An Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scot, by the Reverend J. Wood Brown, published by David Douglas in Edinburgh in 1897 and read here through its Project Gutenberg digitization, is a book length biographical study of the thirteenth century Scottish scholar and court astrologer whose reputation as a magician grew alongside his genuine work translating Arabic scientific and philosophical texts for Emperor Frederick II. Its strength is sustained archival research into a figure whose historical and legendary reputations are hard to separate. Its limit is its nineteenth century date and lack of the sourcing conventions later academic history would require, so a claim resting on a specific disputed detail of Scot's biography is better checked against a modern scholarly treatment where one exists.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability TierRev. J. Wood Brown's An Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scot, published by David Douglas in Edinburgh in 1897, is a thorough antiquarian biographical study, the middle tier reflecting a pre-professional-peer-review nineteenth century work of real documentary care rather than a modern academic press monograph. NotesA dedicated 1897 scholarly study of the historical Michael Scot and the legend that grew up around him, written by a clergyman-scholar and published by a recognized Edinburgh academic publisher. Its age means it predates modern folklore methodology and any later scholarly reassessment of Scot; used here only for the CONTENT of the Eildon Hills, bridled Tweed and Boccaccio-Dante legend material as it documents it, not as a final modern authority on medieval Scottish intellectual history generally. 1 Citation
PublisherDavid Douglas (Edinburgh) 1 Publication Year URLhttps://www.gutenberg.org/files/55280/55280-h/55280-h.htm 1 Sources
Claims Backed By This Source (11 claims)
This source backs 11 claims across the atlas. As facts: 7 well-attested. As cited relationships: 2 connected. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Articles, 10 claims: 6 well-attested, 2 connected, 2 general references.
- Sources, 1 claims: 1 well-attested.
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