Readings in the History of Education | Page 7

have ever attracted a following so large and so devoted. His
remarkable success in drawing to Paris students from all quarters is
vividly described by a modern writer:
The pupil who had left Paris when both William and Abelard
disappeared in 1113 would find a marvellous change on returning to it
about 1116 or 1117. He would find the lecture hall and the cloister and
the quadrangle, under the shadow of the great cathedral, filled with as
motley a crowd of youths and men as any scene in France could show.
Little groups of French and Norman and Breton nobles chattered
together in their bright silks and fur-tipped mantles, with slender
swords dangling from embroidered belts, vying with each other in the
length and crookedness of their turned-up shoes. Anglo-Saxons looked
on, in long fur-lined cloaks, tight breeches, and leathern hose swathed
with bands of many colored cloth. Stern-faced northerners, Poles and
Germans, in fur caps and with colored girdles and clumsy shoes, or
with feet roughly tied up in the bark of trees, waited impatiently for the
announcement of Li Mestre. Pale-faced southerners had braved the
Alps and the Pyrenees under the fascination of "the wizard." Shaven
and sandalled monks, black-habited clerics, black canons, secular and
regular, black in face too, some of them, heresy hunters from the
neighboring abbey of St. Victor, mingled with the crowd of young and
old, grave and gay, beggars and nobles, sleek citizens and bronzed

peasants....
Over mountains and over seas the mingled reputation of the city and
the school were carried, and a remarkable stream set in from Germany,
Switzerland, Italy (even from proud Rome), Spain, and England; even
"distant Brittany sent you its animals to be instructed," wrote Prior
Fulques to Abelard (a Breton) a year or two afterwards.[5]
What was there in the teaching of Abelard which brought together this
extraordinary gathering? One may admit the presence of unanalysable
genius in this master, and still find certain qualities indispensable to the
efficient teacher of to-day,--a winning personality, fulness of
knowledge, and technical skill as a teacher. These are admirably set
forth in the following description:
It is not difficult to understand the charm of Abelard's teaching. Three
qualities are assigned to it by the writers of the period, some of whom
studied at his feet; clearness, richness in imagery, and lightness of
touch are said to have been the chief characteristics of his teaching.
Clearness is, indeed, a quality of his written works, though they do not
naturally convey an impression of his oral power. His splendid gifts
and versatility, supported by a rich voice, a charming personality, a
ready and sympathetic use of human literature, and a freedom from
excessive piety, gave him an immeasurable advantage over all the
teachers of the day. Beside most of them, he was as a butterfly to an
elephant. A most industrious study of the few works of Aristotle and of
the Roman classics that were available, a retentive memory, an ease in
manipulating his knowledge, a clear, penetrating mind, with a
corresponding clearness of expression, a ready and productive fancy, a
great knowledge of men, a warmer interest in things human than in
things divine, a laughing contempt for authority, a handsome presence,
and a musical delivery--these were his gifts.[6]
He takes his place in history, apart from the ever-interesting drama and
the deep pathos of his life, in virtue of two distinctions. They are, firstly,
an extraordinary ability in imparting such knowledge as the poverty of
the age afforded--the facts of his career reveal it; and, secondly, a mind
of such marvellous penetration that it conceived great truths which it

has taken humanity seven or eight centuries to see--this will appear as
we proceed. It was the former of these gifts that made him, in literal
truth, the centre of learned and learning Christendom, the idol of
several thousand eager scholars. Nor, finally, were these thousands the
"horde of barbarians" that jealous Master Roscelin called them. It has
been estimated that a pope, nineteen cardinals, and more than fifty
bishops and archbishops were at one time among his pupils.[7]
Abelard's fame as a teacher, with the consequent increase of masters
and students at Paris, undoubtedly paved the way for the formation of
the University later in the century. This is not however his greatest
distinction in the history of education. His most enduring influences
came from (1) his independence in thinking, (2) his novel method of
dealing with debatable questions, and (3) his contributions to scholastic
philosophy and theology. The first two of these are considered below;
the last belongs more properly to the history of philosophy.
(1) Nothing singles Abelard out more clearly among the teachers of his
time than his intellectual independence. Most of his contemporaries
accepted unquestioningly the view that