Pope Sylvester II

Sylvester II (Latin for " forest man ", real name Gerbert of Aurillac, also Gerbert of Reims; * to 950 in Aquitaine, † May 12, 1003 in Rome) was a mathematician, Abbot of Bobbio, archbishop of Rheims and Ravenna, and finally the first French Pope of 2 April 999 until his death in 1003, is unusual in his career is his descent from simple and humble circumstances -. bishops and popes of his time were usually only persons who came from the high nobility. It was only in the 13th century, a Pope was re-elected, who came from a similar social class II such as New Year's Eve.

He owes his election ultimately only of patronage by the young Emperor Otto III. , Who was his student. This is also reflected in the chosen Pope names again. Sylvester I to have been the ( refuted ) According to legend, a consultant Constantine the Großens.

Life

Is comparatively much is known about the life of Gerbert of Aurillac, because one of his students, namely the monk Richer of St. Remi wrote a history of France and in this so-called Richeri Historiarum Libri IV also details entered on the career of his mentor. In addition, a number of his letters have been preserved.

Gerbert of Aurillac was born near Aurillac in the south of France and came at a young age in a local monastery. He was probably due to its lower classes first a lay brother, the abbot of the monastery, however, recognized his talent early on and allowed him to be ordained as a monk. In one of his later letters Gerbert of Aurillac held that he owed this abbot everything. 967 was the young monk on the Spanish nobles Borrell II, who was at the monastery to visit. Gerbert of Aurillac accompanied this nobleman probably as secretary back to Barcelona and then held on for about two years in Spain, so the young man could study mathematics there. In the following years Gerbert studied in Barcelona held by Christians and perhaps in the Muslim cities of Cordoba and Seville natural sciences and thus had the opportunity to achieve a level of knowledge, which was unusual in the Christian rest of Europe. 969 Borrel made ​​a pilgrimage to Rome and took Gerbert of Aurillac. Gerbert met Pope John XIII. and Emperor Otto I. The Pope persuaded Otto, Gerbert as a tutor for his young son to use the future Emperor Otto II. Later he was sent to Reims in northern France, there to complete his studies. In this time of surviving letters of Gerbert Aurillacs he explains, among other things, why he attached so much importance of arithmetic. Around the year 982 was the support of his former pupil of Otto II, Gerbert of Aurillac abbot in the Italian monastery of Bobbio. Gerbert failed in this office, however, largely. The monastery was impoverished and the monks were against Gerbert, the only owed ​​his position to the patronage of the emperor. Gerbert eventually left the convent and returned to Reims, where he became secretary of the archbishop. After the death of his Dienstherrens in 991 Gerbert followed him in this office. He was considered one of the leading scholars of his time.

From the year 997 was Gerbert personal teacher and policy adviser to the young German Emperor Otto III. (996-1002), the 998 made ​​him Archbishop of Ravenna, and finally 999 for the first French Pope ( 999-1003 ). As Pope, he could support the policy of Otto ( Renovatio imperii Romanorum ). The major goal of Sylvester was to be able to produce peace in the troubled period under the protection of Otto again. However, this project could not be realized, since he had to leave the city after a survey of the Roman nobility in the year 1001. He returned shortly before his death back to Rome.

In May 1003 Gerbert died and was buried in the Basilica of St. John Lateran Lateran. In 1308 a fire destroyed the original tomb. In San Giovanni is a cenotaph of the 17th century.

Scientific activity

The politico- ecclesiastical ambitions equivalent is the scientific activity of Gerbert. His oratorical skills were praised, as well as his knowledge especially in mathematics and astronomy. These are not merely theoretical considerations but based practice with a. Thus Gerbert wrote in a letter ( Bubnov. Ep 148) to the monk Remigius von Trier in some detail the preparation of a celestial globe. Richer of St. Remi complements the presentation yet ( Liber Richeri Historiarum III, 50). It is described that a wooden ball with horse skin was covered. The constellations were applied color in a simple or more elaborate design on this coat; either monochrome as dots in red color, or by using different colors. In this case, it remains unclear whether it is even acted only to points, or perhaps painted constellations. Simple copies of a celestial globe were done after applying the constellations, while the better were also provided with a horizon ring. Associated with the use of Gerbert abacus and astrolabe. Thus Gerbert found to be representative of his time, both the political and ecclesiastical developments as well as of the early medieval canon formation. After Oswald Spengler, he was the one who by 1000 had the " construction of the impact and mechanical clocks invented ".

Legends

In the time from about 1100 developed stories, Sylvester II had dealt with magic and had been in league with the devil. In modern times his scientific achievements were often glorified, we wrote to him the introduction of the Arabic numerals system and the zero-crossing Western numeracy to what happened but both proved only in the course of the 12th century through translations of computing the book of Al- Khwarizmi. It is true, however, that he had role in the introduction of a medieval special form of the abacus with calculation figured stones.

Pope Sylvester to have trembling celebrated New Year's Eve before the first millennium, the fair, and he was expecting the end of the world during the conversion.

Swell

• Fritz Weigle (ed.): The Letters of the German emperors Time 2: The collection of letters of Gerbert of Reims. Weimar 1966 ( Monumenta Historica Germaniae, digitized )
• Life of St.. Bernward, Bishop of Hildesheim, written by Thangmar, in (?): Biographies of some bishops of the 10th - 12th Century, translated by Hatto Kallfelz ( Selected sources on German history of the Middle Ages 22), Darmstadt 1973, p 263-361.
• Thietmar of Merseburg: Chronicon, transmitted and discussed by Werner Trillmich ( Freiherr vom Stein Memorial Vol. IX), Darmstadt 1957.
• Richer of St. Remi: Richeri Historiarum Libri IV ( Monumenta Germania Historica SS XXXVIII)
• Sigrid Hunke: Allah's sun over the Occident. Fischer Library No. 643, 1965, pp. 43 f