Today's Scotsman.com (and don't ask why I was reading that ...) has an article on Michael Scott, a thirteenth-century Scottish magician (and Oxford graduate) who served as court astrologer for Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (last seen fictionally in Umberto Eco's Baudolino), and as an advisor to Popes Honorius III and Gregory IX. (Not as unusual as it sounds -- Popes at that time frequently subscribed to astrology.)
In addition to various magic acts that were ascribed to him (including changing the course of the river Tweed and foreseeing his own death following an accident with falling masonry), Scott also translated a number of Arbaic books into Latin.
He has since been immortalized in Dante's Inferno, as well as in Sir Walter Scott's (likely no relation) Lay of the Last Minstrel, and, oddly enough, a British children's television series.
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