PARTS OF ANIMALS 



the zoological works, of which there is a ms. in 

 the British Museum." It is probable that this is the 

 translation made by Ibn al-Batriq, and that this 

 Arabic version is the original from which Michael 

 Scot made his Latin translation at Toledo.^ Michael 

 was, among his other accomplishments, astrologer to 

 Frederick II., King of Sicily, at his court at Palermo, 

 and before 1217 he had reached Toledo and was at 

 work there on his translations from the Arabic. His 

 De a7iimaUhus (a translation of the zoological works in 

 nineteen books) is one of his earliest works, and two 

 Mss. of it ^ contain a note which gives a later limit 

 of 1220 for the work. Other evidence'^ establishes 

 that it was certainly finished before 1217, and it may 

 even be placed in the first decade of the century. 

 It is probable that Michael had as collaborator one 

 Andrew, canon of Palencia, formerly a Jew. One 

 of the earliest to make use of Michael's transla- 

 tions was Robert Grosseteste,^ Bishop of Lincoln 

 (d. 1253), one of the leading Aristotelian scholars 

 of the time, who quotes from Michael's version of 



« B.M.Add. 7511 (13th-14th century). Th^s is the ms. 

 referred to by Steinschneider, Die arabischen Uhersetzungen 

 p. 64, as B.^I. 437. I have seen this ms. 



** Judging from the passages which Dr. R. Levy kindly 

 read for me in the Arabic ms., the Latin version is a close 

 translation from it. Also, the contents-preface wliich is found 

 prefixed to Michael Scot's translation corresponds exactly 

 with the preface which precedes the Arabic version in this 

 MS. (see the B.M. catalogue, Catalogus codicum manuscrip- 

 torum orientaliuyn, p. 215). 



•^ One of them is ms. Caius 109, in the library of Gonville 

 and Caius College, Cambridge. It is of the thirteenth 

 century. 



^ See S. D. Wingate, The Medieval Latin Versions, p. 75. 



• Born at Stradbroke, Suffolk. A Franciscan. 



41 



