Abelard and Heloise

The Remarkable Story of His Swansong

Author: Constant J. Mews Series: Great Medieval Thinkers

Another tremendous edition to the Great Medieval Thinkers series by a noted expert on the subject

Presents a brief introduction to the lives and thought of two of the most controversial personalities of the Middle Ages. Abelard and Heloise are familiar names. It is their "star quality," argues the author, that has prevented them from being seen clearly in the context of 12th-century thought - that task he has set himself in this book.

Product Unavailable

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

Another tremendous edition to the Great Medieval Thinkers series by a noted expert on the subject

Description

Constant J. Mews offers an intellectual biography of two of the best known personalities of the twelfth century. Peter Abelard was a controversial logician at the cathedral school of Notre-Dame in Paris when he first met Heloise, who was the brilliant and outspoken niece of a cathedral canon and who was then engaged in the study of philosophy. After an intense love affair and the birth of a child, they married in secret in a bid to placate her uncle. Nonetheless thevengeful canon Fulbert had Abelard castrated, following which he became a monk at St. Denis, while Heloise became a nun at Argenteuil. Mews, a recognized authority on Abelard's writings, traces hisevolution as a thinker from his earliest work on dialectic (paying particular attention to his debt to Roscelin of Compiègne and William of Champeaux) to his most mature reflections on theology and ethics. Abelard's interest in the doctrine of universals was one part of his broader philosophical interest in language, theology, and ethics, says Mews. He argues that Heloise played a significant role in broadening Abelard's intellectual interests during the period 1115-17, as reflected in apassionate correspondence in which the pair articulated and debated the nature of their love. Mews believes that the sudden end of this early relationship provoked Abelard to return to writing about languagewith new depth, and to begin applying these concerns to theology. Only after Abelard and Heloise resumed close epistolary contact in the early 1130s, however, did Abelard start to develop his thinking about sin and redemption--in ways that respond closely to the concerns of Heloise. Mews emphasizes both continuity and development in what these two very original thinkers had to say.

Critic Reviews

“"Mews shows that Heloise and Abelard's literary partnership went far beyond love letters.... Mews has done us a great service in examining Heloise not just as a lover but as a writer, liturgical collabortaor, and theological thinker in her own right."--BooksandCulture”

"Mews argues convincingly that Heloise was not merely an apt pupil but an intelletual peer who changed Abelard's thinking, particularly in ethics."--CHOICE"Mews shows that Heloise and Abelard's literary partnership went far beyond love letters.... Mews has done us a great service in examining Heloise not just as a lover but as a writer, liturgical collabortaor, and theological thinker in her own right."--Books&Culture"A beautifully detailed historical account of the two figures." --Speculum

About the Author

Constant J. Mews is Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology at Monash University in Australia. He is the author of The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France (1999).

More on this Book

This is a brief, accessible introduction to the lives and though of two of the most controversial personalities of the Middle Ages. Their names are familiar, but it is their "star quality" argues Mews, that has prevented them from being seen clearly in the context of 12th-century thought--the task he has set himself in this book.