ELEVENTH CENTURY, The. The 10th century is commonly said to have been an es pecially backward period in human achieve ment, due to the belief then prevalent that the world was coming to an end in the year 100a This superstition is supposed to have placed an inhibition upon human effort which kept men from serious work. An interesting commentary on this generally accepted impression is to be found in the fact that the two men in the world's most prominent positions of the dine, that is as emperor and Pope, who lived over from the 10th to the 11th century, are distin guished in history for their intellectual abilities while their lives are striking examples of the deep mental interests of the time. The Pope was Sylvester II (999-1003) who before he became Pope was known as the famous Ger bert, the most distinguished scholar of the period. Gerbert wrote a series of works on philosophical, mathematical and physical sub jects which have been preserved and which serve to illustrate the breadth of intellectual interest of the men of his time. He was no merely academic scholar but a man of very practical ability, for he is said to have intro duced the use of Arabic figures into western Europe and to have invented the pendulum dock. A great improvement in the organ is also attributed to him and he is said to have notably influenced the development of tnusic. As Pope, he is laiown for his determined in sistence on the elevation only of men of un blemished character to the episcopal office and his consistent reformation of abuses. He main tained Church discipline firmly, especially in matters of the moral law, even where it con cerned kings and was undoubtedly a man of saintly character. In spite of this, popular legend gradually attributed to him the powers of a magician in league with the devil and after some generations his name became a byword. The incident is illuminating because it demon strates how little the Church was able to pre vent such perversions on the part of the people of the real significance of scientific lcnowledge and original discovery.
The emperor of the transition to tfie second millennium was Otto III, an orphan brought up by his grandmother Adelheid, assisted by a civil and ecclesiastical council who assumed the government and made every effort to give the boy, who was destined to be the ruler of the larger part of Europe, a fitting education. Nothing shows so clearly how much they valued education, nor how well founded were the ideas with regard to it at this time, than the details of Otto's training as they have come to us.
The council thought first about his body, and his physical training was entrusted to Count Hoiko of Saxony. His mental education was begun under Berwand, late bishop of HiIdes heim, known both as litterateur and artist, and famous for his interest in schools of the arts and crafts. To him the Bernward Cross and other beautiful objects of high artistry are due. Later Otto's education was entrusted to the famous Gerbert, deservedly considered the greatest scholar of the period. Special pro vision was made for the teaching of Greek to the young prince, and John of Calabria, where Greek was still a spoken language, was chosen for this purpose. These measures were so suc cessful that Otto III as a young man received the title of °wonder of the world.° When he reached the age of 15 he assumed the im perial power, and his tutor, Gerbert, took the occasion to remind him °how much had been given to him and therefore how much must be expected of him; by Divine Providence he was by birth a Greek (his mother was The ophano, the daughter of the Byzantine Em peror, Romanus II), by dominion a Roman, and that he had inherited the treasures of Greek and Roman wisdom ; as a monarch he was obeyed in Germany, France and Italy as well as by the Slays, and that he wore the greatest crown in the world.° Young Otto as he approached the age of 20 had high aspirations and dreams of restoring the ancient glories of Rome so as to make it the capital of his empire and to surround it with the magnificent circurnstance of the Byzantine court. Personally, however, he exhibited a humility in striking contrast to his position as a monarch and his talent as a scholar. He proclaimed himself the °slave of Jesus Christ and his Apostles? and on his visit to Rome insisted on spending a fortnight in the catacombs of the great church of Saint Clement in fasting and prayer. He spent some time in the cave of Saint Benedict at Subiaco in order to testify his admiration for the man who had begun the organization of modern civilization in the trying times of the •trans migration of the nations, but also in order to ask for help in his own work as he looked forward to it of turning the attention of the world to higher things.