THE LAST DAYS OF MICHAEL SCOT 159 



Doctor, that he might teach there in the faculty of 

 Divinity. 



It may seem remarkable that the Pope did 

 not address his application in Scot's favour to 

 St. Andrews rather than to Canterbury. We are 

 to recollect, however, that in 1223, the relations 

 between Scotland and the See of Rome were 

 still somewhat strained. The North had not 

 yet forgotten what took place in 1217, when 

 Gualo came thither as Legate to lay the Inter- 

 dict upon Scotland. Churches were closed by this 

 severe sentence ; the sacraments forbidden ; even 

 that of extreme unction denied to the people ; 

 the dead were buried without service, and all 

 marriages were celebrated in the churchyards. 

 When the interdict was removed in the following 

 year, the duty of proclaiming that remission was 

 intrusted to the Prior of Durham and the Dean 

 of York, who made a solemn progress in the 

 Kingdom to announce the Pope's clemency. We 

 may feel sure that these events were not for- 

 gotten in five years by a proud and independent 

 nation like the people of Scotland, and Honorius 

 must be thought to have judged rightly in sup- 

 posing his application on Scot's account had a 

 better chance of being effected by the English 

 than by the Scottish Primate. Nothing indeed 

 was overlooked that might give force to the 

 recommendation. The Pope accompanied his re- 

 quest with a generous testimony to the scholar's 

 ability, saying that he was distinguished, even 

 among learned men, for his remarkable gifts and 

 knowledge.^ Thus everything seemed to promise 



> ' Quod inter literates vigeat doao scientiae singulari.' 



