778 FOURTH PEKIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
chus S. RemigiL Richer was a pupil of Gerbert, and his history of France was first edited by Pertz.
II. ABR. Bzovius: Sylvester vindieatus. Rom., 1629. Hist. lit. de la France, VI., 559-614. C. F. HOCK : Gerbert oder Papst Sylvester und sein Jahrh. Wien, 1837. MAX BUDINGER : Ueber Gerberts wissenschaftl. und polit. Stellung. Marburg, 1851. GFRORER : Allgem. Kirchengeschichte, Bd. III. Abth. 3. WILMANNS: Jahrbucher des deutschen Reichs unter Otto III. Berlin, 1840. GIESEBRECHT: Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, Bd. I. 613-616; 712-715: 842 (3d ed. 1865). HEFELE : Conciliengesch. Bd. IV. 637 and passim. (2d ed. 1879). A. OLLERIS : Vie de Gerbert. Clermont-Ferrand, 1867. EDUARD BARTHELEMY : Gerbert, etude sur sa vie et ses ouvrages, suivie de la traduction de ses lettres. Paris, 1868. LOUPOT : Gerbert, sa vie et ses ecrits. Lille, 1869. KARL WERNER : Gerbert von Aurillac. Wien, 1878. HAUCK : Silvester II., in Herzog, XIV. 233-240. Comp. also CEILLIER, XII. 901-911. NEANDER: III. 371-374, and REUTER: Aufklarung im Mittelalter, I. 78-84.
GERBERT, the scholar and philosopher in the Fisherman's chair, and the brightest light in the darkness of the tenth century, was born before 950, of low parentage, in or near Aurilac in Auvergne, and educated as a monk in the Benedic tine convent of that place. He accompanied Count Borel of Barcelona to Spain and acquired there some knowledge of Arabic learning, but probably only through Latin translations. He also visited Rome (968) in company of his patron Borel, and attracted the attention of Pope John XIII., who recom mended him to Emperor Otho the Great. He afterwards be came the tutor and friend of the youthful Otho III., and in spired him with the romantic and abortive scheme of re-estab lishing the Grseco-Roman empire of Constantine the Great in the city of Rome. He was ambitious and fond of basking in the sunshine of imperial and royal favor.
Gerbert became master of the cathedral school of Rheims and acquired great fame as a scholar and teacher. He collected rare and valuable books on every subject. He was intensely interested in every branch of knowledge, divine and human, especially in mathematics, astronomy, physics, and music ; he first
g 179. GERBERT (SYLVESTER II.). 779
introduced the Arabic numerals and the decimal notation into France, and showed his scientific and mechanical genius by the construction of astronomical instruments and an organ blown by steam. At the same time he was a man of affairs, a states man and politician.1
In 972 he obtained through imperial favor the abbey of Bobbio, but was involved in contentions with the neighboring nobles and left in disgust, though retaining his dignity. "All Italy," he wrote to a friend, " appears to me a Home, and the morals of the Romans are the horror of the world." He re turned to his position at Rheims, attracted pupils from near and far and raised the cathedral school to the height of prosperity. He was the secretary of the council held in the basilica of St. Basolus near Rheims in 991, and gave shape to the flaming speech of the learned bishop Arnulf of Orleans against the assumptions and corruptions of the papacy.2 No Gallican could have spoken more boldly. By the same synod Arnulf, archbishop of Rheims, an illegitimate sou of one of the last Carolingian kings, was deposed on the charge of treason against Hugh Capet, and Gerbert was chosen in his place, at the desire of the king. But his election was disputed, and he assumed an almost schismatical attitude towards Rome. He was deposed, and his rival Arnulf, with the aid of the pope, reinstated by a Council of Seulis or Rheims (996).3 He now left France and
1 Giesebrecht (I. 615) says of Gerbert ^ " Er gehorte zu den seltenen Gelehrten, die in den welflichen Dingen gleich heimisch sind, wie in dem Reich der Ideen, die von unbegrenzter Empfanglichkeit sichjeden Stoff aneignen, leicht alle VerhdHnisse durch- Schauen und bemeistern, denen die IWfsmitlel dcs Geistes nie versiegen, und deren Kr'dftf auch die zerstreuteste Thdtigkcit kaum erschopft."
2 See above, p. 290 sqq. Baronius declares this synod a fiction of Gerbert, and makes him responsible for the sentiments, the Benedictine editors of the Hist. lit. only for the style, of the acts, "qui est beaucoup au-dessus de celuis de quantite d' autres ecrits du mZme temps" The acts were first published in the Magdeburg Centuries, and then by Mansi and Pertz. See Hefele, IV. 647 sq.
8 Richer says Senlis (in the province of Rheims) ; Aimons, his continuaton says Rheims. The acts of that synod are lost. See Hefele, IV. 646.