READING GUIDE 7: Hildegard and Heloise
A. Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1178): Letter to Her Nuns (Amt, 233-235)
Hildegard is one of the most interesting and significant women religious
of the twelfth-century. Abbess, composer, author of treatises on
medicine, theology, and mysticism, and composer of numerous admonitory
letters to secular and religious leaders throughout Europe, Hildegard was
a bit of a polymath.
1. Notice Hildegard's tone of humility in her letter. Why might
it have been necessary for her to adopt such a tone? How might it have
been advantageous for her to do so?
2. If she is humble, is she also weak and passive? Why or why not?
3. What lay at the heart of her (and her nuns') dispute with Abbot
Kuno? What did she (and they) want?
4. What is the gist of her threat to Kuno? What authority underlay
this threat? From where did her authority come? Why do you think Kuno backed
down?
5. How does she conceive of her relationship with her nuns? What powers
does an abbess have, according to Hildegard?
B. Peter Abelard, History of My Calamities (Letters
of Abelard and Heloise, pp. 57-106)
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 lives of St Radegund. 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? Does she
reflect the typical stereotypes of women that we have seen in this course?
Why or why not?
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
in 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?
20. Some distinguished scholars have argued that Abelard wrote all
the letters in this book, and that Heloise wrote none of them. In other
words, they suggest that Abelard forged her letters as a means of making
himself look good. What evidence might they offer to support such an assertion?
What evidence, on the contrary, might suggest that Heloise did write the
letters that bear her name?
B. Letters written between Abelard and Heloise (pp. 109-156,
159-179)
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?
9. In letter no. 5, Heloise begins with a very interesting initial
paragraph. What does this paragraph suggest to you? What were Heloise's
feelings for Abelard?
10. What does Heloise ask Abelard to do for her in Letter 5? How does
her very request conform to gender stereotypes? Does Heloise believe
in gender distinctions? Find some example for or against this notion.
11. Make a list of the authorities that Heloise quotes in her Letter
#5. Was she as ill-educated as her letter claims?
12. Consider the delicious irony of Heloise's letter: she asks, pointedly,
how, if women are so inferior, they are to be held to the same standards
as male monks. What do you think underlies this bitter complaint?
Can we see in this letter a subtle condemnation of gender discrimination
and stereotyping? How? (or how not?)
13. Consider the rhetorical and analytical techniques that Heloise
employs in Letter 5. How does she construct her argument? On what
base (or bases) does it rest? Does she employ reason? Logic? Does she argue
from faith? From traditional authorities? Compare her intellectual
methods to those used by Abelard (as he describes in his History of my
Calamities). How close are they? How different? Could Abelard
have written this letter?