Barry J Weir
Playwright
Author's notes:
    About 5 years ago I read a copy of The Twilight of the Gods (The Thinker's Library-No.81 1949). It's a reprinting of a collection of short stories written by Richard Garnett, an English civil servant and a member of the staff of the British Museum Library from some time around the middle of the 19th century until he retired in 1899 as Keeper of Printed Books. The stories were first printed in 1888.

    One story in particular caught my attention- "The Demon Pope". It concerns Gerbert of Aurillac. Like most of the characters in Garnett's stories- Gerbert really existed. He was a teacher, mathematician, and orator born around 945 AD who became Pope Sylvester the Second in 999 AD. He has the unique distinction of being the Pope of the Millennium (1000 or 1001 AD, depending on how you look at it).

    The story basically makes fun of religious (specifically Catholic) hypocrisy. I'm all for that. I thought with a little rewriting, it would make a great one act comedy.

    I started doing research on Gerbert- finding Harriet Pratt Lattin's translation of The Letters of Gerbert. That's when I realized I had more than a one-act on my hands. I began researching the period. I read everything from Pauline Stafford's Queens, Concubines, and Dowagers to J.A. MacCullough's Medieval Faith and Fable to the brilliant essays of Richard Landes. I'm still reading.

    I learned of the friends and foes who shared Gerbert's 10th century Europe. I learned of the social and political strife that plagued the Dark Ages and how these people struggled to cope. The fictional cardinals of Garnett's story were suddenly replaced with real people and real events.

    That's how Bernard McGinn's Apocalyptic Spirituality got involved. Through that book I discovered Adso of Montier-en-der and his essay on the anti-Christ, the Last Holy Roman Emperor and the Apocalypse. The essay was written about the time Gerbert was born.

    Gerbert had penned two letters to Adso in the 980's- requesting "certain manuscripts". Good enough for me. Everybody sing "Hell-alujah!" The Demon Pope has arrived!

Main Page