Lawful Sciences
Despite his dedication to science and mathematics—or perhaps because of it—Pope Sylvester II has been historically linked with legends of magic and sorcery, though these stories are more myth than fact. His reputation for being involved in magic largely stems from his profound knowledge and his use of what was then cutting-edge technology. This episode brings you the story of the life and legacy of Gerbert of Aurillac also known as Pope Sylvester II.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
Music
Purple Planet - Ethereal Eternity
Purple Planet - Running with the Horses
Purple Planet - Renunciation
Purple Planet - Possession
Purple Planet - Sense of Loss
Purple Planet - Shadowlands
Sources
Primary
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Paradiso. Digital Dante.
Burchard of Worms. “Have You Believed? Burchard of Worms, Corrector, 5.60-70, 151-3, 170-80.” In The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment, edited by Brian Copenhaver, 272–274. New York: Penguin Books, 2015.
William of Malmsbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J. A. Giles. Translated by John Sharpe. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1847. Project Gutenberg.
Secondary
Atkinson, Leigh. “When the Pope Was a Mathematician.” The College Mathematics Journal 36, No. 5 (2005): 354–362.
Brown, Nancy Marie. The Abacus and the Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages. New York: Basic Books, 2010.
Darlington, Oscar G. “Gerbert, the Teacher.” The American Historical Review 52, No. 3 (1947): 456–476.
Fawtier, Robert. The Capetian Kings of France: Monarchy & Nation (987–1328). Translated by Lionel Butler and R. J. Adam. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1968.
Hallam, Elizabeth M. Capetian France 987–1328. New York: Longman, 1980.
James, Edward. The Origins of France: From Clovis to the Capetians, 500–1000. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982.
Kitchin, William P. H. “A Pope-Philosopher of the Tenth Century: Sylvester II (Gerbert of Aurillac).” The Catholic Historical Review 8, No. 1 (1922): 42–54.
O’Neill, George. “The Millenary of Pope Sylvester II.” An Irish Quarterly Review 27, No. 107 (1938): 425–436.
Truitt, E. R. “Celestial Divination and Arabic Science in Twelfth-Century England: The History of Gerbert of Aurillac's Talking Head.” Journal of the History of Ideas 73, No. 2 (2012)” 201–222.
