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SCOT, MICHAEL (? 1175-1232)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 411 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCOT, See also:MICHAEL (? 1175-1232) , Scottish mathematician and astrologer. The See also:dates of his See also:birth and See also:death are quite uncertain, the most probable being those here given. The efforts of See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott and others to identify him with the Sir Michael Scot of Balwearie, who in 1290 was sent on a See also:special See also:embassy to See also:Norway, must be considered unsuccessful, though he may have been a member of the See also:family. Scot studied at See also:Oxford and See also:Paris, devoting himself to See also:philosophy and See also:mathematics. It appears that he had also studied See also:theology, and was ordained a See also:priest, as See also:Pope See also:Honorius III. wrote to See also:Stephen See also:Langton on the 16th of See also:January 1223/4, urging him to confer an See also:English See also:benefice on Scot, and actually himself nominated him See also:archbishop of See also:Cashel in See also:Ireland. This See also:appointment Scot refused to take up, but he seems to have held benefices in See also:Italy from See also:time to time. From Paris he went to See also:Bologna, and thence, after a stay at See also:Palermo, to See also:Toledo. There he acquired a knowledge of Arabic. This opened up to him the Arabic versions of See also:Aristotle and the multitudinous commentaries of the Arabians upon them, and also brought him into contact with the See also:original See also:works of See also:Avicenna and See also:Averroes. His own first See also:work was done as a translator. He was one of the savants whom See also:Frederick II. attracted to his brilliant See also:court, and at the instigation of the See also:emperor he superintended (along with Hermannus Alemannus) a fresh See also:translation of Aristotle and the Arabian commentaries from Arabic into Latin.

There exist See also:

translations by Scot himself of the Historic animalium, the De anima and De -See also:coda, along with the commentaries of Averroes upon them. This connexion with Frederick and Averroes—both of evil reputation in the See also:middle ages—doubtless contributed to the formation of the See also:legend which soon enveloped Michael Scot's name. His own books, however, dealing as they do almost exclusively with See also:astrology, See also:alchemy and the occult sciences generally, are mainly responsible for his popular reputation. See also:Chief among these are Super auctorem spherae, printed at Bologna in 1495 and at See also:Venice in 1631; De See also:sole et See also:luna, printed at See also:Strassburg (1622), in the Theatrum chimicum, and containing more alchemy than See also:astronomy, the See also:sun and See also:moon being taken as the images of See also:gold and See also:silver; De chiromantia, an opuscule often published in the 15th See also:century; De physiognomia et de hominis procreatione, which saw no fewer than eighteen See also:editions between 1477 and 166o. The Physiognomia (which also exists in an See also:Italian translation) and the Super auctorem spherae expressly See also:state that they were undertaken at the See also:request of the emperor Frederick. Michael is said to have foretold (after the See also:double-tongued manner of the See also:ancient oracles) the See also:place of Frederick's death, which took place in 1250. Around his own death many legends gathered. He was supposed to have fore-told that he would end by a See also:blow from a See also:stone of not more than two ounces in See also:weight, and that to protect himself he wore an See also:iron See also:helmet, and that, raising this in See also:church at the See also:elevation of the See also:host, the fatal stone See also:fell on him from the roof. Italian tradition says he died in that See also:country, while another legend is that he returned to his native See also:land to See also:die, and according to one See also:account was buried at Holme Cultram in See also:Cumberland; according to another, which Sir Walter Scott has followed in the See also:Lay of the Last See also:Minstrel, in See also:Melrose See also:Abbey. In the notes to that poem, of which the opening of the wizard's See also:tomb forms the most striking See also:episode, Scott gives an interesting account of the various exploits attributed by popular belief to the See also:great magician. " In the See also:south of See also:Scotland any work of great labour and antiquity is ascribed either to the agency of Auld Michael, of Sir See also:William See also:Wallace or the See also:devil." He used to feast his See also:friends with dishes brought by See also:spirits from the royal kitchens of See also:France and See also:Spain and other lands. His embassy to France alone on the back of a See also:coal-See also:black demon steed is also celebrated, in which he brought the See also:French monarch to his knees by the results of the stamping of his See also:horse's hoof: the first ringing the bells of Notre See also:Dame and the second causing the towers of the See also:palace to fall.

Other See also:

powers and exploits are narrated in See also:Folengo's Macaronic poem of See also:Merlin Coccaius (1595). But Michael's reputation as a magician was already fixed in the See also:age immediately following his own. He appears in the Inferno of See also:Dante (See also:canto xx. 115-117) among the magicians and soothsayers. He is represented in the same See also:character by See also:Boccaccio, and is severely arraigned by Giovanni See also:Pico della See also:Mirandola in his work against astrology, while See also:Gabriel See also:Naude finds it necessary to defend his See also:good name in his Apologie pour See also:les grands personnages faussement accuses de magie. For full details and See also:analysis of all the legends attaching to Scot, see Rev. J. See also:Wood See also:Brown, See also:Life and Legend of Michael Scot (1897). SCOT AND See also:LOT (O. Fr. escot, A.S. sceot, a See also:payment; lot, a portion or See also:share), a phrase See also:common in the records of English See also:medieval boroughs, applied to those householders who were, assessed' to any payment (such as See also:tallage, aid, &c.) made by the See also:borough for See also:local or See also:national purposes. They were usually members of a gild See also:merchant. Previous to the Reform See also:Act 1832 those who paid scot and See also:bore lot were entitled to the See also:franchise in virtue of this payment, and the rights of those living in 1832 were preserved by the act.

The phrase is pre-served in the Disorderly Houses Act 1751, which empowers inhabitants of a See also:

parish or place paying scot and bearing lot therein (i.e. ratepayers) to require the See also:constable of the parish to prosecute disorderly houses. See D. P. See also:Fry, " On the Phrase Scot and Lot," in Trans. Philological Society (1867), pp. 167-197; C. See also:Gross, Gild Merchant, i. c. iv.; See also:Pollock and See also:Maitland, Hist. Eng. See also:Law, p. 647.

End of Article: SCOT, MICHAEL (? 1175-1232)

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