[1] De Michaele Scoto Veneficii injuste damnato, Lipsiae, 1739.
[2] Some account of Scottish grammar-schools in the twelfth century will be found in Sir James Dalrymple’s Collections, pp. 226, 255 (Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh); also in Chalmers’s Caledonia, vol. i. p. 76.
[3] Compendium Studii, vol. i. p. 471, ed. Master of the Rolls. London, Longmans, 1859.
[4] Boncompagni Vita di Gherardo Cremonense, Roma, 1851, and the De Astronomia Tractatus x. of Guido Bonatti, printed at Bâle, 1550.
[5] Historia Ecclesiastica, xii. 494.
[6] In the last edition of Chambers’s Encyclopædia, sub nomine.
[8] Leland’s work was published in 1549.
[9] Comento alla Divina Commedia, Inf., canto xx. Bologna, Fanfani, 1866-74.
[10] The Scotorum Historia of Boëce in which this statement appears was published at Paris in 1526.
[11] Between 1260 and 1280. See Cartulary of Dunfermline.
[12] Exchequer Rolls.
[14] Bulaeus Historia Univ. Paris., vol. iii. pp. 701, 702.
[15] Sir James Dalrymple’s Collections, pp. 226, 255. There was also a school at Dryburgh, where Sibbald says Sacrobosco studied, but had Scot entered here he would hardly have been distinguished in later years as a man in close relation with another order—the Cistercian.
[16] Not excepting the north. ‘Morebatur eo tempore (c. 1180) apud Oxenfordiam studiorum causa clericus quidam Stephanus nomine de Eboracensi regione oriundus,’ Acta Sanctorum, Oct. 29, p. 579. At the exodus in 1209, no less than three thousand students are said to have left Oxford.
[17] Opus Majus, ed. Jebbi, pp. 36, 37. The words are ‘Tempore Michaelis Scoti, qui, annis 1230 transactis, apparuit, deferens librorum Aristotelis partes aliquas,’ etc. See infra, ch. viii.
[18] See Anderson, Scottish Nation, sub nomine.
[21] Romance of Elinando.
[22] He probably joined the Cistercian Order.
[23] Compendium Studii, p. 425.
[24] In the printed edition of Dempster, the reference is ‘lib. 3 sententiarum, quaest. iii.,’ but I have not been able to verify it.
[25] Hist. Litt. de la France, vol. ix. p. 65.
[26] Opus Majus, p. 84.
[27] Elinando.
[28] Decamerone, viii. 9.
[30] The MS. of Scot’s Physionomia in the Vatican Library (Fondo della Regina di Svezia 1151, saec. xvi?) has joined to it some extravagant lines in praise of the Parisian schools, where the writer compares them to Paradise. There is no reason to suppose Scot wrote these verses, but they fully support the statement made in the text.
[31] Pl. lxxxix. sup. cod. 38. See Appendix, No. 1.
[32] See p. 244 of the MS.
[33] Domini Magistri.
[34] Philipo.
[35] Coronato.
[36] Destinavit sibi.
[37] See Ducange, sub voce.
[38] Huillard-Bréholles, Hist. Dip. Frid. II., vol. i. pp. 44, 68, 242, 255.
[39] No. 354.
[41] L’Anonimo Fiorentino, Comento alla Divina Commedia. Bologna, Fanfani, 1866-74.
[42] See especially the preface to the Physionomia.
[43] Smith’s Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, sub voce ‘Magister.’
[44] From August 1200 to January 1208. See Amari, Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia.
[45] See the Hist. Dip. Frid., passim.
[46] Amari.
[48] Compendium Studii, p. 434.
[49] See the preface to the Secreta.
[51] Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Canon Misc. 555; cod. memb. in 4to ff. 97, saec. xiv. ineunt., with a portrait of Michael Scot in one of the initials. The preface opens thus:—‘Cum ars astronomie sit grandis sermonibus philosophorum.’ The book begins:—‘Cronica Grece Latine dicitur series ut temporis temporum sicut dominorum,’ and closes thus:—‘De expositione fundamenti terrae volentes his finere secundum librum quem incepimus in nomine Dei, Cui ex parte nostra sit semper grandis laus et gloria, benedictio et triumphus in omnibus per infinita saecula saeculorum Amen.’ Other MSS. of the Astronomia are found at Milan, Bibl. Ambros. L. 92, sup. cum figuris; and at Munich, see Halm and Meyer’s Catalogue, vol. ii. part i. p. 156, No. 1242, saec. xviii.
[52] ‘Quasi vulgariter.’
[53] Bodl. MS. 266, chart. in fol. saec. xv. 218 leaves; Bibl. Nat. Paris, Nouv. acq. 1401; the Escorial has another MS. of this work on paper, in writing of the fourteenth century. The Liber Introductorius commences thus: ‘Quicumque vult esse bonus astrologus’—an expression which betrays the churchman in Scot. It closes with these words: ‘finitur tractatus de notitia pronosticorum.’ Extracts from the Liber Introductorius are found in the MS. Fondo Vaticano 4087, p. 38, ro. and vo., MS. in fol. chart. saec. xvi., and in the Bibl. del Seminario Vescovile, Padua, MS. 48, in fol. chart. saec. xiv.; also Bibl. Ambros, Milan, MS. I. 90.
[54] The Paris MS. reads ‘in Astronomia,’ a good example of the confusion mentioned above.
[55] ‘Leviter.’
[56] This is a mistake common to both the MSS. Innocent IV. did not begin to reign till 1243, when Scot was long in his grave. Innocent III., who was Pope from 1198-1216, is the person meant. He was guardian to Frederick II. during his minority.
[57] According to the line: ‘Lingua, Tropus, Ratio, Numerus, Tonus, Angulus, Astra,’ in which the Trivium and Quadrivium were succinctly and memorably expressed.
[58] His mother was nearly fifty years old at his birth.
[59] See the description of this palace in the poem by Peter of Eboli.
[60] Zurita says that Sancia, the Queen Dowager of Aragon, claimed the crown of Sicily for her son Fernando, in case there were no heir of Frederick II. by Constance.
[61] See on this whole subject three most learned and satisfactory works by Prof. R. Foerster of Breslau—De Arist. quae feruntur physiognomonicis recensendis, Kiliae, 1882; De trans. lat. physiognomonicorum, Kiliae, 1884; and especially his Scriptores Graeci Physiognomonici, Teubner, 1894.
[62] A Physionomia ascribed to Al Mansour himself was commented on by Jacopo da Samminiato. It is preserved in the Bibl. Naz. of Florence, MS. xx. 55.
[63] See Book II. chap. xxvi. et seq.
[64] B. J. II., 8. § 6. See also the Church Histories of Neander (i. 61, 83) and Kurtz (i. 65).
[65] The word Ἀβράξας read numerically gives the total of 365 = the number of days in which the sun completes his circle through the twelve signs. In this way it is equivalent to Mithras. These gems often bear the figure of a cock = the sun-bird, not without reference to Æsculapius. They were worn to recover or preserve health.
[66] This reminds one of the somewhat similar introduction to the alchemy of Crates, which speaks of a youth called Rissoures, the scion of a family of adepts, who made love to a maid-servant of Ephestelios, chief diviner in the Temple of Serapis at Alexandria, thus inducing her to steal the book and fly with him. The tradition of discovery is common to both legends, but the Crates has a colour of worldly passion and the Sirr-el-Asrar a shade of ascetic practice which agrees admirably with what we know of the Therapeutae. Crates is probably Democritus. The Arabic version was due to Khalid ben Yezid, and bears the title of Kenz el Konouz, or treasure of treasures. It is found in MS. 440 of Leyden. In a later chapter we shall recur to this subject with the view of showing that alchemy as well as physiognomy owed much to the Therapeutic philosophy.
[67] The printed copy—in fol. Venice, Bernardinus de Vitalibus, s. a. but probably 1501—reads ‘romanam,’ which would be neo-Greek or Romaic.
[68] See on this whole subject the excellent remarks of Foerster in his treatise De Aristotelis quae feruntur Secretis Secretorum, Kiliae, 1888, pp. 22-25.
[69] Wright’s Cat. of the Syriac MSS., Nos. 250 and 366.
[70] Recherches, pp. 117, 118.
[71] Op. cit. pp. 26, 27.
[72] Viz., P. xiii. sin. cod. 6; P. xxx. cod. 29; and P. lxxxix. sup. cod. 76. There is also one at Paris, Fonds de Sorbonne, 955.
[73] See the MS. of the Laurentian Library, p. lxxxviii. cod. 24.
[74] By transposition ‘G. de Valentia vere civitatis,’ etc. (Bibl. Naz. Flor. xxv. 10, 632); by corruption ‘vere de violentia’ (Barberini MS.), or ‘grosso pontifici’ (Fondo Vaticano, 5047). This bishop has not yet been identified.
[75] MSS. of the Secreta Secretorum are found in Florence, Bibl. Naz., xxv. 10, 632, chart. saec. xv.; Bibl. Laur. (S. Crucis) xv. sin. 9; Rome, Fondo Vaticano, 5047; Oxford, Bibl. Bod. Can. Misc., 562; Troyes and St. Omer, v. Cat. MSS. des Depart., vol. ii. pp. 517, 518, and iii. 295; Berne, v. Sinner’s Cat., vol. iii. p. 525. It is interesting to note that the title of this last MS. is Physionomia, just as the Physionomia of Scot is called De Secretis in the editions of 1584 and 1598. This confirms the relation between his work and that of Philippus Clericus. MSS. of the Italian version of the Secreta Secretorum are found at Florence, Bibl. Riccard., Q. I. xxii. 1297; R. I. xx. 2224; L. I. xxxiv. 108. The first of these is dated 1450. In the Bibl. Naz., Florence, there is another, and a similar one of the Physionomia Aristotelis. In the Chigi Library of Rome there is a MS., chart. saec. xvii., with the curious title: ‘Migel franzas, auctor obscurioris nominis, ad Physionomiam Aristotelis Commentarium.’ It is numbered E. vi. 205, and consists of 326 pages. The Secreta Secretorum with the De Mineralibus was printed at Venice (? 1501), by Bernardinus de Vitalibus, and a new version by G. Manente, comprehending the Morals and the Physionomia as well as the Secreta, issued from the same place in 1538. It was printed in 4to by Tacuino da Trino.
[76] MSS. of the Physionomia: Oxford, Bibl. Bod. MSS. Canon. Misc. 555 (with the Liber Particularis) saec. xiv.; Milan, Bibl. Ambros. L 92 sup. (with the Liber Particularis); Padua, Bibl. Anton. xxiii. 616, chart. saec. xvii; Vatican, Fondo della Regina 1151 perhaps saec. xvi. Printed editions: 1477 perhaps double; 1485 Louvain and Leipsic; 1499 s. l. and five or six others of this century in 4to, s. l. et a.; 1508 Cologne, Venice, and Paris, the last in 8vo; 1514 Venice 8vo; 1515 s. l.; 1519 Venice 8vo; 1584 Lyons 24mo along with the Abbreviatio Avicennae and the De animalibus ad Caesarem under the general title of De Secretis Naturae; 1598 Lyons, De Secretis Naturae cum tractatu De Secretis Mulierum Alberti Magni; 1615 Frankfort 8vo; 1655 and 1660 Amsterdam 12mo. Editions of the Italian version appeared at Venice in 1533, 8vo, and 1537. During the sixteenth century an edition of the Latin text in 8vo appeared from the press of Pietro Gaudoul without date.
[77] Histoire Littéraire de la France. The list given above will show that this statement rather falls short of the truth than exceeds it.
[78] See Ticknor’s History of Spanish Literature, p. 395.
[79] Recherches sur l’âge et l’origine des trad. latines d’Aristote, Paris, 1843, chap. iii. passim.
[80] The bones of Aristotle were said to lie in the Mosque of Palermo, where they were highly reverenced. See Charles III. of Naples, by St. Clair Baddeley, London, 1894, p. 122.
[81] Notices et extraits des Mss., vol. vi. p. 412.
[82] Die Uebersetz. Arabischer Werke, Göttingen, 1877, p. 99.
[83] See Lane’s Modern Egyptians, vol. i. p. 197 note.
[84] We should remember, however, the Emperor’s instructions to his translators: ‘verborum fideliter servata virginitate.’ See his circular of 1230 to the Universities.—Jourdain, Recherches, p. 133.
[85] De Animalibus ad Caesarem, chap. ix.
[86] Bibl. Laur. Pl. xiii. sin. cod. 9 in fol. perg. This MS. was written in 1266.
[87] Fifteenth Century s. l. et a. in fol. pp. 54. There are also Venice editions of 1493 and 1509.
[88] Fondo Vaticano 4428 in fol. perg. saec. xiii. See a complete inventory of this MS. in Appendix II.
[89] See Roger Bacon, Opus Majus, p. 37.
[90] P. 158 recto, the last line of the third column.
[91] Recherches, p. 133.
[93] There is an evident reference to Prov. i. 9 in these words which accords well with Scot’s usual style.
[94] Printed, but very incompletely, at Augsburg in 1596 in 8vo.
[95] Hist. Dip. Frid. II. vol. iv. pt. i. pp. 381, 382.
[96] Can this have been Cologna, a village about four miles north of Salerno?
[97] Fondo Vaticano 4428.
[98] The words are: ‘Ex libro animalium Aristotelis Domini Imperatoris in margine’ (p. 158 recto): see facsimile at p. 55.
[99] Bibl. Chisiana E viii. 251, at p. 41 bottom margin.
[100] P. 158, recto col. 1.
[101] p. 164.
[102] Pl. xiii. sin. cod. 9. Other MSS. of the Abbreviatio Avicennae are these: Fondo Vaticano 7096; Fondo Regina di Svezia 1151; Bibl. Burgensis 8557 in 8vo memb. saec. xiii. vel xiv.; Bibl. Pommersfeld, saec. xiv.; Paris, Anc. Fonds 6443; Venice, Bibl. St. Marc. 171 memb. saec. xiv. (the same library has another MS. in 4to memb. saec. xiv., see the Catalogue by Valentinelli, vol. v. p. 58). Bologna, Bibl. Univ. 1340 in fol. chart. saec. xiv. doubtful; Oxford, Bodl. MSS. Canon. Misc. 562 saec. xiv. et xv.; Merton Coll. MS. 277 saec. xiv.; All Souls MS. 72 saec. xiv.
[103] Recherches, p. 133.
[104] P. 13, recto et verso, in the undated fifteenth century edition of the Abbreviatio.
[105] Ibid. pp. 33 verso, 34 recto.
[107] La Chimie au Moyen Age, Paris, 1893. One cannot praise too highly the interest and value of this monumental work. I am greatly indebted to it for many of the facts and conclusions here repeated.
[108] The Mappae Clavicula (Key to Painting) belongs to the tenth century; the Compositiones ad Tingenda is of the age of Charlemagne. A MS. of the eighth century (not the ninth as Berthelot says) is extant at Lucca (Bibl. Capit. Can. I. L.). Muratori has printed it in his Antiquitates Italicae, ii. 364-87. It contains receipts for the colours used in making tesserae for mosaic, for dyeing skins, cloth, bone, horn and wood; for making parchment; for various processes such as gold and silver beating and drawing, and the gilding of iron; for chrysography and the gilding of leather; ‘quomodo eramen in colore auri transmutetur,’ ‘operatio Cinnaberim,’ a perfume for the hands called lulakin, and for certain amalgams of gold and silver called glutina.
[109] See Chwolson, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus. The Egyptians extended this correspondence to the members of the human body.
[110] Σπουδάζουσιν ἐκτόπως περὶ τὰ τῶν παλαιῶν συγγράμματα, μάλιστα τὰ πρὸς ὠφέλειαν ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἐκλέγοντες. Ἔνθεν αὑτοῖς πρὸς θεράπειαν παθῶν ῥίζαι τε ἀλεξητήριοι καὶ λιθῶν ἰδιότητες ἐνερευνῶνται.—Bell. Jud., ii. 8. § 6.
[111] Roma, Vincentio Accolti, 1587. My copy is the one presented by the author to the great Aldrovandus of Bologna, with whom he seems to have been on intimate terms.
[112] See the Paris MS. 6514, pp. 133-35.
[113] Of Pannopolis, a chemist of the fourth century.
[114] 6514.
[115] Fondo Vaticano, 4428, p. 114. This treatise is the same as the De mineralibus published along with the De Secretis at Venice (? 1501) by Bernardinus de Vitalibus.
[116] Speciale MS. No. vi. See the work by Sac. I. Carini, Sulle Scienze Occulte nel Medio Evo, Palermo, 1872. ‘Kalid Rex’ was Khaled ben Yezid ibn Moauia, and ‘Morienus’ was Mar Jannos, his Syrian master.
[117] Gayangos, i. 8. Eighty thousand books are said to have been burned in the squares of Granada alone.
[118] In the editions of 1622 and 1659, Argentorati. It has been stated that the Quaestio Curiosa is a chapter taken from the Liber Introductorius of Michael Scot. The alternative title of that work, Judicia Quaestionum would seem to favour this idea, and may in fact have suggested it. But an examination of the Liber Introductorius (MS. Bodl. 266), which I have caused to be made, proves that the statement referred to is without foundation. It was advanced in a paper read before the Scottish Society of Antiquaries by Mr. John Small, and printed in their Proceedings, vol. xi. p. 179.
[119] See the note to p. 75 supra.
[120] Inf. iv. 131.
[121] In the Theatrum of Zetzner there is a tract: ‘Aristoteles de perfecto Magisterio,’ and the Bibl. Naz. of Florence has a MS., ‘De Tribus Verbis,’ ascribed to the same author.
[122] Sic pro indagine, v. cod. xvi. 142 of the Bibl. Naz. Florence, where this treatise is given to Alfidius, i.e. Al Kindi. In it occur the significant words: ‘est (alchimia) de illa parte physice quae Metheora nuncupatur.’
[123] No. 6514.