Isagoge geometriae (Introduction to Geometry)

Isagoge geometriae (Introduction to Geometry)

Gerbert of Aurillac (ca. 945–1003) was the first Frenchman elected to the papacy and reigned as Sylvester II for the final four years of his life. His renown, however, stems from his prowess as a mathematician and pedagogue. Among his achievements were the reintroduction of the abacus and armillary sphere to Western Europe, via the Islamic civilization of Al-Andalus. He is also thought to be responsible for introducing the Hindu-Arabic numeration system to the Latinate world. This volume contains texts such as Gerbert’s correspondence with Adebaldus of Utrecht on the isosceles triangle, and a short treatise on the astrolabe, another instrument that he helped familiarize to Christian audiences. This manuscript is an excellent example of Renaissance engagement with scholarship from the High Middle Ages. An assiduous reader of classical authors, including Virgil, Cicero, and Boethius, Gerbert of Aurillac was an outstanding conduit of classical thought for much later readers.

Author: Gerbert of Aurillac (Sylvester II)

mid-12th c., with late 15th- or early 16th-c. humanist annotations

Manuscript on parchment, 56 fols.

University of Pennsylvania, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, LJS 194

Northern Austria (Saint Lambrecht?)