner Harris
Deborah Turner Harris , is an American fantasy author, best known for her collaborations with Katherine Kurtz. She lives in Scotland and is married to Scottish author Robert J...
. He is reincarnated in the sequel, "The Adept Book Two: The Lodge of the Lynx".
Michael Scott [sic] was the teacher of the wizard Prospero in John Bellairs'
John Bellairs
John Anthony Bellairs was an American author, best known for his well-respected fantasy novel The Face in the Frost as well as many gothic mystery novels for young adults featuring Lewis Barnavelt, Anthony Monday, and Johnny Dixon.-Biography:After earning degrees at University of Notre Dame and...
novel The Face in the Frost.
In John Buchan’s The Three Hostages (1924), Scot and his work Physiognomia are mentioned in reference to the arts of spiritual/mind control, a subject of great interest to Dominick Medina, the tale's antagonist.
Scot appears as an Archmage in the White Wolf
White Wolf
White Wolf is a publisher of role-playing games, notably the World of Darkness.White Wolf may also refer to:*White Wolf , a location in Yosemite National Park*White Wolf , a Canadian heavy metal band...
Mage/Changeling supplement Isle of the Mighty. (1996)
In the book "Falketårnet" (English: "The Falcon Tower") by Erik Fosnes Hansen
Erik Fosnes Hansen
Erik Fosnes Hansen is a Norwegian writer.He was born in New York, and made his debut at age twenty with the novel Falketårnet. His most famous work is his second novel, Psalm at Journey's End, which in separate but steadily more interwoven stories follows the individual musicians that end their...
, he is one of the important characters. In this book he is known as an astrologer who gives another main character, Wolfgang, a horoscope.
In the short story "The Perils of the Double Sign" by Robertson Davies
Robertson Davies
William Robertson Davies, CC, OOnt, FRSC, FRSL was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself...
, (which appears in a collection called High Spirits,) the narrator mentions that Michael Scot is one of his favourite authors, and his knowledge of Scot's work on the occult aids him in his encounters with a genie.
Michael Scot plays a small but significant part in the Petroc Trilogy of novels by Pip Vaughan-Hughes and also appears in the latest related novel 'The Fools' Crusade'.
External links
Original detail from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica