Sylvester II

one of the most learned of the mediaeval popes, originally called Gerbert, was born at Aurillac, in Auvergne, early in the 10th century. He was educated in the monastery of his native village, but went early to Spain, where he learned mathematics, and afterwards to Rome. He was appointed abbot of the Monastery of Bobbio, where he taught with much distinction and success. At a later period he went to Germany as preceptor of the young prince Otho, afterwards Otho II, and ultimately became secretary to the archbishop of Rheims, and director of the cathedral school, which became eminent under his care. The archbishop having been deposed, Sylvester was elected to the archbishopric; but he was afterwards set aside, the deposition of his predecessor having been declared invalid. In the year 998, however, he was appointed archbishop of Ravenna, whence he was called to the pontifical throne, April 2, 999, as the successor of Gregory V. He renounced the liberal tendencies of his earlier years, confirmed the judgment of John XV with regard to the Synod of Rheims, and established Arnulph in his archbishopric; convened a synod in 1001 at Rome, which placed the Convent of Gandersheim under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Hildesheim; and awarded title and crown to the king St. Stephen of Hungary, besides conferring on him the right to determine in ecclesiastical matters in his kingdom. While considering a plan for a crusade to the Holy Land, he died in Rome, May 12,1003, and was succeeded by John XVIII. He was a man of rare acquirements for his age. He was an adept in mathematics and in practical mechanics and astronomy, in which departments his attainments acquired for him, among his contemporaries, the evil reputation of a magician. He is also believed to have been acquainted with Greek, and perhaps with Arabic. Of all his works, which were numerous, his letters (printed by Du Chesne in the Historians of France) have attracted most notice, from their bearing on the history of an obscure period. His literary remains have been published by Masson and others, more recently by Pertz, though not complete. See Richeri Hist. Lib. 4 in Pertz, Monum. Germ. Historica Script. (Hanov. 1838), tom. 3; Mabillon, Vet. Analecta (Paris, 1723), p. 102 sq.; Hock, Gerbert od. Papst Sylvester II u. sein Jahrhundert (Vienna, 1837). See also Budinger on the scientific and political importance of Gerbert (Cassel, 1851); Herzog, Real- Encyklop. s.v.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, s.v.