Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 4249
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Mews , Constant J.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Hugh Metel, Heloise, and Peter Abelard: The Letters of an Augustinian Canon and the Challenge of Innovation in Twelfth-Century Lorraine [in the Appendix the author presents transcriptions along with English translations of the two Latin letters written by Hugh Metel to Heloise].
  • Source: Viator 32, ( 2001): Pages 59 - 91.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Edition of Text;Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Abelard, Peter, Philosopher Epistolae Duorum Amantium, Collection of Letters in Latin Heloise, Abbess of Le Paraclet- Letters Latin Literature Metel, Hugh, Augustinian Canon of Toul- Letters Rhetoric Theology Women Authors
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: France
  • Century: 12
  • Primary Evidence: Manuscript; Berlin, B Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Phillipps 1694. Written in the second half of the twelfth century at the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Arnoul, Metz. It is a mix of religious and secular writing and includes fifty-five letters of Hugh Metel.
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  • Table:
  • Abstract: "Hugh Metel, Heloise, and Peter Abelard: The Letters of an Augustinian Canon and the Challenge of Innovation in Twelfth-Century Lorraine." The fifty-five letters of Hugh Metel (ca. 1080-1150), an Augustinian canon of Toul, were edited by C. L. Hugo in 1731, but have attracted little scholarly attention, even though some of them are addressed to such famous personalities as Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter Abelard, and Heloise. This paper questions simplistic attempts to describe Hugh as a traditionalist by showing that although he admired Bernard of Clairvaux, he was much more interested than Bernard in combining classical poetic allusions with scriptural imagery. Hugh was interested in innovative educational trends in the twelfth century, but became critical of negative tendencies, such as those embodied in Peter Abelard. At the same time his two letters to Heloise provide valuable evidence into the extent of her reputation as an innovative writer. Hugh's prose is compared to other contemporary letter collections, in particular the Epistolae duorum amantium, which, this article argues, records the early letters of Abelard and Heloise. [Reproduced from the journal website: http://brepols.metapress.com/content/121213/?p=afdbc79947a4444b9739ff05942fde63&pi=0]
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Monash University
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2001.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 00835897