''Historia Calamitatum'' (known in English as ''The Story of My Misfortunes'' or ''The History of My Calamities''), also known as ''Abaelardi ad Amicum Suum Consolatoria,'' is an autobiographical work in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (12 February 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet. This source has a detailed description of his philosophical work. In philos ...

(1079–1142), a medieval French pioneer of scholastic

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. The work, written in 1132 or soon after, is one of the first autobiographical works in medieval Western Europe, written in the form of a letter (and, as such, is clearly influenced by

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

's '' Confessions''). The letter is an extensive self-analysis of Abelard up to the age of about fifty-four, and provides readers with knowledge of his views of women, learning, monastic life, Church and State combined, and the social milieu of the time. Abelard emphasizes how persecuted he feels by his peers throughout the work. He quotes saints, apostles, and at one point, compares his struggles to those of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

Editions

* ''The Letters of Abelard and Heloise'', trans. Betty Radice (Penguin, 1974) ontains translation of the ''Historia Calamitatum'' on pp. 57–106* Peter Abélard, ''Historia calamitatum: The Story of My Misfortunes: An Autobiography'', tr. Henry Adams Bellows, St. Paul, Minnesota: Boyd, 1922, OCLC 1005715, repr. New York: Macmillan / London: Collier-Macmillan, 1972, OCLC 556463613

References

External links

English translation of ''Historia Calamitatum''
by Henry Adams Bellows on the Internet Medieval Sourcebook * {{librivox book , title=The Story of My Misfortunes , author=Pierre ABÉLARD
Latin text of Historia Calamitatum from the Latin Library
Medieval literature Autobiographies 12th-century books in Latin