Thinkers Timeline

Peter Abelard was a French philosopher, theologian, and teacher. He was one of the most influential and controversial intellectual figures of the 12th century. He helped lay the foundations of the Scholastic method that would dominate medieval European universities. He was born in 1079 in Le Pallet, near Nantes in western France. He died in 1142, aged about 63. He came from a minor noble family. He was the eldest son. He could have inherited the family's modest lands. He gave up the inheritance to study philosophy. He became a wandering student in northern France, going from teacher to teacher. He was clever, ambitious, and difficult. He repeatedly fell out with his teachers and set up rival schools. By his thirties he was the most famous teacher of philosophy in Paris. In the 1110s he met Heloise, the brilliant niece of a Paris cathedral canon named Fulbert. Heloise was about 20 years younger than Abelard. He arranged to lodge in Fulbert's house and tutor her. They became lovers. She became pregnant. Abelard arranged a secret marriage to protect her reputation, though Heloise initially resisted. When Fulbert discovered the relationship, he had Abelard attacked and castrated. Abelard withdrew to a monastery. Heloise became a nun. They never lived together again, though they corresponded for the rest of their lives. Abelard kept teaching and writing. He produced original works on logic, ethics, and theology. His positions were sometimes radical for his time. He was condemned for heresy twice, in 1121 and 1140. He died in a monastery while travelling to defend himself in Rome. His remains were eventually buried with Heloise's at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, where their joint tomb is still a popular site for visitors.

Heloise was a French abbess, philosopher, and letter-writer. She was one of the most original intellectual voices of the 12th century. She is often remembered chiefly for her tragic love affair with the philosopher Peter Abelard, but she was a serious thinker in her own right and a successful religious leader for over 30 years. She was probably born around 1100 in France. She died in 1164, aged about 64. Her family background is unclear. She seems to have come from minor French nobility. She was raised partly in the convent of Argenteuil near Paris. By her teens she was already famous for her learning. She read Latin, Greek (very rare for a woman of her time), and Hebrew. She studied Cicero, Seneca, Augustine, the Church Fathers, and the philosophy of her own day. Her uncle Fulbert, a canon at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, brought her to live with him in the city to continue her education. In her late teens she became a private student of Peter Abelard, the most famous philosopher in Paris. He was about 20 years older than her. They became lovers. She became pregnant with their son Astrolabe. Abelard arranged a secret marriage, which Heloise initially opposed because she thought it would damage Abelard's career. When her uncle Fulbert tried to publicise the marriage, Abelard sent Heloise to a convent. Fulbert thought Abelard had abandoned her and arranged Abelard's castration in revenge. After the catastrophe, Abelard pushed Heloise to take religious vows. She became a nun, then prioress, then abbess of a community Abelard had founded called the Paraclete. She ran it successfully for over 30 years. She was widely respected by religious authorities including Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny. The famous correspondence with Abelard came years later, after she happened to read his autobiography. She died at the Paraclete and was eventually buried with Abelard.