interval after Abailard entered upon the study of theology
in which we can plausibly insert the lessons he had from
Tirric; so that I incline to believe that Abailard made a
short stay at Chartres during his first years of student
life, after he left Roscelin and before he reached- possibly
on his road to- Paris; or at the latest during the period
for which, suffering from ill-health or the hostility of
William of Champeaux, he retired from the neighbourhood
of Paris. However this may be, I see no reason for doubt
ing the truth of the bare fact that Abailard did enter upon
a course of learning under Tirric.
IX. Note on the Second Preface to Gilbert of La Porrée’s Commentary on Boethius.
1 . John of Salisbury states that after the events of the council at Rheims Gilbert continued to suffer from the injury then done to him by those who sought to convict him of heresy, and took means to vindicate his position. Scripsit ergo posted contra illos alterum prologum in expositionem Boethii sui, in quo quosdam, videlicet emulos suos, assent sic hereticorum vitare nomina, ut tamen err ores eorum sequantur et doceant. The date of this new preface appears not only from the words of John just quoted, but also from the fact that according to John s account it was addressed to the capitula or articles of faith which were only produced by saint Bernard at Rheims. It therefore forms a sort of summing-up of the case from Gilbert s side, and was written for his own satisfaction at some time after the controversy had come to an end.
2. This preface seems to have disappeared, but an important fragment of it has been brought to light by professor Usener of Bonn, in the fifth volume of the a Jahrbucher fur protestantische Theologie for 1879. b Dr. Usener says, Each of the four commentaries has its introduction, and although that to the first treatise De Trinitate is more extensive than the following ones, it is not more general in its character but is concerned with discussions raised
