sermons for use at the Paraclete, an Apologia, and Hexaemeron (a commentary on the six
days of creation in Genesis). Abélard left disciples but no established school. Though he
influenced the development of the scholastic method, especially the quaestio, in general
his contributions to theology were topical and not systematic.
Abélard’s poetry reveals exceptional emotional power in lyrics on biblical and
religious themes, such as the lament (planctus) of David on the death of Jonathan, which
he invests with a notable sensibility of personal pain and loss. He wrote other laments,
liturgical poems, and a collection of hymns for Héloïse and the nuns at the Paraclete. In a
letter, Héloïse remarks that Abélard wrote popular love poems that were the talk of Paris
when he and Héloïse were lovers; none survives.
Peter the Venerable transferred Abélard’s body to the Paraclete, where it was buried in
the church. When Héloïse died in 1163/64, she was buried beside him. Their remains
were taken to Paris when the Paraclete was destroyed after the Revolution, and they now
rest in a tomb in the cemetery of Père-Lachaise.
Grover A.Zinn
[See also: ANSELM OF BEC; ANSELM OF LAON; ARGENTEUIL; BERNARD
OF CLAIRVAUX; HÉLOÏSE; HERESY; PETER THE VENERABLE; PHILOSOPHY;
ROBERT OF MELUN; SAINT-DENIS; SCHOLASTICISM; SCHOOLS,
CATHEDRAL; SUGER; THEOLOGY; UNIVERSITIES; WILLIAM OF
CHAMPEAUX; WILLLIAM OF SAINT-THIERRY]
Abélard, Peter. Opera omnia. PL 178.
——. Petri Abelardi opera, ed. Victor Cousin. 2 vols. Paris: Durand, 1849–59.
——. Opera theologica, ed. Eloi M.Buytaert. 3 vols. CCCM, 11, 12, 13. Turnhout: Brepols, 1969.
——. Sic et non: A Critical Edition, ed. Blanche B.Boyer and Richard P.McKeon. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1976–77.
——. Philosophische Schriften, ed. Bernhard Geyer. 1 vol. in 4 parts. Münster: Aschendorff, 1919–
33.
——. Ethics, ed. and trans. David E.Luscombe. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971.
——. Historia calamitatum: texte critique avec introduction, ed. Jacques Monfrin. 2nd ed. Paris:
Vrin, 1962.
——. The Story of Abelard’s Adversities, trans. Joseph T. Muckle. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of
Mediaeval Studies, 1964.
——. A Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian, trans. Pierre J.Payer. Toronto:
Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1979.
——. The Hymns of Abelard in English Verse, trans. Sister Joseph Patricia. Lanham: University
Press of America, 1986.
——. Dialogus inter Philosophum, Judaeum et Christianum, ed. Rudolf Thomas. Stuttgart:
Fromann, 1970.
Radice, Betty, trans. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.
Luscombe, David E. The School of Peter Abelard: The Influence of Abelard’s Thought in the Early
Scholastic Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969.
Weingart, Richard E. The Logic of Divine Love: A Critical Analysis of the Soteriology of Peter
Abailard. Oxford: Clarendon, 1970.
ABRÈGEMENT DU FIEF. Because of the services and potentially lucrative feudal
incidents owed by the holder of a fief, a fief could be abridged in value if it came into the
hands of a holder who could not render military service (such as a nonnoble or a cleric)
or a corporate body that never died (generally, an ecclesiastical house). When a nonnoble
acquired a fief, the circumstance was known as franc-fief, and the lord was entitled to a
payment, of the same name, to compensate for the abridgment of the fief’s value.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 4