THE LAST DAYS OF MICHAEL SCOT 167 



uniform tone of melancholy and apprehension, with 

 the burden of its constantly recurring ' corruet,' or 

 in taking: this as a true index to the state of the 

 author's mind. 



Pipini records two other prophecies of Michael 

 Scot which serve to confirm this observation in a 

 high degree.^ The astrologer, he says, forecast the 

 manner of the Emperor's death, which was to take 

 place ad portas ferreas, at certain gates of iron, in 

 a town named after Flora. This prediction was 

 generally understood of Florence ; the rather perhaps 

 that the church of Santo Stefano there was called ad 

 portain ferream ; and Frederick accordingly avoided 

 coming to that city.^ During his last campaign in 

 1250, however, he fell sick at the town of Fiorentino 

 or Firenzola in Apulia, and lay in a chamber of the 

 castle. His bed stood against a wall recently built 

 to fill up the ancient gateway of the tower, while 

 within the wall there still remained the iron staples 

 on which the gate had been hung. Uneasy at the 

 progress of his disease, and hearing something of 

 these particulars, the Emperor fell into deep thought 

 and then exclaimed, ' This is the place where I shall 

 make an end, as it was told me. The will of God be 

 done ; for here I shall die,' and soon afterwards he 

 breathed his last. 



The other prediction which the chronicler attri- 

 butes to Scot relates to the occasion of his own death. 

 This, he said, would take place by the blow of a 



1 Muratori, Op. cit. ix. 660 B. 



'^ Similar deceitful prophecies are not uncommon in mediaeval story 

 IWalter Map in the De Nugis Curialium tells how Silvester ii. was 

 Vissured by his familiar spirit that he would not die till he had said Mass 

 Jit Jerusalem. The prediction was fulfilled, however, when the Pope did 

 ^&o at the altar called ' in Gerusalemme ' in one of the Roman Churches, 

 and soon thereafter expired. 



