Description
Michael Clanchy introduces the reader to medieval life through the experience of Peter Abelard, the master of the Paris schools, whose career included seducing his student Heloise, being castrated being accused of treason, being condemned as a heretic (twice), and then writing his memoirs -- his "story of calamities". The book describes in vivid and concrete terms what it meant in the 12th century to be a famous scientist, the master of Latin, logic, and philosophy, a dedicated monk and pioneer of the discipline of theology, and at various times a wandering scholar, courtier, and jester. Contemporaries called Abelard the Socrates of France and "our Aristotle". The author's many new findings include the discovery that it was Heloise who inspired many of Abelard's most profound ideas -- -she educated him -- although it has been commonly held that it was the other way around. This first biography of Abelard for over 30 years combines the most recent international research with a re-reading of the sources line by line. Original in interpretation, trenchant in judgment and written with pace and wit, Abelard: A Medieval Life is likely to become the standard work on its subject.
