The Story of My Misfortunes

Many of the misfortunes which the "Historia Calamitatum" relates were the direct outcome of Ablard's uncompromising position as a rationalist, and the document is above all interesting for the picture it gives of the man himself, against the background of early twelfth century France. A few dates will help the general reader to connect the life surrounding Ablard with other and more familiar facts. William the Conqueror had entered England thirteen years before Ablard's birth. The boy was eight years old when the Conqueror died near Rouen during his struggle with Philip of France. He was seventeen when the First Crusade began, and twenty when the crusaders captured Jerusalem.