CHAPTER VIII 



THE LAST DAYS OF MICHAEL SCOT 



THE various occupations in which Michael Scot 

 engaged upon his return to court were not without 

 their due and, as we believe, designed effect. The 

 part he had taken in producing the Latin Averroes 

 was soon forgotten when it appeared that no 

 immediate publication of these proscribed works 

 was intended by the Emperor. Scot now stood 

 boldly before the world in no suspicious character ; 

 distinguished only by his great learning and the 

 fidelity with which he discharged his offices of 

 astrologer and physician about the Imperial person. 

 This rehabilitation of his fame opened the way 

 to further honours and emoluments which Frederick 

 soon began to seek on his servant's behalf. Scot 

 had never quite lost character as a churchman, and 

 the member of a great religious Order, though his 

 studies had carried him far from the somewhat 

 narrow and beaten track of an ordinary ecclesias- 

 tical education. Like Philip of Tripoli, he was pro- 

 bably in holy orders, and even held a benefice, while, 

 as we see from the dedication of his De Coelo et 

 Mundo to Stephen of Provins, he was careful, even 

 in the wildest heats of his work on Averroes, to keep 

 in touch with those who held high positions in the' 

 Church. Soon after his return from Spain a resolute 



