BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY STUDIES 13 



younger student came there. Near the end of his 

 life, Scot visited in a public capacity the chief 

 Universities of Europe, and brought them philoso- 

 phic treasures that were highly thought of by the 

 learned. It seems most probable, from the terms 

 in which Bacon speaks of this journey,^ 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 Euro- 

 pean 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 Mathe- 

 matician^'^ 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 



^ 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, eh. viii. 



^ See Anderson, Scottish Nation, sub nomine. 



