Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/58

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ABELARD.
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ABEN.

nard, condemned his teachings. Abélard ap- pealed to the Pope, Innocent II., and the latter confirmed the finding of the council and ordered his imprisonment and the burning of his writ- ings. Abélard submitted, reconciled himself with Bernard, and was on his way to Rome to undergo his punishment, when he came, worn out, to the great monastery of Cluny. Through the friendly offices of Peter the Venerable, its noble abbot, he received permission to retire thither and a re- lease from the order of imprisonment. He had not long to live, but the time was well spent in religious exercises and in occasional teaching. He had the scurvy, and when his ills increased he was removed to the priory of St. Marcel at Chalon-sur-Saône, where the air was better, it was thought. There he died, on April 21, 1142. His body was brought to the Paraclete. Héloïse died there May 16, 1164, and was laid beside him. In the cemetery of Père-la-Chaise in Paris their bones are now united in one tomb, erected in 1817. The figure of Héloïse is really that of a lady of the Dormans family, and was originally in the chapel of the old Collège de Beauvais.

The loves of Abélard and Héloïse have made them immortal, but Abélard also has importance as a philosopher. He followed John Scotus Erigena, the ninth century philosopher, in his rationalism. He planted himself on Aristotelian ground (although all he knew of Aristotle was derived from Latin quotations), and did much to overthrow the prevalent realism. His great service in the development of ethics was in his treatment of conscience by dwelling upon the subjective aspect. He also has great importance as the virtual founder of the University of Paris, in a sense the mother of mediæval, and so of all modern, universities. This claim may be made for him because he first established schools independent of the monastic and episcopal schools. In Melun, in Corbeil, and then in Paris, at Nogent-sur-Seine, he had thousands of pupils, and gave an extraordinary impetus to learning and speculation. His example as an independent teacher was followed. Out of such gatherings of students at a later date the universities were evolved. By his appeal to reason instead of authority, he showed the path to intellectual freedom, and thus became the prophet of the freedom of speech and research for which the universities properly stand. In both these respects his pedagogical importance is great, and so his particular opinions and errors are of comparatively small moment.

His works, all written in Latin, first printed at Paris, 1616, are in Migne, Patrol. Lat., clxxviii. (Paris, 1855); also as edited by Victor Cousin: Ouvrages inédits d'Abélard (Paris, 1836); Opera (1849-50, 2 volumes); to which should be added his Sic et Non, editors, E. L. T. Henke and G. L. Lindenkohl (Marburg. 1851); Planetus Virginum Israel super filia Jeptæ Galaditæ, editors, W. Meyer and W. Brambach (Munich, 1886): Tractatus de Unitate et Trinitate [discovered, edited, and published by R. Stölzle under title: Abélards 1121 zu Soissons verurtheilter Tractatus, etc.] (Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1891); his Hymnarius Paraclitensius, editor G. M. Dreves (Paris, 1891). The letters of Abélard and Héloïse have very often been published and translated, e.g., the Latin text and the French translation by Gréard (Paris. 1885); complete English translation by J. Berington, with the Latin text, The History of the Lives of Abeillard and Héloïse (Birmingham, 1788), edited by H. Mills (London, 1850); O. W. Wight, Lives and Letters of Abélard and Héloïse (New York, 1861). Consult: A. S. Richardson, Abélard and Héloïse (New York, 1884), with selections from their letters; H. Morton, Love Letters of Abélard and Héloïse (New York, 1901), and the standard biography of Abélard by C. de Rémusat (Paris, 1855). For recent literature concerning him, consult: H. Hayd, Abälard und seine Lehre im Verhältniss zur Kirehe und ihrem Dogma (Ratisbon, 1863): H. V. Sauerland, Abälard und Héloïse (Frankfort, 1879); P. Tiby, Deux couvens au moyen âge, ou l'abbaye de Saint Gildas et le Paraclet au temps d'Abélard et d'Héloïse (Paris, 1851); C. A. Wilkens, Peter Abälard (Bremen, 1851); C. de Rémusat, Abélard, a drama (Paris, 1877); S. M. Deutsch, Abälards Verurtheilung zu Sens, 1141, nach den Quellen kritisch dargestellt (Berlin, 1880); E. Vacandard, Abélard, sa lutte avec Saint Bernard, sa doctrine, sa méthode (Paris, 1881); S. M. Deutsch, Peter Abälard, ein kritischer Theologe des zwölften Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1883); A. Hausrath, Peter Abälard (Leipzig, 1893); G. Compayré, Abélard and the Origin and Early History of Universities (New York, 1893): F. Thaner, Abälard und das canonische Recht (Gratz, 1900); J. McCabe, Peter Abélard (New York, 1901).


ABEL DE PUJOL, a'bel' dc pu'zhfil', Alex- andre Denis (1785-1801). A French historical painter. He was born at Valenciennes, and was a pupil of the famous David, whose classicism he followed. In 1811 he won the Grand Prix de Rome with "Jacob Blesses the Children of Joseph." He painted numerous frescoes in St. Sulpice and other churches, in the Bourse, the Louvre, and Fontaincbleau. In 1835 he was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts. His other works include "The Death of Britan- nicus" (first medal, 1814), "Cæsar on the Day of His Assassination," "The Baptism of Clovis" (in the cathedral of Rheims), and "Peter Raises the Dead."


ABELE, a-bel'. See Poplar.


ABELIN, ä'be-lḗn, Johann Philipp (?-1633?). A German historian. He wrote under the names Philipp Arlanibäus, Abeleus, and Johann Ludwig Gottfried, or Gothofredus. He produced a number of works still consulted, including the Arma Sueciea (1631-34), and the Inventarium Sueciæ (1632), descriptions of military events of the time. He also founded the Theatrum Europæum (1635-1738), a serial work on contemporary history, for which he compiled the first two volumes. Others of his publications are a Historische Chronika (1633) and an Historia Antipodum (1655). See Droysen, Arlanibäus, Godofredus, Abelinus (1864).


ABELITES, a'bel-Its, or ABELONIANS, ,"i'bel-o'ni-onz. A very small Christian sect of the fourth and fifth centuries, found in the neighborhood of Hippo, in North Africa. Their chief distinction consisted in marrying but abstaining from matrimonial intercourse, in or- der not to propagate original sin. They kept up their numbers by adopting children. They held that Abel so lived, because the Bible mentions no children of his.


ABEN, ä'ben. A form used in the transliteration of Oriental names instead of the more correct Ibn ("son").