letter from Héloise to Abélard was substantially an answer to the
"Historia Calamitatum."


WILLIAM OF CHAMPEAUX

William of Champeaux (Gulielmus Campellensis) was born about 1070
at Champeaux, near Melun. He studied under Anselm of Laon and
Roscellinus, his training in philosophy thereby being influenced by
both realism and nominalism. His own inclination, however, was
strongly towards the former, and it was as a determined proponent
of realism that he began to teach in the school of the cathedral of
Notre Dame, of which he was made canon in 1103. In 1108 he withdrew
to the abbey of St. Victor, and subsequently became bishop of
Châlons-sur-Marne. He died in 1121. As a teacher his influence was
wide; he was a vigorous defender of orthodoxy and a passionate
adversary of the heterodox philosophy of his former master,
Roscellinus. That he and Abélard disagreed was only natural, but
Abélard's statement that he argued William into abandoning the
basic principles of his philosophy is certainly untrue.


"THE UNIVERSALS"

It is not within the province of such a note as this to discuss in
detail the great controversy between the realists and the
nominalists which dominated the philosophical and, to some extent,
the religious thought of France during the first half of the
twelfth century. In brief, the realists maintained that the idea is
a reality distinct from and independent of the individuals