medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Marjorie, Werner, & Brenda (who is surely lurking),
Indeed she is, but lacked the time to do enough looking up to make any shot
at answering the question accurately...
an enjoyable and productive discussion --i hope others are finding it so as
well.
Indeed yes.
The only comment I would add is that I never thought Peter Abelard was EVER
a proper (= prebendial) canon of Paris because if he had been surely he
would have had a house with servants and emoluments as his prebend. In that
case he would not have been living in lodgings and would not have wangled an
invitation from Canon Fulbert to live with him to save them both money and
to pay for his accommodation by tutoring Heloise in his spare time. Also, if
he had been living in a prebendial house with a full staff of servants, it
would have been unlikely that the thugs sent to castrate him would have
gained admittance or that his servant (singular) would have been quite so
susceptible to take a bribe. The whole scenario of the Historia Calaminatum
suggests that P A was an outsider living on the fringes of the cloister in
unsatisfactory "digs" with one venial man-servant, tolerated in the cloister
as a licensed teacher but with no economic standing there. The income from
tuition fees, and gifts, would have been erratic, sporadic and unreliable.
Interesting how P A 's life is dogged by this kind of insecurity. Money
troubles seem to have been behind the folding of the original Oratory of the
Trinity / Paraclete, and money troubles were one of the things that caused
friction at St Gildas.
From this I would like to ask if anyone has any notion how large a house a
prebendial house would have been at that date and how many servants would
have been on the strength ? Fulbert's house must have had at least three
"good" chambers, one for Canon F himself, one for Heloise (+ her maid /
duenna who would surely have shared her bed for decency's sake) and one for
P.A. himself. In addition there must have been a Hall or other public room,
a kitchen and all the usual outbuildings. Would I be right in thinking in
terms of a three-storey house with garden, "the usual offices" and possibly
even a washing place and landing stage backing onto the Seine ? (The two
traditional addressed for Fulbert's house in Paris would combine very nicely
into what might be described as a "burgess plot". ) And at least three male
(cook, valet, scullion) and one female servant, possibly more ?
Brenda M. C.
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