Pope Sylvester II was a prominent 10th-century religious leader who studied astrology and Arabic mathematics in Spain, which led many of his terrified European contemporaries to…

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Pope Sylvester II was a prominent 10th-century religious leader who studied astrology and Arabic mathematics in Spain, which led many of his terrified European contemporaries to genuinely believe he was a dark sorcerer allied with the devil. Introducing basic astrological concepts and an abacus to medieval Christian scholars was apparently so mind-bendingly advanced that the only logical conclusion was that the Pope had made a literal pact with Satan to acquire forbidden cosmic knowledge. You know the educational standards of your era are absolute garbage when observing the stars and doing simple division is considered hardcore black magic by the highest echelons of the Catholic Church