Synopsis
ABELARD, b. at Palais, a village of
Brittany, in 1079; d. in the priory of St. Marceilus, near Chalons, April 21,
1142. He was the eldest son of a knight, the lord of the village. His Christian
name was Pierre de Palais (Petrus Palatinus); but when he renounced his
right of primogeniture, and gave up his claims on his parental inheritance in
order to devote his whole life to studies, he assumed the name of Abelard,
either from the French abeille, a bee, or from the French bail, - Latin,
bajulus, - a tutor. His first teacher in philosophy was Roscellinus, who
kept a school in Lokmenach, near Vannes, in Brittany, and was a decided
Nominalist, declaring all universalia to be merely mental conceptions.
His second teacher was William of Champeaux, who presided over the cathedral
school of Paris, and was a decided Realist, declaring the universalia to
be the very essence of all existence, and individuality only the product of
incidental circumstances. Between these two extremes, whose bitter opposition
to each other forms the moving power in the whole history of scholastic
philosophy, Abelard attempted to occupy a position of his own. His positive
views, however, such as they are developed in his Dialectica,
Glossae in Porphyrium, in Categorias, in Topica
Boëthii, etc., are vague and even self-contradictory. In philosophy,
as in theology, he is merely a critic; but his criticism is as bold as it is
brilliant, and in many points it placed him far in advance of his age. He
attacked William of Champeaux, and compelled him to alter his system, - a feat
only to be compared with the gaining of a decisive battle. After this success,
he opened a school of his own, - though he was still a very young man, - first
at Melun, then at Corbeil, and finally at Paris. But William, though beaten,
was still a powerful man. Abelard was compelled to leave Paris; and about 1113
he staid at Laon, where he studied theology under Anselm, a pupil of
Anselm of Canterbury. Shortly after, however, he
returned to Pans, William having retired; and now followed the most brilliant
period of his life. He taught both theology and philosophy, and more than five thousand pupils
gathered around his chair. Nearly all the great men of the age, both within and
without the Church, heard Abelard. Celestine Il. and Arnold of Brescia were
both among his pupils; and his books "went across the sea and the Alps." But
this brilliant career was suddenly checked by his relation to Heloise.
Heloise was a young girl of eighteen years,
an illegitimate daughter of a canon, and living in the house of her uncle, the
Canon Fulbert of Paris. She was very studious, and her further instruction was
confided to Abelard. A passionate love sprang up between them; and they eloped
to the house of Abelard’s sister, where Heloise bore a son, Astralabius.
In order to reconcile Fulbert, the two lovers were married; but, from a regard
to the ecclesiastical career of Abelard, it was determined to keep the marriage
secret. To this Fulbert would not consent; and when Abelard brought his wife to
a Benedictine nunnery at Argenteuil, near Paris, Fulbert suspected an attempt
to get rid of her by making her a nun, and sought revenge. One night he fell
upon Abelard, and had him mutilated, thereby preventing him from ever holding
any ecclesiastical office. Broken by shame and anguish, Abelard retired to the
Monastery of St. Denys, and here he lived quietly for a couple of years (about
1118), teaching in a secluded place - the celia - built for the purpose. But
his views of Dionysius Areopagita, the patron saint of the monastery and of
France, brought him in conflict with the monks. He fled, but was compelled to
return and recant; and though he afterwards was allowed to retreat into the
wilderness of Nogent, in Champagne, where he built an oratory, - the so-called
Paracletus, - he was still subject to the authority of the abbot of St.
Denys. The original Paracletus was made of reeds and sedges; but so many
pupils gathered around the celebrated teacher, that soon a building of stone
could be erected. Abelard, however, felt miserable. One of his principal
theological works, De Unitate et Trinilate Divina, was condemned by the
Council of Soissons, 1121, and he lived in perpetual fear of persecution. He
accepted the election as abbot of the Monastery of St. Gildasius at Ruys, in
Brittany; but here he literally fell among a gang of ruffians. It was
impossible for him to establish discipline. Twice the monks tried to poison
him. Finally they attempted to strangle him, and he had to flee for his life.
Meanwhile Heloise had moved to the Paracletus, the Monastery of
Argenteuil having been closed in 1127: and here Abelard lived for some time;
but his stay caused scandal, and he left. For several years - until the
conflict with his great adversary, Bernard of
Clairveaux, begins - the continuity of his life is lost to us. We only know
that John of Salisbury heard him teach in the school on the hill of St.
Geneveva, in Paris, in 1136, and that he wrote his autobiography, Historia
C’alamitatum, during these years.
As a theologian, Abelard was a disciple of
Anselm of Canterbury; but being by nature a critic,
while Anselm was a mystic,
his dialectics drove him on every point beyond the pale of the established
faith. The doctrine of the Trinity, which forms the centre of his theology, he
always treats in connection with the doctrine of the divine attributes; and, in
spite of all the precautions he takes, the Trinity becomes under his hands a
mere divine attribute. Very characteristic for his attitude with respect to the
Church and the tradition on which it rests is his work Sic et Non. It
consists of quotations from the fathers, arranged in harmony with the loci
theologici, but contradicting each other at every point, without any
solution being offered. At the Council of Sens, 1141, Bernard presented a formal accusation of heresy; and
Abelard left the council without defending himself, and appealed directly to
the pope. But Bernard wrote himself to the pope,
denouncing Arnold of Brescia as one of the champions of Abelard; and
Innocent III., now decided against the latter,
forbade him to write or teach any more, and ordered his writings to be burnt.
By the friendly mediation of Peter Venerabilis, abbot of Clugny, he was allowed
to spend the rest of his days in that place. He continued his studies, "read
always, prayed frequently, and kept silent." He died (sixty-three years old) on
a visit to St. Marcellus, and was buried in the Paracletus. Heloise died
May 16, 1164, and her body was laid in the same coffin, beside that of Abelard.
They now lie together in the famous tomb at Père-Lachaise, Paris.
Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious
Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical
Theology, 3rd edn., Vol. 1. Toronto, New York & London: Funk &
Wagnalls Company, 1894. pp.12-13.
 |
 Peter Abelard, Peter Abelard's
"Collationes". Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001. Hbk. ISBN: 0198205791.
pp.368. {Amazon.com} |
|
Peter Abelard, A Dialogue of a Philosopher, P.J. Payer, translator.
Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1979. Pbk. ISBN:
0888442696. pp.186. {Amazon.com} |
|
 Peter Abelard, Ethics, D.E. Lunscombe,
translator. Oxford, 1971. Hbk. ISBN: 0198222173. pp.206. {Amazon.com} |
|
Peter
Abelard, Ethical Writings. Hackett Publishing Co, Inc., 1995. Pbk. ISBN:
0872203220. pp.171. {Amazon.com} |
|
Peter
Abelard, Letters IX-XIV, Edme R Smits, ed. Bouma's Boekhuis, 1983. Pbk.
ISBN: 9060880854. pp.315. {Amazon.com} |
|
 E.R. Fairweather, A
Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham. Westminster John Knox Press, 1982.
Pbk. ISBN: 0664244181. pp.457. {CBD}
{Amazon.com} |
|
M.T.
Beonio-Brocchieri Fumagalli, The Logic of Abelard. Kluwer Academic
Publishers, 1969. Hbk. ISBN: 9027700680. pp.110. {Amazon.com} |
|
 Jeffrey E. Brower & Kevin
Guilfoy, The Cambridge Companion to Abelard. Cambridge Companions to
Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pbk. ISBN: 0521775965.
pp.382. {Amazon.com} |
|
E.M.
Buytaert, ed. Peter Abelard: Proceedings of the International Conference,
Louvain, May 10-12, 1971. Mediavalia Lovaniensia, Series I, Studia, 2.
Leuven University Press, 1974. ISBN: 9061860059. pp.181. {Amazon.com} |
|
 M.T. Clanchy, Abelard. Blackwell Publishers,
1999. Pbk. ISBN: 0631214445. pp.432. {CBD}
{Amazon.com} |
|
 Gabriel Compayri, Abelard
and the Origin and Early History of Universities. University Press of the
Pacific, 2002. Pbk. ISBN: 1410200213. pp.332. {Amazon.com} |
 |
W.G. East,
"Educating Abelard," Downside Review 411 (2000): 79-84. |
|
 Étienne H. Gilson, Heloise and
Abelard, L.K. Shook, translator. Ann Arbor: 1960. Pbk. ISBN: 0472060384.
pp.208. {Amazon.com} |
|
Leif
Grane, Peter Abelard. London: Allen & Unwin, 1970. ISBN: 0049040030.
pp.192. {Amazon.com} |
|
Paul C.
Kemeny, "Peter Abelard: An Examination of His Doctrine of Original Sin,"
Journal of Religious History 16.4 (1991): 374-386. |
|
Susan R.
Kramer, " 'We Speak to God with Our Thoughts': Abelard and the Implications of
Private Communication with God," Church History 69.1 (2000):
18-40. |
|
 F. Donald Logan, A History of the Church
in the Middle Ages. London & New York: Routledge, 2002. Pbk. ISBN:
0415132894. pp.152-162. {Amazon.com} |
|
David E.
Luscombe, The School of Peter Abelard. The Influence of Abelard's Thought in
the Early Scholastic Period. Cambrdige Studies in Medieval Life and
Thought, n.s., 14. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970. |
|
David E.
Luscombe, "From Paris to the Paraclete: The Correspondence of Aberlard and
Heloise," Proceedings of the British Academy, 74. 1988. |
|
David
E. Luscombe, Peter Abelard, 2nd edn. The Davenant Press, 2001. Pbk.
ISBN: 1859441831. {Amazon.com} |
|
 John Marenbon, The
Philosophy of Peter Abelard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Hbk. ISBN: 0521553970. pp.393. {Amazon.com} |
|
Constant J.
Mews,"The Sententie of Peter Abelard," Recherches De Theologie Ancienne Et
Medievale 53 (1986): 130-184. |
|
Constant
J. Mews, Abelard and His Legacy. Variorum, 2001. Hbk. ISBN: 086078861X.
pp.350. {Amazon.com} |
|
A
Victor Murray, Abelard and St. Bernard. Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1967. Hbk. ISBN: 0719003172. |
|
V. Gayle
Sarber, "Hymn Poets of Medieval Scholasticism and Mysticism: Peter Abelard and
Bernard of Clairvaux," Encounter 48.1 (1987): 151-161. |
|
Jeffrey
Garrett Sikes, Peter Abailard, 2nd edn. New York: Russell & Russell,
1965. pp.xvi + 282. |
|
Martin
M Tweedale, Abelard on Universals. North-Holland Pub. Co., 1976. ISBN:
072048040X. |
|
 Helen Waddell, Peter Abelard, new edn.
Constable, 1987. Pbk. ISBN: 0094680000. {Amazon.com} |
|
Richard E.
Weingart, The Logic of Divine Love: A Critical Analysis of the Soteriology
of Peter Abailard. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. Xiv + 220. |
|
Paul
L Williams, Moral Philosophy of Peter Abelard. University Press of
America, 1983. Pbk. ISBN: 0819111384. |
|
