author
Peter Abelard
1079–1142
A brilliant and controversial thinker of the 12th century, he helped shape medieval philosophy with sharp logic, bold theology, and a teaching style that drew students from across Europe. His dramatic life, especially his relationship with Héloïse, has kept his story alive far beyond the classroom.
4 Audiobooks
The love letters of Abelard and Heloise
by Peter Abelard, Héloïse
Historia Calamitatum
by Peter Abelard
Letters of Abelard and Heloise To which is prefix'd a particular account of their lives, amours, and misfortunes
by Peter Abelard, Héloïse
Briefwechsel zwischen Abaelard und Heloise, mit der Leidensgeschichte Abaelards
by Peter Abelard, Héloïse
About the author
Born in 1079 in Le Pallet, near Nantes in Brittany, Peter Abelard became one of the best-known scholars of medieval France. He studied in the great schools of his day and earned a reputation as an exceptional logician and teacher, especially in Paris, where his debates and lectures attracted wide attention.
Abelard is remembered for bringing dialectical reasoning into theology in a striking way. His work on logic, ethics, and the problem of universals made him a major figure in early scholastic thought, and his writings show a restless, questioning mind that was not afraid of controversy. He was also known as a poet and composer.
His name is inseparable from Héloïse, the learned woman with whom he had a famous love affair and later exchanged deeply influential letters. After years of conflict and condemnation, Abelard died in 1142, but his ideas and his life story continued to fascinate readers, philosophers, and historians for centuries.