Peter Abelard
Breton scholar who taught logic and theology in and around Paris in the early twelfth century. His Sic et Non set conflicting authorities side by side as questions; his own account of his life tells of his rivalries, of Heloise and of the burning of his book at Soissons.
Abelard says that he came from the town of Le Pallet, east of Nantes, the eldest son of a soldier who loved letters, and gave up his inheritance for the study of logic, travelling wherever that art was taught (Abelard, History of My Calamities 1). At Paris he studied under William of Champeaux, defeated him in disputation by his own account, and opened a school of his own on the Mont Sainte-Geneviève (Abelard, History of My Calamities 2).
He tells of his love for Heloise, their secret marriage and his castration by her uncle’s kinsmen, after which he became a monk at Saint-Denis and she a nun at Argenteuil (Abelard, History of My Calamities 6–8). A council at Soissons condemned his tract on the Trinity and made him burn it (Abelard, History of My Calamities 9–10). The prologue of his Sic et Non sets out rules for reconciling authorities that disagree and commends persistent questioning as the first key to wisdom (Abelard, Sic et Non prologue).
In the timeline
- about 1150 to 1215, estimated dateThe Schools Become Universities
The schools of twelfth-century Paris grow into a self-governing body of masters and students, and an emperor’s law protects travelling scholars. Abelard, Gratian and Peter Lombard supply a method and books; kings and popes grant privileges.
Primary sources
The History of My Calamities
- Abelard, History of My Calamities 1sourcebooks.fordham.edu
- Abelard, History of My Calamities 2sourcebooks.fordham.edu
- Abelard, History of My Calamities 6–8sourcebooks.fordham.edu
- Abelard, History of My Calamities 9–10sourcebooks.fordham.edu
Sic et Non
- Abelard, Sic et Non prologuesourcebooks.fordham.edu