A. Abelard and Heloise: the Story of His Misfortunes
Read this text for two main topics: the life of one of the new breed of teachers and scholars of the 12th century, and the personal relationship between Abelard and Heloise.
1. What was Abelard's stated purpose in writing this text? Were there other motives than those he states?
2. Dialectic is a crucial component of Abelard's intellectual development.  Sometimes Abelard uses the word "dialectic" to signify a public debate, in which two scholars or students would appear and debate some point of philosophy or theology before a crowd of interested on-lookers.  But the more technical meaning of "dialectic" refers to a method of analysis in which the scholar carefully analyzes first one side of an issue, then the opposing side, and then provides a third, middle route.  The method of dialectic was perfected by Abelard in his work Sic et Non ("Yes and No") in which Abelard discussed and resolved apparent contradictions within the Bible (he provided one passage, then an apparently contradictory one, and then used reason to resolve the difference).  Dialectic as a concept is still one of the most powerful intellectual tools used by historians and other scholars; you may be familiar with the more detailed form it was given by Georg Hegel in the 19th century.  Hegel proposed that the dialectic should start with a "thesis", which ought then to be countered by an "antithesis" (or "anti-thesis"); the contrast or comparison of the two would lead finally to a "synthesis."  This is simply a more sophisticated way of describing the method that Abelard pioneered in the 12th century.
3. How does Abelard explain events in the world? Contrast him, for instance, with the author of the miracles of St. Foy.  What role do reason and logic play in Abelard's mindset?
4. Abelard is constantly getting into trouble.  Why? Consider both the nature of his intellectual activities as well as his personality.
5. From what Abelard tells us, what was the academic community of late 11th and early 12th century France like? How did a young scholar "get ahead"?  Abelard did succeed - how does he explain his success?  What skills did a successful scholar need to possess?
6. The two serious academic disciplines of the High Middle Ages were philosophy and theology.  The latter (theology) was by far the more prestigious of the two - in fact it was known as the Queen of the Liberal Arts.  How does Abelard's career reflect this hierarchy of disciplines?
7. Abelard's first theological success (or so he claims) was a commentary on the Book of Ezekiel.  Biblical commentaries were extremely common pieces of literature during the Middle Ages; they demonstrated piety as well as the interpretive abilities of the commentator.  Commentaries were first presented as a series of lectures; if they went over well, they might be disseminated in written form.  Abelard makes a very telling comment at the bottom of p. 63 - on what talent or skill does he claim to rely?  Why is this significant?
8. What is unusual about Heloise's educational background?
9. Remember that Abelard writing about his love affair from the vantage point of old age; as he tells his reader in the first paragraph of the Story, his purpose is to provide a cautionary tale for other scholars/readers.  According to Abelard, then, what effect did his affair with Heloise have on his academic career? What does this suggest about how he had come to view sex and women by the time he wrote the Story?  On the other hand, what did the young Abelard think about love?
10. Why did Heloise refuse to marry Abelard?  What would have been the problem with a married theologian? Was it possible?  She cites two impediments: clerical status and the profession of philosopher.  How does her argument run?  Heloise also makes an interesting distinction between mistresses and wives (see p. 74) - what is it? What does she see as the nature of the bond between man and mistress? Between man and wife?
11. What actions did Heloise's uncle Fulbert take concerning their relationship?  Abelard refers often to "Fulbert's honor"? What does this mean?
12. The two lovers both took monastic vows after Abelard's mutilation.  Why?
13. Abelard's enemies convened a church council at Soissons in 1121 at which they attempted to condemn his treatise on the Trinity.  The passage on p. 80 in which Abelard argues with his enemies about authority is extremely significant, for it illustrates the debates that were raging in almost all spheres of human activity: law, government, the church, etc.  His enemies state "We take no account of rational explanation nor of your interpretation in such matters; we recognize only the words of authority."  How does this one phrase pinpoint a conflict in ideas about authority, scholarship, and religion?  What was Abelard's response?
14. On what grounds was Abelard's book on the Trinity finally condemned at Soissons?
15. How pious was Abelard (by the standards of his day, not your standards)? Did his piety change over time?
16. Abelard makes constant use of the writings of St Jerome in the telling of his misfortunes.  What is the reader meant to infer about Abelard from his use of Jerome? What is Abelard's purpose in using such a distinguished authority so frequently?
17. Why does Abelard think the Paraclete succeeded under Heloise's leadership? What does he say about women?
18. Abelard paints himself as a blameless victim of malicious "enemies". Is he really blameless?
19. How successful was Abelard as abbot of St Gildas?  Why?

B. Personal Letters between Abelard and Heloise
1. What sense are we to make of the salutation of Heloise's first letter to Abelard?
2. What is the tone of Heloise's letter(s) to Abelard? Of Abelard's letters to Heloise?
3. Does Heloise make reference to their affair? In what tone? With what emotions?
4. What do the letters suggest about love? About marriage? About gender roles? Of what does Heloise accuse Abelard on page 116?  Does he respond?
5. What does Abelard have to say about wives in general? About Heloise in particular?
6. Was Heloise uneducated in spiritual matters? In matters of education and writing? How do we know?
7. What does Heloise have to say about the nature and capacity of women?
8. In his last letter Abelard lists Heloise's complaints and responds to them. What are those complaints? How does Abelard respond? What tone does he take? Does he seem to admit to feelings of love still?

C. Administrative Kingship: Domesday Book
The Domesday Book (pronounced "Doomsday") is one of the great administrative texts produced during the Middle Ages.  We are clearly not interested in any of the specific entries, but rather in how it was compiled, why it was compiled, and what its compilation suggests about kingship and government in England.  The context here is the conquest of Anglo-Saxon England by the Normans, which occurred in 1066 when Duke William of Normandy defeated and slew King Harold of England.  Thereafter, England would be a combination of Anglo-Saxon tradition with French-style (ie., Norman) feudal relationships.  By 1085, William was secure on his new throne and could take the time to more carefully organize his kingdom. The Domesday Book was a result. Notes: TRE means "in the Time of King Edward", or, what conditions were like before William conquered England in 1066. "Sake and Soke" are Anglo-Saxon rights of lordship over land. A ‘messuage' is a unit of land measurement. A ‘borough' is a specific type of ‘town'.
1. Domesday Book is organized by county (Huntingdonshire); within each county, the text begins with the county seat (or town; in this case the borough of Huntingdon), then moves to the lands held by all major landholders. Finally, each county included a section on claims, or disputes, to the lands that had just been listed.
2. Tenants-in-Chief: these are men who held their land directly from the king, as opposed to holding a fief from some lesser figure. According to Domesday Book, all land in England was the king's - all the land in each county belonged either to the king or to some tenant-in-chief.  Of course both the royal land and the land of the tenants-in-chief were then subdivided into fiefs. Locate a tenant-in-chief in the text. Does this person have sub-vassals?
3. When William conquered England he made sure to spread out the spoils so that his more important followers had lands in lots of different counties. Why?
4. For each entry the formula is the same. The state of affairs TRE is given first, and then the current conditions (1085). Look at a few entries. Has the land in question remained in the same hands? Has the value of the land appreciated or depreciated?  Can you detect Anglo-Saxon and Norman names among the tenants? That is, did William seem to allow the old Anglo-Saxon landholders to keep their land?
5. Why do historians care about this dry text full of names, messuages, ploughs, etc.? What does it tell us about the sophistication of royal government? Compare it to governmental texts we have examined in the course. What's new? What's different? What does it suggest about the capacity of the central government to affect the localities?

D. Administrative Kingship: Dialogue of the Exchequer and sample Accounts of the Exchequer
The exchequer was another of the great inventions of Norman kingship in the century after the conquest of England. While the Domesday Book was a massive and impressive effort, it was static. In a way it was outdated as soon as it was complete (like a modern census).  Much more useful to kings were the procedures they used annually to collect and record taxes.  The origin of the exchequer is debated (Anglo-Saxon? Norman?), but by the 1120s it had become a permanent piece of English royal government. FYI: the exchequer court met three times a year, and was a body feared by sheriffs and landholders alike.
1. What is the exchequer? From where does it get its name? Why might they have used that object in collecting taxes?
2. Richard fitzNigel admits (p. 731) that meetings of the exchequer resembled ‘combat'. Combat between who? Why? What went on in the exchequer court?
3. Does the exchequer seem to be a slap-dash, ad hoc body? Remember our theme - increasing bureaucratization and rationality in government. Does the exchequer embody these goals?
4. What distinguishes the lower exchequer from the upper exchequer?
5. In looking at the sample, we see first off that Thomas Noel (the sheriff of Staffordshire in 1186) accounts for the ‘farm.' In other words he is a ‘tax-farmer', not a crop farmer. Make sure you understand what this means.
6. A typical account before the exchequer court would include the sheriff's income and disbursements. What has he disbursed? To whom?
7. After the disbursements come a series of different sorts of income which the sheriff has collected for the king and now has to account for before the exchequer court. For what sorts of things does the king (through his sheriff) expect payment? Notice both lordship revenues as well as judicial revenues (pleas of the court).
8. What is the significance of the exchequer system? What does it tell us about royal government?

E. Administrative Kingship: the Assize of Clarendon
Where the last two documents have shown us the increasing effectiveness of royal efforts at tax collection and financial organization, the last one for today reflects significant changes in law and legal procedure.  An "assize" is in this case a "law".
1. Why is the first article so important? What does the king want to have happen here? How does this represent a change from the type of documents we read about for lordship? What type of procedure is at work here? Does this article remind you of any modern judicial institutions? (It should; President Clinton had to answer to one ...)
2. What is the "judgment of water" mentioned in article two? What is its purpose? What legal theory lies behind such a procedure? In other words, who is deciding guilt or innocence?
3. Oaths are extremely important to this document. Find examples of oaths and the ways they were used.
4. What does article 5 mean? Why did the king want to keep the rights of justice in his own hands?
5. This text illustrates the effort of King Henry II to extend royal justice over all of England. How might such a plan be beneficial? Who might favor it? Who might oppose it? Why?
6. Article 12 is also interesting. Notice that certain people do not "have law".  This means they have no legal rights.  Why is it good to "have law"? What happens if you have a notoriously bad reputation and are found with stolen goods?
7. Make sure you understand what it means to  "make your law." Obviously you have to first "have law".  To "make your law" means to succeed in proving your case at law (ie., by triumphing in the ordeal or by having your oath accepted).  What happens to notorious people who nevertheless "make their law"?  This indicates that Henry was unhappy with the current means of proving innocence or guilt.
8. Where does justice take place according to this assize? Who takes part in it? What officials are present?
9. Where does law come from according to this document?
10. What does this text tell us about the sophistication of royal government in the twelfth century?

Homework Assignment: Write a 1 page response to one of the following (due Tuesday April 4):
1. What can we learn about medieval ideas about love and marriage from the story of Abelard and Heloise (notice that love and marriage are distinct concepts)?
2. Abelard is one of the most significant figures in the history of medieval education and scholarship.  Why? Consider what he says about reason and dialectic (see above).
 

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