Gilbertus Albans founded The Order of Mentats, and time after, he needed temporary sanctuary with Bene Tleilax who hoped to incorporate them into Tleilaxu hegemony; The Mentat's Order spreaded into uncounted "seed schools", was suppressed by Leto II because they formed a nucleus of independent opposition and was spreaded into the Scattering after the Famine [1].
History per the Dune Encyclopedia
Gilbertus Albans (1192-1294) a Septimian philosopher and logician, conceived a program of far-reaching importance one spring morning in 1231 during some leisure-time reading on the Butlerian Jihad. It occurred to Albans that the legendary computers had been built by humans, and it seemed unlikely to him that they had possessed capacities beyond those of the trained human mind. Over the next few years, he devised a plan of study for the production of human computers, which he named Mentats, and recruited students for the program. The early Order, located on Septimus, consisted of three ranks of adepts: Memorizers, Processors, and Hypothesists. Although often in financial difficulties for his infant Order, Albans refused to allow his Mentats to serve until they had passed through all three ranks. But he did allow those still in training to publicize Mentat abilities, and that practice led to the relocation of the Order House.
One tragic incident on Septimus almost led to the disgrace of the Order. Albans would take his young trainees to various cities from time to time, exhibiting their skills to seek support for his program. On one such occasion, a group of five Processors became separated from the main party. Under instructions from Albans to wait by the city's sports stadium, the group asked a passerby how to find the stadium. He said, "Just follow them — they're on the way to the stadium," and pointed to a band of gladiators. The Processors fell in step behind the gladiators, followed them into the arena, and were killed in the melee of the day's program. There are similar stories of Processors being kidnapped (no difficult task) for carnival sideshow curiosities. Albans saw that at worst the Order risked destruction and at best faced public ridicule. He therefore contracted with the Spacing Guild to relocate to Tleilax. For a percentage of me profits, the Tleilaxu agreed to supply the Order with military protection, beginning an association that was to have regrettable consequences centuries later.
Once Albans was able to train a sufficient number of Hypothesists in seclusion oh Tleilax, he undertook an effective campaign to persuade CHOAM directors and managers of the extraordinary value of Mentats. So economically successful was his program, and so secret were his training methods, that for centuries the Order grew rich. Its Tleilaxu protectors also prospered from their share, and some speculate that the wealth from these early years gave the Tleilaxu the investment capital for their programs in biogenetic engineering. Others suggest that the success and secrecy of the Order of Mentats led the greedy Tleilaxu to attempt the production of Mentats by other means.
Some or all of this article was copied from the following external source:
The Dune Encyclopedia
History per the Legends of Dune
Gilbertus [b. 185 BG] was a savage hrethgir toddler born among the slaves of Erasmus on his villa on Corrin; he was the subject of a second bet between Erasmus and Omnius about whether the way humans could function can be altered. Omnius wagered that no matter how hard Erasmus tried, he would never turn a feral child into a logical human. Erasmus took up the challenge with pleasure and chose the blonde-haired boy who appeared to be the wildest and most unkempt of all, in the animalistic lower social orders of the slave pens. He spent the first few years drugging the boy and driving out his feral habits.
He chose the high-sounding name 'Gilbertus Albans' that carried respectable and important tonalities so that it would evoke such behavior to the child.
After initially failing to make progress by using a system of benevolence and rewards, he switches to a system of strict supervision and punishment as well as behaviour-altering drugs. These alternate methods prove to be successful. By emulating Erasmus, whom he has come to consider his father, Albans becomes the first to display computer-like cognitive and calculation capacity on the level of thinking machines.
After that was accomplished, he then trained Gilbertus to think logically and organize his thoughts, in the same way a computer did. This allowed Gilbertus to remember everything, recite observations at a moment's notice, and rapidly perform computer-like calculations. He was also able to maintain several lines of thought and think in hyper speed.
To his own surprise, Erasmus also develops an attachment to the boy; when Gilbertus is about 20 years old, Erasmus performs a life-extension procedure on him without permission from Omnius. Because of Gilbertus' remarkable memory-organizational ability and capacity for logical thinking, Erasmus nicknames him "Mentat", created from the words mentor, mentee and mentation.
Having already won the bet, Erasmus was determined to make him into the pinnacle of human ability. Soon Gilbertus was also doing physical exercises until his physique was as close to perfection as possible. Erasmus then christened him his mentat, the first ever. He gave him a life extension treatment and developed a fatherly attachment to him.
During the blockade following the Great Purge, Gilbertus enjoyed to spend time with clones of Serena Butler, while Erasmus attempted to reach the quality of the prototype. He was fond of one of them and like to talk with and teach her.
When the Battle of Corrin begun, Gilbertus felt bothered with the concept of the Bridge of Hrethgir; he didn't like the idea that Erasmus would be responsible for the deaths of millions therefore he programmed a trigger mechanism that would detonate the cargoes automatically, without Erasmus' input.
Erasmus then put the clone of Serena in one of the cargoes and then Gilbertus in a safe basement. However Gilbertus realized the truth and decided to join Serena as a slave. He then managed to contact Erasmus through a watcheye and tell him where he is. Erasmus then, to save his ward, reprogrammed and nullified the mechanism. The Army of Humanity fleet then, passed through the Bridge without the expected losses.
Gilbertus returned to Erasmus with the help of a combat robot that Erasmus apprehended, but could not take Serena with him. When the end of the machines was close, he escaped with the memory core of Erasmus and joined a team of soldiers and Martyrists who devastated the structures.
Presumably he found his way into the League of Nobles and trained other Mentats.
References
- ↑ Chapterhouse: Dune , page 193
Appearances
Behind the Scenes
Gilbertus Albans made his first appearance in The Dune Encyclopedia, and some time after he was quoted by Duncan Idaho in Chapterhouse: Dune. This fact placed Gilbertus Albans as the founder of the Mentats at Cannon status, and his history, told us by the Encyclopedia, probably as truth. However it isn't known whether Albans was created by Frank Herbert and added later to his novel, or was he originally developed by Frank, who gave the information about Albans to be inserted in The Dune Encyclopedia.