Sylvester II

Frankish pope (999-1003)

• Born: c. 945
• Birthplace: Aurillac, Aquitaine, West Frankish Kingdom (now in France)
• Died: May 12, 1003
• Place of death: Rome, Papal States (now in Italy)

Sylvester II, known earlier as Gerbert, was an outstanding teacher whose brilliant pedagogy and ideas contrasted sharply with the cultural darkness of his age, ideas that predated the Humanists and scientists of the Renaissance. Also, he furthered papal-imperial cooperation during his short but significant pontificate.

Early Life

Sylvester II, who was given the name Gerbert at birth, was born to poor parents in Aurillac, which was then part of the late Carolingian West Frankish kingdom. He was educated in grammar at the Benedictine monastery near his birthplace by the monk Raymond, under whose teaching he developed a thorough knowledge and appreciation of Latin literature. Gerbert may himself have taken monastic vows, and he certainly would have spent his life in obscurity if he had not come to the attention of Count Borrell of Barcelona, the Carolingian ruler of the Spanish march (a border region), who visited Gerbert’s monastery in 967. Raymond, by then abbot, asked Borrell to take Gerbert with him to Spain to continue his education, for schools there were regarded as superior to those in Aquitaine. During the next three years, Gerbert studied in Christian Spain with Bishop Hatto of Vich and may have come in contact with Arabic learning. He became particularly expert in mathematics.

About 971, Borrell took Hatto to Rome in an effort to have Vich raised to the level of an archbishopric. Gerbert accompanied them, and he was introduced to Pope John XIII, who was impressed with his mathematical skills. The pope, who was closely allied with the Holy Roman Empire, brought Gerbert to the attention of Emperor Otto I, called “the Great.” This marked an important moment in Gerbert’s career; henceforth he was to have very close association with the imperial family, which came from Saxony. Otto I appointed Gerbert to teach students at the imperial court, including his son and successor, the eventual Otto II.

Gerbert was not satisfied, however, for as he told the emperor he would rather learn what he did not know (that is, philosophy) than teach what he did. In 972, Gerbert met Archdeacon Gerann of Reims, a well-known philosopher, at the imperial court. With the emperor’s permission, Gerbert returned to France with Gerann to study logic (dialectic), while also teaching the archdeacon mathematics. Gerbert quickly surpassed his teacher in philosophy. His accomplishments attracted the attention of Archbishop Adalbero of Reims, who in 973 appointed him to direct the cathedral school. This appointment initiated the most fruitful period of Gerbert’s life.

Life’s Work

For a decade, Gerbert taught brilliantly at Reims. His reputation extended throughout Europe, and his successful efforts to gather together a first-rate library at the school ensured that in subsequent generations Reims would continue to be an important cultural center. From the numerous letters Gerbert left, one can follow the process by which he obtained copies of the best books available on each subject he taught. His knowledge and appreciation of the work of classical authors, especially Cicero, was extensive.

One of the most important aspects of Gerbert’s educational accomplishment was that he taught all seven of the courses in the {I}trivium{/I} and the {I}quadrivium{/I}, the two groups of three and four subjects that together constituted the seven liberal arts of medieval education. None in his own day and few in subsequent generations could match this pedagogical omnicompetence. Gerbert began with grammar, which he defined as “the art of explaining the poets and historians and speaking and writing correctly.” Next came the teaching of dialectic, beginning with introductory works and commentaries by Porphyry and Boethius, then using more advanced works by Aristotle, Cicero, and Boethius. These constituted all the treatises on logic available in Gerbert’s day and represented a standard of accomplishment not to be matched for a century and more. In the teaching of rhetoric, Gerbert made sure that his students understood both the wisdom and the style of the ancient and Christian authors whose works were studied, so that they would be prepared for an active life.

The four subjects of the {I}quadrivium{/I} were taught with both textbooks and visual aids. In arithmetic, Gerbert himself wrote two works (completing a third after he became pope) and made use of the abacus for computational purposes. He was probably the first in Western Europe to make use of an early form of Arabic numerals (actually Hindu-Gobar numerals) from one to nine, without the use of the zero. It is possible that Gerbert had picked up an imperfect knowledge of these numerals while studying in Spain not from direct contact with the Arabs, but from secondary contacts with merchants and the like.

Gerbert’s teaching of music was done in such a way as to emphasize the practical and mathematical aspects of the subject. He utilized a monochord with a sliding bridge, which could be positioned so as to create all the overtones from the root note, thus showing the mathematical qualities and relationships of sounds. One of his students implies in his description of Gerbert’s teaching that a symbol was placed over each note on manuscript music corresponding to the position of that note on the monochord; thus, each pupil could pick out melodies without Gerbert’s help. To present geometry , Gerbert also wrote a textbook of his own. It emphasized classical elements from Euclid’s work as filtered through Boethius, but it drew also on the surveying methods of the Romans. Little is known about the details of Gerbert’s actual teaching of this subject.

It was in the teaching of astronomy that Gerbert was at his best and was most creative. He was familiar with a variety of astronomical hypotheses, but he opted for the geostatic theories of the Roman authority Pliny, probably on the pragmatic grounds of simplicity. To teach the principles of astronomy, Gerbert constructed a celestial globe, made of polished wood covered with horsehide, on which were marked the poles, the celestial circles, and the constellations of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. He also constructed an intricate planetarium, in which the planets were mechanically moved, and at least two complex viewing instruments that allow modern viewers to conclude that his astronomy not only was theoretical but was based on observation as well.

The range of Gerbert’s interests extended beyond the curriculum of the arts. He had a solid acquaintance with medical literature, was familiar with scientific and astrological literature in the Islamic world, and wrote a philosophical treatise that dealt with issues beyond those treated in the study of dialectic. In his learning and his teaching, he had no equal in his time.

It was perhaps this reputation that aroused the jealousy of another well-known teacher, Otric of Magdeburg. After sending one of his own students to spy on Gerbert’s teaching, Otric accused him of a pedagogical error relating to the relationship between the disciplines, which was of considerable importance in the constructing of an educational curriculum. The dispute was important enough and the personalities sufficiently well known that the matter was eventually referred to the imperial court of Otto II. After an extended debate, recorded in the careful notes taken by Gerbert’s pupil Richer, the emperor decided the issue in favor of his former teacher, Gerbert, who returned to Reims with many imperial gifts.

In 983, the emperor further rewarded Gerbert by appointing him abbot of the famous monastery at Bobbio. Even though he continued to teach there, he was unhappy, for local disputes and controversies distracted him. Bobbio was a monastery where corruption had been particularly extensive, and Gerbert’s efforts at reform met aggressive resistance. After the death of Otto II on December 7, 983, Gerbert returned to his school in Reims. There, however, he was unable to resume his teaching career, instead becoming involved in political disputes between the French and imperial parties. He was elected archbishop of Reims in 991, but the circumstances were irregular and he was opposed by the new Capetian Dynasty in France. Gerbert returned to Italy, where he was dependent on the favor of Emperor Otto III , to whom he was close. Otto named Gerbert archbishop of Ravenna in 998. A year later, when the incumbent pope suddenly died, Gerbert was elected his successor, taking the pontifical name Sylvester II.

This choice was significant, for it consciously looked back to the pontificate of the first Sylvester, pope at the time of the first Christian emperor, Constantine. Between this fourth century pair, there was supposed to have been close cooperation; Gerbert and his youthful patron Otto (born 980) intended their era to be one of papal-imperial partnership. Despite this ideal and despite some concrete steps to bring about a period of perfect peace, the reality proved to be different. Otto died prematurely in January, 1002, and Sylvester followed him less than a year and a half later.

Even if Sylvester and Otto had lived longer, it is doubtful that their goal could have been accomplished. Despite the appearance of equal partnership, the Papacy was in reality a subordinate element. Sylvester and his predecessors had, for the most part, been puppets to an imperial policy predicated on theocratic assumptions. Sylvester had a sharply circumscribed sphere of independent action. Even in the city of Rome itself, he was closely controlled by the emperor, who modeled himself on the Byzantine tradition of the superiority of the state over the church (caesaropapism).

Practically the only act Sylvester undertook during his pontificate that was even slightly at variance to imperial policy was in his relations with Poland and Hungary. Otto III was a close friend of Duke Bolesław of Poland (nicknamed “Chrobry” the brave) and had gone to Gniezno in 1000 to worship with the Polish duke at the shrine of the martyred Bohemian missionary Adalbert of Prague and to establish an archiepiscopal see for Poland at Gniezno. There had also been some talk at that time of a royal crown for Bolesław. The emperor clearly conceived that his goal of a sanctified Christian commonwealth was predicated on Germany, the Papacy, and the Western Slavs, especially the Poles. (Indeed, there is a contemporary manuscript illustration that shows Otto being waited on by three figures labeled Germania, Romania, and Sclavinia.) Sylvester, however, was more inclined to reward the Hungarians for their recent conversion to Christianity. The crown that had been intended for Poland was instead given by him in 978 to Stephen I of Hungary. While Otto could not object, for the Hungarians were fully deserving, Sylvester’s initiative was not precisely what he intended.

Significance

For the most part, however, Sylvester was a pliant pontiff who did not challenge imperial authority. It was to be another three-quarters of a century before the Papacy would emerge as an independent force. In other respects, Sylvester’s pontificate was characterized by a high moral tone, which was reflected in his efforts to eliminate simony (the buying and selling of Church offices), and by an administrative efficiency that set a standard for decades to come. His numerous extant letters clearly reflect these concerns. Yet despite these accomplishments, Sylvester’s importance does not lie in the history of his pontificate. It rests instead on his pre-papal career as Gerbert.

As the leading scholar and educator of his time, Gerbert shone with a brilliance all the more bright because of the way he contrasted with the darkness of his age. In the larger picture of medieval and European civilization and culture, he does not seem to merit the reputation for learning he possessed in his own day. One should not forget, however, that he established a tradition that continued. His pupil Richer was in turn the teacher of figures whose importance and influence extended into the generation that brought about the cultural revival known as the medieval Renaissance or the Renaissance of the twelfth century.

In his own time, Gerbert’s accomplishments were so astonishing to his contemporaries they could explain him only by resorting to legends. Some medieval chroniclers, for example, told stories about Gerbert having stolen a book of magic while in Spain, having conjured up the Devil, having sold his soul to gain knowledge and power, and at his death telling his servant to cast his body into the street to let the Devil “have the service of my limbs . . . for my mind never consented to that oath.” All of this reflects the awe in which Gerbert, the peasant boy who became pope, was held.

Bibliography

Dales, Richard C. The Intellectual Life of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. 2d ed. New York, Brill, 1992. The author clearly and thoroughly analyzes Gerbert’s teaching and his philosophical thought, and the chapter that treats tenth century developments is especially well done. Includes a bibliography and index.

Duckett, Eleanor Shipley. Death and Life in the Tenth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1967. An excellent study of the politics, culture, and religious life of the period. Explores major figures, including Sylvester, against the background of their times. Effectively describes Sylvester’s relations with the three Ottos and analyzes his teaching and cultural influence.

Evans, G. R. Fifty Key Medieval Thinkers. New York: Routledge, 2002. A collection of brief biographies, including that of Gerbert and Boethius. Provides a bibliography and index.

Ferzoco, George, and Carolyn Muessig, eds. Medieval Monastic Education. New York: Leicester University Press, 2000. A survey of the history of monastic education during the Middle Ages. Focuses mostly on England but does include generalized discussion of religious education during Gerbert’s time.

Lattin, Harriet. The Peasant Boy Who Became Pope: Story of Gerbert. New York: Henry Schuman, 1951. A biography based on primary sources. The author traces the political issues in which Sylvester was involved.

Pekonen, Osmo. “Gerbert of Aurillac: Mathematician and Pope.” Mathematical Intelligencer 22, no. 4 (Fall, 2000). Discusses Gerbert’s significance as a mathematician, especially his reputed introduction of Arabic numerals into Europe.

Poole, Austin Lane. “Germany: Henry I and Otto the Great” and “Germany: Otto II and Otto III.” In The Cambridge Medieval History/Middle Ages, edited by J. B. Bury. 2d ed. Vol. 3. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1968. A detailed treatment of the larger picture of European and imperial politics in which Sylvester was involved. Especially good at showing the policies and ambitions of the Saxon emperors. The relations between the Ottos and Sylvester are traced carefully.

Sylvester II, Pope. The Letters of Gerbert, with His Papal Privileges as Sylvester II. Translated by Harriet Lattin. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961. A fluid translation of 264 extant letters fully reflecting the intellectual, educational, political, and religious interests and activities of Sylvester.

Taylor, Henry Osborn. The Mediaeval Mind: A History of the Development of Thought and Emotion in the Middle Ages. 4th ed. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966. The author’s chapter on Gerbert contains a good treatment of the dispute with Otric and a fine analysis of Gerbert’s philosophical works.

White, Lynn T., Jr., ed. “Symposium on the Tenth Century.” Medievalia et Humanistica 9 (1955): 3-29. Focuses on the vitality and dynamism of the tenth century. Various aspects of the period are treated, but Gerbert receives special attention within the context of learning. His contributions in astronomy are well treated and placed within the European astronomical tradition.