Adam Scotus (c.1140-1212)

Adam Scotus (c.1140-1212), also known as Adam of Dryburgh, Adam the Carthusian or Adam Anglicus, was a Premonstratensian theologian of the 12th century. Premonstratensians are not monks but canons regular (members of a cathedral chapter), whose work often involves preaching and exercising the pastoral ministry. Little is known of Scotus' life, and the available information is either conflicting or unsubstantiated. In game terms, it would be proper to define him as an adventurer cleric and a hero.

He's believed to have been born in the north of England, and is known to have entered the Premonstratensian order in 1158. It's probable that he lived for a time in Premontre, the parent monastery in France, and one version has it that he was sent as a missionary to Scotland by St. Norbert, head of the order. Scotus's works consist of a number of sermons, letters and treatises in a mystic-ascetic vein. It's widely accepted that he was the originator of the cleric's magic stone spell, as well as the being responsible for enabling a clerical counterpart for several druid spells.

The earliest edition of his work were not printed until 1518 in France; this is Soliloquia de instructione discipuli. No complete edition of his works has ever been published.