Pope Sylvester II
946 CE–1003 CE · Aurillac, Auvergne
Gerbert of Aurillac was the foremost scholar of his age—mathematician, astronomer, and teacher—who studied in Catalonia, where he absorbed Arabic-influenced learning, including the abacus and the armillary sphere. He taught at Reims, served as abbot of Bobbio and archbishop of Reims and Ravenna, and tutored Emperor Otto III, who made him pope in 999, the first Frenchman to hold the office. He took the name Sylvester to evoke the partnership of pope and Christian emperor. He promoted clerical reform against simony. His extraordinary erudition later spawned legends, unjustly, that he was a sorcerer in league with the devil.
Did you know?
The mathematician who was pope at the year 1000
Gerbert of Aurillac — who studied mathematics and astronomy in Catalonia — became Pope Sylvester II and held the office from 999 to 1003, sitting as bishop of Rome across the turn of the year 1000. He is credited with reintroducing the abacus and the armillary sphere to Latin Europe and with promoting Hindu-Arabic numerals in the Christian West.
How we know
Gerbert of Aurillac (Pope Sylvester II) c. 946–1003; pope from 2 April 999; credited with reintroducing the abacus and armillary sphere and promoting Hindu-Arabic numerals.
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Aurillac, Auvergne
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About Aurillac, Auvergne
Aurillac, a town in the Auvergne, central France, site of a reforming Benedictine abbey. Gerbert of Aurillac, the scholar who became Pope Sylvester II, was educated at its monastery.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Pope Sylvester II’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Pope Gregory V, Pope Gregory VI, Pope John XIX, Pope John XVIII, Pope John XVII
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Pope Sylvester II’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Islamic world
Works
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