MICHAEL
275
MICHAEL
sioned to represent the chapter before the papal Curia
at Avignon. The controversy continued unabated
until, in 1327, Michael was summoned to appear be-
fore the pope. He feigned illness and delayed; but
obeyed a subsequent summons and was forbidden by
the pope under pain of grave censure to leave Avi-
gnon. He was thus unable to attend the chapter held
at Bologna in May of the following year (1328); yet
despite his absence and the protest of the papal legate,
he was re-elected minister general, the chapter deem-
ing the charges against him insufficient to fleprive him
of office. Several prelates and princes wrote to the
pope in Michael's behalf; but before these letters or the
result of the chapter could reach Avignon, Michael,
with William of Occam and Bonagratia of Bergamo,
who were also retained by the pope at Avignon, fled by
night (25 May) to a galley sent them by Louis of
Bavaria.
At Pisa, where they were triumphantly received by the party of Louis and were j oined by a number of other schismatics, the deposed minister general published a solemn appeal from the pope to a council (12 Dec, 1328), posted it on the door of the cathedral, and the next day read to the assembled multitude a decree of the Emperor Louis deposing John XXII. The pope issued the Encyclical "Quia vir reprobus", warning the faithful against Michael; and the latter answered in his "Ad perpetuam rei memoriam mnotescat quod ego, Fr. Michael" (25 Nov., 1330) and in "Christiante fidei fundamentum", in which he ac- cused the pope of heresy in the three Bulls, " Ad Con- ditorem Canonum", "Cum inter nonnuUos", and "Quia quorumdam". These and " Litteras plurium magistrorum ", and " Teste Solomone ", which Michael WTote in his own defence, are contained in Occam's Dia- logue. The general chapter of Paris (11 June, 1329), at which Cardinal Bertrand presided, condemned the conduct and writings of Michael and all who took part with him against John XXII; and elected Gerard Odon minister general of the order. The next year (1330) Michael and other schismatics followed Louis to Bavaria. The chapter of Perpignan (25 April, 1331) expelled Michael from the order and sentenced him to perpetual imprisonment. During the latter years of his hfe he was abandoned by nearly all his sympathiz- ers, but it is probable that he died repentant. His re- mains, with those of his accomplices, William Occam and Bonagratia of Bergamo, lie buried in the Barfijs- serkirche at Munich.
Wadding, Annates Minorum, ad an. 1316, nos. 3, 5, 10; ad an. 1328, nos. 6, 13, and passim; Scriptores Ordinis Minorum, 2.59; Marcour, Antheil der Minoriten am Kampfe zwischen Konig Ludwig IV. von Bayem und Papst Johann XXll. (Emmerich, 1874); GUDENATZ, Michael von Ccesena {Breslau, 1876); Ana- lecla Franciscana (Quaracchi. 1897), IV, 470, 487, 488, 509, 617, 704, 705.
Stephen M. Donovan.
Michael Scotus (Scott or Scot), a thirteenth- century mathematician, philosopher, and scholar. He was born in Scotland, about the year 1175. The con- tention that he was an Irishman seems to be disposed of by the fact that when, in 1223, he was offered the Archbishopric of Cashel, he declined on the ground that he was ignorant of the Irish language. It is not clear whether "Scotus" indicates merely a native of Scotland, or one of the clan Scott, or Scot, which was very numerous in the Scottish lowlands. There is a tradition to the effect that he studied first at the cathedral school of Durham, and afterwards at the Universities of Oxford and Paris. At the last men- tioned place he was known as "the mathematician", which implies that he studied in the Faculty of Arts. It is probable that he studied theology also. At any rate, he was beyond doulit a cleric. It seems likely that, on leaving Paris, he visited the University of Bologna, before repairing to Sicily, to the Court of Frederick It. This occurred about 1200. At Palermo, he joined the circle of learned men who surrounded
the emperor; by some, indeed, he is said to have been
elevated to the rank of imperial tutor, although the
MSS., as a rule, entitled him "astrologer to the Lord
Emperor Frederick". In 1209 he went to Toledo,
made the acquaintance of several distinguished Ara-
bian scholars and wrote his "Abbreviatio Avicernije",
the MS., of which bears the date 1210. He also took
up the study of astronomy and alchemy, and trans-
latetl from the Arabic several works on those subjects.
That he was interested in the philosophy of the
Arabians is evident from the fact that he translated
several philosophical commentaries of Averroes.
After his return to Palermo, about 1220, Michael devoted special attention to the science and practice of medicine. He received several signs of pontifical as well as imperial favour. By Pope Honorius III he was offered several ecclesiastical benefices, among them being the Archbishopric of Cashel, in Ireland. He was also offered the Archbishopric of Canterbury both by Honorius in 1223, and by Gregory IX in 1227. In this case, however, it was the unwillingness of the local clergy and not that of the candidate himself that stood in the way of Michael's preferment. His dis- appointment is, according to his latest biographer, re- flected in the gloomy "prophecies" which he com- posed about this time, and which were so well known during the Middle Ages. According to Roger Bacon, Michael visited Oxford "about the year 1230", bear- ing with him "certain books of Aristotle and com- mentaries of learned men concerning physics, and mathematics". The date of his death is uncertain; it is generally given as 1234. The legend which grew up around the name of Michael Scot was due to his extraordinary reputation as a scholar and an adept in the secret arts. He figures as a magician in Dante's "Inferno", in Boccaccio's "Decamerone", in local Italian and Scottish folk-lore, and in Sir Walter Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel". The most important of his original works are (1) "Liber Physiognomia;", first printed in 1477, and since then reprinted eighteen times in various languages; (2) " Astronomia " , still in MS., in the Bodleian Library; (3) "Liber Intro- ductorius", also in MS., ibid.; (4) "Liber Luminis Luminum", in a M.S., of the Riciardi coll., Florence; (5) "De Alchimia", in MS. in Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Besides the translations mentioned above, a Latin version of Aristotle's " Ethics " made from the Greek text is sometimes attributed to Michael Scot.
Brown, Life and Legend of Michael Scot (Edinburgh, 1897); JouRDAiN, Recherches sur I'age et Vorigine des traductions latines d'Aristote (Paris, 1843): Milman, Michael Scot almost an Irish Archbishop, pub. by Philobiblon Society, 1854; Mist, litter, de la France, XX, 43-51; liKvnEA-V, Notices et extraits, XXI, pt. II, 204; Idem, Hist, de la phil. scol. (Paris, 1880) II, pt. X, 124 sqq.; Denifle, Chartul. Univ., Paris., I (Paris, 1889), 103. WiLLiA.M Turner.
Michael the Archangel (Hebr. i>S3'D, " Who is like God?"), Saint, one of the principal angels; his name was the war-cry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against Satan and his followers. Four times his name is recorded in Scripture: (a) Dan., X, 13 sqq., Gabriel says to Daniel, when he asks God to permit the Jews to return to Jerusalem: "The Angel [D. v. prince] of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me . . . and, behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me . . . and none is my helper in all these things, but Micliael your prince"; (b), Dan., xii, the Angel speaking of the end of the world and the Antichrist says: "At that time shall Micliael rise up, the great prince, who standelh for the children of thy people." (c) In the Catholic Epistle of St. Jude: "When Michael the archiingri, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses", etc. St. Jude alludes to an ancient ji^wish tradition of a dispute between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses, an account of which is also found in the apocryplial book on the assump-
