Pope Sylvester II - Gerbert in Legend

Gerbert in Legend

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. This gave rise to legends that portray him as a sorcerer in league with the Devil. There have been other Popes who were suspected of sorcery, for example John XXI (1276–77) and Benedict XII (1334–42). Pope Gregory XII (1406–15) was questioned about magical practices in 1409 at the Council of Pisa.

Gerbert was supposed to be in possession of a book of spells stolen from an Arab philosopher in Spain. Gerbert fled, pursued by the victim, who could trace the thief by the stars, but Gerbert was aware of the pursuit, and hid hanging from a wooden bridge, where, suspended between heaven and earth, he was invisible to the magician.

Gerbert was supposed to have built a brazen head. This "robotic" head would answer his questions with "yes" or "no". He was also reputed to have had a pact with a female demon called Meridiana, who had appeared after he had been rejected by his earthly love, and with whose help he managed to ascend to the papal throne (another legend tells that he won the papacy playing dice with the Devil).

According to the legend, Meridiana (or the bronze head) told Gerbert that if he should ever read a mass in Jerusalem, the Devil would come for him. 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. In another version, he was even attacked by the Devil while he was reading the Mass, and the Devil mutilated him and gave his gouged-out eyes to demons to play with in the Church. Repenting, Sylvester II then cut off his hand and his tongue.

The inscription on Gerbert's tomb reads in part Iste locus Silvestris membra sepulti venturo Domino conferet ad sonitum ("This place, at the advent of the Lord, will yield to the sound the buried members of Sylvester II", mis-read as "will make a sound") has given rise to the curious legend that his bones will rattle in that tomb just before the death of a Pope.

In fact, Sylvester was said to be petrified at the thought of the new millennium: on the last night of the year A.D. 999, Sylvester nervously celebrated mass, thinking the world might end even as he consecrated the bread and wine.

The alleged story of the crown and papal legate authority given to Stephen I of Hungary by Sylvester in the year 1000 (hence the reign title 'Apostolic King') is noted by the 19th century historian Lewis L. Kropf as a possible forgery of the 17th century. Likewise, the 20th century historian Zoltan J. Kosztolnyik states that "it seems more than unlikely that Rome would have acted in fulfilling Stephen's request for a crown without the support and approval of the emperor."