ABSTRACT
The recently published letter from Abelard to his friends and disciples makes it clear that he viewed Bernard’s action in the same light as, in his autobiography, he had judged the behaviour of his other enemies, that is, as an expression of envy. In the period before the meeting at Sens, Abelard acquired a follower unlikely to commend his cause at Rome. This was the Italian priest Arnold of Brescia who, through his teaching that the Church should renounce all its earthly possessions, had advanced the movement towards the liberation of the Italian towns from the sovereignty of the Church. Berengar of Poitier, Abelard’s disciple, gives a scurrilous account of the state the bishops were in at the meeting, which is difficult to believe but too amusing to be ignored. In the Confessio fidei, Abelard provides a brief summary of the capitula, and also expresses his opinion on Bernard’s attack.
