enote: Gerbert.] But Gerbert's greatness belonged to a sphere
far wider than that of the local papacy. He was a scholar in the
ancient classics, a logician, mathematician, astronomer and musician, a
great collector of books and a great teacher of men. An Aquitanian by
birth, he was brought up at Aurillac, and then passed from one place of
study to another, till, by the influence of the Emperor Otto I., he
settled at Rheims in 972. His school was a famous one: among those
whom he taught were many bishops, Robert the future king of the Franks
and Otto the future emperor. From Rheims he went as abbat to {201}
Bobbio, where the necessary severity of his rule provoked such
opposition that he was obliged to return to Gaul. [Sidenote: In Gaul]
He returned in time to win the influence of the great see of Rheims on
behalf of the child heir of Otto II., who died at the end of 983, and
to take part in the diplomacy which ended in the transfer of the West
Frankish crown to Hugh the duke of the Franks. When Arnulf, of the
very Karling house which had been dispossessed, became archbishop, and
tried to hand over Rheims to his kindred, Gerbert, the steadfast
supporter of the "Capetians," was made his successor. The election was
of more than doubtful legality, and the politics, papal and imperial,
of the time still further complicated the question: it was only settled
by the transference of Gerbert, on the nomination of his old pupil,
Otto III., to the see of Ravenna, From 998 he remained in Italy till
his death. [Sidenote: and in Italy.] In 999 he became pope, and then
he gave himself, heart and soul, to forward the great schemes,
missionary, reforming, imperial, which were indeed as much his own as
those of the enthusiastic genius of the young emperor. The old offices
of the "republic" were revived and harmonised, as in the East, with the
Christian character of the imperial power. Pope and emperor worked
hand in hand for the conversion of the barbarians: it is said that it
was Silvester who gave the kingship to the Hungarian Duke Stephen, as a
son of the Christian Empire and the holy see of the imperial city. In
the unquiet days of his papacy he was yet able to set an example of
wisdom, counsel, godliness, charity, which formed an epoch in the
regeneration of the Roman episcopate. Zealous, loyal, inspired by an
overpowering sense of duty, {202} Silvester II. in a short time
fulfilled a long time and left a mark on the histor