Abelard, or Abailard (ab'-a-lard), Pierre, a French philosopher and ecclesiastic, was born in the year 1079 at Palais, near Nantes, in Brittany. He was celebrated for his learning and genius, and opened a school in Paris in 1103, where he taught philosophy with great success. His romantic love for Heloise, and the misfortunes which followed in consequence of his unhappy passion, have added greatly to his celebrity. He died at the priory of St. Marel, near Chalons, in 1142. He was at first interred by the monks of Cluni in their monastery, but his remains were afterwards removed to the Paraclete (a monastery in Champagne, which Abelard had himself founded, and which was then a convent presided over by Heloise, in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise.

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