User:AMCWiki1591/Pope Sylvester II

The article is already formatted pretty well and has a decent amount of information. However, the article as a whole isn't super in depth, with some sections being described by only a single paragraph.

Article body
Abacus and Numerals

Gerbert learned of Hindu–Arabic digits and applied this knowledge to the abacus, but probably without the numeral zero. According to the 12th-century historian William of Malmesbury, Gerbert got the idea of the computing device of the abacus from a Moorish scholar from University of Al-Qarawiyyin. The abacus that Gerbert reintroduced into Europe had its length divided into 27 parts with 9 number symbols (this would exclude zero, which was represented by an empty column) and 1,000 characters in all, crafted out of animal horn by a shieldmaker of Rheims. According to his pupil Richer, Gerbert could perform speedy calculations with his abacus that were extremely difficult for people in his day to think through using only Roman numerals. Due to Gerbert's reintroduction, the abacus became widely used in Europe once again during the 11th century.

My Article Additions

Bernelinus of Paris, who was a supposed pupil of Gerbert, wrote a book called the Liber Abaci where he discussed the abacus' design. In this book, he individually introduced each symbol the abacus used and related them to the more common Latin numerical nouns. Bernelinus' Liber Abaci was just one of 11 manuscripts making up the full series, and comparisons between the other volumes show the evolution of the Arabic figures over the course of the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular, Bernelinus' figure for 3 differs from other volumes, as he used the Tironian note resembling "ter" in place of the Arabic symbol. The reasoning for this is not known, but it is speculated that Bernelinus did not want to use an "unbeliever" symbol to indicate the number that represents the Holy Trinity.

Notes/stuff I want to add:


 * Bernelinus of Paris, a supposed pupil of Gerbert, wrote a book called the Liber Abaci discussing the design of the abacus, introducing the symbols it used and relating them to their Latin numerical nouns (Freudenhammer, Thomas (2021). “Gerbert of Aurillac and the Transmission of Arabic Numerals to Europe - Gerbert von Aurillac Und Die Übermittlung Der Arabischen Ziffern Nach Europa.” Sudhoffs Archiv, vol. 105, no. 1, 2021, pp. 3–19. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48636817 )
 * The Arabic figures Gerbert used had not yet been set in stone, with the symbols for 3 and 4 in particular undergoing multiple radical changes across different versions of the abacus. Most of the symbols have seen at least one major change, but 3 and 4 have seen the most (Freudenhammer, Thomas (2021). “Gerbert of Aurillac and the Transmission of Arabic Numerals to Europe - Gerbert von Aurillac Und Die Übermittlung Der Arabischen Ziffern Nach Europa.” Sudhoffs Archiv, vol. 105, no. 1, 2021, pp. 3–19. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48636817)

Early Life
Gerbert was born about 946, or at any rate between 945 and 950. His exact birthplace is unknown, but it must have been in what was then the Duchy of Aquitaine, part of the Kingdom of France. More precise proposals include the town of Belliac, near the present-day commune of Saint-Simon, Cantal, or Aurillac, where he later entered the monastery.

Around 963, he entered the Monastery of St. Gerald of Aurillac. In 967, Count 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 Catalonia and acquire there some knowledge of Arabic learning.

Modifications to what is already written
Gerbert was born into a family of peasants about 946, or at any rate between 945 and 950. His exact birthplace is unknown, but it must have been in what was then the Duchy of Aquitaine, part of the Kingdom of France. More precise proposals include the town of Belliac, near the present-day commune of Saint-Simon, Cantal, or Aurillac. Another speculated location is the province of Auvergne. Gerberts parents, wanting him to have a quality education, took him to receive instruction at the nearby Benedictine Abbey. Here, Gerbert became a pupil of a monk named Raimund, who admired his desire of knowledge and assisted him in his studies.

Around 963, he entered the Monastery of St. Gerald of Aurillac. In 967, Count 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 Catalonia and acquire there some knowledge of Arabic learning. He pursued studies in Barcelona, and also received Arabic instruction at Seville and Córdoba. ''' '''

Notes:


 * Gerbert was born between 945 and 950 at Aurillac in the French province of Auvergne (A Pope-Philosopher of the Tenth Century: Sylvester II (Gerbert of Aurillac) n JSTOR)
 * Gerbert was born into a poor family, and his parents took him to the neighboring Benedictine Abbey for a quality education at a very young age. While there, he became acquainted with Abbot Gerald and became the show pupil of a monk named Raimund, who took a liking to him because of his thirst for knowledge. Raimund assisted Gerbert in his studies, but the exact ways he helped are unclear from what I've seen. (A Pope-Philosopher of the Tenth Century: Sylvester II (Gerbert of Aurillac) on JSTOR)
 * While Gerbert was studying at the monastery of Aurillac, a Spanish nobleman named Count Borel of Barcelona. Gerbert accompanied Borel when he exited and spent some time in Spain, studying at Barcelona as well as receiving instruction from Arabic professors at Seville and Cordova

I'm going to be adding a short section detailing a scientific library he founded and gathered resources for and putting it under the Scholarly work section. Info for this section will primarily come from FREUDENHAMMER, THOMAS. “Lupitus of Barcelona - Lupitus von Barcelona: On the Identity of a Tenth Century Scientific Translator.” Sudhoffs Archiv, vol. 104, no. 2, 2020, pp. 139–51. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48616035 Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.

Scientific Library
In late 984, Gerbert sent a letter to abbot Eberhard of Tours concerning the foundation of a large scientific library. He dedicated immense sums of money to establishing the library and purchasing texts from a wide variety of western European authors. He wrote to many monks and abbots in Europe requesting classical literature from their monasteries. Gerbert was also able to acquire some work from earlier era authors such as Cicero and Statius. Two specific requests Gerbert made that documentation exists for are letters sent to Lupitis of Barcelona and Bishop Miró Bonfill of Girona, asking the former for an astrology book and the latter for an arithmetic book. It can be inferred from this that the library contained many volumes of books covering a wide variety of topics, but the exact size and influence the library had is seemingly unknown.

Notes:


 * The first instance of Gerbert sharing his plans for the library was in a letter to abbot Eberhard of Tours in 984. The source doesn't share the contents of this letter, but I would assume that it contained initial plans on who he wanted to contact (the people he reached out to are mentioned in the source) (pg 142)
 * He spent a lot of money on establishing the library and purchasing works from various European authors. He sent letters to many monks and abbots requesting literature from their monasteries. (pg 142)
 * Ordered works from figures such as Cicero, Caesar, Statius, and several others (pg 142)
 * A couple specific requests we know of are a letter to Lupitus of Barcelona requesting a book on astronomy and a letter to Bishop Miró Bonfill of Girona asking for a book on arithmetic. (pg 142)
 * While it is known that Gerbert collected a large amount of books, the size of the library or any influence it had is seemingly unknown.

Peer Review Response
The work I have done was not evaluated directly, but my partners was and some of the comments made bear relevance for my work. The first and most obvious is that I have only used one reference so far. This is mostly because I have spent most of my time on one section of the article, but the reviewer is correct in pointing out that it would be good for me to start using information from other sources, especially if I begin to edit another section of the article. There are a few criticisms made that I don't believe I have fallen victim to yet, but still want to bring up as things I would like to avoid. These include redundancy, specificity, and providing sufficient context. I think I've done a good job avoiding these pitfalls after reading back through my additions, and I plan to continue doing so. The final comment made was pretty positive regarding all of the changes made so far, with their main request being to add a larger variety of information. I fully intend on doing this as the semester continues, as well as avoiding the writing criticisms mentioned previously.

References