Historia Calamitatum: The Story of My Misfortunes

Name: Historia Calamitatum: The Story of My Misfortunes
Author: Peter Abelard

Peter Abelard (1079–1142) was a French scholastic philosopher and theologian, the most celebrated lecturer of his day in Paris. His brilliant career was broken by his secret marriage to his student Héloïse and the violent punishment that followed; he spent his later years as a monk and abbot under repeated charges of heresy. His Historia Calamitatum — the work in our library — is his own account of those misfortunes, written as a letter of consolation to a friend.

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First published: 1122
Category: Church History
Length: 28k words · about 2 hours
Chapters: 18
Modernized version: In the reader: the Original, the Modernized text in present-day English, or both side by side. On average, the Modernized text keeps about 90% of the original wording.
Narration: 🎧 Fable · British English

About this book

Peter Abelard's autobiographical letter, The Story of My Misfortunes, written in the twelfth century. Abelard recounts his triumphs as a teacher of philosophy, his secret marriage to Heloise, the violent vengeance that followed, and his troubles as a monk and theologian. A vivid primary source for medieval church and intellectual life.

Introduction.
Foreword 🔒
Chapter I. Of the Birthplace of Pierre Abélard and of His Parents. 🔒
Chapter II. Of the Persecution He Had from His Master William of Champeuax—of His Adventures at Melun, at Corbeil and at Paris—of His Withdrawal from the City of Parisians to Melun, and His Return to Mont St Geneviève—of His Journey to His Old Home. 🔒
Chapter III. Of How He Came to Laon to Seek Anselm as Teacher. 🔒
Chapter IV. Of the Persecution He Had from His Teacher Anselm. 🔒
Chapter V. Of How He Returned to Paris and Finished the Glosses Which He Had Begun at Laon. 🔒
Chapter VI. Of How, Brought Low by His Love for Héloïse, He was Wounded in Body and Soul. 🔒
Chapter VII. Of the Arguments of Héloïse against Wedlock—of How None the Less He Made Her His Wife. 🔒
Chapter VIII. Of the Suffering of His Body—Of How He Became a Monk in the Monastery of St. Denis and Héloïse a Nun at Argenteuil. 🔒
Chapter IX. Of His Book of Theology and His Persecution at the Hands of His Fellow Students—Of the Council Against Him. 🔒
Chapter X. Of the Burning of His Book—Of the Persecution He Had at the Hands of His Abbot and the Brethren. 🔒
Chapter XI. Of His Teaching in the Wilderness. 🔒
Chapter XII. Of the Persecution Directed Against Him by Sundry New Enemies or, as It Were, Apostles. 🔒
Chapter XIII. Of the Abbey to Which He Was Called and of The Persecution He Had From His Sons, That Is to Say the Monks, and From the Lord of the Land. 🔒
Chapter XIV. Of the Evil Report of His Iniquity. 🔒
Chapter XV. Of the Perils of His Abbey and of the Reasons for the Writing of This His Letter. 🔒
Appendix. 🔒