Abélard's travels finally brought him to Paris while still
in his teens. There, in the great cathedral school of Notre-Dame
de Paris,he was taught for a while by William of Champeaux, the
disciple of Anselm of Laon, and most advanced of Realists. He was
soon able to defeat the master in argument, resulting in a long
duel that ended in the downfall of the philosophic theory of Realism,
till then dominant in the early Middle Ages. It was to be replaced
by Abélard's Conceptualism, or by Nominalism, the principal
rival of Realism prior to Abélard. First, against opposition
from the metropolitan teacher, while yet only twenty-two, Abélard
set up a school of his own at Melun. Then, for more direct competitionwith
his old master, he moved to Corbeil, which was nearer Paris.
The
success of his teaching was notable, though the strain proved
too great for his constitution. Upon his return, some time after
1108, he found William lecturing in a monastic retreat outside
the city. There they once again became rivals. Abélard
was once again victorious, and now stood supreme. From Melun,
where he had resumed teaching, Abélard went on to the capital,
and set up his school on the heights of Montagne Sainte-Geneviève,
overlooking Notre-Dame. From his success in dialectic, he next
turned to theology and attended the lectures of Anselm at Laon.
His triumph was complete; the pupil was able to give lectures
which were acknowledged superior to those of the master. Abélard
was now at the height of his fame. He stepped into the chair at
Notre-Dame, being also nominated canon, about the year 1115.
Distinguished
in figure and manners, Abélard was often seen surrounded
by crowds. It is said thousands of students were drawn to him
from all over Europe by the fame of his teaching. Enriched by
the offerings of his pupils, and entertained with universal admiration,
he came to think himself the only undefeated philosopher in the
world. But a change in his fortunes was at hand. In his devotion
to science, he had always lived a very regular life, enlivened
only by philosophical debate: now, at the height of his fame,
he encountered romance.
His
love, Héloïse
Living within the precincts of Notre-Dame, under the care of her
uncle, the canon Fulbert, was a girl named Héloïse,
born about 1101. She is said to have been beautiful, but still
more remarkable for her knowledge, which extended beyond Latin
to Greek and Hebrew. Abélard fell in love with her. He
sought and gained a place in Fulbert's house. Becoming tutor to
the girl, he used his power for the purpose of seduction, and
she returned his devotion. Their relations interfered with his
public work but were not kept a secret by Abélard himself.
Soon everyone knew of the affair except the trusting Fulbert.
Once her uncle found out, the lovers were separated, but continued
to meet in secret. Héloïse became pregnant, and was
carried off by Abélard to Brittany, where she gave birth
to a son. To appease her furious uncle, Abélard proposed
a secret marriage, in order not to mar his prospects of advancement
in the church, but Héloïse opposed the idea. She appealed
to him not to sacrifice the independence of his life
for her ,
but reluctantly gave in to pressure from her uncle and Abelard.
The
secret was not kept by Fulbert and when Héloïse boldly
denied it, life was made so difficult for her that she sought
refuge in the convent of Argenteuil. Immediately, Fulbert (who
believed that Abelard, who had helped her run away, wanted to
be rid of her) plotted revenge. He and a few others broke into
Abélard's chamber by night and castrated him. The priesthood
and ecclesiastical office were thereafter canonically closed to
him. Héloïse, not yet twenty, completed her self-sacrifice
at Abélard's insistence and became a nun.
Later
life
It was in the abbey of Saint-Denis that Abélard, now aged
forty, sought to bury himself as a monk. Finding no respite in
the cloister, and having gradually turned again to study, he reopened
his school at the priory of Maisonceile in 1120. His lectures,
now framed in a devotional spirit, were once again heard by crowds
of students and his old influence seemed to have returned. However,
he still had many enemies. No sooner had he published his theological
lectures than his adversaries picked up on his rationalistic interpretation
of the Trinitarian dogma. Charging him with the heresy of Sabellius
in a provincial synod held at Soissons in 1121, they obtained
an official condemnation of his teaching Abelard was made to burn
his book and was then confined in the convent of St. Medard at
Soissons.
It
was, for Abelard, a very bitter experience. The life in his own
monastery proved no more congenial than it had before. Abélard
was partly responsible for this turn of events. He took a sort
of malicious pleasure in irritating his fellow monks. As an example,
he cited Bede to prove that Dionysius the Areopagite had been
Bishop of Corinth, while his fellow monks relied upon the statement
of the Abbot Hilduin that he had been Bishop of Athens. When his
historical heresy led to the inevitable persecution, Abélard
wrote a letter to the Abbot Adam in which he repeated his claim.
Life in the monastery was intolerable for Abélard, and
he was finally allowed to leave. In a deserted area near Nogent-sur-Seine,
he built a cabin of stubble and reeds, and lived the life of a
hermit. When his retreat became known, students flocked to him
from Paris, and covered the wilderness around him with their tents
and huts. When he began to teach again he found consolation, and
in gratitude he consecrated the new Oratory of the Paraclete at
his hermitage.
Abélard,
fearing new persecution, left the Oratory to find another refuge.
He acceped an invitation to preside over the abbey of Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys,
far away in Lower Brittany. The region was inhospitable, the domain
a prey to outlaws, the house itself savage and disorderly. Yet
for nearly ten years he continued to struggle with fate before
he left. The misery of those years was lightened because he had
been able, on the breaking up of Héloïse's convent
at Argenteuil, to establish her as head of a new religious house
at the deserted Paraclete, and in the capacity of spiritual director
he often was called to revisit the spot thus made doubly dear
to him.
All
this time Héloïse had lived respectably. Living on
for some time apart (we do not know exactly where), after his
flight from the Abbey of St Gildas, Abélard wrote, among
other things, his famous Historia Calamitatum, and thus moved
her to write her First Letter, which remains an unsurpassed example
of human passion and womanly devotion. It was followed by two
other Letters, in which she finally accepted the role of resignation
which, now as a brother to a sister, Abélard commended
to her. He soon returned to the site of his early triumphs, lecturing
on Mount St. Genevieve in 1136, but it was only for a brief period:
a last great trial awaited him.
As
far back as the days in Paraclete , his chief enemy had been Bernard
of Clairvaux. Bernard personified the principle of fervent and
unhesitating faith, from which rational inquiry like Abélard's
was a clear revolt. Bernard was moved to crush what he saw as
the the growing evil represented bu Abelarde. A council met at
Sens in 1141, before which Abélard was formally arraigned
upon a number of heretical charges. When Bernard opened the case,
Abélard suddenly appealed to Rome.
Bernard
did not rest until a second condemnation was procured at Rome
in the following year. Abelard, on his way to Rome to make his
plea in person collapsed at the abbey of Cluny. There he lingered
only a few months before his death. He was taken by friends to
the priory of St. Marcel, near Chalon-sur-Saone, where he died.
First buried at St. Marcel, his remains were soon moved secretly
to the Paraclete, and given over to the loving care of Héloïse,
who in time came herself to rest beside them. The bones of the
pair were moved more than once afterwards, but they were preserved
even through the French Revolution, and now are presumed to lie
in the well-known tomb in the cemetery of Père Lachaise
in eastern Paris, though there seems to be some dissent as to
their actual resting place. The
Oratory of the Paraclete claims he and Héloïse are
buried on their site and that what exists in Père-Lachaise
is merely a monument. According to Père-Lachaise, the remains
of both lovers were transferred from the Oratory in the early
1800's and reburied in the famous crypt on their grounds. There
are still others who believe that while Abélard is buried
in the tomb at Père-Lachaise, Heloïse's remains are
elsewhere.
Reputation
And Recognition
Abélard
was an enormous influence on his contemporaries and on the course
of medieval thought, but he has been known in modern times mainly
for his connection with Héloïse. It was not till the
19th century, when Cousin in 1836 issued the collection entitled
Ouvrages inedits d'Abélard, that his philosophical
performance could be judged at first hand. Of his strictly philosophical
works only one remains:, the ethical treatise Scito te ipsum,
having been published in 1721. Cousin's collection, besides giving
extracts from the theological work Sic et Non ("Yes and
No") , includes the Dialectica, commentaries
on the logical works of Aristotle, Porphyry and Boethius, and
a fragment, De Generibus et Speciebus. This last work,
and the psychological treatise De Intellectibus, published
separately by Cousin, are now considered not to be by Abélard
himself, but only to have sprung from his school. A genuine work,
the Glossulae super Porphyrium, from which Charles de
Rémusat, in his classical monograph Abélard (1845)
has given extracts was published in 1930. |
