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Peter Abelard

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125-483: Peter Abelard ( / ˈ æ b ə l ɑːr d / ; French: Pierre Abélard [abelaʁ] ; Latin : Petrus Abaelardus or Abailardus ; c.  1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician , theologian, poet, composer and musician. In philosophy, he is celebrated for his logical solution to the problem of universals via nominalism and conceptualism and his pioneering of intent in ethics. Often referred to as

250-468: A convent in Brittany to protect her from her abusive uncle who did not want her to pursue this forbidden love, he was castrated by men sent by the uncle. Still considering herself as his spouse even though both retired to monasteries after this event, Héloïse publicly defended him when his doctrine was condemned by Pope Innocent II and Abelard considered a heretic. Among these opinions, Abelard professed

375-509: A brother to a sister, Abelard commended to her. Sometime before 1140, Abelard published his masterpiece, Ethica or Scito te ipsum (Know Thyself), where he analyzes the idea of sin and that actions are not what a man will be judged for but intentions. During this period, he also wrote Dialogus inter Philosophum, Judaeum et Christianum (Dialogue between a Philosopher, a Jew, and a Christian), and also Expositio in Epistolam ad Romanos ,

500-597: A cabin of stubble and reeds, created a simple oratory dedicated to the Trinity, and became a hermit . When his retreat became known, students flocked from Paris, and covered the wilderness around him with their tents and huts. He began to teach again there. The oratory was rebuilt in wood and stone and rededicated as the Oratory of the Paraclete . Abelard remained at the Paraclete for about five years. His combination of

625-525: A classicizing form, called Renaissance Latin . This was the basis for Neo-Latin which evolved during the early modern period . In these periods Latin was used productively and generally taught to be written and spoken, at least until the late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode. It then became increasingly taught only to be read. Latin grammar is highly fusional , with classes of inflections for case , number , person , gender , tense , mood , voice , and aspect . The Latin alphabet

750-489: A commentary on St. Paul 's epistle to the Romans, where he expands on the meaning of Christ's life. It is not clear whether Abelard stopped teaching after 1136, or whether he continued with all except his lectures on logic until as late as 1141. Whatever the exact timing, a process was instigated by William of St-Thierry , who discovered what he considered to be heresies in some of Abelard's teaching. In spring 1140 he wrote to

875-748: A cover for original ideas. By 1126, Adelard returned to the West with the intention of spreading the knowledge he had gained about Arab astronomy and geometry to the Latin world. This time of remarkable transition and crusade marked an opportunity for someone to gain valuable influence over the evolution of human history. While the Crusades offered little in the way of a victor, Adelard's non-discriminatory scholarly work inspired him to bring back to England many ancient texts and new questions that would later give rise to an English Renaissance. During Adelard's lifetime in

1000-529: A discharge from the "murder fine" (a fine levied on all inhabitants of a certain area based on the murder of a Norman that occurred in a generally accessible field in the area) levied on the community of Wiltshire in 1130, though there is no other proof for this fact. There is debate about whether the Adelard who lived in Bath and who was levied with this charge really is the same Adelard of Bath, considering Adelard

1125-460: A disciple of Anselm of Laon (not to be confused with Saint Anselm ), a leading proponent of philosophical realism . Retrospectively, Abelard portrays William as having turned from approval to hostility when Abelard proved soon able to defeat his master in argument. This resulted in a long duel that eventually ended in the downfall of the theory of realism which was replaced by Abelard's theory of conceptualism / nominalism . While Abelard's thought

1250-526: A faster pace. It is characterised by greater use of prepositions, and word order that is closer to modern Romance languages, for example, while grammatically retaining more or less the same formal rules as Classical Latin. Ultimately, Latin diverged into a distinct written form, where the commonly spoken form was perceived as a separate language, for instance early French or Italian dialects, that could be transcribed differently. It took some time for these to be viewed as wholly different from Latin however. After

1375-691: A few in German , Dutch , Norwegian , Danish and Swedish . Latin is still spoken in Vatican City, a city-state situated in Rome that is the seat of the Catholic Church . The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part, in substantial works or in fragments to be analyzed in philology . They are in part the subject matter of the field of classics . Their works were published in manuscript form before

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1500-404: A few. Famous and well regarded writers included Petrarch, Erasmus, Salutati , Celtis , George Buchanan and Thomas More . Non fiction works were long produced in many subjects, including the sciences, law, philosophy, historiography and theology. Famous examples include Isaac Newton 's Principia . Latin was also used as a convenient medium for translations of important works first written in

1625-592: A hymnbook for the religious community that Héloïse joined. This hymnbook, written after 1130, differed from contemporary hymnals, such as that of Bernard of Clairvaux , in that Abelard used completely new and homogeneous material. The songs were grouped by metre, which meant that it was possible to use comparatively few melodies. Only one melody from this hymnal survives, O quanta qualia . Abelard also wrote six biblical planctus ( laments ): In surviving manuscripts, these pieces have been notated in diastematic neumes which resist reliable transcription. Only Planctus VI

1750-419: A nun and shared the nuns' life, though she was not consecrated. Fulbert, infuriated that Heloise had been taken from his house and possibly believing that Abelard had disposed of her at Argenteuil in order to be rid of her, arranged for a band of men to break into Abelard's room one night and castrate him. In legal retribution for this vigilante attack, members of the band were punished, and Fulbert, scorned by

1875-539: A place in Fulbert's house, and by 1115 or 1116 began an affair. In Abelard's autobiography, he describes the relationship as a seduction, he used example phrases in his teaching such as "Peter loves his girl"; and he wrote popular poems and songs of his love that spread throughout the country. Heloise's letters depict a relationship of equals kindled by mutual attraction. Once Fulbert found out, he separated them, but they continued to meet in secret. Héloïse became pregnant and

2000-410: A point of view which Thomas F. Graham argues Abelard was unable to separate himself from objectively to argue more subtly "because of his own mental health." Abelard stressed that subjective intention determines the moral value of human action and therefore that the legal consequence of an action is related to the person that commits it and not merely to the action. With this doctrine, Abelard created in

2125-567: A result, the list has variants, as well as alternative names. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to the styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church from late antiquity onward, as well as by Protestant scholars. The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the Roman Kingdom , traditionally founded in 753 BC, through

2250-490: A second document, he ordered Abelard to be confined in a monastery and his books to be burned. Abelard was saved from this sentence, however, by Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny . Abelard had stopped there, on his way to Rome, before the papal condemnation had reached France. Peter persuaded Abelard, already old, to give up his journey and stay at the monastery. Peter managed to arrange a reconciliation with Bernard, to have

2375-407: A separate language, existing more or less in parallel with the literary or educated Latin, but this is now widely dismissed. The term 'Vulgar Latin' remains difficult to define, referring both to informal speech at any time within the history of Latin, and the kind of informal Latin that had begun to move away from the written language significantly in the post-Imperial period, that led ultimately to

2500-590: A sincere passion for the seven liberal arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, geometry, music, and astronomy), his work in Quaestiones naturales illustrated a more encompassing dedication to subjects such as physics , the natural sciences , and metaphysics . His influence is evident in De philosophia mundi by William of Conches , in the work of Hugh of Saint Victor , in Isaac of Stella 's Letters to Alcher on

2625-709: A small number of Latin services held in the Anglican church. These include an annual service in Oxford, delivered with a Latin sermon; a relic from the period when Latin was the normal spoken language of the university. In the Western world, many organizations, governments and schools use Latin for their mottos due to its association with formality, tradition, and the roots of Western culture . Canada's motto A mari usque ad mare ("from sea to sea") and most provincial mottos are also in Latin. The Canadian Victoria Cross

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2750-429: A sort of informal language academy dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating educated speech. Philological analysis of Archaic Latin works, such as those of Plautus , which contain fragments of everyday speech, gives evidence of an informal register of the language, Vulgar Latin (termed sermo vulgi , "the speech of the masses", by Cicero ). Some linguists, particularly in the nineteenth century, believed this to be

2875-631: A spoken and written language by the scholarship by the Renaissance humanists . Petrarch and others began to change their usage of Latin as they explored the texts of the Classical Latin world. Skills of textual criticism evolved to create much more accurate versions of extant texts through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and some important texts were rediscovered. Comprehensive versions of authors' works were published by Isaac Casaubon , Joseph Scaliger and others. Nevertheless, despite

3000-432: A strictly left-to-right script. During the late republic and into the first years of the empire, from about 75 BC to AD 200, a new Classical Latin arose, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature , which were taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. Today's instructional grammars trace their roots to such schools , which served as

3125-693: A vernacular, such as those of Descartes . Latin education underwent a process of reform to classicise written and spoken Latin. Schooling remained largely Latin medium until approximately 1700. Until the end of the 17th century, the majority of books and almost all diplomatic documents were written in Latin. Afterwards, most diplomatic documents were written in French (a Romance language ) and later native or other languages. Education methods gradually shifted towards written Latin, and eventually concentrating solely on reading skills. The decline of Latin education took several centuries and proceeded much more slowly than

3250-411: Is Veritas ("truth"). Veritas was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn, and the mother of Virtue. Switzerland has adopted the country's Latin short name Helvetia on coins and stamps, since there is no room to use all of the nation's four official languages . For a similar reason, it adopted the international vehicle and internet code CH , which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica ,

3375-523: Is a common name. The work that Adelard of Bath is known for in the Latin world is his translation of the astronomical tables of al-Khwarizmi , the first widely accessible Latin translation of the Islamic ideas about algebra. In the Middle Ages he was known for his rediscovery and teaching of geometry, earning his reputation when he made the first full translation of Euclid 's "Elements" and began

3500-539: Is a product of his own testimony. Adelard claims to come from the Roman English city of Bath . How he lived is not entirely known. Despite his extensive travels, by the end of his life he is thought to have returned to Bath where he died around 1160 CE. The parents of the philosopher are not known for sure, but Fastred, a tenant of the Bishop of Wells, is noted by scholars as a possible father. The name Adelard

3625-640: Is a reversal of the original phrase Non terrae plus ultra ("No land further beyond", "No further!"). According to legend , this phrase was inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules , the rocks on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar and the western end of the known, Mediterranean world. Charles adopted the motto following the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and it also has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. In

3750-642: Is a trio of dialogues, written to mimic the Platonic style, or correspondences with his nephew. The earliest of these is De Eodem et Diverso (On the Same and the Different) . It is written in the style of a protreptic , or an exhortation to the study of philosophy. The work is modelled on Boethius ' Consolation of Philosophy , evident in Adelard's vocabulary and phraseology. It is believed to have been written near Tours after he had already travelled, though there

3875-589: Is almost certain that these references are to the same person. Astrolabe is recorded in the Paraclete necrology as dying on 29 or 30 October, year unknown, appearing as "Petrus Astralabius magistri nostri Petri filius" (son of our master Peter). In his early forties, Abelard sought to bury himself as a monk of the Abbey of Saint-Denis with his woes out of sight. Finding no respite in the cloister , and having gradually turned again to study, he gave in to urgent entreaties, and reopened his school at an unknown priory owned by

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4000-665: Is believed to be proof that Adelard was connected to the Exchequer table that was used for monetary calculations in the medieval period. If you read the source quoted, its obvious Adelard of Bath probably knew who worked at the Exchequer and might have met them at Laon, but what is common among them is that their educations are in Laon! Further evidence for this can be found in the Pipe Roll of Henry I , which shows that he had received

4125-586: Is considered one of the founders of the secular university and pre-Renaissance secular philosophical thought. Abelard argued for conceptualism in the theory of universals . (A universal is a quality or property which every individual member of a class of things must possess if the same word is to apply to all the things in that class. Blueness, for example, is a universal property possessed by all blue objects.) According to Abelard scholar David Luscombe , "Abelard logically elaborated an independent philosophy of language ...[in which] he stressed that language itself

4250-650: Is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church at the Vatican City . The church continues to adapt concepts from modern languages to Ecclesiastical Latin of the Latin language. Contemporary Latin is more often studied to be read rather than spoken or actively used. Latin has greatly influenced

4375-552: Is found in any widespread language, the languages of Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy have retained a remarkable unity in phonological forms and developments, bolstered by the stabilising influence of their common Christian (Roman Catholic) culture. It was not until the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711, cutting off communications between the major Romance regions, that the languages began to diverge seriously. The spoken Latin that would later become Romanian diverged somewhat more from

4500-422: Is jokingly referenced as relating to lard, as in excessive ("fatty") learning, in a secondary anecdote referencing Adelard of Bath and Peter Abelard (and in which they are confused to be one person). In the great cathedral school of Notre-Dame de Paris (before the construction of the current cathedral there), he studied under Paris archdeacon and Notre-Dame master William of Champeaux , later bishop of Chalons,

4625-613: Is known as one of the first to introduce the Arabic numeral system to Europe. He stands at the convergence of three intellectual schools: the traditional learning of French schools, the Greek culture of Southern Italy , and the Arabic science of the East. Adelard's biography is incomplete in places, and leaves some aspects open to interpretation. Consequently, much of what is ascribed to Adelard

4750-554: Is mentioned as Dionysius of Corinth by Eusebius . This irritated the monks so much that eventually Abelard was allowed to leave. Abelard initially lodged at St. Ayoul of Provins, where the prior was a friend. Then, after the death of Abbot Adam in March 1122, Abelard was able to gain permission from the new abbot, Suger , to live "in whatever solitary place he wished". In a deserted place near Nogent-sur-Seine in Champagne , he built

4875-689: Is modelled after the British Victoria Cross which has the inscription "For Valour". Because Canada is officially bilingual, the Canadian medal has replaced the English inscription with the Latin Pro Valore . Spain's motto Plus ultra , meaning "even further", or figuratively "Further!", is also Latin in origin. It is taken from the personal motto of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (as Charles I), and

5000-450: Is no indication that he had travelled past Southern Italy and Sicily at the time of writing. The work takes the form of a dramatic dialogue between Philocosmia, who advocates worldly pleasures, and Philosophia, whose defence of scholarship leads into a summary of the seven liberal arts . Underlining the entire work is the contrast between Philocosmia's res (perceptible reality), and Philosophia's verba (mental concepts). Each section of

5125-489: Is not able to demonstrate the truth of things (res) that lie in the domain of physics." Writing with the influence of his wife Heloise, he stressed that subjective intention determines the moral value of human action. With Heloise, he is the first significant philosopher of the Middle Ages to push for intentionalist ethics. He helped establish the philosophical authority of Aristotle , which became firmly established in

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5250-469: Is of Anglo-Saxon origin, which would make him to be of low status in 11th-century England. It is believed that he left England toward the end of the 11th century for Tours , likely on the advice of Bishop John de Villula , who had moved the seat of his bishopric from Wells to Bath in 1090. During his studies in Tours, an anonymous "wise man of Tours" inspired Adelard with his interest in astronomy to study

5375-552: Is presumed that he returned to Paris and resumed teaching on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève . His lectures were dominated by logic, at least until 1136, when he produced further drafts of his Theologia in which he analyzed the sources of belief in the Trinity and praised the pagan philosophers of classical antiquity for their virtues and for their discovery by the use of reason of many fundamental aspects of Christian revelation. In 1128, Abbot Suger claimed that

5500-1011: Is taught at many high schools, especially in Europe and the Americas. It is most common in British public schools and grammar schools, the Italian liceo classico and liceo scientifico , the German Humanistisches Gymnasium and the Dutch gymnasium . Occasionally, some media outlets, targeting enthusiasts, broadcast in Latin. Notable examples include Radio Bremen in Germany, YLE radio in Finland (the Nuntii Latini broadcast from 1989 until it

5625-543: The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same: volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance and relevant information. The reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy . About 270,000 inscriptions are known. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. In

5750-550: The Theologia Summi Boni , than his adversaries picked up on his rationalistic interpretation of the Trinitarian dogma. Two pupils of Anselm of Laon , Alberich of Reims and Lotulf of Lombardy, instigated proceedings against Abelard, charging him with Sabellianism in a provincial synod held at Soissons in 1121 . Through irregular procedures, they obtained an official condemnation of his teaching, and Abelard

5875-524: The Bishop of Chartres and to Bernard of Clairvaux , denouncing them. Another, less distinguished, theologian, Thomas of Morigny , also produced at the same time a list of Abelard's supposed heresies, perhaps at Bernard's instigation. Bernard's complaint mainly was that Abelard had applied logic where it is not applicable, and that is illogical. Amid pressure from Bernard, Abelard challenged Bernard either to withdraw his accusations, or to make them publicly at

6000-837: The English language , along with a large number of others, and historically contributed many words to the English lexicon , particularly after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest . Latin and Ancient Greek roots are heavily used in English vocabulary in theology , the sciences , medicine , and law . A number of phases of the language have been recognized, each distinguished by subtle differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, and syntax. There are no hard and fast rules of classification; different scholars emphasize different features. As

6125-528: The Holy See , the primary language of its public journal , the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , and the working language of the Roman Rota . Vatican City is also home to the world's only automatic teller machine that gives instructions in Latin. In the pontifical universities postgraduate courses of Canon law are taught in Latin, and papers are written in the same language. There are

6250-510: The Middle Ages , borrowing from Latin occurred from ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century or indirectly after the Norman Conquest , through the Anglo-Norman language . From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed " inkhorn terms ", as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by

6375-569: The Romance languages . During the Classical period, informal language was rarely written, so philologists have been left with only individual words and phrases cited by classical authors, inscriptions such as Curse tablets and those found as graffiti . In the Late Latin period, language changes reflecting spoken (non-classical) norms tend to be found in greater quantities in texts. As it

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6500-636: The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 and Germanic kingdoms took its place, the Germanic people adopted Latin as a language more suitable for legal and other, more formal uses. While the written form of Latin was increasingly standardized into a fixed form, the spoken forms began to diverge more greatly. Currently, the five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish , Portuguese , French , Italian , and Romanian . Despite dialectal variation, which

6625-462: The " Descartes of the twelfth century", he is considered a forerunner of Rousseau , Kant , and Spinoza . He is sometimes credited as a chief forerunner of modern empiricism . In history and popular culture, he is best known for his passionate and tragic love affair, and intense philosophical exchange , with his brilliant student and eventual wife, Héloïse d'Argenteuil . He was a defender of women and of their education. After having sent Héloïse to

6750-501: The 11th century it was understandably difficult for him to have achieved his educational pursuits. As printing had not been introduced and the literacy rate was very low, books were rare in medieval Europe, usually held only by royal courts or Catholic monastic communities (Kraye, et al. 1987). Fittingly, Adelard studied with monks at the Benedictine Monastery at Bath Cathedral . Among Adelard of Bath's original works

6875-637: The British Crown. The motto is featured on all presently minted coinage and has been featured in most coinage throughout the nation's history. Several states of the United States have Latin mottos , such as: Many military organizations today have Latin mottos, such as: Some law governing bodies in the Philippines have Latin mottos, such as: Some colleges and universities have adopted Latin mottos, for example Harvard University 's motto

7000-785: The Council of Sens, where he was accused of heresy and was unable to speak in reply. In the words of Geoffrey of Auxerre: his "memory became very confused, his reason blacked out and his interior sense forsook him." Medieval understanding of mental health precedes development of modern psychiatric diagnosis. No diagnosis besides "ill health" was applied to Abelard at the time. His tendencies towards self-acclaim, grandiosity , paranoia and shame are suggestive of possible latent narcissism (despite his great talents and fame), or – recently conjectured – in keeping with his breakdowns, overwork, loquaciousness and belligerence – mood-related mental health issues such as mania related to bipolar disorder . At

7125-599: The Grinch Stole Christmas! , The Cat in the Hat , and a book of fairy tales, " fabulae mirabiles ", are intended to garner popular interest in the language. Additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissner's Latin Phrasebook . Some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series,

7250-581: The Middle Ages the idea of the individual subject central to modern law. This gave to School of Notre-Dame de Paris (later the University of Paris) a recognition for its expertise in the area of Law, even before the faculty of law existed and the school even recognized as an universitas and even though Abelard was a logician and a theologian. Abelard was also long known as an important poet and composer. He composed some celebrated love songs for Héloïse that are now lost, and which have not been identified in

7375-707: The Pope, after Abelard's death, to clear his name of heresy charges. Latin language Latin ( lingua Latina , pronounced [ˈlɪŋɡʷa ɫaˈtiːna] , or Latinum [ɫaˈtiːnʊ̃] ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages . Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio ), the lower Tiber area around Rome , Italy. Through

7500-405: The Soul and in Peter Abelard 's Hexaemeron . He introduced algebra to the Latin world and his commentaries in Euclid's Elements were extremely influential in the 13th century. Adelard was also responsible for introducing Arabic numerals, including the symbol for zero, to Western Europe. Adelard displayed original thought of a scientific bent, questioning the shape of the Earth (he believed it

7625-409: The United States the unofficial national motto until 1956 was E pluribus unum meaning "Out of many, one". The motto continues to be featured on the Great Seal . It also appears on the flags and seals of both houses of congress and the flags of the states of Michigan, North Dakota, New York, and Wisconsin. The motto's 13 letters symbolically represent the original Thirteen Colonies which revolted from

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7750-447: The University of Kentucky, the University of Oxford and also Princeton University. There are many websites and forums maintained in Latin by enthusiasts. The Latin Misplaced Pages has more than 130,000 articles. Italian , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Romanian , Catalan , Romansh , Sardinian and other Romance languages are direct descendants of Latin. There are also many Latin borrowings in English and Albanian , as well as

7875-403: The Venerable of Cluny , who wrote to Héloise: "I will gladly do my best to obtain a prebend in one of the great churches for your Astrolabe, who is also ours for your sake". 'Petrus Astralabius' is recorded at the Cathedral of Nantes in 1150, and the same name appears again later at the Cistercian abbey at Hauterive in what is now Switzerland. Given the extreme eccentricity of the name, it

8000-434: The anonymous repertoire. (One known romantic poem / possible lyric remains, "Dull is the Star".) Héloïse praised these songs in a letter: "The great charm and sweetness in language and music, and a soft attractiveness of the melody obliged even the unlettered". His education in music was based in his childhood learning of the traditional quadrivium studied at the time by almost all aspiring medieval scholars. Abelard composed

8125-434: The area of Law (and later led to the creation of a Faculty of Law of Paris ). Abelard, originally called "Pierre le Pallet", was born c.  1079 in Le Pallet , about 10 miles (16 km) east of Nantes , in the Duchy of Brittany , the eldest son of a minor noble French family. As a boy, he learned quickly. His father, a knight called Berenger, encouraged Abelard to study the liberal arts , wherein he excelled at

8250-417: The art of dialectic . Instead of entering a military career, as his father had done, Abelard became an academic. During his early academic pursuits, Abelard wandered throughout France, debating and learning, so as (in his own words) "he became such a one as the Peripatetics ." He first studied in the Loire area, where the nominalist Roscellinus of Compiègne , who had been accused of heresy by Anselm ,

8375-497: The author Petronius . While often called a "dead language", Latin did not undergo language death . By the 6th to 9th centuries, natural language change eventually resulted in Latin as a vernacular language evolving into distinct Romance languages in the large areas where it had come to be natively spoken. However, even after the fall of Western Rome , Latin remained the common language of international communication , science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into

8500-524: The author and then forgotten, but some useful ones survived, such as 'imbibe' and 'extrapolate'. Many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French . Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and Dutch vocabularies. Those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Adelard of Bath Adelard of Bath ( Latin : Adelardus Bathensis ; c. 1080? – c. 1142–1152?)

8625-425: The benefit of those who do not understand Latin. There are also songs written with Latin lyrics . The libretto for the opera-oratorio Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky is in Latin. Parts of Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana are written in Latin. Enya has recorded several tracks with Latin lyrics. The continued instruction of Latin is seen by some as a highly valuable component of a liberal arts education. Latin

8750-456: The birth of their child, Astrolabe, Héloïse and Abelard were both cloistered. Their son was thus brought up by Abelard's sister, Dionysia, at Abelard's childhood home in Le Pallet. His name derives from the astrolabe , a Persian astronomical instrument said to elegantly model the universe and which was popularized in France by Adelard of Bath . He is mentioned in Abelard's poem to his son, the Carmen Astralabium, and by Abelard's protector, Peter

8875-409: The careful work of Petrarch, Politian and others, first the demand for manuscripts, and then the rush to bring works into print, led to the circulation of inaccurate copies for several centuries following. Neo-Latin literature was extensive and prolific, but less well known or understood today. Works covered poetry, prose stories and early novels, occasional pieces and collections of letters, to name

9000-415: The classicised Latin that followed through to the present are often grouped together as Neo-Latin , or New Latin, which have in recent decades become a focus of renewed study , given their importance for the development of European culture, religion and science. The vast majority of written Latin belongs to this period, but its full extent is unknown. The Renaissance reinforced the position of Latin as

9125-457: The concept that human beings "speak to God with their thoughts". He was one of the developers of the insanity defense , writing in Scito te ipsum , "Of this [sin], small children and of course insane people are untouched...lack[ing] reason....nothing is counted as sin for them". He spearheaded the idea that mental illness was a natural condition and "debunked the idea that the devil caused insanity",

9250-471: The convent at Argenteuil, where Héloïse was prioress, belonged to his abbey of St Denis. In 1129 he gained possession and he made no provision for the nuns. When Abelard heard, he transferred Paraclete and its lands to Héloïse and her remaining nuns, making her abbess. He provided the new community with a rule and with a justification of the nun's way of life; in this he emphasized the virtue of literary study. He also provided books of hymns he had composed, and in

9375-430: The council the next day, he was presented with a list of condemned propositions imputed to him. Unable to answer to these propositions, Abelard left the assembly, appealed to the Pope, and set off for Rome, hoping that the Pope would be more supportive. However, this hope was unfounded. On 16 July 1141, Pope Innocent II issued a bull excommunicating Abelard and his followers and imposing perpetual silence on him, and in

9500-465: The country's full Latin name. Some film and television in ancient settings, such as Sebastiane , The Passion of the Christ and Barbarians (2020 TV series) , have been made with dialogue in Latin. Occasionally, Latin dialogue is used because of its association with religion or philosophy, in such film/television series as The Exorcist and Lost (" Jughead "). Subtitles are usually shown for

9625-503: The decline in written Latin output. Despite having no native speakers, Latin is still used for a variety of purposes in the contemporary world. The largest organisation that retains Latin in official and quasi-official contexts is the Catholic Church . The Catholic Church required that Mass be carried out in Latin until the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 , which permitted the use of the vernacular . Latin remains

9750-418: The domain a prey to outlaws, the house itself savage and disorderly. There, too, his relations with the community deteriorated. Lack of success at St. Gildas made Abelard decide to take up public teaching again (although he remained for a few more years, officially, Abbot of St. Gildas). It is not entirely certain what he then did, but given that John of Salisbury heard Abelard lecture on dialectic in 1136, it

9875-433: The early 1130s he and Héloïse composed a collection of their own love letters and religious correspondence containing, amongst other notable pieces, Abelard's most famous letter containing his autobiography, Historia Calamitatum ( The History of My Calamities ). This moved Héloïse to write her first Letter; the first being followed by the two other Letters, in which she finally accepted the part of resignation, which, now as

10000-406: The early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as a native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance , which then developed

10125-589: The educated and official world, Latin continued without its natural spoken base. Moreover, this Latin spread into lands that had never spoken Latin, such as the Germanic and Slavic nations. It became useful for international communication between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies. Without the institutions of the Roman Empire that had supported its uniformity, Medieval Latin

10250-454: The emotions. He should not be read as a heretic, as his charges of heresy were dropped and rescinded by the Church after his death, but rather as a cutting-edge philosopher who pushed theology and philosophy to their limits. He is described as "the keenest thinker and boldest theologian of the 12th century" and as the greatest logician of the Middle Ages. "His genius was evident in all he did"; as

10375-614: The expansion of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire . By the late Roman Republic , Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin . Vulgar Latin refers to the less prestigious colloquial registers , attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of the comic playwrights Plautus and Terence and

10500-586: The first to use 'theology' in its modern sense, he championed "reason in matters of faith", and "seemed larger than life to his contemporaries: his quick wit, sharp tongue, perfect memory, and boundless arrogance made him unbeatable in debate" — "the force of his personality impressed itself vividly on all with whom he came into contact." Regarding the un baptized who die in infancy , Abelard — in Commentaria in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos — emphasized

10625-489: The goodness of God and interpreted Augustine 's "mildest punishment" as the pain of loss at being denied the beatific vision ( carentia visionis Dei ), without hope of obtaining it, but with no additional punishments. His thought contributed to the forming of Limbo of Infants theory in the 12th–13th centuries. Abelard was concerned with the concept of intent and inner life, developing an elementary theory of cognition in his Tractabus De Intellectibus , and later developing

10750-411: The half-century after his death. It was at this time that Aristotle's Organon first became available, and gradually all of Aristotle's other surviving works. Before this, the works of Plato were used in support of philosophical realism . Abelard is considered one of the greatest twelfth-century Catholic philosophers, arguing that God and the universe can and should be known via logic as well as via

10875-449: The important church council at Sens planned for 2 June 1141. In so doing, Abelard put himself into the position of the wronged party and forced Bernard to defend himself from the accusation of slander. Bernard avoided this trap, however: on the eve of the council, he called a private meeting of the assembled bishops and persuaded them to condemn, one by one, each of the heretical propositions he attributed to Abelard. When Abelard appeared at

11000-553: The incorporeal soul of elements and animals. Questiones Naturales appears to have been an immediate success as it was copied on both sides of the English Channel and was even presented in a "pocket-book" format, suggesting that it was meant to be carried around. The final section in his trilogy is a treatise on hawking called De Avibus Tractatus (Treatise on Birds) . It is a medical text that addresses disease from head-to-toe. While it has been argued that this treatise

11125-574: The innocence of a woman who commits a sin out of love. In Catholic theology , he is best known for his development of the concept of limbo , and his introduction of the moral influence theory of atonement . He is considered (alongside Augustine of Hippo ) to be the most significant forerunner of the modern self-reflective autobiographer. He paved the way and set the tone for later epistolary novels and celebrity tell-alls with his publicly distributed letter, The History of My Calamities , and public correspondence. In law, Abelard stressed that, because

11250-703: The invention of printing and are now published in carefully annotated printed editions, such as the Loeb Classical Library , published by Harvard University Press , or the Oxford Classical Texts , published by Oxford University Press . Latin translations of modern literature such as: The Hobbit , Treasure Island , Robinson Crusoe , Paddington Bear , Winnie the Pooh , The Adventures of Tintin , Asterix , Harry Potter , Le Petit Prince , Max and Moritz , How

11375-704: The language of the Roman Rite . The Tridentine Mass (also known as the Extraordinary Form or Traditional Latin Mass) is celebrated in Latin. Although the Mass of Paul VI (also known as the Ordinary Form or the Novus Ordo) is usually celebrated in the local vernacular language, it can be and often is said in Latin, in part or in whole, especially at multilingual gatherings. It is the official language of

11500-431: The later part of the Roman Republic , up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin . It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of the earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence . The Latin alphabet was devised from the Etruscan alphabet . The writing later changed from what was initially either a right-to-left or a boustrophedon script to what ultimately became

11625-413: The lectures of Anselm on Biblical exegesis and Christian doctrine. Unimpressed by Anselm's teaching, Abelard began to offer his own lectures on the book of Ezekiel. Anselm forbade him to continue this teaching. Abelard returned to Paris where, in around 1115, he became master of the cathedral school of Notre-Dame and a canon of Sens (the cathedral of the archdiocese to which Paris belonged). Abelard

11750-415: The liberal arts is divided into two parts. Presented first is a description of the allegorical figure representing the art, in which the importance of that art is indicated, followed by a summary of the doctrines of that art, as told by the allegorical figure who is presented as the founder or main proponent of the particular art. The second of this trio, and arguably Adelard's most significant contribution,

11875-492: The monastery. His lectures, now framed in a devotional spirit, and with lectures on theology as well as his previous lectures on logic, were once again heard by crowds of students, and his old influence seemed to have returned. Using his studies of the Bible and, in his view, inconsistent writings of the leaders of the church as his basis, he wrote Sic et Non ( Yes and No ). No sooner had he published his theological lectures,

12000-422: The offerings of his pupils, and entertained with universal admiration, he came to think of himself as the only undefeated philosopher in the world. But a change in his fortunes was at hand. In his devotion to science, he claimed to have lived a very straight and narrow life, enlivened only by philosophical debate: now, at the height of his fame, he encountered romance. Upon deciding to pursue Héloïse, Abelard sought

12125-466: The other varieties, as it was largely separated from the unifying influences in the western part of the Empire. Spoken Latin began to diverge into distinct languages by the 9th century at the latest, when the earliest extant Romance writings begin to appear. They were, throughout the period, confined to everyday speech, as Medieval Latin was used for writing. For many Italians using Latin, though, there

12250-486: The precincts of Notre-Dame, under the care of her uncle, the secular canon Fulbert. She was famous as the most well-educated and intelligent woman in Paris, renowned for her knowledge of classical letters , including not only Latin but also Greek and Hebrew . At the time Heloise met Abelard, he was surrounded by crowds – supposedly thousands of students – drawn from all countries by the fame of his teaching. Enriched by

12375-461: The process of interpreting the text for a Western audience. Adelard's work impacted the course of natural philosophy, notably influencing Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon . His work in natural philosophy helped lay the foundations for much of the progress that was made in the later centuries after Aristotle . His work surrounding Euclid's Elements provided training in demonstrative and geometrical proofs. While his original writings demonstrate

12500-400: The public, took temporary leave of his canon duties (he does not appear again in the Paris cartularies for several years). In shame of his injuries, Abelard retired permanently as a Notre Dame canon, with any career as a priest or ambitions for higher office in the church shattered by his loss of manhood. He effectively hid himself as a monk at the monastery of St. Denis, near Paris, avoiding

12625-451: The questions of his horrified public. Roscellinus and Fulk of Deuil ridiculed and belittled Abelard for being castrated. Upon joining the monastery at St. Denis, Abelard insisted that Héloïse take vows as a nun (she had few other options at the time). Héloïse protested her separation from Abelard, sending numerous letters re-initiating their friendship and demanding answers to theological questions concerning her new vocation. Shortly after

12750-832: The science. Adelard later taught for a time at Laon , leaving no later than 1109 for travel. After leaving Laon, Adelard describes himself as travelling to Southern Italy and Sicily no later than 1116. Adelard also reports extensive travel throughout the "lands of the Crusades": Greece, West Asia, Sicily, possibly Spain, Tarsus , Antioch , and potentially Palestine. Historians believe that Adelard learned Arabic in Sicily or in Spain during his travels. The time spent in these areas would help explain his fascination with mathematics and his access to Arabic scholars . His travels are contested by scholars, some of whom speculate that he used references to "travel" and claims of discourse with "Arabs" as

12875-505: The sentence of excommunication lifted, and to persuade Innocent that it was enough if Abelard remained under the aegis of Cluny. Abelard suffered at least two nervous collapses, the first around 1104–5, cited as due to the stresses of too much study. In his words: "Not long afterward, though, my health broke down under the strain of too much study and I had to return home to Brittany. I was away from France for several years, bitterly missed..." His second documented collapse took place in 1141 at

13000-404: The standard at higher levels in the church orders.) To avoid suspicion of involvement with Abelard, Heloise continued to stay at her uncle's house. When Fulbert publicly disclosed the marriage, Héloïse vehemently denied it, arousing Fulbert's wrath and abuse. Abelard sent her to the convent at Argenteuil , where she had been brought up, in an attempt to protect her from her uncle. Héloïse dressed as

13125-469: The subjective intention determines the moral value of human action, the legal consequence of an action is related to the person who commits it and not merely to the action. With this doctrine, Abelard created in the Middle Ages the idea of the individual subject central to modern law. This eventually gave to School of Notre-Dame de Paris (later the University of Paris ) a recognition for its expertise in

13250-462: The teaching of secular arts with his profession as a monk was heavily criticized by other men of religion, and Abelard contemplated flight outside Christendom altogether. Abelard therefore decided to leave and find another refuge, accepting sometime between 1126 and 1128 an invitation to preside over the Abbey of Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys on the far-off shore of Lower Brittany. The region was inhospitable,

13375-473: The time, some of these characteristics were attributed disparagingly to his Breton heritage, his difficult "indomitable" personality and overwork. Abelard spent his final months at the priory of St. Marcel, near Chalon-sur-Saône , before he died on 21 April 1142. He is said to have uttered the last words "I don't know", before expiring. He died from a fever while suffering from a skin disorder, possibly mange or scurvy . Heloise and Peter of Cluny arranged with

13500-466: The use of the literary device of invoking Arab teachings when presenting very controversial topics (e.g. that brute animals may possess knowledge and souls) Adelard didn't think that the use of reason to seek knowledge was in any way contradictory with Christian faith in God. The soul is a large part of the dialogue in this text as On Man discusses a corporeal soul in man, while the final section elaborates on

13625-428: Was a 12th-century English natural philosopher. He is known both for his original works and for translating many important Greek scientific works of astrology , astronomy , philosophy , alchemy and mathematics into Latin from Arabic versions, which were then introduced to Western Europe. The oldest surviving Latin translation of Euclid's Elements is a 12th-century translation by Adelard from an Arabic version. He

13750-460: Was almost able to attain the position of master at Notre Dame. For a short time, however, William was able to prevent Abelard from lecturing in Paris. Abelard accordingly was forced to resume his school at Melun, which he was then able to move, from c.  1110–12 , to Paris itself, on the heights of Montagne Sainte-Geneviève , overlooking Notre-Dame. From his success in dialectic, he next turned to theology and in 1113 moved to Laon to attend

13875-433: Was closer to William's thought than this account might suggest, William thought Abelard was too arrogant . It was during this time that Abelard would provoke quarrels with both William and Roscellinus. Against opposition from the metropolitan teacher, Abelard set up his own school, first at Melun , a favoured royal residence, then, around 1102–04, for more direct competition, he moved to Corbeil , nearer Paris. His teaching

14000-491: Was fixed in square notation. Planctus as genre influenced the subsequent development of the lai , a song form that flourished in northern Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. Melodies that have survived have been praised as "flexible, expressive melodies [that] show an elegance and technical adroitness that are very similar to the qualities that have been long admired in Abelard's poetry." Héloïse d'Argenteuil lived within

14125-413: Was free to develop on its own, there is no reason to suppose that the speech was uniform either diachronically or geographically. On the contrary, Romanised European populations developed their own dialects of the language, which eventually led to the differentiation of Romance languages . Late Latin is a kind of written Latin used in the 3rd to 6th centuries. This began to diverge from Classical forms at

14250-497: Was his Questiones Naturales or Questions on Natural Science . It can be dated between 1107 and 1133 as, in the text, Adelard himself mentions that seven years have passed since his lecturing in schools at Laon. He chooses to present this work as a forum for Arabic learning, referring often to his experiences in Antioch. He sets out seventy-six questions, in the form of a Platonic dialogue about meteorology and natural science. It

14375-574: Was his teacher during this period. Around 1100, Abelard's travels brought him to Paris. Around this time he changed his surname to Abelard, sometimes written Abailard or Abaelardus. The etymological root of Abelard could be the Middle French abilite ('ability'), the Hebrew name Abel/Habal (breath/vanity/figure in Genesis), the English apple or the Latin ballare ('to dance'). The name

14500-479: Was made to burn a copy of the Theologia himself. He was then sentenced to perpetual confinement in a monastery other than his own, but it seems to have been agreed in advance that this sentence would be revoked almost immediately because, after a few days in the convent of St. Medard at Soissons, Abelard returned to St. Denis. Life in his own monastery proved no more congenial than before. For this Abelard himself

14625-496: Was much more liberal in its linguistic cohesion: for example, in classical Latin sum and eram are used as auxiliary verbs in the perfect and pluperfect passive, which are compound tenses. Medieval Latin might use fui and fueram instead. Furthermore, the meanings of many words were changed and new words were introduced, often under influence from the vernacular. Identifiable individual styles of classically incorrect Latin prevail. Renaissance Latin, 1300 to 1500, and

14750-441: Was no complete separation between Italian and Latin, even into the beginning of the Renaissance . Petrarch for example saw Latin as a literary version of the spoken language. Medieval Latin is the written Latin in use during that portion of the post-classical period when no corresponding Latin vernacular existed, that is from around 700 to 1500 AD. The spoken language had developed into the various Romance languages; however, in

14875-400: Was not widely distributed, an investigation of later Latin and French treatises reveals a number of excerpts from Adelard's work. The remainder of Adelard's original works did not involve the persona of his nephew. He wrote a treatise on the use of the abacus called Regulae Abaci , which was likely written very early in his career because it shows no trace of Arab influence. This treatise

15000-430: Was notably successful, but the stress taxed his constitution, leading to a nervous breakdown and a trip home to Brittany for several years of recovery. On his return, after 1108, he found William lecturing at the hermitage of Saint-Victor, just outside the Île de la Cité , and there they once again became rivals, with Abelard challenging William over his theory of universals. Abelard was once more victorious, and Abelard

15125-487: Was partly responsible. Since at least the ninth century, the legends of Dionysius the Areopagite and Denis of Paris had often been conflated, largely due to Hilduin , Abbot of Saint-Denis, eager to promote the dignity of the abbey. The monastic community at Saint-Denis took pride in this supposed connection. Abelard teasingly pointed out a possibility that the founder of the Abbey could have been another Dionysius, who

15250-493: Was round) and asking how it remains stationary in space. He developed the classic physics question of how far a rock would fall if a hole were drilled through the Earth and a rock dropped through it (see center of gravity ). He later supplemented his mathematical translations with "De opere astrolapsus," a text explaining the use of an astrolabe. Campanus of Novara probably had access to Adelard's translation of Elements , and it

15375-411: Was sent by Abelard to be looked after by his family in Brittany, where she gave birth to a son, whom she named Astrolabe, after the scientific instrument . To appease Fulbert, Abelard proposed a marriage. Héloïse initially opposed marriage, but to appease her worries about Abelard's career prospects as a married philosopher, the couple were married in secret. (At this time, clerical celibacy was becoming

15500-482: Was shut down in June 2019), and Vatican Radio & Television, all of which broadcast news segments and other material in Latin. A variety of organisations, as well as informal Latin 'circuli' ('circles'), have been founded in more recent times to support the use of spoken Latin. Moreover, a number of university classics departments have begun incorporating communicative pedagogies in their Latin courses. These include

15625-501: Was used heavily in schools into and beyond the 13th century but the teaching on natural things would ultimately be superseded by Aristotle's writing. The text is broken up into three parts: On Plants and Brute Animals , On Man and On Earth, Water, Air, and Fire . Two of the more specific features associated with this text are (1) a preference for reason over authority in matters of science and nature (in other words, seeking solutions via reason and logic rather than through faith) and (2)

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