Page:Illustrations of the history of medieval thought and learning.djvu/299

Rh the Johannes 'sophista' of the latter is identical with John Scotus, we are entitled to use this conversely as evidence for the credibility of William of Malmesbury's account. M. Hauréau's identification has since received powerful support from the arguments of Dr. von Prantl; and if their conclusion be accepted, it is surely reasonable to claim this John Scotus 'the Sophist' as the same person with his contemporary John the Sophist, whose epitaph William records; especially when the latter, no doubt repeating an old tradition of the monastery, expressly identifies this sophist with the Scot. The extract in du Boulay is therefore a piece of evidence that converges with those in the preceding paragraphs to one centre. We may or may not believe all that William says, but this we may affirm, that his narrative is self-consistent and intelligible, and that it is incompatible with, and contradictory to, the whole concoction with which the false Ingulf has entrapped our modern critics.

7. Mabillon and others have objected that John Scotus could hardly have visited England so late as after the year 880. But there is no reason, because he is known to have gone to France before 847, to conclude that he must have been born before 815. We may fairly presume that the young Scot came to the Frankish court when he was between twenty and thirty: he can hardly have been born much later than 825, but he may have been born as early as 815. But even should we accept an earlier date for John's birth, it does not follow as a matter of course that 'since, according to Asser's account, he must have