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 |
Hi all, these readings to me weren't, to be honest that interesting but more insightful into how the medieval education system worked and also on the life of Peter Abelard. The idea that the churches ran and controlled the early education system seemed to me to be obvious but also neat in that the church could then preach it’s ideas and philosophy onto the intellectuals who would then instil it into the future more literate generation. Furthermore the idea that individuals broke away from the churches and setup their own schools seemed to work perfectly in the churches favour. I found it fascinating that the newly formed schools success became symbols of their authority in their chosen field and possibly after life lost their intended aims of instilling knowledge onto their students.
ReplyDeleteAbelard to me seemed rather confident in himself even at such a young age and never shied away from giving his opinion even if he was wrong. Some people obviously frown upon this even today and believe it's a sign of arrogance and weakness. Although when I read through his biography it didn't seem to bother me as much due to the fact that it seems all academics believe their opinion are right and generally aren't willing to accept when their wrong.
Ollie S
Hey everyone, this weeks readings, to begin with, seemed dry and boring, but got more interesting as I read. My attention was caught, first, by the mention of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, which is included into the story of The Pillars of the Earth (really good book,you guys should read it).
ReplyDeleteIt was caught secondly, and kept, by the story of Abelard and Heloise, which is fascinating.
These were my primary interests in the readings. My secondary interest in the readings is that this is a description of the very beginnings of the university, the very educational institution which we are attending. I thought that was very interesting.
As far as the tutorial discussion questions go, I have yet to form an opinion/answer.
Louise G
Hi,
ReplyDeleteJust letting you know (Diana) that I haven't had time yet to do this week's readings and won't get them done before 5p.m... So my comment won't be up until after that but I will be ready to discuss in the tute!!
Jess W
I think one of my favourite comments out of this weeks reading is 'the perceived dangers of learning when the learned person was a woman' - Heloise is possibly one of the biggest reasons the whole of the educational system changed and the process in which it develops I found most interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that there wasn't a particular 'professional' job at the time, or one professed to be (seeing as their were 'roles', bishop etc) seemed intriguing to me and even more so that the lawyer was really the first well known and sought after profession
I haven't had a chance to get through all of the second piece on Abelard and Heloise but I look forward to the discussion tomorrow
Stacey-Lea.
HI everyone,
ReplyDeleteI didn't really find this weeks reading really interesting. It didn't really grab my attention this week. But it was interesting to notice how people started to shift their thinking; moving into logic and reason. It was also good to see how universities began at such an early stage of history and to see a shift in education. Education to an extent, moved away from their monasteries and developed into private tutors.
However, what definitely grabbed my attention was the story of Abelard and Heloise. Their story seems to be like a clique; student-teacher attraction. What happened to their child? It says that Heloise went to a convent, but I'm guessing the child was not allowed with her. Did she join the convent while pregnant?
Anyway, that's what I found interesting and looking forward to the discussion in the tute. :)
Emily S.
Hi everyone
ReplyDeleteDiana here - Will wasn't able to get his comment up on the blog this week so I am posting this on his behalf.
'I found this weeks content somewhat less engaging then I had hoped as well, what with the intricacies of education still fresh in my mind from VCE. However, the fact that Education was completely controlled by the church does better explain to me why it is that everyone throughout medieval Europe was so dedicated to Catholicism and so unwilling to adopt new theories that didnt necessarily complement Catholic views like Muslims did. I also found it interesting how persecuted the scholars of Europe were, particularly Peter Abelard and his castration. Wilson Hill.'
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteDiana here - Asira was not able to post her comment so I have it here on her behalf.
'This week's readings were not as interesting as some of the past weeks readings which was disappointing. But what was interesting was the shift in education and the heavy hand the church had in it. This was somewhat obvious to me and explained the intense Catholicism of medieval people and explains why their lives were so intricately woven with the church. It was also interesting to read about the establishment of universities. Abelard and Heloise's story was one of the few things that caught my attention wholly.
Asira'