194 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



completed the dispersion of the Troubadours. 

 Many found a refuge in Italy and Sicily. They 

 communicated an emotional impulse which led to 

 the formation of the Italian language as a means of 

 literary expression. Through them the inheritance 

 of the Arthurian tales was secured to the people of 

 the South, who soon began to localise the chief 

 incidents of this romantic cycle in the island of 

 Sicily. 1 



Gervase of Tilbury tells us that near the town 

 of Catania lies the burning mountain of Etna, called 

 by the people MongibeUo, and famed among them 

 as the abode of King Arthur, who, they said, had 

 lately been seen there. The matter fell out thus. 

 The Bishop of Catania's palfrey escaped one day 

 from his groom, and was lost. The man sought his 

 charge everywhere, and at last ventured to enter an 

 opening he perceived in the hollow part of the hill. 

 Here he found a narrow winding path which led 

 to a pleasant land within Etna, and to a palace, the 

 home of Arthur. He entered the palace and found 

 the King lying on a royal couch. Arthur bade him 

 welcome, listened to his story, and called for the 

 steed to be brought that the Bishop might have 

 his own again. He further told his visitor that, 

 having been wounded in battle with Modred and 

 Childeric king of Saxony, he had come to this 

 retreat that he might heal him of his mortal sick- 

 ness. Gervase adds that Arthur, not content with 

 restoring the horse, paid tithe to the Bishop as 

 one of the dwellers in his diocese, ' which was a 

 wonder to all that heard it/ 2 



1 See the interesting work by Graf, Miti, Leggendi e Superstizioni 

 del Medio JEvo, Torino, Loescher, 1893. 



2 'Otia Imperialia' in Leibnitz ScriptoresEerumBrunsvicensium } i. 921. 



