BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY STUDIES 15 



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. 1 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. 2 This 

 author was commonly known as the Princeps 

 Averroistarum. 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 advance- 

 ment, 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. 3 Scot may well, therefore, have 

 been one of those philosophical divines who taught 

 entre les deux ponts, as the same statute com- 

 manded they should, though in other lands and 

 during his after-life, he came to be known simply 



1 Compendium Studii, p. 425. 



2 In the printed edition of Dempster, the reference is ' lib. 3 senten- 

 tiarum, quaest. iii., ! but I have not been able to verify it. 



3 Hist. Litt. de la France, vol. ix. p. 65. 



