Historia Calamitatum - The Story of My Misfortunes

Historia Calamitatum (known in English as The Story of My Misfortunes or The History of My Calamities) is an autobiographical work in Latin by Peter Abelard, a medieval French pioneer of scholastic philosophy. The work 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's Confessions). The letter is an extensive and honest 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. It should be particularly noted that the work was written at a time when Western Europe had only recently surfaced into the world of philosophy. Abelard emphasizes how persecuted he feels by his peers throughout the work. He quotes saints, apostles, and at one point, compares his struggles in likeness to those of Christ.