168 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



stone falling on his head. His calculations were 

 so exact as even to furnish him with the precise 

 weight of this instrument of fate. Being in church 

 one day, with head uncovered at the sacring of the 

 Mass, a stone, agreeing in all particulars with his 

 prediction, was shaken from the tower by the 

 motion of the bellrope and wounded Scot to death. 



There is much in these tales which lies apart 

 from the course of a sober biography ; belonging 

 rather to that legendary and mystic fame of the 

 philosopher which we shall immediately proceed to 

 consider. Something, however, in which all these 

 prophecies agree deserves our attention here, and 

 that is their sombre and menacing character. ' Rui- 

 nam predixit,' says Pipini, referring to Scot's verses 

 on the Italian cities, and his thoughts, whether 

 engaged with Frederick's fate or his own, seem at 

 this time to have followed the same dark and 

 ominous course. Death and destruction now filled 

 all his mind, much as if he had been a Highlander 

 gifted with the fatal power of the Taisch : a seer to 

 whom all things looked darkly, and all men wore a 

 shroud, longer or shorter, to mark the time and the 

 manner of their end. 



With Michael Scot's account of his own fate 

 Pipini joins another curious matter, that of the cervi- 

 lerium. 1 This was a plate or cap of steel meant to 

 be worn under the ordinary covering of the head as 

 an additional defence, and the chronicle says that 

 Scot invented and wore it that he might be safe 

 from the danger he foresaw. Taking this together 



1 Muratori, Op. cit. ix. pp. 128 B, 670 ; and xiv. p. 1095. Other 

 forms of this word are cerebrerium, celeberium or cerobotarium. It is 

 of course derived from cerebrum, and the English equivalent would be 

 brainpiece. 



