The Letters Of Abelard And Heloise

Abelard was born in 1079 C.E. to a family of minor Briton nobles. He was the eldest son, and the expectation was that he would follow his father into military service. However, he notes that even his father enjoyed education and provided it for his children. Ultimately, Abelard’s intense love of learning led him to renounce his inheritance and become a peripatetic scholar. By all accounts, he was a devoted teacher who drew students from all over Christian Europe. He preferred conversation to lecture in teaching, and for this reason, he is often seen as part of the teaching revolution of the 12th-Century Renaissance. Because of his open-minded approach to learning, he is also considered one of the forefathers of medieval universities.  

Abelard was an accomplished philosopher and logician, and he is certainly not humble in stating so in his autobiographical letter. We get the sense from his letters that the scholarly arena was fraught with competition and drama, and Abelard himself engaged numerous scholars, some of them his own teachers, in public disputations. He certainly did not shy away from competition, and in fact, he seemed to thrive on controversy.

In his life as a theologian, it was his background in logic that doomed him, as he was ultimately accused of applying logic to questions of faith. Despite the burnings of his books and his condemnation, Abelard persisted and remained steadfast in his belief that there was nothing heretical about illuminating faith through logic. He sought to make the faith as intelligible as possible, and his commitment to his theories remained resolute.    

Though Abelard initially expresses deep shame and horror at being castrated and becoming a eunuch, over the course of his life as a monk, certainly when we meet him in 1132 C.E., we get the sense that he has made peace with his past and come to see the act as one of divine mercy that rid him of sinful lust and allowed him to devote himself fully to teaching and to his studies. We cannot speculate as to his feelings for Heloise, but it is noteworthy that he gifted her his beloved oratory, the Paraclete, and that he addressed his final confession to her. Abelard was buried alongside Heloise in the church of the Paraclete.

Peter the Venerable, the abbot of Cluny from 1122 to 1156 C.E., emerges as a sort of hero in the narrative in that he protects Abelard and interjects on his behalf with Pope Innocent II at a time when Abelard was “the most notorious heretic in Christendom” (lxix). Peter chose to protect Abelard by making him a monk at Cluny, but this protection was likely not entirely selfless. Clanchy tells us that Peter himself was also embroiled in a conflict with St. Bernard, so it may be that the two had a common enemy and that Peter, the more powerful and influential religious authority, was bolstering his support base. This context informs his epistolary exchange with Heloise as well. In the exchange, he praises her at length for her esteemed wisdom and famous education. He notes that he has known of and admired her since his youth, and while this may have been true, it is likely that he was also attempting to draw Heloise and the Paraclete into his sphere of influence. 

St. Bernard, the abbot of Clairvaux, emerges from the letters as a sort of villain who was constantly dogging Abelard over matters of theology and accusing him of heresy. It is important to remember here that the letters are one-sided and do not present Bernard’s own views or rationales. He began his religious life as a Cistercian monk and was focused on asceticism and “the exacting demands of the Cistercian life” (xxxviii). To him, the sole purpose of teaching was salvation, and the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake was arrogant and dangerous. In that sense, he is seen as the “champion of tradition” (xxxviii), which brought him into conflict with Abelard and Peter the Venerable.

He seems to have disapproved of Abelard’s theological views because he found Abelard’s application of logic to questions of theology contrary to Christian doctrine. He also believed that Abelard’s classical education and love of Greek philosophy made him a pagan sympathizer. Ultimately, he thought his teachings had the potential to corrupt. Because St Bernard seems to have had Pope Innocent II’s ear, he was able to appeal to the Pope quickly and have Abelard condemned for heresy and confined to perpetual silence. St. Bernard’s lasting influence on this matter is demonstrated by the fact that Abelard’s name seems to have disappeared, and was perhaps actively erased, from theological studies.

We know from the letters that Pope Innocent II granted a charter to Heloise in 1131 C.E. confirming her as the abbess of the Paraclete. We also know that he was embroiled in a papal schism and had to contend with a rival pope around the same time. Nearly a decade later, in 1141 C.E., he heeds St. Bernard’s appeal and condemns Abelard for heresy, excommunicates his followers, orders Abelard’s books to be burned, and confines him to perpetual silence. It would seem that both St. Bernard and Peter the Venerable tried to gain the ear of the Pope in their struggle against one another. Bernard may have been closer to him, because he traveled throughout Europe during the papal schism to preach on behalf of Innocent II. In Abelard’s case, however, the Pope did ultimately grant Peter’s request to have Abelard remain as a monk at Cluny.

Fulbert was Heloise’s uncle and guardian, and he worked as a canon. Though we know that Heloise spent some of her early years at the convent of Argenteuil, when her relationship with Abelard began, she was living in Fulbert’s home in Paris. By all accounts, Fulbert was a doting uncle who encouraged Heloise’s studies. This is the reason why he took Abelard on as an in-house tutor, unaware of the fact that Abelard planned to seduce his niece. Abelard admits that Fulbert loved Heloise and wished to educate her further, but he also writes that he loved money and was eager to take Abelard on as a renter, giving him full access to Heloise.

Abelard hints at various points that Fulbert did not want to recognize their affair despite the fact that it was public knowledge. Apparently, he only later moved to separate them. We cannot be sure of his reaction to Heloise’s pregnancy and her removal to Brittany, but Abelard does tell us that Fulbert was open to them making amends by getting married. Though he wished the union to be public, Abelard managed to negotiate a secret marriage. Fulbert seems to have then broken his promise by spreading the news of the marriage, which brought him into conflict with the couple. After Abelard removes Heloise to the convent of Argenteuil, Fulbert believes that he has shunned the marriage and has Abelard castrated.

William of Champeaux taught Abelard at the cloister school of Notre Dame in Paris around 1100 C.E. The two came into conflict over Abelard’s constant refutations of William’s teachings and Abelard’s attempts to sully his reputation by questioning his theories. Ultimately, Abelard forced William to modify his theories on universals and realism, essentially besting him and damaging his reputation. William then worked to prevent Abelard from succeeding him as the head of the cloister school of Notre Dame.

Abelard sought out Anselm as a teacher when he decided to study theology. He notes that Anselm had a stellar reputation and was thought to be the greatest teacher in Laon, but Abelard doubts this and writes that Anselm was poor in practice. Anselm preferred the lecture style of teaching, whereas Abelard seems to have preferred more discussion-based learning. Anselm becomes angry with Abelard and forbids him from teaching after the latter begins to hold his own lectures on Anselm’s subject. Abelard claims that it was fellow students who roused Anselm’s jealousy and cultivated their fallout.

Suger was the abbot of St. Denis from 1122 to 1151 C.E. During Abelard’s time as a monk at this abbey, the two quarrel heavily over Abelard’s theological views and teachings, and Suger manages to drive Abelard into exile with Count Theobald of Champagne. In 1122 C.E., he finally gives Abelard permission to establish his own hermitage. Around 1129 C.E., he gains possession of the convent of Argenteuil and drives Heloise and her nuns out.

Count Theobald offers protection to Abelard when he flees the abbey of St. Denis around 1121 C.E. He allows Abelard to live and work in his territory, and he later attempts to intercede with Abbot Suger on Abelard’s behalf.