Michael Scot (
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
:
Michael Scotus) (1175 – 1232?) was a medieval
mathematicianMathematics is the science and study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions....
and scholar.
He was born in
ScotlandScotland 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 and then at
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
and
ParisThe historic University of Paris was founded in the mid 12th century, likely between 1160 and 1170 , In 1970 it was reorganized as 13 autonomous universities...
, devoting himself to
philosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
, mathematics, and astrology. It appears that he had also studied
theologyThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
and become an ordained priest, as
Pope Honorius IIIPope Honorius III , born with the name Cencio, was Pope from 1216 to 1227.-Early work:He was born in Rome as son of Aimerico...
wrote to
Stephen LangtonStephen Cardinal 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.-Early life and career:He was born in the hamlet of Friday...
on 16 January 1223/4, urging him to confer an English benefice on Scot, and actually himself nominated him
archbishop of CashelThe Archbishop of Cashel is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Cashel in County Tipperary, Ireland. The title is still used by 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
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
from time to time.
Michael Scot (
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
:
Michael Scotus) (1175 – 1232?) was a medieval
mathematicianMathematics is the science and study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions....
and scholar.
Early life and education
He was born in
ScotlandScotland 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 and then at
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
and
ParisThe historic University of Paris was founded in the mid 12th century, likely between 1160 and 1170 , In 1970 it was reorganized as 13 autonomous universities...
, devoting himself to
philosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
, mathematics, and astrology. It appears that he had also studied
theologyThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
and become an ordained priest, as
Pope Honorius IIIPope Honorius III , born with the name Cencio, was Pope from 1216 to 1227.-Early work:He was born in Rome as son of Aimerico...
wrote to
Stephen LangtonStephen Cardinal 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.-Early life and career:He was born in the hamlet of Friday...
on 16 January 1223/4, urging him to confer an English benefice on Scot, and actually himself nominated him
archbishop of CashelThe Archbishop of Cashel is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Cashel in County Tipperary, Ireland. The title is still used by 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
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
from time to time. From Paris, Scot went to
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
, and thence, after a stay at
PalermoPalermo is a historic city in Southern Italy, the capital of the autonomous region Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its rich history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, to
ToledoToledo is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha...
. There he acquired a knowledge of
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
. This opened up to him the Arabic versions of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
and the multitudinous commentaries of the Arabs upon them, and also brought him into contact with the original works of
Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
and
AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
.
Career
Scot began his scholarly career as a translator.
Frederick IIFrederick II of Hohenstaufen was Holy Roman Emperor from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death; he was also a pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, of Italy, and of Burgundy...
attracted him with many other savants to his brilliant
courtA court is a body, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes and dispense civil, criminal, or administrative justice in accordance with rules of law....
, and at the instigation of the emperor he superintended (along with
Hermannus AlemannusHermannus Alemannus translated Arabic philosophical works into Latin. He worked in Toledo 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 1272.-Work:His translations have been...
) a fresh translation of Aristotle and the Arabian commentaries from Arabic into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
. 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
manuscriptA manuscript is a recording of 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,
alchemyAlchemy is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as well as immortality, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties...
and the
occultThe 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 astronomy
Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
, 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
astrologerAn 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."
Death
The date of Scot's death remains uncertain. The efforts of Sir
Walter ScottSir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet, popular throughout Europe during his time....
and others to identify him with the Sir Michael Scot of Balwearie, sent in 1290 on a special embassy to
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
, 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 DaughtersLong Meg and Her Daughters, also known as Maughanby Circle is the name of a Bronze Age stone circle near Penrith in the English county of Cumbria. It is the largest stone circle in the north of England....
.
But Michael Scot's reputation as a magician had already become fixed in the age immediately following his own. He appears in
DanteDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
's
Divine ComedyThe Divine Comedy , written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife is a...
(
Inferno, canto xx.115-117) among the magicians and soothsayers in the eighth circle of Hell.
BoccaccioGiovanni 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 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 date of birth having never been recorded...
's novel
The Three Perils of Man.
Allan MassieAllan Massie is a well-known Scottish journalist 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 RohanMichael 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 novels Run to the Stars and First Byte. He then collaborated with Allan J...
, who claims descent from the magician.
Jane YolenJane 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 ZooShoebox 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. The Showtime network owns the U.S...
, Michael Scot has survived to the present day, where he acts as a
GandalfGandalf is a fictional character with major roles 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 MullanPeter 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...
.
Michael Scot is raised from the dead in "The Adept", by
Katherine KurtzKatherine 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 HarrisDeborah 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 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 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.
External links
BBK page
Original detail from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica