Abelard Pierre. Medieval French philosopher, poet and musician

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

Abelard Pierre (1079 - 1142) - the most famous philosopher of the Middle Ages - went down in history as a recognized teacher and mentor who had his own views on philosophy, fundamentally different from the rest.

His life was hard not only because of the discrepancy between opinions and generally accepted dogmas; great physical misfortune brought Pierre love: real, mutual, sincere. The philosopher described his hard life in a lively language and in an understandable word in the autobiographical work “The History of My Disasters.”

The beginning of a difficult journey

Feeling an irresistible craving for knowledge from an early age, Pierre renounced his inheritance in favor of relatives, was not seduced by a promising military career, devoting himself entirely to getting an education.

After training, Abelard Pierre settled in Paris, where he began teaching in theology and philosophy, which subsequently brought him universal recognition and fame as a skilled dialectician. At his lecturepresented in an understandable elegant language, people from all over Europe converged.

Abelard was a very literate and well-read person, familiar with the works of Aristotle, Plato, Cicero.

Having absorbed the views of his teachers - supporters of various systems of concepts - Pierre developed his own system - conceptualism (something averaged between nominalism and realism), which was fundamentally different from the views of Champeau - the French mystic philosopher. Abelard's objections to Champeau were so convincing that the latter even changed his concepts, and a little later began to envy Pierre's glory and became his sworn enemy - one of many.

Pierre Abelard: teaching

Pierre in his writings substantiated the relationship between faith and reason, giving preference to the latter. According to the philosopher, a person should not believe blindly, just because it is accepted in society. The teaching of Pierre Abelard is that faith must be rationally justified and a person, a rational being, can improve in it only by polishing the existing knowledge through dialectics. Faith is only an assumption about things that are inaccessible to the human senses.

In the work "Yes and No" Pierre Abelard, briefly comparing biblical quotations with excerpts from the writings of priests, analyzes the views of the latter and finds inconsistencies in the statements they cite. And this makes one doubt some church dogmas and Christian doctrine. Nevertheless, Abelard Pierre did not doubtbasic provisions of Christianity; he only offered their conscious assimilation. After all, a lack of understanding of the Holy Scriptures, combined with blind faith, is comparable to the behavior of a donkey who does not understand music at all, but diligently tries to extract a beautiful melody from the instrument.

Abelard's philosophy in the hearts of many people

Pierre Abelard, whose philosophy found a place in the hearts of many people, did not suffer from excessive modesty and openly called himself the only philosopher worth something on Earth. For his time, he was a great man: he was loved by women, he was admired by men. Abelard reveled in the fame he received to the fullest.

The main works of the French philosopher are Yes and No, Dialogue between a Jewish Philosopher and a Christian, Know Thyself, Christian Theology.

Pierre and Eloise

However, it was not lectures that brought great fame to Pierre Abelard, but a romantic story that determined the love of his life and became the cause of the misfortune that happened later. The chosen one of the philosopher, unexpectedly for himself, was the beautiful Eloise, who was 20 years younger than Pierre. The seventeen-year-old girl was an orphan and was brought up in the house of her uncle, Canon Fulber, who did not have a soul in her.

At her young age, Eloise was literate beyond her years and could speak several languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew). Pierre, invited by Fulbert to teach Eloisa, fell in love with her at first sight. Yes, and his student bowed to the great thinker and scientist, doted on her chosen one andwas ready for anything for this wise and charming man.

Pierre Abelard: a biography of sad love

The brilliant philosopher during this romantic period also proved himself as a poet and composer and wrote beautiful love songs for the young lady, which immediately became popular.

Everyone around knew about the relationship of lovers, but Eloise, who openly called herself Pierre's mistress, was not at all embarrassed; on the contrary, she was proud of the role she had inherited, because it was her, the complete orphan, that Abelard preferred to the beautiful and noble women who hung around him. Beloved took Eloise to Brittany, where she gave birth to a son, whom the couple was forced to leave to be raised by strangers. They never saw their child again.

Later Pierre Abelard and Eloise secretly married; if the marriage was made public, then Pierre could not be a spiritual dignitary and build a career as a philosopher. Eloise, giving preference to her husband's spiritual development and his career growth (instead of a burdensome life with baby diapers and eternal pots), hid her marriage and, upon returning to her uncle's house, said that she was Pierre's mistress.

The enraged Fulber could not come to terms with the moral decline of his niece and one night, together with his assistants, entered Abelard's house, where he, sleeping, was tied up and castrated. After this cruel physical abuse, Pierre retired to Saint-Denis Abbey, and Eloise became a nun at the Argenteuil monastery. It would seem that earthly love,short and physical, lasting two years, ended. In fact, it simply developed into a different stage - spiritual intimacy, incomprehensible and inaccessible to many people.

One against the theologians

After living in seclusion for some time, Abelard Pierre resumed lecturing, yielding to numerous requests from students. However, during this period, orthodox theologians took up arms against him, who discovered in the treatise "Introduction to Theology" an explanation of the dogma of the Trinity that contradicted church teaching. This was the reason for accusing the philosopher of heresy; his treatise was burned, and Abelard himself was imprisoned in the monastery of St. Medard. Such a harsh sentence caused great discontent among the French clergy, many of whose dignitaries were students of Abelard. Therefore, Pierre was subsequently given permission to return to Saint-Denis Abbey. But even there he showed his individuality, expressing his own point of view, thereby incurring the wrath of the monks. The essence of their discontent was the discovery of the truth about the true founder of the abbey. According to Pierre Abelard, he was not Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, but another saint who lived in a much later period. The philosopher had to run away from the embittered monks; he found refuge in a desert area on the Seine near Nogent, where hundreds of disciples joined him - a comforter leading to the truth.

Pierre Abelard began new persecution, because of which he intended to leave France. However, during this period he was chosen abbot of Saint Gildes monastery, where he spent 10 years. Eloise was given by Paracletskymonastery; she settled with her nuns, and Pierre assisted her in managing the affairs.

Accusation of heresy

In 1136, Pierre returned to Paris, where he again began lecturing at St. Genevieve. The teachings of Pierre Abelard and the generally recognized success haunted his enemies, especially Bernard of Clairvaux. The philosopher again began to be persecuted. From the writings of Pierre, quotes were chosen with expressed thoughts that were fundamentally contrary to public opinion, which served as a pretext for resuming the accusation of heresy. At the assembled Council in Sens, Bernard acted as an accuser, and although his arguments were rather weak, influence played a big role, including on the pope; The Council declared Abelard a heretic.

Abelard and Eloise: together in heaven

The persecuted Abelard was given shelter by Peter the Venerable - the abbot of Kluin, first in his abbey, then in the monastery of St. Markell. There, the sufferer for freedom of thought completed his difficult life path; he died on April 21, 1142 at the age of 63.

His Eloise died in 1164; she was also 63 years old. The couple were buried together in the Paraclete Abbey. When it was destroyed, the ashes of Pierre Abelard and Heloise were transported to Paris to the Pere Lachaise cemetery. To this day, the tombstone of lovers is regularly decorated with wreaths.