In 1227 Michael Scot, orginally from Melrose in the Borders, “the leading intellectual in Western Europe during the first third of 13thC” joined Frederick II’s court from Toledo, where he had spent years translating Aristotelian metaphysics &philosophy from Arabic to Latin 1/4

Michael Scot's translations from Arabic, particularly Avicenna and Averroes, with their comprehensive scientific views of the cosmos, brought a torrent of new ideas that radically altered the intellectual life of Western Europe. 2/4

A wandering scholar, Scot had studied in Paris & Oxford & subsequently worked in Toledo, where he learned Arabic. He entered Frederick’s court in Palermo in 1227, shortly before Fibonacci, who dedicated to him his updated Liber Abaci, which popularised Indian numerals in Europe

In his Liber Phisionomiae, Scot counselled the Emperor, “My Emperor, you should search into different books & especially into the scientific ones... You should ask all the doctors of all the branches of science in order to get various opinions, and hold discussion with them…"

"In doing so you will keep a high level of science in your kingdom, so that your kingdom will last for many years and your offspring not inherit a neglected desert… " Many however feared Scot as a wizard& Dante through him into the Eighth Circle of Hell, reserved for sorcerers.