A case study of the education of Heloise by Elizabeth Mary McNamer A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education Montana State University © Copyright by Elizabeth Mary McNamer (1990) Abstract: Heloise was born in 1100 and died in 1163. She lived during what is known as the twelfth century renaissance, when as a result of the Crusades, Europe was opening up to new ideas that caused changes in class structure, attitudes to women, and in scholarship. She received the education usually available only to men bent on a ecclesiastic career, and is believed by many to be the only woman of her time to have received such an education. Abelard, one of the most renowned teachers of the day was employed to teach her philosophy. Heloise and he had a love affair which lasted for about eighteen months. Heloise then became a nun. She became abbess of her convent of nuns at the Paraclete in France and built up that convent from what was just a few broken down huts to a thriving abbey with six dependent houses. She served as abbess for thirty years. She is believed to have taught the nuns Greek and Hebrew at a time when these languages were not readily spoken in Europe, so that they could read Scripture in the original. Heloise was an administrator and scholar of renown, yet she is remembered in literature only because of her romantic association with Abelard. Using historical case-study methodology, this paper examines the educational milieu of the twelfth century, who had access to education and what education comprised. It examines the education of Heloise and her accomplishments as abbess, scholar and educator. The conclusion is reached that, because of her romantic association with Abelard she has been fictionalized as a romantic heroine and her scholarship has gone unrecognized. A CASE STUDY OF THE EDUCATION OF HELOISE by Elizabeth Mary McNamer A. thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Of Doctor of Education MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana May 1990 11 APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Elizabeth Mary McNamer This thesis has been read by each member of the thesis committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citations, bibliographic style, and consistency, and is ready for submission to the College of Graduate Studies. $ Date Chairperson, Graduatp^ommittee Approval • qo 'M U trT '— -> Date Head, Major Department Approval for 8~, / 1 7 0 / Date Graduate Dean Ill STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctoral degree at Montana State University, I agree that the Library shall make it available to borrowers under rules of the Library. I further agree that copying of this thesis is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with "fair use" as prescribed in the U.S. Copyright Law. Requests for extensive copying or reproduction of this thesis should be referred to University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Road, Michigan 48106, to whom I have granted "the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute copies of the dissertation in and from microfilm and the right to reproduce and distribute by abstract in any format." Date... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge the help given me in compiling this study by the faculty at Montana State University. First I wish to thank my chairman, Dr. Robert Fellenz who showed infinite patience, courtesy and consideration, and the . members of my committee, Dr. Gary Conti, Dr. Douglas Herbster, Dr. Margaretha Wessel, Dr. Marvin Shaw, and Dr. Dan March for their suggestions, corrections and encouragement. I wish to acknowledge the help and encouragement I had over the two previous years from Dr. Joanne Kuemmerlin-McLean, and the suggestions given me by Dr. Linda Sexson. I am indebted to my friends Father Joseph Ponessa and Maria Maris Van Blaaderen for their help with translations of the Problemata and documents of the Paraclete. Others who encouraged the project are Dr. David Hewlett of Oxford University, Dr. Peter Dronke of Cambridge University, and Sister Benedicta Ward of the Center for Medieval Studies at Oxford University. I thank Mr. Bill Kehler librarian of Eastern Montana College, who went to great lengths to obtain material for me as did Madame Pl ass art, the conservatoire of the Bibliotheque Publique at Troyes. The present owner of the Paraclete, Baron Charles Walckenaer and his daughter; Bertilie delighted me by their hospitality when I visited Heloise's former abbey in October 1989. I wish to thank my husband, Bill, for reading and re-reading and correcting and re-correcting the manuscript. I thank my daughter Deirdre for numerous cups of tea made to refresh me and Bruce, Sarah, Bridget, and Amy for their constant interest and expressions of pride. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT.................................................................................:.................Vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................... I Hypothesis............................................................................ 8 Design of the study..............................................................9 Definitions..............................................................................I 2 2 THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS THAT DETERMINED ACCESS TO EDUCATION IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY................................................................ I 3 3 EDUCATION IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY............................. 4 0 Changes in the Twelfth Century........................................ 5 7 4 THE EDUCATION OF HELOISE........ .....................................6 8 5 HELOISE AS ABBESS.......................................................... I O I 6 HELOISE AS SCHOLAR-EDUCATOR...................................131 7 CONCLUSION............................................................. 148 APPENDIX THE PROBLEMATA....................................................................... 155 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................... 265 Vl ABSTRACT. Heloise was born in 1100 and died in 1163. She lived during what is known as the twelfth century renaissance, when as a result of the Crusades, Europe was opening up to new ideas that caused changes in class structure, attitudes to women, and in scholarship. She received the education usually available only to men bent on a ecclesiastic career, and is believed by many to be the only woman of her time to have received such an education. Abelard, one of the most renowned teachers of the day was employed to teach her philosophy. Heloise and he had a love affair which lasted for about eighteen months. Heloise then became a nun. She became abbess of her convent of nuns at the Paraclete in France and built up that convent from what was just a few broken down huts to a thriving abbey with six dependent houses. She served as abbess for thirty years. She is believed to have taught the nuns Greek and Hebrew at a time when these languages were not readily spoken in Europe, so that they could read Scripture in the original. Heloise was an administrator and scholar of renown, yet she is remembered in literature only because of her romantic association with Abelard. Using historical case-study methodology, this paper examines the educational milieu of the twelfth century, who had access to education and what education comprised. It examines the education of Heloise and her accomplishments as abbess, scholar and educator. The conclusion is reached that, because of her romantic association with Abelard she has been fictionalized as a romantic heroine and her scholarship has gone unrecognized. I CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ‘ It is only in the '20th century that women have been generally afforded opportunity for education and scholarship at an advanced level on a par with men. While some women in former times acquired an education on a level with men and achieved high degrees of scholarship, such women have not always been accorded the seriousness as scholars which they deserve. In anticipation of the lack of seriousness accorded women writers, some women have chosen to write under the pseudonym of a man,1 and recent feminist scholarship has brought to light works written by women previously assumed to have been written by men.1 2 The Norton Anthology of World Literature, published in 1975, includes the work of only one woman poet, Sappho. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, published in the same year, contains the work of one woman, 17th century poet Ann Finch. The writings 1 Examples are Amandine-Aurore-Lucille Dupin1 who wrote Indiana . Leila, and Jacques, under the pseudonym of George Sand, and Mary Ann Evans, who wrote several hovels, including Adam Bede, under the name of George Eliot. 2 McNamer, Sarah, "Authorship Of the Finden Manuscript." Paper delivered at the South West Regional Medieval Conference, Arizona, Spring, 1989. 2 of medieval mystics such as Julian of Norwich (the first woman to write in the English language) and Hildegard of Bingen were brought into the light of modern scholarship only long after their male contemporaries. Heloise is a twelfth century figure who fits this situation of inadequate attention given by historians and scholars to the - accomplishments of a woman. Heloise's intellectual and educational accomplishments were of great renown in her day. However, she is generally recognized today as the greatly pitied