Abelard and Rhetoric: Widows and Virgins at the Paraclete

Peter Abelard's reputation as a teacher was based mainly on his mastery of dialectic, and his censure was based, in part, on the confidence with which he maintained that dialectical analysis could help determine the truth of any statement, there is ample evidence that he gradually came to value rhetoric as an equally necessary art. In short, the sermon preface, when its form and content are fully considered, reveals itself not only to be a display of highly rhetorical prose, it also indicates that the sermons are part of a larger rhetorical project that includes Abelard's other contributions to the Paraclete's rationale, organisation, and liturgical life, all of which were instituted under his and Heloise's joint leadership. Abelard's construction of all nuns as widows was designed to create a shared communal identity, he seems also to have been keenly aware that the standard rhetoric exalting virgins could undermine Heloise's authority.