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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What sin does Abelard remind Heloise of?
(a) Getting married in secret.
(b) Enjoying their lovemaking.
(c) Making love at the refectory.
(d) Falling in love before being married.

2. What does Heloise ask Abelard to think about?
(a) What her father can do for them.
(b) What he owes her.
(c) What she can do for him.
(d) Whether they ought to see each other again.

3. To what does Abelard return in his third letter to Heloise?
(a) Asking for her forgiveness.
(b) Asking her to pray for him.
(c) Asking for her whereabouts.
(d) Asking her for help.

4. What does Heloise say Abelard should not have done for her sake?
(a) Left philosophy.
(b) Sent her away.
(c) Taken up scriptural studies.
(d) Married her.

5. Why did Abelard's teacher come to dislike him?
(a) Because Abelard had an affair with a serving girl.
(b) Because Abelard was arrogant and disruptive.
(c) Because Abelard was heavily in debt to him.
(d) Because Abelard set out to disprove him.

6. Where does Abelard ask Heloise to take his body if he dies?
(a) Argenteuil.
(b) St. Denis.
(c) Paraclete.
(d) Paris.

7. What does Abelard say motivated him to tell Heloise the things that filled her with despair?
(a) Desire for God's forgiveness.
(b) Desire to educate her about man's wicked ways.
(c) Desire to fill her soul with awe and desire for repentance.
(d) Desire to share in suffering out of love.

8. What does Heloise say makes it impossible to endure Abelard's absence?
(a) Memory of the pleasure of lovemaking.
(b) Guilt.
(c) Her knowledge of God's grace.
(d) Delight in the sinfulness of fornication.

9. How, in Letter 5, does Abelard say Heloise should see him now?
(a) As her enemy.
(b) As her partner in guilt and grace.
(c) As her saint.
(d) As her deliverer.

10. To whom did Abelard write the first letter?
(a) His father.
(b) A friend.
(c) Heloise.
(d) Heloise's father.

11. What did William of Champeaux do at the beginning of Abelard's career?
(a) Furnish him with letters of recommendation.
(b) Encourage him.
(c) Try to stop him.
(d) Loan him start-up money.

12. What does Heloise tell Abelard she will do for him?
(a) Repay her father's men for what they did.
(b) Whatever he asks.
(c) Repay him in love for what he has lost.
(d) Find him at his monastery.

13. What explanation does Abelard offer for his action?
(a) He thought she could not love him now.
(b) He thought their time together was over.
(c) He did not want to make her suffer.
(d) He wanted to put the past behind him.

14. What does Heloise say she admires?
(a) The courage Abelard showed by fighting for her.
(b) The honesty with which Abelard followed philosophy.
(c) The debt Abelard took upon himself.
(d) The things Abelard sacrificed to be with her.

15. What does Heloise say is Abelard's relation with her now?
(a) She owes him an enormous debt.
(b) He owes her an enormous debt.
(c) He has to redeem her.
(d) She has to redeem him.

Short Answer Questions

1. What enables Abelard to return to Paris?

2. Why does Abelard say he filled Heloise with despair in his letter?

3. Whom does Abelard want to pray for him?

4. What were the contents of the letter Heloise saw?

5. Who does Heloise say commanded her to be a nun?

(see the answer keys)

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