SILVESTER II. (Gerbert), pope from 999 till 1003, famous under his original name of Gerbert, first as a teacher and after wards as archbishop successively of Reims and Ravenna, was an Aquitanian by birth, and was educated at the abbey of St. Gerold in Aurillac. Here he seems to have had Gerald for his abbot and Raymond for his instructor, both of whom were among the most trusted correspondents of his later life. He visited Rome about 971 in company with his two patrons Count Borel of Barcelona and Bishop Otho of Ausona. When brought before the emperor Otto I., Gerbert admitted his skill in all branches of the quadrivium, but lamented his comparative igno rance of logic. He went to continue his studies under Adalbero at Reims, where he seems to have studied and lectured for many years, having amongst his pupils Robert, afterwards king of France, and Richer. Gerbert's fame spread over Gaul, Germany and Italy, till it roused the envy of Otric of Saxony (Octricus of Magdeburg), who, suspecting that Gerbert erred in his classi fication of the sciences, sent one of his own pupils to Reims as a spy, and then accused Gerbert of his error before Otto II. The emperor commanded the two scholars to appear before him at Ravenna, about Christmas 98o, and the disputation lasted, we are told, a whole day. Otto II. appears to have given Gerbert the abbey of Bobbio, but the abbot found difficulty in collect ing his dues, and returned to Reims as secretary to Adalbero.
According to M. 011eris's arrangement of Gerbert's letters, he was at Mantua and Rome in 985. The archbishop died on Jan. 23, 989, having, according to his secretary's account, designated Ger bert his successor. But the influence of the empress Theophana, mother of Otto III., secured the appointment for Arnulf, a bas tard son of Lothair. The new prelate took the oath of fealty to Hugh Capet and persuaded Gerbert to remain with him. When Charles of Lorraine, Arnulf's uncle, and the son of Louis IV. D'Outremer, surprised Reims in the autumn of the same year, Gerbert fell into his hands and for a time continued to serve Arnulf, who had gone over to his uncle's side. He had, however,
returned to his allegiance to the house of Capet before the fall of Laon placed both Arnulf and Charles at the mercy of the French king (March 991). Then followed the council of St. Basle, near Reims, at which Arnulf confessed his treason and was degraded from his office (June 17, 991). In return for his services Ger bert was elected to succeed the deposed bishop.
The episcopate of the new metropolitan was marked by a vigour and activity that were felt as far as Tours, Orleans and Paris. Meanwhile the friends of Arnulf were active in his behalf, and he is said to have been reinstated after the accession of Gregory V. In any case Gerbert seems to have left France towards the end of 995, as he was present at Otto III.'s coronation at Rome on May 21, 996. Somewhat later he became Otto's in structor in arithmetic, and had been appointed archbishop of Ravenna before May 998. Early in the next year he was elected pope (April 999), and took the title of Silvester II. Gerbert is generally credited with having fostered the splendid vision of a restored empire that now began to fill Otto's imagination.
Nor did Silvester II. confine himself to plans on a large scale. He is also found confirming his old rival Arnulf in the see of Reims; summoning Adalbero or Azelmus of Laon to Rome to answer for his crimes ; judging between the archbishop of Mainz and the bishop of Hildesheim; besieging the revolted town of Cesena ; flinging the count of Angouleme into prison for an offence against a bishop; confirming the privileges of Fulda abbey; granting charters to bishoprics far away on the Spanish mark; and on the eastern borders of the empire, erecting Prague as the seat of an archbishopric for the Slays. The genuineness of the letter to St. Stephen, king of Hungary, to whom he sent a golden crown, and whose kingdom he accepted as a fief of the Holy See, is contested. Gerbert's dreams for the advancement of church and empire were cut short by the death of Otto III., on Feb. 4, 1002, followed a year later by the death of the pope himself, May 12, 1o03. He was buried in the church of St. John Lateran.