CHAPTER III 



SCOT AT TOLEDO 



IN following the course which Michael Scot held in 

 his voyage to Spain, we approach what was beyond 

 all doubt the most important epoch in the life of 

 that scholar. Hitherto we have seen him as the 

 student preparing at Paris or Bologna for a brilliant 

 future, or as the tutor of a youthful monarch, essay- 

 ing some literary ventures, which justified the 

 position he held in Sicily, and recommended him 

 for future employment. But the moment was now 

 come which put him at last in possession of an 

 opportunity suitable to his training and talents. 

 We are to see how he won in Spain his greatest 

 reputation in connection with the most important 

 literary enterprise of the age, and one which is 

 indeed not the least remarkable of all time. 



The part which the Arabs took in the intel- 

 lectual awakening of Europe is a familiar theme of 

 early mediaeval history. That wonderful people, 

 drawn from what was then an unknown land of the 

 East, and acted on by the mighty sense of religion 

 and nationality which Mohammed was able to 

 communicate, fell like a flood upon the weak remains 

 of older civilisations, and made huge inroads upon 

 the Christian Empire of the East. Having reached 

 this point in their career of conquest they became 



