Palermo

"next stop: Toledo" I wrote, eagerly anticipating the continuation of the Michael Scot trail. Melrose was great fun but it yielded only memories of legends of Scot, the medieval astrologer, astronomer, 'wizard' of legend. Getting nearer to the real man would mean mainland Europe. We don't really know where in Scotland he came from and his first unambiguous appearance in documented history is in Toledo (well, actually Bologna, in 1215, but he was there in the party of the Bishop of Toldeo). For a variety of reasons that next step has taken more than a year but Toledo still awaits; we went to Sicily.

Michael Scot's enduring fame certainly owes a lot to his association with the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, King of Sicily, King of Germany, King of Jerusalem. Scot joined Frederick's Court sometime between 1220 and 1224 and spent the rest of his life with him, dying in 1235 (probably). Frederick was, apparently a remarkable man, intellectual, tolerant, bold, ruler of a huge swathe of Europe, favoured even by fate - at least at first; '...one of a small band of medieval rulers who possesses modern admirers,' as Abulafia notes (if you doubt us, Abulafia and me, just take a look not only at this tweet in which Frederick is depicted as 'literal coolest dude ever', but also at the thousands of likes and the many responses). Stupor mundi, he was called, 'wonder of the world'. The hyperbolic sense of epoch-making ubermensch has hardly lessened since.

He would always have been noted in scholarly circles but his role as Frederick's Court Astrologer brought Michael Scot and his esoteric knowledge to the eyes of the wider world. According to Kantorowicz, 'The shuddering awe which Frederick II inspired was shared by his Court Astrologer, whom people called a "second Apollo".' Dante placed both men in the appropriate circles of his Inferno, possibly boosting Scot's fame for many more centuries than might otherwise have been the case. Grasping Frederick's story is thus essential to understanding Michael's. Books and articles discussing Frederick are often useful sources for Michael. A visit to Palermo, Frederick's childhood home, capital of his Kingdom of Sicily, home at least some of the time to his Court, seemed like a great way to get closer to the latter stages of Michael's life and times.

Here is The Court of the Emperor Frederick II in Palermo as represented in 1865 by German painter Arthur von Ramberg; a vision perhaps tailored to Frederick's place in the German national origin myth. The great Emperor, noble of mien, receives some awed Muslim visitors. I was intrigued by the turbanned gentlemen conferring surreptitiously at upper right: Court Astrologers and Philosophers?

This picture was pretty much all of my Palermo-specific preparation. I think I wanted to let the city itself lead me deeper into the times and tales of Frederick and Michael. If nothing else, being there led me to read more. I found a vigorous city of great character languishing in many layers of history.

This is Palermo Cathedral. It was built in 1185 on top of a mosque that had been built on top of an earlier Christian church and was modified and augmented several times in succeeding centuries. It is one of the major buildings of the Arab-Norman architecture that emerged in Sicily in the 12th century as the conquering Norman invaders employed Arabic styles and craftsmen, indulging in the 'enthusiastic but often inelegant juxtaposition of ideas and practices derived from several cultures' (Abulafia). Palermo Cathedral is impressive if not 'elegant' but its present-day appearance owes a lot to additions and alterations on top of the Normans' characteristic eclecticism. Its fundamental Arab-Norman identity points to the cultural melting pot Sicily must have been at this time, similarly to Toledo; the right sort of place for Michael's own cross-cultural activity.

Despite the stories we don't know where or how Michael Scot died, or where he was buried. How strange, then, to stand in Palermo Cathedral just a couple of feet from Frederick's sarcophagus, from the mortal remains of the man who, 800 or so years ago, added Michael to his court, came to value his teaching and counsel, incidentally brought him to enduring prominence; sat, possibly no further away than I was from the sarcophagus, asking Michael for astrological counsel on some course of action or posing questions like, 'on what does the Earth rest?'

In the 12th century Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) we saw the beautiful, famous Capella Palatina with its blend of Norman, Arabic and Byzantine form and decoration, but also the royal apartments: ancient wood paneling, high ceilings, decorated again with Byzantine style mosaics. The palace was built not by Frederick but by his grandfather, Roger II, but he would have lived there and used it as headquarters when he was in Palermo. What trusted advisers would have been admitted to the Emperor's own, private apartments?

The great architectural attractions of Palermo were mostly built by Frederick's predecessors in the 12th century. He himself left fewer buildings to posterity. He spent much time away from Sicily and probably had less money to spend. The Castello Maniace in Syracuse is one of the few buildings of his that remains so of course we had to visit it, when we found ourselves on that side of the island. While the H P Lovecraft fan in me likes the idea of a "castle of the maniacs" this is not the meaning of the name - its name comes from the Byzantine general who originally established a fort on the island of Ortigia, perfectly placed for the defence of Syracuse. No trace of that original castle remains and what we see now is something like the building constructed on Frederick's orders between 1232 and 1240, plus some modifications in the years since. A planned second storey was never added.

Everywhere we went in Sicily we saw towns marked by or reconstructed after the earthquake of 1693. The Maniace Castle also suffered an explosion in 1704, in a room being used as an armory. The repairs after the 1693 earthquake were recent enough that the associated documents still exist, incidentally revealing more detail of the original building despite its great temporal remove. The outstanding feature of the castle is doubtless its vaulted Great Hall whose function is quite mysterious, within a military, defensive structure. Frederick may have spent time here but Michael was dead before it was completed. Is it fanciful to suggest that its incorporation of classical motifs into something Gothic mirrors the introduction of classical thinkers to medieval philosophy?

Palermo's great medieval buildings are world-famous, in great condition, very busy as tourist attractions (I might write a separate post on that topic) but the medieval city does not really persist. Perhaps one begins to get some sense of it in the Kalsa district, towards the Piazza Marina, a grand square standing where Palermo's medieval harbour has long since silted up. Frederick spent years at a time away from Palermo taking his Court with him, astrologers, animals and all so it would be wrong to imagine Michael making himself a happy home there. Nonetheless Palermo rubbed my nose in Frederick's times and the environment he grew up in, with all its geopolitical superstructure and, most importantly of all, human depth and complexity. In coming a little bit closer to Frederick's world, so that it starts to feel less cartoon-like, I feel I've also come a little bit closer to the world in which Michael Scot functioned; a fine consequence of a couple of weeks' holiday.