Fleury. Abrégé de l’histoire ecclésiastique de M. l’abbé Fleury. 1750.

Abregé de L’Histoire Ecclesiastique

de Mr. L’Abbé Fleury

Contenant les I. II. III. & IV. Siècles.

Author: Fleury, Claude, 1640-1723; Morenas, François, 1702-1774
Subject: Église catholique; Papes
Publisher: Avignon : C. Delorme
Language: French
Call number: BX 944 .F55 1750
Digitizing sponsor: University of Ottawa
Book contributor: University of Ottawa
Collection: universityofottawa; toronto

NOTA: The volumes 6 and 8 has not been released yet. The last volumes, 9 and 10, was written by Morenas as continuation of the first 8 volumes of this collection.


Möhler. Athanase le Grand et l’église de son temps en lutte avec l’arianisme. 1841.

Athanase le Grand

et l’église de son temps

en lutte avec l’arianisme

(1841)

Author: Möhler, Johann Adam, 1796-1838; Cohen, Jean, 1781-1848; Gregory, of Nazianzus, Saint
Subject: Athanasius, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria, d. 373; Arianism; Theology, Doctrinal; Church
Publisher: Bruxelles : Publié par la Société Nationale
Language: French
Call number: AYZ-8548
Digitizing sponsor: University of Ottawa
Book contributor: Kelly – University of Toronto
Collection: kellylibrary; toronto
Notes: No TOC

Pastor. The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn from the secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources; from the German. 1891.

The history of the popes,

from the close of the middle ages:

drawn from the secret Archives of the Vatican

and other original sources;

from the German (1891)

Author: Pastor, Ludwig, freiherr von, 1854-1928
Volumes: 40
Subject: Papacy; Catholic Church; Popes
Publisher: London, J. Hodges
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: English
Call number: 270583
Digitizing sponsor: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Book contributor: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Collection: Princeton; americana

Half title, v.1-2: Catholic standard library

V.1-6 ed. by F.I. Antrobus.
V.7-24 ed. by R.F. Kerr.
V.25-34 ed. by Ernest Graf.
V. 35-40 ed. by E.F. Peeler

Publisher varies:
V.3-34, K. Paul, Trench Trübner, & co., ltd.
V. 35-40, Routledge and K. Paul, ltd

V.3-6, 11-12: 2d edition

With Bibliographies


Moore. The treatise of Novatian, On the Trinity. 1919.

LITERATURE. SERIES II
LATIN TEXTS

THE TREATISE

OF NOVATIAN

ON THE TRINITY

By

HERBERT MOORE M. A.

SOCIETY FOR. PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. London
The Macmillan Company. New York.

1919

It is hard to believe that the author of the treatise On the Trinity was simply an ambitious schemer, who adopted a popular theory to secure his own advancement. We may give him credit for having acted from the same zeal for the good of the Church and the glory of God which had led him previously to use his great abilities as a writer to explain the Catholic faith, his devotion to which was perfectly sincere. Religious speculations, some wild and fanciful, others deeply philosophical, were abroad in abundance, springing mostly from Greek or Eastern thinkers. Without the Church, some of these teachers tried to incorporate Christian elements into their systems ; while within, men who professed the faith had allowed these speculations to draw them from the faith as the Church understood it, into forms of opinion which the Church called heresy. Tertullian, in Africa, had written various treatises to purge the faith from these erroneous ideas, and to explain what it really is ; Novatian decided to do the same at Rome. He is the first great Roman writer; great, not only in his powers of thought, but in the cultured style, based upon his study of the best Latin authors, which he was able to devote to the expression of it.

Moore. The treatise of Novatian, On the Trinity (1919).

Knopf. Der erste Clemensbrief. 1899.

Der erste Clemensbrief (1899)

Author: Clement I, Pope; Knopf, Rudolf, 1874-1920
Subject: Church history — Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600
Publisher: Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: German; Greek; Latin
Call number: nrlf_ucb:GLAD-168195396
Digitizing sponsor: MSN
Book contributor: University of California Libraries
Collection: americana; cdl

VORWORT.

Die vorliegende Arbeit verdankt in allen ihren Teilen ihre Entstehung Anregungen meines hochverehrten Lehrers Herrn Prof. Adolf Harnack. Ferner bekenne ich dankbar, für die litterarhistorische Untersuchung, die die letzten 40 Seiten ausfüllt, mancherlei Förderung aus Wrede’s schöner Monographie: Untersuchungen zum ersten Klemensbriefe (Göttingen 1S91), empfangen zu haben.

Für Unterstützung bei Erledigung der Correcturbogen bin ich meinem Freunde Heinrich Weinel, Privatdozenten zu Berlin, dankbar verbunden.

Lic. Rudolf Knopf.

Gregorius VII. Some works.

PROLEGOMENA.

ELOGIUM EX MARTYROLOGIO ROMANO.

Salerni depositio beati Gregorii septimi, Ecclesiae libertatis propugnatori ac defensoris acerrimi.

LEGENDA EX BREVIARIO ROMANO.

LECTIO IV. Gregorius Papa Septimus, antea Hildebrandus, Suanae in Hetruria natus, doctrina, sanctitate, omnique virtutum genere cumprimis nobilis, mirifice universam Dei illustravit Ecclesiam. Cum parvulus ad fabri ligna edolantis pedes, jam litterarum inscius luderet, ex rejectis tamen segmentis illa Davidici elementa oraculi, Dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, casu formasse narratur, manum pueri ductante Numine: quo significaretur ejus fore amplissimam in mundo auctoritatem. Romam deinde profectus, sub protectione sancti Petri educatus est.
Juvenis Ecclesiae libertatem a laicis oppressam, ac depravatos Ecclesiasticorum mores vehementius dolens, in Cluniacensi monasterio, ubi sub regula sancti Benedicti austerioris vitae observantia eo tempore maxime vigebat, monachi habitum induens, tanto pietatis ardore divinae majestati deserviebat, ut a sanctis ejusdem coenobii patribus Prior sit electus. Sed, divina providentia majora de eo disponente in salutem plurimorum, Cluniaco eductus Hildebrandus, Abbas primum monasterii sancti Pauli extra muros Urbis electus, ac postmodum Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalis creatus, sub summis Pontificibus Leone Nono, Victore Secundo, Stephano Nono, Nicolao Secundo, et Alexandro Secundo, praecipuis muneribus et legationibus perfunctus est, sanctissimi et purissimi consilii vir a beato Petro Damiano nuncupatus. A Victore Papa Secundo legatus a latere in Galliam missus, Lugduni episcopum Simoniaca labe infectum ad sui criminis confessionem miraculo adegit, Berengarium in Concilio Turonensi ad iteratam haeresis abjurationem compulit: Cadolai quoque schisma sua virtute compressit.
LECTIO V. Mortuo Alexandro Secundo, invitus et moerens unanimi omnium consensu, decimo Kalendas Maii, anno Christi millesimo septuagesimo tertio, Summus Pontifex electus, sicut sol effulsit in domo Dei: nam potens opere et sermone, Ecclesiasticae disciplinae reparandae, fidei propagandae, libertati Ecclesiae restituendae, exstirpandis erroribus et corruptelis tanto studio incubuit, ut ex Apostolorum aetate nullus Pontificum fuisse tradatur qui majores pro Ecclesia Dei labores molestiasque pertulerit, aut qui pro ejus libertate acrius pugnaverit. Aliquot provincias a Simoniaca labe expurgavit. Contra Henrici imperatoris impios conatus, fortis per omnia athleta, impavidus permansit, seque pro muro domui Israel ponere non timuit, ac eumdem Henricum, in profundum malorum prolapsum, fidelium communione regnoque privavit, atque subditos populos fide ei data liberavit.
LECTIO VI. Dum Missarum solemnia perageret, visa est viris piis columba e coelo delapsa, humero ejus dextro insidens, alis extensis caput ejus velare: quo significatum est, Spiritus sancti afflatu, non humanae prudentiae rationibus ipsum duci in Ecclesiae regimine. Cum ab iniqui Henrici exercitu Roma gravi obsidione premeretur, excitatum ab hostibus incendium signo crucis exstinxit. De ejus manu tandem a Roberto Guiscardo duce Northmanno ereptus, Cassinum se contulit, atque inde Salernum ad dedicandam Ecclesiam sancti Matthaei Apostoli contendit. Cum aliquando in ea civitate sermonem habuisset ad populum, aerumnis confectus in morbum incidit, quo se interiturum praescivit. Postrema morientis
Gregorii verba fuere: Dilexi justitiam, et odivi iniquitatem, propterea morior in exsilio. Innumerabilia sunt quae vel fortiter sustinuit, vel, multis coactis in urbe Synodis, sapienter constituit vir vere sanctus, criminum vindex, et acerrimus Ecclesiae defensor. Exactis itaque in Pontificatu annis duodecim, migravit in coelum anno salutis millesimo octogesimo quinto, pluribus in vita et post mortem miraculis clarus, ejusque sacrum corpus in Cathedrali Basilica Salernitana est honorifice conditum.

Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina. CXLVIII, col. 9-10, 11a-12a.

S. Gregorii VII,... Epistolae et diplomata pontificia. Accedunt prolegomena et appendices amplissimae, veterum et recentiorum monumenta perplurima Gregorii VII apologetica, vel aetatem ejus illustrantia, complectentes. Accurante J. P. Migne,...
S. Gregorii VII,… Epistolae et diplomata pontificia. Accedunt prolegomena et appendices amplissimae, veterum et recentiorum monumenta perplurima Gregorii VII apologetica, vel aetatem ejus illustrantia, complectentes. Accurante J. P. Migne,…
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France

[texts] Pabst Gregorius VII und sein Zeitalter (Volume 2) – Gfrörer, A. Fr. (August Friedrich), 1803-1861
Index bound separately
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Middle Ages
Downloads: 20
[texts] Pabst Gregorius VII und sein Zeitalter (Volume 3) – Gfrörer, A. Fr. (August Friedrich), 1803-1861
Index bound separately
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Middle Ages
Downloads: 35
[texts] Pabst Gregorius VII und sein Zeitalter (Volume 4) – Gfrörer, A. Fr. (August Friedrich), 1803-1861
Index bound separately
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Middle Ages
Downloads: 21
[texts] Pabst Gregorius VII und sein Zeitalter (Volume 5) – Gfrörer, A. Fr. (August Friedrich), 1803-1861
Index bound separately
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Middle Ages
Downloads: 19
[texts] Pabst Gregorius VII und sein Zeitalter (Volume 6) – Gfrörer, A. Fr. (August Friedrich), 1803-1861
Index bound separately
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Middle Ages
Downloads: 12
[texts] Pabst Gregorius VII und sein Zeitalter (Volume 7) – Gfrörer, A. Fr. (August Friedrich), 1803-1861
Index bound separately
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Middle Ages
Downloads: 53
[texts] Pabst Gregorius VII und sein Zeitalter (Volume index) – Gfrörer, A. Fr. (August Friedrich), 1803-1861
Index bound separately
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Middle Ages
Downloads: 29

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[texts] The life and times of Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII – Mathew, Arnold Harris, 1852-1919
Includes bibliographical references (p. vii-viii) and index
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085
Downloads: 521
[texts] The story of Hildebrand, St. Gregory VII – Wilmot-Buxton, E. M. (Ethel Mary)
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Church history — Middle Ages, 600-1500
Downloads: 173
[texts] Gregory VII, a tragedy : [with an Essay on tragic influence] – Horne, Richard Henry, 1803-1884
26
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085
Downloads: 139
[texts] The lives of the popes from the time of our Saviour Jesus Christ to the accession of Gregory VII (Volume 1) – Platina, 1421-1481
vol. 1
Keywords: Catholic Church; Popes — Biography
Downloads: 298
[texts] The lives of the popes from the time of our Saviour Jesus Christ to the accession of Gregory VII (Volume 2) – Platina, 1421-1481
vol. 2
Keywords: Catholic Church; Popes — Biography
Downloads: 225
[texts] Saint Grégoire VII – Fliche, Augustin, 1884-1951
26
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085
Downloads: 151
[texts] The life and pontificate of Gregory the Seventh – Bowden, John William, 1798-1844
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Papacy — History To 1309
Downloads: 336
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[texts] The life and pontificate of Gregory the Seventh v.2 – Bowden, John William, 1798-1844
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Papacy — History To 1309
Downloads: 300
Average rating: 0.0 stars (0 review)
[texts] Gregor VII, sein Leben und Wirken – Martens, Wilhelm
26
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085
Downloads: 39
[texts] Grégoire VII et les origines de la doctrine ultramontaine – Langeron, Edouard
Includes bibliographical references
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Church history — 11th century; Ultramontanism — History of doctrines
Downloads: 297
[texts] Life of Gregory the Seventh ; preceded by a sketch of the history of the papacy to the eleventh century – Villemain, M. (Abel-François), 1790-1870
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Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Papacy
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[texts] Life of Gregory the Seventh ; preceded by a sketch of the history of the papacy to the eleventh century – Villemain, M. (Abel-François), 1790-1870
The metadata below describe the original scanning. Follow the “All Files: HTTP” link in the “View the book” box to the left to find XML files that contain more metadata about the original images and the derived formats (OCR results, PDF etc.). See also the What is the directory structure for the texts? FAQ for information about file content and naming conventions.
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Papacy
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[texts] Fête de St. Grégoire VII [microforme] : souvenir du Franc-Parleur à l’Union-Allet – Franc-Parleur (Montréal, Québec)
Signé: Un Zouave Pontifical de France faisant grand halte en Canada
Keywords: Gregory VII, pape, ca 1015-1085; Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085
Downloads: 52
[texts] Gregors VII. auffassung vom fürstenamte im verhältnis zu den fürsten seiner zeit .. – Meine, Otto, 1881-
Book digitized by Google from the library of University of Wisconsin – Madison and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085
Downloads: 4
[texts] Saint Grégoire VII et la réforme de l’église au XIe. siècle (Volume 1) – Delarc, Odon Jean Marie
Includes bibliographical references
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Church history
Downloads: 69
[texts] Saint Grégoire VII et la réforme de l’église au XIe. siècle (Volume 2) – Delarc, Odon Jean Marie
Includes bibliographical references
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Church history
Downloads: 68
[texts] Saint Grégoire VII et la réforme de l’église au XIe. siècle (Volume 3) – Delarc, Odon Jean Marie
Includes bibliographical references
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Church history
Downloads: 39
[texts] Die Kanonikerregeln Chrodegangs von Metz und der Aachener Synode von 816 und das Verhältnis Gregors VII. dazu – Hannemann, Otto, 1890-
26
Keywords: Chrodegang, Saint, Bishop of Metz, ca. 712-766; Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085
Downloads: 56
[texts] Fête de St. Grégoire VII, pape et confesseur, patron de l’Union Allet, 25 mai 1073 -25 mai 1873 [microforme] : souvenir du huit-centiè me anniversaire de l’exaltation de ce grand pape
Titre de la couverture
Keywords: Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Grégoire VII, pape, ca 1015-1085; Devotional literature; Littérature de dévotion
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[texts] Waltrami ut videtur Liber de unitate ecclesiae conservanda. Recognovit W. Schwenkenbecher – Walram, Bp. of Naumburg, fl. 1090
A defence of Henry IV against Gregory VII
Keywords: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, 1050-1106; Gregory VII, Pope, ca. 1015-1085; Church and state
Downloads: 14
[texts] Epoch men, and the results of their lives – Neil, Samuel
Charlemagne.–Gregory VII.–Roger Bacon.–Dante.–Chaucer.–Copernicus.–Lord Clive.–James Watt
Keywords: Biography
Downloads: 216
[texts] The lives of the popes (Volume 2)
pt. I. From the rise of the Roman church to the age of Gregory VII. A.D. 100-1046.–pt. II. From the age of Gregory VII. to the dawn of the Reformation, A.D. 1046-1431.–pt. III. From the dawn of the Reformation to the Romanist re-action, A.D. 1431-1605.–pt. IV. From the Romanist re-action to Pope Pius the ninth, A.D. 1605-1852
Keywords: Popes
Downloads: 152
[texts] The lives of the popes (Volume 3)
pt. I. From the rise of the Roman church to the age of Gregory VII. A.D. 100-1046.–pt. II. From the age of Gregory VII. to the dawn of the Reformation, A.D. 1046-1431.–pt. III. From the dawn of the Reformation to the Romanist re-action, A.D. 1431-1605.–pt. IV. From the Romanist re-action to Pope Pius the ninth, A.D. 1605-1852
Keywords: Popes
Downloads: 158
[texts] The lives of the popes (Volume 4)
pt. I. From the rise of the Roman church to the age of Gregory VII. A.D. 100-1046.–pt. II. From the age of Gregory VII. to the dawn of the Reformation, A.D. 1046-1431.–pt. III. From the dawn of the Reformation to the Romanist re-action, A.D. 1431-1605.–pt. IV. From the Romanist re-action to Pope Pius the ninth, A.D. 1605-1852
Keywords: Popes
Downloads: 79
[texts] History of the Christian church (Volume 2) – Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893
v. 1. Apostolic Christianity, A.D. 1-100, 3rd ed.–v. 2. Ante-Nicene Christianity, A.D. 100-325, 5th ed.,rev.–v. 3. Nicene and post-Nicene Christianity from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great, A.D. 311-600, 3d rev.–v. 4. Mediaeval Christianity from Gregory I to Gregory VII, A.D. 590-1073.–v. 5., pt. 1. The middle ages from Gregory VII, 1049, to Boniface VIII, 1294, by David S. Schaff.–v…
Keywords: Church history; Reformation
Downloads: 108
[texts] History of the Christian church (Volume 3) – Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893
v. 1. Apostolic Christianity, A.D. 1-100, 3rd ed.–v. 2. Ante-Nicene Christianity, A.D. 100-325, 5th ed.,rev.–v. 3. Nicene and post-Nicene Christianity from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great, A.D. 311-600, 3d rev.–v. 4. Mediaeval Christianity from Gregory I to Gregory VII, A.D. 590-1073.–v. 5., pt. 1. The middle ages from Gregory VII, 1049, to Boniface VIII, 1294, by David S. Schaff.–v…
Keywords: Church history; Reformation
Downloads: 110
[texts] History of the Christian church (Volume 7) – Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893
v. 1. Apostolic Christianity, A.D. 1-100, 3rd ed.–v. 2. Ante-Nicene Christianity, A.D. 100-325, 5th ed.,rev.–v. 3. Nicene and post-Nicene Christianity from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great, A.D. 311-600, 3d rev.–v. 4. Mediaeval Christianity from Gregory I to Gregory VII, A.D. 590-1073.–v. 5., pt. 1. The middle ages from Gregory VII, 1049, to Boniface VIII, 1294, by David S. Schaff.–v…
Keywords: Church history; Reformation
Downloads: 126
[texts] History of the Christian church (Volume 1) – Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893
v. 1. Apostolic Christianity, A.D. 1-100, 3rd ed.–v. 2. Ante-Nicene Christianity, A.D. 100-325, 5th ed.,rev.–v. 3. Nicene and post-Nicene Christianity from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great, A.D. 311-600, 3d rev.–v. 4. Mediaeval Christianity from Gregory I to Gregory VII, A.D. 590-1073.–v. 5., pt. 1. The middle ages from Gregory VII, 1049, to Boniface VIII, 1294, by David S. Schaff.–v…
Keywords: Church history; Reformation
Downloads: 122
[texts] History of the Christian church (Volume 4) – Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893
v. 1. Apostolic Christianity, A.D. 1-100, 3rd ed.–v. 2. Ante-Nicene Christianity, A.D. 100-325, 5th ed.,rev.–v. 3. Nicene and post-Nicene Christianity from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great, A.D. 311-600, 3d rev.–v. 4. Mediaeval Christianity from Gregory I to Gregory VII, A.D. 590-1073.–v. 5., pt. 1. The middle ages from Gregory VII, 1049, to Boniface VIII, 1294, by David S. Schaff.–v…
Keywords: Church history; Reformation
Downloads: 146
[texts] History of the Christian church (Volume 5:1) – Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893
v. 1. Apostolic Christianity, A.D. 1-100, 3rd ed.–v. 2. Ante-Nicene Christianity, A.D. 100-325, 5th ed.,rev.–v. 3. Nicene and post-Nicene Christianity from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great, A.D. 311-600, 3d rev.–v. 4. Mediaeval Christianity from Gregory I to Gregory VII, A.D. 590-1073.–v. 5., pt. 1. The middle ages from Gregory VII, 1049, to Boniface VIII, 1294, by David S. Schaff.–v…
Keywords: Church history; Reformation
Downloads: 97
[texts] History of the Christian church (Volume 5:2) – Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893
v. 1. Apostolic Christianity, A.D. 1-100, 3rd ed.–v. 2. Ante-Nicene Christianity, A.D. 100-325, 5th ed.,rev.–v. 3. Nicene and post-Nicene Christianity from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great, A.D. 311-600, 3d rev.–v. 4. Mediaeval Christianity from Gregory I to Gregory VII, A.D. 590-1073.–v. 5., pt. 1. The middle ages from Gregory VII, 1049, to Boniface VIII, 1294, by David S. Schaff.–v…
Keywords: Church history; Reformation
Downloads: 105

Gerbert d’Aurillac [Pope Sylvester II]. Some works.

Gerbert of Aurillac (ca. 955-1003)

Gerbert was born somewhere in the mountainous region of Auvergne, in central France. Since neither his place of birth nor his parents were recorded, it seems likely that he was of low birth. Sometime about 963, he entered the monastery of St. Gerald at Aurillac. This is the monastery that Gerald the Good had established near his castle just before his death some sixty years earlier, and where he was buried. It was, like Cluny, a rather strict Benedictine monastery and was independent of any local control, being subject only to the pope.

Here he studied his Latin grammar under a teacher by the name of Raymond, for whom he held a special affection for the rest of his life. Of course, by this time, “grammar” had come to stand for the verbal skills included in the trivium — grammar, logic, and rhetoric. In 967, Count Borrell of Barcelona visited the monastery, and the abbot asked the count to take Gerbert back to Spain with him so that the lad could study mathematics there. It would seem that Gerbert had proven to be an apt pupil, and his abbot wanted to see him go on to the study of the quadrivium — arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Borrell agreed and put the lad in the care of the bishop of Vic, where there was a cathedral school. Catalunya, in which both Barcelona and Vic were located, was a frontier territory, and there was considerable communication between Catalunya and the Muslims of al-Andalus to the south. Al-Andalus was much more advanced that Christian Europe. While the greatest library in Christian Europe boasted less than a thousand volumes, the library in the Muslim capital of Cordoba held over four hundred thousand. Catalunya benefitted from the proximity of the cultured Muslims, and the libraries of the cathedral of Vic and the nearby monastery of Ripoll were among the largest and best equipped in Europe.

The proximity of the Muslims meant more than that in the matter of the subjects of the quadrivium, however. The Muslims had fallen heir to both Greek and Persian science in their initial expansion and had translated many classics into Arabic. At the same time, Arabic traders and travelers were in contact with India and China and had absorbed many of their advances. Muslim “scientists” were highly regarded, and perhaps nowhere in Islam as much as in al-Andalus. Muslim astronomy was the most advanced in the world, and Muslim astronomers proficient in using the astrolabe had done much to map the skies. Although the names of modern planets and constellations are Latin, the names of most major stars — Altair, Deneb, Rigel, Sirius, Fomalhaut, Aldeberan, Betelgeuse — are Arabic as are many of the other terms of astronomy, such as azimuth, almagest, almanac, and the Zodiac. The Arabs were even further advanced in the realm of arithmetic. They had adopted the concept of zero from the Indians and used a positional numeric system much like the modern system — in fact, our numerals are based on the Arabic notation. They had also borrowed the abacus from the Chinese and were proficient in its use. They had gone beyond arithmetic and had established algebra, were investigating prime numbers and coordinate equations. Their study of proportions made it possible for them to approach music in a quite precise manner, distinguishing accurately between notes, developing theories of harmonies and discords, and constructing musical instruments with quite accurate tuning. The cathedral school of Vic was able to offer Gerbert much of this knowledge, and Gerbert took full advantage of the opportunity.

As a matter of fact, his knowledge and abilities were so great that some of his contemporaries could not explain them except by assuming that he was ether a magician or had made a pact with the devil. It was in this fashion that the Gerbert of legend arose.

Gerbert had travelled to Spain, where he became the apprentice of a Muslim magician of wondrous powers. Gerbert came to realize that all of the magician’s powers came from the spells that were contained in a book that he kept under lock and key. At the same time, the magician began to suspect that Gerbert wanted to steal his secrets and take them away with him, and so began to watch him very closely and to hide the key to the chest in which he kept his book. The magician had a beautiful daughter, and Gerbert seduced her with the promise of taking her away with him and marrying her. The duped girl helped Gerbert put a drug in her father’s evening wine and, when he had fallen into a stupor, got the key from where he had hidden it, opened the chest, and gave Gerbert the book.

Gerbert immediately fled, leaving the girl behind. When the magician awoke and saw what had happened, he got his horse, which could run faster than the wind, and his dog, which could track anything or anyone over or under both ground and water. As he came to the bridge at Martorell, Gerbert heard the magician riding after him and knew that he had to escape the magician’s dog. He quickly climbed over the side of the bridge and hung by his hands beneath it. Since he was neither above or below either the earth or water, the dog lost his scent, and the baffled magician finally returned home, leaving Gerbert with the book of spells.

Some say that he prayed to Satan to save him from the magician, and that Satan wafted him away beyond the sea. In order to get home, Gerbert agreed to give his soul to Satan, and Satan, in turn, promised to give him powers even greater than those contained in the book of spells. The proof that this story is the correct one is found in the fact that Gerbert kept a human head with him and would put the head on his desk and converse with it through the night, learning many secrets and about the future from it.

In 969, Count Borrell and the bishop of Vic made a pilgrimage to Rome, taking young Gerbert with them. He met and impressed Pope John XIII (965-971) and the emperor Otto I (962-973), who was visiting there also. The pope persuaded Otto to take Gerbert on as tutor for his young son, who was to become Otto II (973-983). After some years at this task, Otto gave Gerbert leave to go to study advanced logic at the outstanding cathedral school of Reims.

He made quite a name for himself at Reims. He set himself to the task of building an organ with constant pressure supplied by water power. There had been organs before, but their air pressure had been generated by the organist pumping with his feet of an assistant pumping a large bellows. This one not only gave an extended steady level of sound, but its pipes were matched mathematically so that its harmonics were superior to anything heard in the West before. Gerbert had also mastered arabic numerals and so could do calculations in his head that were extremely difficult for anyone thinking in terms of Roman numerals. He continued to study the abacus, and even constructed a giant one. He marked out the floor of the nave of the cathedral of Reims like an abacus and made a number of large disks to take the place of the abacus beads. He gathered some sixty-four members of the cathedral school to help him, gave them sticks to push the disks, and sat in the organ loft from where he could see the entire floor. He would call out instructions, and his assistants would move the disks like a great game of shuffleboard. He was able in this way to deal with numbers both larger and smaller than had ever before been possible. He then wrote a book on the abacus that became standard in the new cathedral schools that were arising and revolutionized the study of mathematics in the West.

He was invited to Ravenna to engage in a debate and, while there, renewed his acquaintance with his old pupil Otto. Otto was quite impressed by him and, when he became Holy Roman Emperor in 983, he made Gerbert the abbot of the famous monastery of Bobbio and also appointed him as count of the district in which it was located. Bobbio had been founded by St. Columban and had one of the greatest libraries in Western Europe. It was close to Genoa and had grown wealthy from the trade and commerce that were beginning to enrich all of northern Italy, but it had fallen on hard times. Incompetent abbots had depleted its treasury, local nobles had seized its lands, and its monks had fallen into a dissolute way of life. Gerbert undertook to remedy these matters, but did not get very far.

Otto died the next year, however, and Gerbert lost his patron and protector. Nevertheless, his reputation was so great that he was invited to return as the master of the cathedral school of Reims and secretary to the archbishop. He became deeply involved in the political struggles of the times. Basically, there was a struggle between the Saxon dynasty of Germany, represented by the young Otto III and the Carolingian claimants to the throne of France. When Lothair of France attempted to take Lorraine from Otto III in 985, Gerbert and his archbishop opposed him by supporting Hugh Capet, the count of Paris, as the real ruler of France. By 987, both Lothair and his son had died, and the Carolingian heir was Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine. Charles asked Gerbert and his archbishop for their support, but both used their influence on behalf of Hugh. Hugh was elected king of France, and the Carolingian line of kings came to an end.

The archbishop died in 989, and Gerbert expected to succeed him. Hugh appointed Arnulf, a bastard son of the late King Lothair instead. Archbishop Arnulf was conspiring with the Carolingian Duke Charles, however, and turned over Reims to him in 989. The city was devastated, Gerbert’s possessions seized, and most of his friends imprisoned or driven off. He finally managed to escape his post as the archbishop’s secretary and fled to the court of King Hugh. In 991, Hugh finally had proof of Archbishop Arnulf’s treason, deposed him, and appointed Gerbert in his place.

From 991-997, struggled to hold on to his archbishopric, but eventually lost out. Hugh Capet died in 996, and Gerbert clashed with his successor, Robert II (996-1031), when Gerbert declared Robert’s marriage to his cousin Bertha illegal. Then, in 997, Pope Gregory V (996-998) stripped Gerbert of his episcopal functions. Gerbert fled to the court of Otto II, where he was welcomed and given a small estate. After a short period of relaxation, Gerbert was called to become the teacher and advisor of Otto III, then only seventeen years old. Otto was in Ravenna, the southern capital of the Holy Roman Emperors at the time. When Pope Gregory V died in 999, Otto decided to wrest control of the papacy from local politics and did so by appointing Gerbert pope. Gerbert took the name Sylvester II. Sylvester I (314-335) having been the advisor of the emperor Constantine.

Within short order, the Roman populace rebelled against a foreign pope, and both Otto and Gerbert were forced to flee to Ravenna. Otto led two unsuccessful expeditions to regain control of the city, and, on a third, in 1002, he died in his twenty-first year.

The legend says that Gerbert had built a mechanical head that would answer any questions that could be answered with either “yes” or “no.” It had said “yes” when he asked it if he would become pope, so he asked it if he would die before he had said mass in Jerusalem. The head said “no,” and Gerbert decided that he would never go to Jerusalem. In the course of his duties, he said mass in one of the smaller churches in Rome and afterwards discovered that it was the church of St. Mary of Jerusalem, commonly called by the people simply “Jerusalem.” He became sick shortly after, and called for his followers. In his final delirium, he asked the cardinals to cut his body into pieces and throw them into the cesspools and garbage dumps of the city, saying that, while his body might belong to Satan, he had never consented in his mind to the oath that the devil had made him swear.

Dr. Lynn H. Nelson
Professor Emeritus, Medieval History
University of Kansas
1 January 2001

Silvestri II,... Aimoini, floriacensis monachi, sancti Abbonis, abbatis floriacensis, Thietmari, merseburgensis episcopi, opera omnia. Accedunt Joannis XVIII, Sergii IV, Benedicti VIII,... Epistolae et diplomata. Intermiscentur Arnulfi remensis, Aelfrici cantuariensis,... Notgeri leodiensis, Henrici parmensis, Brunonis lingonensis, Arnoldi halberstatensis,... Gosperti, abbatis tegernseensis, Alberti, abbatis miciacensis, Herigeri abbatis lobiensis, Constantini, S. Symphoriani abbatis, Tietpaldi, tegernseensis monachi, Benedicti, monachi S. Andreae, Purchardi, monachi Angiae Divitis, Roriconis, monachi moissiacensis, Joannis, Diaconi veneti, Bridferti, ramesiensis monachi, scripta quae exstant, accurante J.-P. Migne,...
Silvestri II,… Aimoini, floriacensis monachi, sancti Abbonis, abbatis floriacensis, Thietmari, merseburgensis episcopi, opera omnia. Accedunt Joannis XVIII, Sergii IV, Benedicti VIII,… Epistolae et diplomata. Intermiscentur Arnulfi remensis, Aelfrici cantuariensis,… Notgeri leodiensis, Henrici parmensis, Brunonis lingonensis, Arnoldi halberstatensis,… Gosperti, abbatis tegernseensis, Alberti, abbatis miciacensis, Herigeri abbatis lobiensis, Constantini, S. Symphoriani abbatis, Tietpaldi, tegernseensis monachi, Benedicti, monachi S. Andreae, Purchardi, monachi Angiae Divitis, Roriconis, monachi moissiacensis, Joannis, Diaconi veneti, Bridferti, ramesiensis monachi, scripta quae exstant, accurante J.-P. Migne,…
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France

Gerbert un pape philosophe : d
Gerbert un pape philosophe : d’après l’histoire et d’après la légende / par F. Picavet,…
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France

Lettres de Gerbert (983-997) / publiées, avec une introd. et des notes, par Julien Havet
Lettres de Gerbert (983-997) / publiées, avec une introd. et des notes, par Julien Havet
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France

Études critiques sur divers textes des Xe et XIe siècles. Bulle du pape Sergius IV. Lettres de Gerbert / par Jules Lair,...
Études critiques sur divers textes des Xe et XIe siècles. Bulle du pape Sergius IV. Lettres de Gerbert / par Jules Lair,…
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France

Oeuvres de Gerbert, pape sous le nom de Sylvestre II... / précédées de sa biographie, suivies de notes critiques & historiques par A. Olleris,...
Oeuvres de Gerbert, pape sous le nom de Sylvestre II… / précédées de sa biographie, suivies de notes critiques & historiques par A. Olleris,…
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France

Schultess. Papst Silvester II. (Gerbert) als Lehrer und Staatsmann. 1891.

Picavet. Gerbert, un pape philosophe d’après l’historie et d’après la légende. 1897.

Werner. Gerbert von Aurillac : die kirche und wissenschaft seiner zeit, neue ausgabe. 1881.

Innocentius III. Some works.

Pabst Innocentius der Dritte : eine der denkwürdigen Lebensgeschichten ; nach Freidrich Hurter für Gebildete aus allen Ständen, insbesondre für die studirende Jugend bearbeitet (1845)

Author: Waibel, Alois Adalbert, 1787-1852; Hurter, Friedrich Emanuel von, 1787-1865
Subject: Innocent III, Pope, 1160 or 61-1216
Publisher: Lindau : J.T. Stettner
Language: German
Call number: a6117782
Digitizing sponsor: National Institute for Newman Studies
Book contributor: Saint Mary’s College of California
Collection: toronto

Studi su Innocenzo 3 [i.e. terzo] (1972)

Author: Maccarrone, Michele
Subject: Innocentius III, Pope, 1160 or 61-1216
Publisher: Padova Antenore
Language: Italian
Call number: AFY-0983
Digitizing sponsor: University of Toronto
Book contributor: Robarts – University of Toronto
Collection: toronto

Geschichte Papst Innocenz des Dritten und seiner Zeitgenossen (1835)

Author: Hurter-Ammann, Friedrich Emanuel von, 1787-1865
Volume: 1
Subject: Innocent III, Pope, 1160 or 61-1216
Publisher: Ebingen : J.G. Göbel
Year: 1835
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: German
Call number: a5881672
Digitizing sponsor: National Institute for Newman Studies
Book contributor: Saint Mary’s College of California

Collection: toronto

Geschichte Papst Innocenz des Dritten und seiner Zeitgenossen (1835)

Author: Hurter-Ammann, Friedrich Emanuel von, 1787-1865
Volume: 2
Subject: Innocent III, Pope, 1160 or 61-1216
Publisher: Ebingen : J.G. Göbel
Year: 1835
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: German
Call number: a5881672
Digitizing sponsor: National Institute for Newman Studies
Book contributor: Saint Mary’s College of California
Collection: toronto

Innocent III : les royautés vassales du Saint-Siège / Achille Luchaire,...
Innocent III : les royautés vassales du Saint-Siège / Achille Luchaire,…
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France

Lettre inédite d
Lettre inédite d’Innocent III du 12 mai 1200 / (signé : Abbé Chauffier)
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France

La papauté au moyen-âge : Nicolas Ier, Grégoire VII, Innocent III, Boniface VIII : études sur le pouvoir pontifical / par Félix Rocquain
La papauté au moyen-âge : Nicolas Ier, Grégoire VII, Innocent III, Boniface VIII : études sur le pouvoir pontifical / par Félix Rocquain
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France