Medieval Death Trip

A Podcast Exploring the Wit and Weirdness of Medieval Texts

Tag: Gerbert d’Aurillac

MDT Ep. 104: Concerning the Abacus and Succubus of Gerbert d’Aurillac

Detail of an astronomer holding an armillary sphere, from British Library Royal MS 20 B XX, f. 3 (via Wikimedia Commons)

We conclude our miniseries comparing the legends to the real life of Gerbert d’Aurillac: mathematician, pope, and alleged magician. Today’s variant of the Dark Legend comes from Walter Map, and we follow that with a look at the historical Gerbert’s contributions to science.

Today’s Texts:

Map, Walter. De Nugis Curialium. Translated by Montague R. James, historical notes by John Edward Lloyd, edited by E. Sidney Hartland, Cymmrodorion Record Series, no. 9, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1923.

Gerbert d’Aurillac. The Letters of Gerbert with His Papal Privileges as Sylvester II, translated and edited by Harriet Pratt Lattin, Columbia UP, 1961.

References:

Abelard, Peter. Dialectica. Part 4. The Logic Museum, 25 May 2014, www.logicmuseum.com/wiki/Authors/Abelard/dialectica/Pars_4

Allen, Roland. “Gerbert, Pope Sylvester II.” The English Historical Review, vol. 7, no. 28, Oct. 1892, pp. 625-668. Google Books.

Brown, Nancy Marie. The Abacus and the Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages. Basic Books, 2010.

Mann, Horace K. “Sylvester II” In The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, vol. 5, B. Herder, 1910, pp. 1-120. Google Books.

Image: Detail of an astronomer holding an armillary sphere, from British Library Royal MS 20 B XX, f. 3 (via Wikimedia Commons)

MDT Ep. 103: “The Demon Pope” by Richard Garnett

Illustration of Richard Garnett, from The Illustrated London News, 14 May 1892 (via Wikipedia).

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Gerbert d’Aurillac series with a special Halloween anniversary detour into a Victorian version of his Dark Legend: the 1888 short story, “The Demon Pope,” by Richard Garnett.

Today’s Text

  • Garnett, Richard. “The Demon Pope.” The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales. John Lane, 1903, pp. 86-98. Google Books.

Image Credit: Illustration of Richard Garnett, from The Illustrated London News, 14 May 1892 (via Wikipedia).

Music Credit: “Mephisto Polka,” by Franz Liszt (1882-3), performed by Sofja Gülbadamova used under a CC-BY 3.0 license (MusOpen).

MDT Ep. 102: Concerning the Occult Career of Pope Sylvester II

We pick up our unfinished thread from the Melrose Chronicle by exploring the “Dark Legend” of Gerbert d’Aurillac, who became Pope Sylvester II allegedly through the assistance of the devil. We’ll hear one version of this legend as told by William of Malmesbury, and then examine what we know about the historical Gerbert.

Today’s Texts:

  • William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. Google Books.
  • Gerbert d’Aurillac. “Letter 51.” The Letters of Gerbert with His Papal Privileges as Sylvester II, translated and edited by Harriet Pratt Lattin, Columbia UP, 1961, pp. 91-92.

References:

  • Allen, Roland. “Gerbert, Pope Sylvester II.” The English Historical Review, vol. 7, no. 28, Oct. 1892, pp. 625-668. Google Books.
  • Brown, Nancy Marie. The Abacus and the Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages. Basic Books, 2010.

Image: Illustration of Pope Sylvester II with a devil from a 15th-century manuscript of Martin of Opava’s Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum (from Wikimedia Commons).

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