ABELARD

ABELARD, THE 12th CENTURY CHURCH AND THE SEXES

Most students of medieval history or theology know the story of Pierre (Peter) Abelard, a famous theologian and philosopher, whose views got him denounced as a heretic in the 12th century. However, it is not as a philosopher that he is best remembered, but :his popular fame�resulted from his tragic love affair with Heloise�.exchang(ing) famous letters of love and suffering" (Benet 2). In fact, as historians point out, the sexual dalliance of unwed adults was strongly frowned on by the Church, and the families of the "violated" women. This was the case, of course with the affair of Abelard and Heloise which had "disastrous consequences, which resulted in her giving birth to son (called Astrolabe), to Abelard's castration by Heloise's angry relatives, and to both their retreats to monastic life. Heloise was one of the most literate women of her time, and an able administrator: as a result her monastic career was notably successful. Abelard, a intellectual jouster throughout his life was notably less happy as a monk". (Bellows 1).

The influence of the Church in the 12th Century which, in many ways, was the center of the so-called "Dark Ages", was all-powerful. It was the Church that provided teaching and learning, and for the most part it was only the churchmen and women who could read and write. This was a period of intense struggle among the philosophers and leaders of the Church. "It deserves�to be noted that t

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ulated and stipulated all things sexual, the idea being propagation. "Youth was brief and marriage came early�.A child of seven could consent to a betrothal�The Church reckoned the consent of parents or guardians unnecessary for valid marriage of the parties were of age. She forbade the marriage of girls under fifteen, but allowed many exceptions" (Durant 823). This, of course, was for so-called "lay people". Priests were to be celibate, of course, and so were nuns. However, as the story of Heloise demonstrates, women who made serious transgressions were often sent to a nunnery or convent to be taught a "righteous life". Once sent, they generally remained there for the rest of their lives. Thus, instead of saintly observant nuns, some convents were made up of repentant and unrepentant "sinners". Abelard, in his writings, also shows that the patriarchal Church dominated everyone's life and that even educated women feared turning their lovers into enemies of the Church. Of Heloise, Abelard writes: "She vehemently rejected this marriage, which she felt would be in every way ignominious and burdensome to me" (Bellows 31). It is not clear why she makes this argument. In fact, she is quite vehement about preferring to be a "mistre

Category: Philosophy - A