Was Pope Sylvester II a Sorcerer?
His exposure to and use of Arabic science led to claims of necromancy
Not all popes are known for their sanctity. The Middle Ages saw glut of immoral popes. But Pope Sylvester II has the distinction of being the first accused necromancer to rule the church. Religious politics saw witchery in his erudition.
Born Gerbert in south-central France around 946, he entered a nearby Benedictine monastery as a child. An excellent student, in 967 the abbot asked a visiting Spanish count to take Gerbert to Spain to study. He spent three years at church institutions in Catalonia, a buffer zone between the Franks and the Moors. Although the bishop of Vic guided Gerbert’s education, he was still exposed to Muslim ideas of mathematics and astronomy inherited from Greece and Persia.
After leaving Spain, Gerbert became the tutor for Otto II, the son of Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. He then taught at a renowned cathedral school in Reims, France, until 983 when Otto II, now emperor himself, appointed Gerbert the abbot of a monastery in Italy. Otto II died later that year, and Gerbert returned to Reims, where, with some interruptions, he headed the cathedral school until 997. That year he became an advisor to the 16-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Otto III.
