SCOT TRANSLATES AVERROES 119 



to have been Andrew, and that he was a Jew. 

 Bacon gives us this information in no kindly spirit, 

 but in order to lead up to the bitter conclusion 

 that Scot's work was not original, but borrowed 

 from one whose labours and just fame he had 

 appropriated. ' Michael Scot,' he says, ' was igno- 

 rant of languages and science alike. Almost all 

 that has appeared in his name was taken from a 

 certain Jew called Andrew.' 1 



A sufficient answer to this serious accusation 

 may be found in what we already know of the 

 literary fashions of the day, and, in particular, of 

 the traditional methods of work pursued by the 

 Toledan translators. It was precisely thus that 

 the Archdeacon Gundisalvus had used the aid of 

 Avendeath. A little later too, we find the same 

 system adopted in the translation of the Koran 

 promoted by Peter the Venerable. That ecclesiastic 

 thus expresses himself in sending a copy of his book 

 to St. Bernard : ' I had it translated by one skilled 

 in both tongues ; Master Peter of Toledo ; but since 

 he was not as much at home in the Latin, and did 

 not know it as well as the Arabic, I appointed one 

 to help him . . . Brother Peter our Notary.' To 

 his Koran Peter the Venerable joined a Summa 

 Brevis of the Christian controversy with the Mo- 

 hammedans. This work also came from the pen of 

 Master Peter, and with regard to it he makes the 



1 * Michael Scotus, ignarus quidem et verborum et rerum, fere 

 omnia quae sub nomine ejus prodierunt, ab Andrea quodam Judaeo 

 inutuatus est.' Opus Majus. In his Compendium Studii, a much later 

 work, Bacon repeats the accusation in a milder form : * Michael Scotus 

 ascripsit sibi translationes multas. Sed certum est quod Andreas quidam 

 Judaeus plus laboravit in his.' It has been conjectured that Andrew 

 was a convert to Christianity, v. Renan, who cites the preface to Jebb's 

 edition of the Opus Tertium of Bacon. It is curious at any rate that 

 the name given him was that of Scotland's patron saint. 



