Peter Abelard and the Twelfth-Century Rennaissance.
"We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants." The following was said by .
Bernard of Chartres, a leader of the twelfh-century monastic reform movement and an .
adversary of Peter Abelard. Chartres was commenting on the state of the intellectual .
movement during his time. Many believed that in order to study, whether it be .
philosophy, theology, or sciences, one must comprehend and totally accept the teachings .
of the antiquity. Chartres, along with Abelard and others, regarded the teachings from the .
past as a pedastool to stand on, something to aid them in their intellectual prusuits. .
During the twelfth century this philosophy was being adopted by many in society. It was a .
time of a "return to Greek and Latin philosophers, poets and grammarians, and Roman .
historians" (Le Goff, 636). Those who returned to these teachings did not rely heavily .
upon the teachings of the past. A major proponent of this movement was Peter Abelard. .
Abelard was an intelligent man but was a monastic outcast due to his beliefs on the works .
of antiquity. Abelard's unorthodox teaching style and nonconformist personality, in a .
time of social and monastic reorganization, frightened those in charge, causing them to .
inflict various punishments due to his behavior. .
Many people disliked Abelard, including bishops, abbots, his own student monks, .
church councils, and specifically St. Bernard of Clairvaux. However, before anyone .
attacked Abelard he was a young boy with an eagerness to learn all he could about all .
types of subjects. As he aged, two men, William of Champeaux and Anselm of Laon, .
became increasingly annoyed by Peter's antics.
First, William, Abelard's philosophy teacher recognized the burdening intellect .
that he possesed and was troubled when his Abelard started to argue his lectures. .
According to Abelard in his atuo-biographical letters, Historia Calamitatum, "but later I .
