middle ages who have been given the highest place in the
literary history of France, was not a Frenchman. He was
born 2 in Brittany, at c Palais, or Le Pallet, in the neigh-
bourhood of Nantes. Although the eldest son of a good
house, he early abandoned his birthright to his brothers
and resolved to make himself a name in learning. He
became a pupil, a discipulorum minimus, of Roscelin, the
daring nominalist whose doctrine was condemned in its
theological issues by the council of Soissons in 1092, but
who appears to have submitted to the sentence and to
have been allowed to hold a scholastic post at the church
of Saint Mary of Loches in Touraine.[1] Roscelin, if we
are to give credit to an old legend, soon excited a spirit
- ↑ Dr. von Prantl identifies this ecclesia Locensis with Locmenach, now Locmine, near Vannes, in Brittany : Geschichte der Logik im Abendlande 2, 77 [78] n. 314.
well as in Otto of Frcising (ed. Portz) and John of Salisbury (in his Historia pontificalis), although the former alternates with Abaio- lardus. Of the Paris manuscripts of the thirteenth century, edited by Cousin in the Ouvrages inedits d Abelard, one gives Abailardua (intr. p. viii.), the other two Abne- lardus (see the facsimile facing p. 4.34). Other rare forms need not be quoted, some of them are uncouth enough ; but the fact that the initial a was frequently dropped (see an instance below, Appendix viii.) may be taken as evidence of where the accent lay. It was natural that the word should become softened in com mon use; and Abailardus and Abalaerdu.1 were no doubt prac tically undistinguishable in pro nunciation. I adopt the former, partly because it approaches nearest to the original (though it needs no apology even to the French, since it is accepted in Firmin-Didot s Nouvelle Biogra- phie generale), partly because it avoids those associations with eighteenth-century sentimental- ism which surround the name of Abelnrd and obscure the philo sopher s tme significance. The popularity of this last spelling- seems to date from, its selection^- by Pierre Bayle in his Dictionnaire historique et critique, s. v. 2 For the biography my princi pal guide has been Abailard s own correspondence, though this has necessarily to be taken with re serve. Besides the contemporary literature, I have derived very great help from the biography of Charles de Remusat, the first piece of genuine scholarly work ever devoted to Abailard. Still it should be observed that Bayle, in the article above referred to, has the credit of introducing order into the narrative of Abailard s life ; in which respect Milman, for instance, History of Latin Christi anity 4. 342-365, is not seldom far less trustworthy. From all the authorities Cousin, Ritter, Haureau, and Prantl should be added I have ventured to differ seriously in my general estimate of Abailard s character. While preparing this and the following chapters for the press I have had the advantage of reading Dr. S. M. Deutsch s Peter Abalard, em kritischer Theolog des zwolften Jahrhunderts ; 1883.
