BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY STUDIES 9 



valley of the Tweed ; if we understand that geo- 

 graphical expression in the Avide sense which makes 

 it equivalent to the whole of the south-eastern 

 borders of Scotland. 



Nor is this so contrary as might at first appear 

 to the tradition which makes Scot a descendant of 

 the family of Balwearie in Fife. Hector Boece, 

 Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen, who first 

 gave currency to the story,^ could hardly have 

 meant to imply that Michael was actually born at 

 Balwearie. It is to be presumed that he understood 

 Scotus to have been a family name ; and the Scotts, 

 who became of Balwearie by marriage with the 

 heiress of that estate, did not enter into possession 

 of it till long after the close of the twelfth century." 

 To call Michael a son of Balwearie in the genealogical 

 sense, however, is in perfect agreement with the 

 conclusion regarding his origin which we have 

 just reached ; for the original home of the Scotts 

 who afterwards held that famous property as their 

 chef lieu, lay by the upper streams of Tweed in the 

 very district which every probability has already 

 indicated to us as that of Michael's birthplace. In 

 1265 we find an entry of money paid by the Crown 

 ' to Michael Scot and Richard Rufus who have 

 occupied the waste lands at Stuth,' near Peebles.^ 

 Identification is here out of the question, as Michael 

 the scholar, of whom we write, was by this time 

 long in his grave, but the entry we have quoted 

 shows that a family of this surname, who still used 

 the Christian name of Michael, was flourishing in 



^ The Scotorum Historia of Boece in which this statement appears 

 was published at Paris in 1526. 



- Between 1260 and 1280, See Cartulary of Dunfermline. 

 2 Exchequer Rolls. 



