THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 197 



his robe embroidered about the hem with Cufic 

 characters, and the sceptre and apple of empire in 

 his powerless hands ; ^ but still the Ghibellines could 

 not give up the hope that one day he would wake 

 again, and lead them to the victory they looked 

 for. 



This expectation was much strengthened by a 

 prophecy then current under the name of the Abbot 

 Joachim. ' There cometh an Eagle, at whose 

 appearing the Lion shall be destroyed : yea a young 

 Eagle who shall make his nest in the den of the 

 Lion. Of the race of the Eagle shall arise another 

 Eagle called Frederick. He shall reign indeed, and 

 shall stretch his wings till they touch the ends of 

 the earth. In his days shall the chief Pontiff and 

 his clergy be despoiled and dispersed.' "^ On the 

 other side a Guelf poet, whose name we do not 

 know, associated Frederick ii. with Arthur in the 

 following lines : 



'Cominatur impius, dolens de jacturis 

 Cum suo Britonibus Arturo Venturis.' 



The collection called the Cento Novelle Antiche 

 reflects this myth very plainly ; for, in the strange 

 tales then told of Frederick and his court, we seem 

 to see these personages already transported to a 

 kind of fairyland, where the laws of earthly life no 

 longer hold good. The scene is unmistakably laid 

 in the Avalon of Arthur and amid his shadowy 

 court. 



^ The sarcophagus was opened in 1781 and all was found as described 

 above. The body of the great Emperor was in good preservation and 

 with it were remains of Peter ii. of Aragon, and Duke William, son of 

 Frederick ii. of Aragon. 



2 German prophecies of the same kind are given by Grimm, 

 op. cit. 



^ See Pertz Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, xviii. 796. 



