Hi everyone!
This week in tutorial we will be concentrating on educational developments during the twelfth century, and in particular the rise of the university and specialized training and education. I am really excited about this week's tutorial as the history of education in the twelfth century is one of the focuses of my own research and it was actually through reading Abelard's Historia Calamitatum and the subsequent letters he exchanged with Heloise that I fell in love with the twelfth century and decided to pursue further study in medieval history.
Peter Abelard, as you may have noticed from his autobiography, the Historia Calamitatum(History of my Calamities), was a very controversial figure in the twelfth century. He continues to be a controversial figure in scholarship today. For some (both in the twelfth century and now) he is a genius - a prince of dialectic (logic) and theology, and a charismatic teacher and mentor. For others he's an arrogant, irritating, over-rated, puffed-up trouble-maker. Whichever way you react to Abelard there is no doubt that he was an impacting and influential personality and both his dramatic personal life, and his talent for intellectual enquiry, have ensured that he continues to intrigue medieval historians to this day. We are fortunate that Professor Constant Mews teaches and works at Monash as he is one of the world-renowned leading experts on the writings of Abelard and Heloise. As famous in the field perhaps as Abelard and Heloise in their day were, but perhaps not so controversial!
For this week I encourage you all to look over the tutorial discussion questions for this week, especially questions one and two, as well as think about the following.....
1) How does Abelard present himself in the Historia Calamitatum? Why does he present himself in such a way?
2) Was he really like the person he presents himself to be in the Historia Calamitatum? Would you like to be his student? His teacher?
3) Why is he so important in the history of education and intellectual thought?
4) What two major sins of his is Abelard keen to highlight in the Historia Calamitatum? How has he been punished for them? Why is he keen to tell us about them?
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| A depiction of Abelard and Heloise from a medieval manuscript |
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| A later artistic impression of Abelard and Heloise |
As always please post your comments, reflections, and questions below!
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What about Heloise I hear some of you say? It is true that we are only introduced to her briefly in this week's readings. She was a very remarkable woman and a talented intellectual in her own right. Scholars now see her as far more than Abelard's pupil. They are now beginning to realize that she actually was more of his intellectual partner and potentially influenced his own thought and philosophy a great deal. I've attached a link here to the first letter Heloise wrote to Abelard after she read the Historia Calamitatum. It is fascinating to understand her perspective on their lives together. This translation also includes a brief introduction to the scholarly controversy that has raged for decades over whether or not in fact she wrote her letters. Most scholars agree now that she did but there are still a few deniers out there!
What elements of the Historia Calamitatum does she disagree with? Why?
This translation is really old fashioned but it hopefully gives you a taste of Heloise's writing! For anyone interested in reading their entire correspondence I recommend the following translations:
Radice, Betty (trans). The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Penguin Books: London, 1974.
McLauglin, Mary and Bonnie Wheeler (ed. and trans.). The Letters of Heloise and Abelard: A Translation of their Collected Correspondence and Related Writings, Palgrave Macmillon: New York, 2009.
And for a more controversial take on their correspondence.....
Mews, Constant J. The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France, Palgrave: New York, 2001.
Heloise is my personal hero so I do hope some of you are able to glance over her letter for this week!
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| Another absolutely over the top imagining of Heloise and Abelard courtesy of the 19th century! |
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And, as always, just for fun......
For anyone really really interested in understanding more about Heloise, her thought and writing do check this little article out:
It's an absolute shameless little bit of self-promotion as I wrote it for a postgraduate journal when I was a student at Oxford....but despite me being the author I think it still has something interesting to say!
And, finally, Abelard and Heloise are today buried (or thought to be buried) at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Their tomb (created in the 19th century) is absolutely beautiful. If you ever get a chance to go to Paris I highly recommend stopping by! People still leave flowers for them!
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| Tomb of Abelard and Heloise |
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| Heloise's effigy on her tomb |
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| Abelard's likeness |
What Abelard has to say is very interesting, and of course deep and philosophical. As the first reading states he does have a "quick mind and striking personality" which is demonstrated in the second reading. In "Historia Calamitatum" he does appear to be the victim, even though he has sinned he attempts to remedy the problem; he is mutilated and constantly has opposition because of jealousy. Although his mutilation is gory and not a pleasant picture I still find it a very interesting aspect to hear about. I have read about that type of punishment (of men's members being chopped off) from the time of the Ancient Egyptians so to hear it happen in the Middle Ages shows that some of the barbarism and ideals from the ancient times has not completely ceased.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be interesting to be his student but I don’t think I could commit my whole being and life just to philosophy.
What I find intriguing, also, is the amount of charisma and influence he has. Since he is perceived as the victim it is nice to see that no matter how hard his enemies try to be rid of him, his followers remain numerous and keep on rising; as Jerome irritably says "we meant to extinguish the light of his name but all we have done is make it shine still brighter."
Abelard seems to have lived a life of extremes. I think it is a fascinating lifestyle and I find it difficult to imagine a man who could live like that. He seems to be a man living in extremes of passion; passion for logic, learning, teaching, love and a form of intellectual and social martyrdom. His extreme passions have the feel of the romantic perception of medieval times.
ReplyDeleteHis attitude and flamboyance generally confirms for me peoples perception of him as an arrogant and annoying academic. Although an admirable scholar I could not have suffered the tutelage of such a man, I expect he would have been infuriating. His ego seems to have been inflated by the importance people placed on his actions in his academic career and personal life. For a man with an already bloated ego so much focus on his fame or infamy must have driven him to unbearable depths of arrogance.
I think if it was not for his love affair with Heloise Abelard may have been overlooked in history as a talented but uninteresting scholar. His romance, his castration and his extreme dedication besides to his scholarly pursuits has cemented his story as almost epic folklore.
I find the story of Abelard and Heloise fascinating and romantic when I can overlook my opinion of Abelard.
I like the intellectual culture that was created with the progression of education and scholarly pursuit. I think it would have been an exciting time to live, either as a scholar or a pupil.
I look forward to learning more about it.
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteDiana here with Shannon's comment for this week.
'Firstly, I found Abelard a very fascinating character and this weeks readings were quite interesting. I do however, think Abelard was a bit arrogant, especially shown in his letters. He presents himself as a very important person in society and claims that everyone loves his work and that he's basically a celebrity. I think that he wants the readers of his book to think everyone else agreed with his theories so in turn, the readers would be more inclined to agree with him also.
I think the getting Heloise pregnant and then marrying her parts of the story of Abelard are maybe more the reason he is so famous, not only for his knowledge, but also the unique way his life events unfolded. Heloise, in my opinion, is more interesting and I am going to read some more information about her. I think its great that she was such an intellectual as well and I think they would have been a very dominant couple if they had gotten together in a way that didn't see Abelard castrated and not accepted into her family.'
Though I knew Neoplatonic thought, reason, logic, etcetera existed in this part of the Medieval period, I was under the impression that it existed seperate to theological critique of Christian scripture and reconciling contradictions remained unheard of until Thomas Aquinas a couple of centuries later. I found it a little ironic when I came to the relisation (while doing these readings) that we perhaps owe modern schools of reason like Maths and Science a little bit to the 12th century revival of logic as a tool to undertsanding the Bible.
ReplyDeleteThough people seem to find inception of the University as a fascinating part of this weeks readings, I was more interested in the reasons for its beginnings. That is, as a needed institution to house these son-of-knights student pilgrims travelling Europe (and the Arab world) learning! Now that's fascinating (perhaps in reality it was different, but my imagination went on a complete tangent reading about that).
To be honest Diana, I was struggling with the reading this week. I found it overwhelming especially since I have the assignment to do. I did attempt to read parts of it thought. I found Abelard a very interesting character, he was very philosophical and educated. He was a good teacher who had many followers.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the discussion about the "new" forms of devotion ad churches, especially about the frescoes in the churches. I am basically an art lover and all the paintings that depict biblical stories in churches I find beautiful.
Ultimately, I found Neoplatonic thought very interesting and would like to learn more about it
I found it interesting that in Abelard’s ‘Historia Calamitatum’ he paints himself as the victim, although he is obviously repenting for his actions. At first I found him irritatingly arrogant in the way he talks about his intellect and how everyone was so jealous of his intelligence that they all (and it really did seem like everyone) turned on him. But then I began to sympathize with him as he admitted his pride and superiority got the better of him, as he states that “pride which had grown in me through my learning” and then quotes the Apostle, “Knowledge breeds conceit”.
ReplyDeleteI also found his relationship with Heloise fascinating. There was something quite sad about how it all unfolded. If only he had married her first then perhaps he wouldn’t have ended up castrated, but the whole ‘forbidden love’ thing did make for rather interesting reading. I really liked the almost poetic way in which Abelard talks about her in the reading using phrases like ‘all on fire with desire for this girl’ and ‘abandoned ourselves entirely to love’. Although he obviously loved her I couldn’t quite get past the ‘blows prompted by love’.
Abelard was obviously engaging to his students and was quite charismatic so I would have like to have him as a teacher. Even if he is exaggerating the way his students responded to him, it would still be an interesting experience nonetheless if his writing style and pure confidence in his intellect is anything to go by.
I can now post! yay!
ReplyDeleteAbelard was sure an interesting character.
ReplyDeletethese letter was constructed as to atone, acknowledge his character flaws and the reason his life behaved as is.
It certainly is startling what rival schools would resort to to eliminate an oponent. influencing bishops and inciting rumours? it almost sounds like a crude movie plotline.
the formation of these schools in the line of the church's approval is also of fascinating thought