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Name: Michael Scott (The Wizard)
From: 1175
To: 1232
Biography: The original Michael Scott was a 12th century scholar who left his home, on the site of what later became Aikwood Tower (aka Oakwood Tower) and travelled to Oxford, Paris and Bologna in pursuit of knowledge. He studied law, mathematics and theology, and later wrote in Palermo to the future Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. After translating Aristotle from Arabic into Latin in Toledo, he served Frederick again as an astrologer and doctor. He eventually returned to the Borders, was employed by Alexander III and knighted after the Battle of Largs. After his death in 1291 he was buried - along with books of magic - in Melrose Abbey.
Scott is remembered in the Borders as a powerful wizard, responsible for numerous wonders. He was aided by a devilish spirit for whom he was constantly inventing tasks, e.g. splitting the original Eildon Hill into three, bridling the River Tweed with a curb of stone (the cault at Kelso) and weaving ropes out of sand at Berwick. See Arthur and Merlin.
Boccaccio admired him; Dante consigned him to the 4th chasm of the 8th circle of Hell in his Inferno. See also The Lay of the Last Minstrel (Walter Scott); The Three Perils of Man (James Hogg).
Scott's character is central to the 2003 children's TV series Shoebox Zoo (BBC/CBBC).
SITEMAP | LINKS | TERMS & CONDITIONS | © Edinburgh Film Focus 2009
Home | Author detail page
Name: Michael Scott (The Wizard)
From: 1175
To: 1232
Biography: The original Michael Scott was a 12th century scholar who left his home, on the site of what later became Aikwood Tower (aka Oakwood Tower) and travelled to Oxford, Paris and Bologna in pursuit of knowledge. He studied law, mathematics and theology, and later wrote in Palermo to the future Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. After translating Aristotle from Arabic into Latin in Toledo, he served Frederick again as an astrologer and doctor. He eventually returned to the Borders, was employed by Alexander III and knighted after the Battle of Largs. After his death in 1291 he was buried - along with books of magic - in Melrose Abbey.
Scott is remembered in the Borders as a powerful wizard, responsible for numerous wonders. He was aided by a devilish spirit for whom he was constantly inventing tasks, e.g. splitting the original Eildon Hill into three, bridling the River Tweed with a curb of stone (the cault at Kelso) and weaving ropes out of sand at Berwick. See Arthur and Merlin.
Boccaccio admired him; Dante consigned him to the 4th chasm of the 8th circle of Hell in his Inferno. See also The Lay of the Last Minstrel (Walter Scott); The Three Perils of Man (James Hogg).
Scott's character is central to the 2003 children's TV series Shoebox Zoo (BBC/CBBC).
SITEMAP | LINKS | TERMS & CONDITIONS | © Edinburgh Film Focus 2009