An Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scot. J. Wood Brown
University of Paris,[14] pretends to supply a pretty complete account of the schools which Scot attended, but, as he adds that this was the usual course of study in those days, we find reason to think that he may have been guided in his assertions, rather by the probabilities of the case, than by any exact evidence. Nor is it likely that any more satisfactory assurance can now be had on this point: the time being too remote and the want of early material for Scot’s biography defeating in this respect all the care and attention that can now be given to the subject.
We know, however, that there was a somewhat famous grammar-school at Roxburgh in the twelfth century,[15] and considering the rarity of such an opportunity at so early a period, and the proximity of this place to the district in which Scot was born, we may venture to fancy that here he may have learned his rudiments, thus laying the foundation of those deeper studies, which he afterwards carried to such a height.
With regard to Durham, the matter may be considered to stand on firmer ground. The name of Michael Scot, as we have already seen, has for many ages been associated with this ancient Cathedral city by the Wear. If the question of his birthplace be regarded as now determined in favour of Scotland, no reason remains for this association so convincing as that which would derive it from the fact that he pursued his education there. The Cathedral School of Durham was a famous one, which no doubt exerted a strong attraction upon studious youths throughout the whole of that province. In Scot’s case the advantages it offered may well have seemed a desirable step to further advances; his means, as one of a family already distinguished from the common people, allowing him to plan a complete course of study, and his ambition prompting him to follow it.
The common tradition asserts that when he left Durham, Scot proceeded to Oxford. This is not unlikely, considering the fame of that University, and the number of students drawn from all parts of the land who assembled there.[16] The only matters, however, which offer themselves in support of this bare conjecture are not, it must be said, very convincing. Roger Bacon shows great familiarity with Scot, and Bacon was an Oxford scholar, though his studies at that University were not begun till long after the time when Scot could possibly have been a student there. It is quite possible, however, that the interest shown by Bacon in Scot’s labours and high reputation—not by any means of a kindly sort—may have been awakened by traditions that were still current in the Schools of Oxford when the younger student came there. Near the end of his life, Scot visited in a public capacity the chief Universities of Europe, and brought them philosophic treasures that were highly thought of by the learned. It seems most probable, from the terms in which Bacon speaks of this journey,[17] that it may have included a visit to Oxford. This might of course be matter of mere duty and policy, but one cannot help observing how well it agrees with the tradition that these schools were already familiar to Scot. As a recognised alumnus of Oxford, he would be highly acceptable there, being one whose European fame shed no small lustre upon the scene of his early studies.
As to Paris, the next stage in Scot’s educational progress, the historian of that University becomes much more convincing when he claims for Lutetia the honour of having contributed in a special sense to the formation of this scholar’s mind. For here tradition has preserved one of those sobriquets which are almost invariably authentic. Scot, it seems, gained here the name of Michael the Mathematician,[18] and this corresponds, not only with what is known concerning the character of his studies, but also with the nature of the course for which Paris was then famous. There is another circumstance which seems to point strongly in the same direction. Every one must have noticed how invariably the name of Scot is honoured by the prefix of Master. This is the case not only in his printed works, but also in popular tradition, as may be seen in the well-known rhyme:—‘Maister Michael Scot’s man.’[19] A Florence manuscript, to which we shall presently refer more fully, throws some light upon the meaning of this title, by describing Scot as that scholar, ‘who among the rest is known as the chief Master.’[20] It is matter of common knowledge, that this degree had special reference to the studies of the Trivium and Quadrivium, being the scholastic crown reserved for those who had made satisfactory progress in the liberal arts. Scot then, according to the testimony of early times, was the supreme Master in this department of knowledge. But it is also certain that Paris was then recognised as the chief school of the Trivium and Quadrivium, just as Bologna had a like reputation for Law, and Salerno for Medicine.[21] We are therefore warranted to conclude that Michael Scot could never have been saluted in European schools as ‘Supreme Master,’ had he not studied long in the French capital, and carried off the highly esteemed honours of Paris.
Another branch of study which tradition says Scot followed with success at Paris was that of theology. Du Boulay declares, indeed, that he reached the dignity of doctor in that faculty, and there is some reason to think that this may actually have been the case. There can be no doubt that an ecclesiastical career then offered the surest road to wealth and fame in the case of all who aspired to literary honours. That Scot took holy orders[22] seems very probable. He may well have done so even before he came to Paris, for Bacon makes it one of his reproaches against the corruption of the times, that men were ordained far too readily, and before they had reached the canonical age: from their tenth to their twentieth year, he says.[23] It is difficult to verify Dempster’s assertion that Scot’s renown as a theologian is referred to by Baconthorpe the famous Carmelite of the following century.[24] This author was commonly known as the Princeps Averroïstarum. If he really mentions Michael, and does not mean Duns Scotus, as there is some reason to suspect, his praise may have been given quite as much on the ground of profane as of religious philosophy. On the other hand we find abounding and unmistakable references to Scripture, the Liturgy, and ascetic counsels in the writings of Scot, from which it may safely be concluded that he had not merely embraced the ecclesiastical profession as a means of livelihood or of advancement, but had seriously devoted himself to sacred studies. It is true that we cannot point to any instance in which he receives the title of doctor, but this omission may be explained without seriously shaking our belief in the tradition that Scot gained this honour at Lutetia. During the twelfth century the Bishop of Paris forbade the doctors of theology to profess that faculty in any other University.[25] Scot may well, therefore, have been one of those philosophical divines who taught entre les deux ponts, as the same statute commanded they should, though in other lands and during his after-life, he came to be known simply as the ‘Great Master’: the brightest of all those choice spirits of the schools on which Paris set her stamp.
At this point we may surely hazard a further conjecture. Bacon tells us that in those days it was the study of law, ecclesiastical and civil, rather than of theology, which opened the way to honour and preferment in the Church.[26] Now Paris was not more eminently and distinctly the seat of arts than Bologna was the school of laws.[27] May not Michael Scot have passed from the French to the Italian University? Such a conjecture would be worth little were it not for the support which it undoubtedly receives from credible tradition. Boccaccio in one of his tales[28] mentions Michael Scot, and tells how he used to live in Bologna. Many of the commentators on the Divine Comedy of Dante dwell on the theme, and enrich it with superstitious wonders.[29] It would be difficult to find a period in the scholar’s life which suits better with such a residence than that we are now considering. On all accounts it seems likely that he left Paris for Bologna, and found in the latter city a highly favourable opening, which led directly to the honours and successes of his after-life.
He was now to leave the schools and enter a wider sphere, not without the promise of high and enduring fame. A child of the mist and the hill, he had come from the deep woods and wild outland life of the Scottish Border to what was already no inconsiderable position. He knew Paris, not, need it be said, the gay capital of modern days, but Paris of the closing years of the twelfth century, Lutetia Parisiorum: her low-browed houses of wood and mud; her winding streets, noisome even by day, and by night still darker and more perilous; her vast Latin Quarter, then far more preponderant than now—a true cosmopolis, where fur-clad barbarians from the home of the north wind sharpened wits with the Latin races haply trained in southern schools by some keen-browed Moor or Jew. And Paris knew him, watched his course, applauded his success, crowned his fame by that coveted title of Master, which he shared with many others, but which the world of letters made peculiarly his own by creating for him a singular and individual propriety in it. From Paris we may follow him in