Abelard Pierre. Medieval French philosopher, poet and musician

Abelard Pierre (1079 - 1142) - the most famous philosopher of the Middle Ages - went down in history as an acknowledged teacher and mentor who had his views on philosophy fundamentally different from the others. His life was difficult not only because of a mismatch of opinion with generally accepted dogmas; A huge physical misfortune brought Pierre love: real, mutual, sincere. In a living language and a comprehensible word, the philosopher described his difficult life in a work of an autobiographical character, The History of My Disasters.

The beginning of a difficult journey

Feeling in himself from an early age an irresistible craving for knowledge, Pierre refused an inheritance in favor of relatives, was not deceived by the promising career of the military, giving himself up completely to getting an education.

After training, Abelard Pierre settled in Paris, where he began teaching in the field of theology and philosophy, which subsequently earned him universal recognition and the glory of a skillful dialectician. At his lectures, outlined in an understandably elegant language, people from all over Europe converged.

Abelard was very literate and well-read person, familiar with the works of Aristotle, Plato, Cicero.

Having absorbed the views of his teachers - supporters of various systems of concepts - Pierre developed his own system - conceptualism (something averaged between nominalism and realism), fundamentally different from the views of Shampo - the French philosopher-mystic. Abelard's objections to Shampo were so convincing that the latter even modified his concepts, and a little later began to envy the glory of Pierre and became his sworn enemy - one of many.

Pierre Abelard: teaching

Pierre in his works justified the relationship of faith and reason, giving preference to the latter. According to the philosopher, one should not believe blindly, only because it is so accepted in society. The doctrine of Pierre Abelard is that faith must be reasonably justified and be perfected in it. A person - a reasonable being - is capable, only polishing the existing knowledge through dialectics. Faith is only an assumption about things that are inaccessible to human feelings. In the work "Yes and No" Pierre Abelard, briefly comparing biblical quotations with excerpts from the writings of priests, analyzes the views of the latter and finds inconsistency in the statements they give. And this forces us to doubt certain church dogmas and Christian dogma. Nevertheless, Abelard Pierre did not doubt the basic principles of Christianity; He only suggested their conscious assimilation. After all, the misunderstanding of Holy Scripture, combined with blind faith, is comparable to the behavior of the ass, which does not understand a bit in music, but assiduously tries to extract from the instrument a beautiful melody.

Philosophy of Abelard in the hearts of many people

Pierre Abelard, whose philosophy found a place in the hearts of many people, did not suffer from excessive modesty and openly called himself the only philosopher, something standing on Earth. For his time he was a great man: he was loved by women, they were admired by men. Received glory Abelard reveled in full.

The main works of the French philosopher are "Yes and No", "Dialogue between a Jew and a Jew", "Know Yourself", "Christian Theology".

Pierre and Eloise

However, the great glory of Pierre Abelard was brought not by lectures, but by a romantic story that conditioned the love of his life and became the cause of the misfortune that ensued in the future. The chosen beauty of the philosopher was the beautiful Eloise, who was 20 years younger than Pierre. The seventeen-year-old girl was a round orphan and was brought up in the house of her uncle Fulbert, who did not like the soul in her.

At such a young age, Eloise was illiterate by the years and was able to speak several languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew). Pierre, invited by Fulber to teach Eloise, fell in love with her at first sight. Yes, and his pupil admired the great thinker and scientists, the soul did not see in his chosen one and was ready for anything for this wise and charming man.

Pierre Abelard: biography of sad love

An ingenious philosopher in this romantic period showed himself as a poet and composer and wrote beautiful songs about love for the young person who immediately became popular.

Everyone knew about the connection of lovers, but Eloise, who openly called herself Pierre's mistress, did not at all embarrass; On the contrary, she was proud of the role she had been given, because it was her, the round orphan, Abelard preferred to the beautiful and noble women who appeared near him. The beloved took Eloise to Brittany, where she gave birth to a son, whom the couple was forced to leave to be brought up for strangers. They never saw their child again.

Later, Pierre Abelard and Eloise secretly married; If the marriage were made public, Pierre could not be a spiritual dignitary and build a career as a philosopher. Eloise, giving preference to the spiritual development of her husband and his career growth (instead of burdensome everyday life with children's diapers and eternal pans), concealed her marriage and upon returning to her uncle's house she said that she was Pierre's lover.

The frenzied Fulber could not reconcile himself to the moral fall of his niece and one night, along with his assistants, he entered the house of Abelard, where he was tied up and asleep, sleeping. After this brutal physical abuse, Pierre retired to St. Denis Abbey, and Eloise was cut into a nun in the Argentine Monastery. It would seem that earthly love, short and physical, lasting two years, ended. In fact, it simply grew into a different stage - spiritual intimacy, incomprehensible and inaccessible to many people.

One against theologians

Having lived some time in seclusion, Abelard Pierre resumed lecturing, giving way to the numerous requests of students. However, during this period, orthodox theologians took up arms against him, who found in the treatise "Introduction to theology" an explanation of the doctrine of the Trinity contradicting the church doctrine. This was the reason for accusing the philosopher of heresy; His treatise was burned, and Abelard himself imprisoned in the monastery of St. Medard. Such a severe sentence caused great dissatisfaction with the French clergy, many of whose dignitaries were disciples of Abelard. Therefore, Pierre was subsequently given permission to return to St. Denis Abbey. But even there he showed his individuality, expressing his own point of view, than incurred the wrath of the monks. The essence of their discontent was the discovery of the truth about the true founder of the abbey. In the opinion of Pierre Abelard, they were not Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the apostle Paul, but a different saint who lived in a much later period. From the embittered monks, the philosopher had to flee; He found refuge in a desert area on the Seine near Nogent, where hundreds of disciples joined him, a comforter leading to the truth.

On Pierre Abelard, new persecution began, for which reason he intended to leave France. However, during this period he was chosen abbot of Saint-Gilda monastery, where he spent 10 years. Eloise also gave the Paraclete monastery; She settled with her nuns, and Pierre helped her in the management of affairs.

The accusation of heresy

In 1136, Pierre returned to Paris, where he again began to give lectures at the school of St. Genevieve. The teachings of Pierre Abelard and the universally recognized success did not give rest to his enemies, especially to Bernard of Clairvaux. The philosopher again began to be persecuted. From the writings of Pierre, quotations were chosen with expressed thoughts, fundamentally contradicting the opinion of the public, which served as an occasion for renewing the accusation of heresy. At the assembled Sanssa Cathedral, Bernard acted as a prosecutor, and although his arguments were rather weak, influences, including the pope, played a big role; The Council declared Abelar a heretic.

Abelard and Eloise: together in heaven

Abelard was given a shelter by the Petit Venerable, the abbot of the Klyuinsky, first in his abbey, then in the monastery of St. Markella. There, the sufferer for freedom of thought completed his difficult life path; He died on April 21, 1142 at the age of 63. His Eloise died in 1164; She was also 63 years old. The couple were buried together in the Paraclete Abbey. When it was destroyed, the ashes of Pierre Abelard and Eloise were transported to Paris at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. To date, the funerary monument of lovers is regularly decorated with wreaths.