Astralabius

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Astralabius (* approx. 1118 in Le Pallet ) was a French clergyman of the 12th century.

Life

Astralabius is often incorrectly referred to as Astrolabius in secondary literature , although the actual spelling of the name can be clearly defined as Astralabius , ie with an -a- in the middle, based on the available sources .

Astralabius is the son of Heloisa and Peter Abelard . Literally translated, the extremely rare name, borrowed from the Greek - based on the nautical instrument astrolabe, means : "He reaches for the stars." According to the Historia Calamitatum Abelard, Heloïsa personally chose the unusual nickname for her son; his baptismal name was like that of his father Peter .

Astralabius was conceived out of wedlock and was born in Le Pallet , the home of his father Peter Abelard, and then raised by his aunt Dionysia. His childhood was subsequently legitimized by the marriage of his parents. According to all that is known about it, the boy never lived in communion with his parents, since both of them entered convents far away. Based on the sources, there is no doubt that they still kept in contact with him and also loved him as parents.

Peter Abelard, as abbot of the monastery of Saint-Gildas-en-Rhuys in northern Brittany, is likely to visit Duke Conan III. Brittany, when he was staying at his brother Porcarius' house in Nantes , met his son personally.

In 1144 - two years after Abelard's death - his mother Heloïsa, then abbess of the Paraklet monastery in Champagne , asked the abbot of Cluny , Petrus Venerabilis , to intercede for her son Astralabius. Following the example of her uncle Fulbert, she wanted her son a benefice at a cathedral, e.g. B. in Paris. It is unlikely that this request was successful.

Astralabius can later be verified as a canon at the cathedral of Nantes, as an entry in the cartularium of Buzé from 1150 shows.

Abelard addressed to his son a more than 1000 verses comprehensive, didactic poem consisting of elegiac distiches , the so-called Carmen ad Astralabium , which has come down to us in various versions and has now also been critically edited.

In the years 1162 to 1165 an abbot of Hauterive in the canton of Friborg in what is now Switzerland carried an identical name. It is possible that this abbot is the son of Abelard and Heloïsa's. At least there is a previously unpublished theory that supports this personal identity with serious arguments. Nothing reliable is known about the work of this abbot.

The Book of the Dead of Paraklet gives the name of the son of Heloisa and Abelard as follows: "Peter Astralabius, son of our master Peter". He died on October 30th of an unknown year.

In Luise Rinser's novel Abelard's Love , “Pierre Astrolabius” is the narrator.

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literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to an entry in the Liber Donationum Altaeripae , cf. E. Tremp, Liber donationum Altaeripae , Lausanne 1984, pp. 139-140.
personal data
SURNAME Astralabius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1118
PLACE OF BIRTH Le Pallet , County Anjou or County Nantes , France
DATE OF DEATH October 30th 12th century or October 30th 13th century