Martin Gerbert (August, 1720 – May 3, 1793),
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
theologian,
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
and writer on music, belonged to the noble family of Gerbert von Hornau, and was born at
Horb am NeckarHorb am Neckar is a town in the southwest of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river, between Offenburg to the west and Tübingen to the east . It has around 25,000 inhabitants, of whom about 6,000 live in the main town of Horb, and the remainder in 18 associated...
,
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, on the 12th (or 11th or 13th) of August 1720.
He was educated at Freiburg im Breisgau, at Klingenau in
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
and at the Benedictine
St. Blaise's Abbey in the Black ForestSankt Blaise's Abbey in the Black Forest was a Benedictine monastery in the village of St. Blasien in the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.- 9th–12th centuries :The early history of the abbey is obscure...
, where in 1737 he took the vows. In 1744 he was ordained priest, and immediately afterwards appointed professor, first of philosophy and later of theology.
Martin Gerbert (August, 1720 – May 3, 1793),
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
theologian,
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
and writer on music, belonged to the noble family of Gerbert von Hornau, and was born at
Horb am NeckarHorb am Neckar is a town in the southwest of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river, between Offenburg to the west and Tübingen to the east . It has around 25,000 inhabitants, of whom about 6,000 live in the main town of Horb, and the remainder in 18 associated...
,
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, on the 12th (or 11th or 13th) of August 1720.
He was educated at Freiburg im Breisgau, at Klingenau in
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
and at the Benedictine
St. Blaise's Abbey in the Black ForestSankt Blaise's Abbey in the Black Forest was a Benedictine monastery in the village of St. Blasien in the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.- 9th–12th centuries :The early history of the abbey is obscure...
, where in 1737 he took the vows. In 1744 he was ordained priest, and immediately afterwards appointed professor, first of philosophy and later of theology. Between 1754 and 1764 he published a series of theological treatises, their main tendency being to modify the rigid scholastic system by an appeal to the Fathers, notably
AugustineAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
; from 1759 to 1762 he travelled in Germany,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
and
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, mainly with a view to examining the collections of documents in the various monastic libraries. In 1764 he was elected prince-abbot of St Blaise's, and proved himself a model ruler both as abbot and prince.
His examination of archives during his travels had awakened in him a taste for historical research, and under his rule St. Blaise's became a notable centre of the methodical study of history; it was here that
Marquard HerrgottMarquard Herrgott , was a German Benedictine historian and diplomat.Hergott was born at Freiburg in the Breisgau. After studying humanities at Freiburg and Strasburg, he became tutor in a private family at the latter place and accompanied his two pupils to Paris, where he remained two years...
wrote his
Monumenta domus Austriacae, of which the first two volumes were edited, for the second edition, by Gerbert, who also published a
Codex epistolaris Rudolphi I., Romani regis (1772) and
De Rudolpho Suevico comite de Rhinfelden, duce et rege, deque ejus familia (1785) (cf Rudolf of Rheinfelden).
It was, however, in sacramental theology, liturgiology, and notably ecclesiastical music that Gerbert was mainly interested. In
1774-Events:* The First Continental Congress in America.* Joseph Priestley refines oxygen.* Johann Gottlob Schneider becomes secretary to Richard François Philippe Brunck.-New books:* Jeremy Bentham - The White Bull* Henry Brooke - Juliet Grenville...
he published two volumes
De cantu et musica sacra; in 1777,
Monumenta veteris liturgiae Alemannicae; and in 1784, in three volumes,
Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra, a collection of the principal writers on church music from the 3rd century till the invention of printing. The materials for this work he had gathered during his travels, and although it contains many textual errors, its publication has been of great importance for the history of music, by preserving writings which might either have perished or remained unknown. His interest in music led to his acquaintance with the composer
GluckChristoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
, who became his intimate friend.
As a prince of
the EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
Gerbert was devoted to the interests of the house of Austria; as a Benedictine abbot he was opposed to Emperor
Joseph IIJoseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
's church policy. In the
Febronian controversyFebronianism was a powerful movement within the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, in the latter part of the 18th century, directed towards the nationalizing of Catholicism, the restriction of the power of the papacy in favor of that of the episcopate, and the reunion of the dissident churches with...
he had early taken a mediating attitude, and it was largely due to his influence that
Bishop HontheimJohann Nikolaus von Hontheim was a German historian and theologian.Born in Trier, he belonged to a noble family which had been for many generations connected with the court and diocese of the archbishop-elect on, his father, Kaspar von Hontheim, being receiver-general of the archdiocese At the age...
had been induced to retract his extreme views. In 1768 St. Blaise's abbey, with the library and church, was burnt to the ground, and the splendid new church which rose on the ruins of the old (1783) remained until its destruction by fire in 1874, at once a monument of Gerbert's taste in architecture and of his
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
sympathies.
It was at his request that it was made the mausoleum of all the
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
n princes buried outside Austria, whose remains were solemnly transferred to its vaults. In connexion with its consecration he published his
Historia Nigrae Silvae, ordinis S. Benedicti coloniae (3 vols, St Blasien, 1783). Gerbert, who was beloved and respected by Catholics and Protestants alike, died on the 3rd of May 1793.