When Otto II became Holy Roman Emperor in 973 ( he was co-emperor with Otto I from 967 ), he appointed Gerbert the abbot of the monastery of Bobbio and also appointed him as count of the district, but the abbey had been ruined by previous abbots, and Gerbert soon returned to Rheims.

After the death of Otto II in 983, Gerbert became involved in the politics of his time.

Gerbert then cancelled a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but when he read mass in the church of Saint Mary of Jerusalem ( also called " Jerusalem church ") in Rome, he became sick soon afterwards and, dying, he asked his cardinals to cut up his body and scatter it across the city.

But the clergy, including both Adalberon and Gerbert ( who later became Pope Sylvester II ), argued eloquently for Hugh Capet, who was not only of royal blood but had proven himself through his actions and his military might.

The choir takes its name from Gerbert of Aurillac who was the abbot of the monastery of St. Columban in Bobbio around the year one thousand and later became Pope with the name of Sylvester II.

As for Gerbert, he set out for the imperial court at Magdeburg and became the preceptor to Emperor Otto III.

His examination of archives during his travels had awakened in him a taste for historical research, and under his rule St. Blaise's became a notable centre of the methodical study of history ; it was here that Marquard Herrgott wrote his Monumenta domus Austriacae, of which the first two volumes were edited, for the second edition, by Gerbert, who also published a Codex epistolaris Rudolphi I., Romani regis ( 1772 ) and De Rudolpho Suevico comite de Rhinfelden, duce et rege, deque ejus familia ( 1785 ) ( cf Rudolf of Rheinfelden ).

Pope Sylvester II ( or Silvester II ) ( c. 946 – 12 May 1003 ), born Gerbert d ' Aurillac ( Gerbert of Aurillac ), was a prolific scholar, teacher, and Pope.

Some years later, Otto I gave Gerbert leave to study at the cathedral school of Rheims where he was soon appointed a teacher by Archbishop Adalberon.

There Gerbert met Pope John XIII ( 965 – 972 ) and the Emperor Otto I, surnamed the Great ( 936 – 973 ).

The Pope persuaded Otto I to employ Gerbert as tutor for his young son, the future Emperor Otto II ( 973 – 983 ).

The next year, from the age of six onward, Otto III would receive education and training from Bernward of Hildesheim and Gerbert d ' Aurillac.

Following the synod, Otto III appointed Gerbert of Aurillac, the Archbishop of Reims, to be his tutor.

Counseled by Gerbert and Bishop Adalbert of Prague, Otto III set out to reorganize the Empire.

Upon learning of Gregory V's death, Otto III installed his long-time tutor Gerbert of Aurillac as Pope Sylvester II.

Intellectual influences from the Arabic world ( including works of classical authors preserved by Islamic scholars ) percolated into the Christian West via Spain, influencing such theologians as Gerbert of Aurillac, who went on to become Pope Sylvester II and mentor to Otto III.

" Gerbert goes on to suggest that if Adalberon wished to free his father who was held captive by Lothair, he needed only to warm up to Hugh by arranging an advantageous marriage alliance with Otto III.

From the 980s, Gerbert of Aurillac ( later, Pope Sylvester II ) used his position to spread knowledge of the numerals in Europe.

Together, they held a synod a few days after the coronation in which Arnulf, Archbishop of Reims, was ordered to be restored to his See of Reims, and Gerbert of Aurillac, the future Pope Silvester II, was condemned as an intruder.

There was so much opposition to Gerbert's elevation to the See of Rheims, however, that Pope John XV ( 985 – 996 ) sent a legate to France who temporarily suspended Gerbert from his episcopal office.

Gerbert took the name of Sylvester II, alluding to Pope Sylvester I ( 314 – 335 ), the advisor to Emperor Constantine I ( 324 – 337 ).

Pope Sylvester II and the Devil in an illustration of c. 1460. Gerbert was accused by his enemies of having studied magical arts and astrology at the Islamic cities of Córdoba and Seville and even at the University of Al Karaouine in Morocco.

* The Peasant Boy who Became Pope: Story of Gerbert, Harriet Pratt Lattin, Henry Schuman, 1951.

The Armillary sphere # History | spherical astrolabe, long employed in medieval Islamic astronomy, was introduced to Europe by Gerbert d ' Aurillac, later Pope Sylvester II.

* 1003 – Pope Sylvester II, born Gerbert d ' Aurillac, dies ; however, his teaching continued to influence those of the 11th century ; his works included a book on arithmetic, a study of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, a hydraulic-powered organ, the reintroduction of the abacus to Europe, and a possible treatise on the astrolabe that was edited by Hermann of Reichenau five decades later.

* April 2 – Gerbert of Aurillac becomes Pope Silvester II and succeeds Pope Gregory V as the 139th pope.

Archbishop Adalberon ( in office 969 to 988 ), seconded by the monk Gerbert ( afterwards ( from 999 to 1003 ) Pope Silvester II ), founded schools which taught the classical " liberal arts ".

The astrolabe was almost certainly first brought north of the Pyrenees by Gerbert of Aurillac ( future Pope Sylvester II ), where it was integrated into the quadrivium at the school in Reims, France, sometime before the turn of the 11th century.

Many persons availed themselves of the advantages offered by his reforms, among them Gerbert, the monk of Aurillac, afterwards Pope Sylvester II, who was distinguished for his learning.

The armillary sphere was introduced to Western Europe via Al-Andalus in the late 10th century with the efforts of Gerbert d ' Aurillac, the later Pope Sylvester II ( r. 999 – 1003 ).

The turn of events outran the messages, when Hugh Capet captured both Charles and Archbishop Arnulf and convoked a synod at Reims in June 991, which obediently deposed Arnulf and chose as his successor Abbot Gerbert of Aurillac, afterwards Pope Silvester II.

Upon the death of Louis V, in 987, Adalberon and Gerbert of Aurillac addressed the electoral assembly at Senlis in favour of Hugh Capet, to replace the Carolingian monarch.

In 967, Borrell II of Barcelona ( 947 – 992 ), visited the monastery, and the abbot asked the Count to take Gerbert with him so that the lad could study mathematics in Spain and acquire there some knowledge of Arabic learning.

Gerbert learned of Hindu – Arabic digits and applied this knowledge to the abacus, but according to Charles Seife without the numeral of zero.

* Darlington, Oscar G. " Gerbert, the Teacher ," The American Historical Review ( Volume 52, Number 3, 1947 ): 456 – 476.

* E. R. Truitt, " 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, 2 ( 2012 ), 201 – 222.

* A translation of the letters of Gerbert ( 982 – 987 ) with introduction and notes, Harriet Pratt Lattin, tr., Columbus, OH, H. L. Hedrick, 1932.

* Darlington, Oscar G. " Gerbert, the Teacher ", The American Historical Review ( Volume 52, Number 3, 1947 ): 456 – 476.

* May 3 – Martin Gerbert, German theologian and historian ( b. 1720 )

Some early legends of the existence of " speaking heads " involved Gerbert of Aurillac ( d. 1003 AD ), Albertus Magnus ( 1198 – 1280 ), and Roger Bacon ( 1214 – 1294 ).

* Darlington, Oscar G. " Gerbert, the Teacher ," The American Historical Review ( Volume 52, Number 3, 1947 ): 456 – 476.

* Martin Gerbert – De cantu et musica sacra

* May 3 – Martin Gerbert, music writer ( b. 1720 )

* 991 – 998: Gerbert d ' Aurillac, later Pope Sylvester II