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Michael Scot | |
|---|---|
 Michael Scot in theBodleian Library's De Physionomiae manuscript | |
| Born | Michael Scot 1175 |
| Died | c. 1232 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics,astrology,alchemy |
Michael Scot (Latin:Michael Scotus; 1175 –c. 1232) was a Scottishmathematician andscholar in theMiddle Ages. He was educated atDurham,Oxford andParis, and worked inBologna andToledo, where he learnedArabic. His patron wasFrederick II of theHoly Roman Empire and Scot served as science adviser and courtastrologer to him. Scot translatedAverroes and was the greatest public intellectual of his day.[1]
Scot was born somewhere in the border regions of Scotland. He studied first at the cathedral school ofDurham and then atOxford andParis, devoting himself to philosophy, mathematics, and astrology. It appears that he had also studiedtheology and become anordained priest, asPope Honorius III wrote toStephen Langton on 16 January 1223/4, urging him to confer an Englishbenefice on Scot, and nominated Scot asarchbishop of Cashel in Ireland.[2] Scot declined this appointment, but he seems to have held benefices inItaly.
From Paris, Scot went toBologna, and then after a stay atPalermo, toToledo. There he learnt Arabic well enough to study the Arabic versions ofAristotle and the many commentaries of the Arabs upon these. In addition, he studied the original works ofAvicenna andAverroes, and translated them into Latin.[2]
Scot was a typical example of thepolyglot wandering scholar of the Middle Ages—a churchman who knew Latin, Greek, Arabic and Hebrew. When he was about 50, Frederick II attracted him to hiscourt in theKingdom of Sicily. At the instigation of the emperor, Scot supervised (along withHermannus Alemannus) a fresh translation of Aristotle and the Arabian commentaries from Arabic intoLatin. Translations by Scot survive of theHistoria animalium,De anima, andDe caelo, along with the commentaries of Averroes upon them.
The second version ofFibonacci's famous book on mathematics,Liber Abaci, was dedicated to Scot in 1227. It has been suggested that Scot played a part in Fibonacci's presentation of theFibonacci sequence.[3] A recent study of a passage written by Michael Scot onmultiple rainbows, a phenomenon understood only by modern physics and recent observations, suggests that Michael Scot may have had contact with theTuareg people in the Sahara desert.[4]
In a letter of 1227, recorded by Scot in hisLiber particularis, Emperor Frederick questioned him concerning the foundations of the earth, the geography and rulership of the heavens, what is beyond the last heaven, in which heaven God sits, and the precise locations of hell, purgatory and heavenly paradise. He also asked about the soul; and about volcanoes, rivers, and seas. According to the chronicler Fra Salimbene, Frederick attempted to catch Scot out in his calculations of the distance to heaven by scaling from the height of a church tower (by having it secretly lowered). Scot replied by saying that either the moon had gotten further away or the tower had gotten shorter.[nb 1]
Scot was a pioneer in the study ofphysiognomy.[5] Hismanuscripts dealt with astrology,alchemy and theoccult sciences generally, and account for his popular reputation.
These works include:
TheLiber physiognomiae (which also exists in an Italian translation) and theSuper auctorem spherae expressly state that the author undertook the works at the request of the Emperor Frederick II.
"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 in 1223 the role of being theArchbishop of Cashel in Ireland byPope Honorius III;[2] then that ofCanterbury in 1227 byPope Gregory IX.
Some sources report that Emperor Frederick used scholars like Michael Scot as messengers to Arab rulers likeAl-Kamil for diplomatic and scholarly exchanges because of his knowledge of Arabic, and, that he even brought Michael Scot to theHoly Land during theSixth Crusade in 1228-29.[8][9]
The date of Scot's death remains uncertain. The efforts ofWalter Scott and others to identify him with the Sir Michael Scot of Balwearie, sent in 1290 on a special embassy toNorway, have not convinced historians; though the two may have had family connections.
A legend popular in the late 13th and early 14th centuries said that Scot foresaw that a small stone would strike him in the head and kill him, so he wore an iron skullcap to avoid his death. However, he removed the cap in church, only to be struck by a stone and die.[10]
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 acoven of witches to stone, which have become thestone circle ofLong Meg and Her Daughters inCumbria.
Scot's reputation as amagician had already become fixed in the age immediately following his own. He appears inDante'sDivine Comedy, the onlyScot to do so,[11] in the fourth bolgia located in the Eighth Circle of Hell, reserved for sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets who claimed they could see the future when they, in fact, could not.[12] He is described by Dante as being "spare in the flank" (ne' fianchi è cosi poco).[13] While some argue that this is the "sole extant description of his physical appearance",[14] others contend that the description is more poetic. Richard Kay argues that because "the shades in the Dantesque afterworld create surrogate aerial bodies for themselves that are a projection of [their] soul[s]", this description is in reference to "some internal character trait to which [Dante] wished to draw our attention."[15] Kay argues that Dante was referencing a physiognomic description taken from Scot's ownLiber physiognomiae – namely, that thin and small ribs signify an individual "who is weak, who does little labour, who is sagacious, [and] bad" (the original Latin, found in chapter 88 of theLiber physiognomiae, reads:Cuius costae sunt subtiles et paruae […]significat hominem debilem, pauci laboris, sagacem [et]malum).[16]
Scot also had a particular reputation for his ability to predict the future.Fra Salimbene makes a comparison between Asdente of Parma, a cobbler who predicted the death ofNicholas III and election ofMartin IV, and the " Abbot Joachim, Merlin, Methodius, the Sibyls, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Daniel, the Apocalypse, and Michael the Scot."[17]
Giovanni Boccaccio represents him in the same character, andGiovanni Pico della Mirandola arraigns him severely in his work against astrology, whileGabriel Naudé finds it necessary to defend his good name in hisApologie pour tous les grands personages faussement soupçonnez de magie.
InJohn Leyden's balladLord Soulis, Michael Scot is credited with teaching magic to the protagonist, the evil sorcererWilliam II de Soules, who ends up being boiled alive.[18][19][20]
Sir Walter Scott deploys Michael Scott (sic) in hisThe Lay of the Last Minstrel. In Footnotes 12/13, he credits him with conquering an indefatigable demon, after it had succeeded in splittingEildon Hill into its three distinctive cones, by challenging it to weave ropes from sea-salt. He records that in theScottish Borders any work of great labour or antiquity is ascribed either to Auld Michael, orSir William Wallace, or the Devil.
He is the title character in the playThe Warld's Wonder byAlexander Reid.
