46 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



beyond the Pyrenees. Don Raymon associated with 

 himself his Archdeacon, Dominicus Gundisalvus, and 

 a converted Jew commonly known as Johannes 

 Hispalensis or John of Seville, whom Jourdain has 

 identified with Johannes AvendeathV this latter 

 being in all probability his proper name. These 

 formed the heads of the Toledo school in its earliest 

 period, and the enterprise was continued throughout 

 the latter half of the century by other scholars, of 

 whom Gherardus Cremonensis the elder was probably 

 the chief Versions of the voluminous works of Avi- 

 cenna, as w^U as of several treatises by Algazel and 



Alpharabius, and of a number of medical writings, 

 were the highly prized contribution of the Toledo 

 school to the growing library of foreign authors 

 now accessible in the Latin language. 



It is probable that when Michael Scot left Sicily 

 he did so with the purpose of joining this important 

 enterprise. His movements naturally suggest such 

 an idea, as he proceeded to Toledo, still the centre 

 of these studies, and won, during the years of his 

 residence there, the name by which he is best 

 known in the world of letters, that of the chief 

 exponent of the Arabo-Aristotelic philosophy in the 

 West. 



The name and fame of Aristotle, never quite for- 

 gotten even in the darkest age,^ and now known and 

 extolled among Moorish scholars, formed indeed the 

 ground of that immense reputation which Arabian 

 philosophy enjoyed in Europe. The Latin schools 

 had long been familiar with the logical writings of 

 Aristotle, but the modern spirit, soon to show 



' The bones of Aristotle were said to lie in the Mosque of Palermo, 

 where they were highly reverenced. See Charles III. of Naples, by 

 St. Clair Baddeley, London, 1894, p. 122. 



