Peter Abelard

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy called Peter Abelard "the pre-eminent philosopher and theologian of the twelfth century. The teacher of his generation, he was also famous as a poet and a musician." Seems like someone we should get to know a little better.

Born about 1079 in the Duchy of Brittany to a minor French noble and soldier, Peter proved to be a clever boy who was encouraged by his father to study the Liberal Arts. He chose the path of academic over his father's military career. Around 1100 he went to Paris and started calling himself Peter "Abelard." The reason for the name change—and the etymological source of the surname itself—is unclear. In Paris he studied under one of the great French teachers of the age, William of Champeaux. Abelard's own account of his time there claims that his master's attitude turned to hostility when Abelard proved to be smarter and better at debate than William. Abelard began to make a career out of arrogantly quarreling with anyone and everyone.

He decided he should become the master, and so he established his own school, first away from Paris at Melun, and then between 1102 and 1104 moving nearer Paris to provide competition for the schools there. He found willing students, but the stress of running a school himself led to a nervous breakdown, so he went home to Brittany for several years.

He returned to Paris after 1108, setting up a rivalry between his school and that of William of Champeaux. One of the big philosophical quarrels was over the topic of universals. Abelard defeated William in a debate on the topic so efficiently that he was in line to be offered a position at the school at Notre-Dame, but William's influence managed to prevent Abelard from being allowed to teach in Paris. Abelard returned to Melun to run his school, but did manage to move it to a hill overlooking the left bank of the Seine, overlooking Notre-Dame.

He attended theological lectures by Anselm of Laon, but was unimpressed and started lecturing on the book of Ezekiel himself, but Anselm forbade him from teaching his way, so Abelard abandoned Laon for Paris. In 1115, he was offered the position of master of the Cathedral school of Notre-Dame.

At this point, he was a well-established and popular teacher in his late 30s. Into his social sphere came a girl of about 15 named Heloise d'Argenteuil. We need to talk about her next.