medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Brenda:
Regretfully, nothing is known about Astralabe. There is no
evidence, moreover, that Heloise was illegitimate. Nothing
is known about her parents. The stuff in modern
"biographies" of Heloise is fiction, based on no sources.
Be careful about reading Abelard's "autobiography" as a
modern autobiography. It is highly rhetorical and would have
been received as such. The speeches Abelard puts in the
mouth of Heloise are commonplace arguments made in favor of
"philosophy" as Ab interprets this term. There is a long
tradition of this use of Christian philosophy. Her arguments
are obviously taken from Jerome, and incorporated into Ab.'s
general themes. These speeches tell us nothing about either
Heloise or views about women in early 12th-century France,
and certainly nothing about the actual position of women in
Paris. There is a vast bibliography about Abelard's
rhetorical techniques. The Historia cannot be understood
without a careful examination of his theological works,
especially his Theologia Scholarium. Many of the assumptions
in the Historia are elaborated in his theological and
philosophical writings. You must also consider the tradition
of the letter of consolation--which has been much studied by
modern scholars.
Fortuna!
Thomas Renna
Saginaw Valley State University
'Sc> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval
religion and culture
>
> Dear List,
> As I am working on the life of Astralabe, Abelard's son, I
have given his
> parents' marriage, and the circumstances of his
conception, some
> consideration. I have a paper summarising my research that
I will happily
> send to any interested party. Please e-mail me
mailto:[log in to unmask]
> although it is a bit long to send as an attachment.
> Like Werner Roble I have also done some work on Heloise's
background. Werner
> Roble has published my paper on Heloise on his web site
EVEN THO he has come
> to totally different conclusions from mine.
> However I am - like Werner Robl - an amateur in mediaeval
history.
>
> I believe that Heloise was herself illegitimate and the
child of a priest
> and a nun. Thus her attitude to marriage might be somewhat
casual.
> (Christopher Brooke: "The medieval idea of marriage"
thinks that Heloise was
> the child of clerical concubinage.)
>
> Heloise's refusal to marry Abelard seems to have arisen
from her belief that
> marriage and "philosophy" were incompatible. Marriage
would also have
> sabotaged Abelard's promotion prospects in the church.
>
> Abelard wanted to marry her out of a chivalrous sense of
honour and also in
> order to put himself right with his colleague, Canon
Fulbert, whom he had
> betrayed and dishonoured by his seduction of Fulbert's
ward. Please note
> that it was FULBERT who was betrayed and dishonoured by
the seduction, not
> Heloise. The offence was against the woman's family, not
to the woman
> herself. Her consent - or otherwise - was irrelevant.
>
> It was impossible for Heloise to resist Abelard's pressure
to marry her. She
> had eloped with him, she was a guest of his family and she
had no other
> economic support (that we know of) for herself or her
child. Also he legal
> guardian, Canon Fulbert, had consented to the marriage. It
was his consent
> that mattered, not her's. She was probably also justly
afraid of how her
> uncle would treat her on her return. In fact Abelard
records that she later
> fled from her uncle's abuse although it is not clear
whether this was
> physical or only verbal.
>
> Once Abelard (in his post-calamity state of mind) had
resolved to become a
> monk, Heloise was OBLIGED to become a nun. Because they
were a married
> couple, either BOTH had to "enter religion" or neither.
Once again Heloise's
> course of action was dictated by the men she was dependent
on.
>
> She simply had to make the best of a bad job - as women
always had done up
> to the 1960s in the Western World and still have to in
much of the rest of
> the world. It is interesting that Heloise EXPRESSED an
independent
> expression, and that it was recorded. I do not believe
Abelard "faked"
> Heloise's anti-marriage views. For one thing he was a man
with a high regard
> for truth even if his view of truth was (like everyone's)
biassed. But he
> was clearly surprised that she did not fall on his neck in
thankfulness when
> he announced they were to marry.
>
> Sorry if this is a bit long.
> Comment on the bones in a sequal ...
>
> Brenda M.C.
>
>
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