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in mathematics, mechanics, hydraulics, and astronomy. Dithmar, writing concerning Gerbert, says, "He was well skilled in astronomical observations, and far excelled his contemporaries in various kinds of knowledge. After his banishment from France, he fled to the emperor Otho, and during his stay with him at Magdeburg, he made a clock, which he corrected by observing through a tube 53 a certain star by which sailors are guided in navigation." The knowledge of nature which Gerbert possessed, so far surpassed that of his contemporaries, that they thought him possessed of magical power, and Benno, a cardinal who owed him a grudge for his opposition to the see of Rome, invented and circulated a tale of his holding converse with the devil. His epistles, of which one hundred and sixty-one are still extant, contain many curious particulars respecting natural philosophy." Sylvester II. died in the year 1003.

Numerous causes concurred, in the Eleventh Century, to rivet the chains of ignorance. The eruptions of barbarous nations spread terror and desolation through many of the more civilized parts of Europe. The Christian world, prompted by superstition, undertook the romantic design of expelling the Turks from Palestine. Besides this, literature and philosophy met with new interruptions and discouragements. The small portion of learning which remained was studiously confined within the walls of monasteries by ecclesiastics, who found that the best way to preserve the undisturbed possession of their wealth and power, was to keep the laity still more ignorant than themselves. At the same time, the laity were, through superstitious credulity, not disinclined, for the safety of their souls, to submit their understandings to the direction of their priests; and were easily persuaded, that learning and philosophy were nothing more than handmaids to theology, and therefore could be of no use but to the clergy. And, in

" Chron. l. vi. p. 309. Conf. Trithem. c. 304. Laun. p. 79. "Telescopes not being yet in use, this was probably nothing more than an open tube, intended to keep off the surrounding rays of light.

Leo Urbevitan. in Deliciis Erudit. Lamii, t. ii. p. 163. Baron. Ann. 1003.

Ed. Masson. Par. 1611. 4to. Fab. Bib. L. Med. t. iii. p. 827.

deed, how could the unlearned think otherwise, when they saw, that the learned themselves made no other use of philosophy, than to furnish them with weapons, with which they fought against each other with as much violence as the Christians against the Saracens? Men employed in civil or military life would take little interest in these controversies: they would freely leave the clergy in possession of their philosophy, whatever it might be, and be content to admire, without imitating, a kind of excellence which they did not fully comprehend, and which they saw productive of no good effects. Even among the clergy, most of those who aspired after some distinction were contented with making themselves masters of the principles and practice of music; an art which was at this time in such high repute, that no one who was ignorant of it was judged qualified for any scholastic or theological office; and they who excelled in it were ranked among philosophers of consummate erudition. So violent was the passion for music, that even princes were ambitious of excelling in it. Robert, a king of France, was eminently skilled in this art, and acquired great credit by singing with his clergy.56 Notwithstanding all this, it does not appear that music was commonly studied or taught upon mathematical principles. Some improvement, however, the art received from the monks of this period. Guido Aretine, a Benedictine, acquired great fame by expressing the musical notes in a new scale, ut, re, mi, fa, so, la, in order to facilitate the learning of this art.57 He is said to have taken the words from a hymn of Paulus Diaconus on John Baptist.58

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He made this invention public in his Micrologos, or two books De Musica. After all, this invention was no very material improvement upon the ancients, for before Guido, the musical scale had twenty notes; and the octaves were

38 Trithem. c. 304.

57 Sigebert, c. 144. et in Chron. ad Ann. 1028. "Weizius in Heortologio, p. 263.

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as well distinguished among the Egyptians by seven vowels, or by the method which Pope Gregory introduced, the use of the first seven letters of the alphabet.59

Nevertheless, the eleventh century was not without its learned men. Though science and the arts met with little encouragement from the princes of this period, there were not wanting scholars, whose genius and industry enabled them in some measure to rise above the difficulties of their situations, and whose literary and philosophical labours cast some rays of light upon this gloomy period. Oliver of Malmsbury excelled his contemporaries in the knowledge of mathematical and natural philosophy. Ingulphus, secretary to William the Conqueror, devoted himself to study, in the University of Oxford, and made Aristotle his guide in philosophy, and Cicero in rhetoric.60 Fulbert, a pupil of Gerbert, who enjoyed the patronage of Robert, king of France, and of Canute, king of England, was esteemed one of the most learned men of the age. Berenger, of Cologne,62 was a great master of the dialectic art, and displayed much courage as well as good sense by the opposition which he made against the doctrine of transubstantiation; an absurd dogma, which nothing but such a total neglect of philosophy as disgraced the Middle Age could have produced. Bruno,63 of Cologne, a pupil of Berenger, and preceptor and counsellor to Pope Urban the Second, retired into monastic life, and founded the order of Carthusians. Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, opposed the heresy of Berenger, and employed the weapons of dialectics with great ingenuity and address in defence of transubstantiation. His writings are celebrated for the purity of their Latinity. Anselm, who was also preferred to the archbishopric of Canterbury, applied the subtlety of logic to theology. As an example of his refinement may be mentioned his arguments for the being of God, derived from the abstract idea of Deity, afterwards resumed by Des Cartes. His writings,66 "On the Will of

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59 Voss. de Scient. Math. c. 22. § 7. Et de Viribus Rythmi, p. 91.
co Fab. t. iii. p. 89.
61 Trithem, c. 315. Laun. c. 40.
62 Laun. c. 5. W. Malmsb. Hist. Angl. 1. iii. p. 113.

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Sigebert, c. 154. Trithem. c. 351.

God;" "Free Will," "Truth;" "The Consistency of the Doctrine of Divine Prescience," with that of Predestination, and other points, which abound in logical and metaphysical abstractions, entitle him to the honour of having largely contributed towards preparing the way for the Scholastic system, which soon afterwards universally prevailed. To this list must be added Hermannus,67 a self-taught German, who wrote Latin corrections of some part of Aristotle's works, and who seems to have been the first writer in the West who translated Arabic books into Latin. On the whole, though Gerbert, Anselm, and some others were versed in the subtleties of logic and metaphysics, they were so far from restoring true science, that they involved the study of philosophy in new embarrassments. The few who, by the help of superior genius and industry, raised themselves above the ordinary level of the times, lost themselves in the clouds of metaphysics. They were wholly employed in attempting to explain abstract notionsTM of theology, by terms almost without meaning; hereby ac cumulating frivolous controversies, and obtruding upon the church new refinements in theological speculations, which soon grew up into that monstrous form, to be described in the next book, the Scholastic Philosophy.

A circumstance which greatly increased the confusion and obscurity which prevailed in the schools at this period was, that for want of an accurate knowledge of the Greek tongue, dialectics were not studied in the original writings of Aristotle, but in the wretched Manual of Augustine, which was generally used in the public schools. The ori ginal works of Aristotle, notwithstanding the pains which Nannus, Hermannus, and others, had taken to translate select parts, lay neglected till the beginning of the twelfth century, when his logical and metaphysical writings, lately brought from Constantinople, were rendered into Latin, and read in the University of Paris. From this and other causes, the study of dialectics produced nothing but frivolous disputes and fruitless logomachies; of which this century affords a memorable example in the controversy which was raised by Rosceline, whether the personal

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Trithem. Ann. Hers. t. i. p. 148. Fab. L. Med. t. iii. p. 705..
H. Gandavensis de Sc. Ec. c. 5. p. 118.

distinctions in the Trinity be real or nominal; whence af terwards arose the metaphysical sects of the Realists and Nominalists.*

CHAP. III.

OF THE SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY.

SECT. I.

Of the State of Philosophy in general, from the Twelfth Century to the Revival of Letters.

THE Dialectic philosophy, loaded with metaphysical subtleties, which had been studied and professed by several of the clergy towards the close of the eleventh century, began, at the opening of the twelfth, to be publicly taught in the schools, and to take the lead of every other kind of learning. Abelard, who was a young man at this time, gave this account of the commencement of his studies at Paris: "Preferring the study of logic to all others, and the disputations of the schools to the trophies of war, I entirely devoted myself to this pursuit, and, like a Peripatetic philosopher, travelled through different countries, exercising myself, wherever an opportunity offered, in these contests. At length I came to Paris, where this kind of learning had for some time been cultivated, and put myself under the tuition of an eminent and able preceptor, William de Champeaux." He proceeds to relate several particulars concerning the disputes which were carried on in this school upon the subject of universals, which sufficiently prove, that philosophy was wasting its strength upon trifles, and that it was now, perhaps, more than ever,

Vidend. Fabric. Bibl. Eccl. Hamb. 1718. fol. Trithemius de Script. Eccl. Mirai Auctarium de Script. Eccl. J. Sarisber. Policrat. et Metalog. Op. Lugd. Bat. 1638. Laun, de Scholis celeb. Hamb. 1717. Conring. Antiq. Acad. Diss. iii. Fabr. Bibl. Lat. Med. et Infim. Rechenberg. de Orig. Theol. Myst. ap. Exerc. in N. Test.

Hist. Calam. suar. c. iii.

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