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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What reason does the sender give for writing Letter 9?
(a) He is looking for support for Abelard.
(b) He is looking for contributions for Abelard.
(c) He is writing on Abelard's behalf.
(d) He is preparing Abelard's case.

2. Who does Peter the Venerable cite to Heloise in his letter?
(a) Women who led other women.
(b) Women who led nations.
(c) Women who loved great men.
(d) Women who overcame difficulties.

3. What was the thing based on that Heloise asked Abelard to give her?
(a) The story of Mary Magdalene.
(b) The devout acts of Christ.
(c) The rule of St. Benedict.
(d) The freedom she enjoyed before becoming a nun.

4. When was Abelard with Peter the Venerable?
(a) In the last years of Abelard's life.
(b) In Abelard's travels.
(c) In his pilgrimage through Abelard's monastery.
(d) In Peter the Venerable's travels.

5. What does Abelard say life becomes in poverty?
(a) A firm law.
(b) A common store.
(c) A resource.
(d) A community.

6. What else does Peter the Venerable say he is impressed by?
(a) Heloise's improvements in the monastic system.
(b) Heloise's recommendations to the church bureaucracy.
(c) Heloise's graceful handling of her difficulties.
(d) Heloise's generosity to the convent.

7. What should people focus on, according to Abelard in Letter 8?
(a) Submitting to God.
(b) Purifying the race of its spiritual flaws.
(c) Giving lay people an example.
(d) Bringing the Messiah.

8. What does Abelard mean to indicate by the example of the Sibyl's prophecies?
(a) Women honored among Gentiles.
(b) Honored women in antiquity.
(c) Women who implemented church doctrine.
(d) Women who paid a price for falling away from priesthood.

9. How would you describe Abelard's method of arranging Letter 7?
(a) A developmental crescendo.
(b) Orderly.
(c) Chaotic.
(d) Haphazard.

10. From whom was Abelard seeking refuge?
(a) Fulbert.
(b) The pope.
(c) The Abbot of Citeaux.
(d) Anselm of Laon.

11. What contrast does Abelard describe between early practice and current practice?
(a) Martyrs and bureaucrats.
(b) Serving women and saints.
(c) Humble women celebrating Christ and current bishops strutting in robes.
(d) Saints and serving women.

12. In Letter 6, what does Heloise ask Abelard to do for her?
(a) Lay out acts of devotion for her to perform.
(b) Proscribe rules for her convent.
(c) Write down the history of her misfortunes.
(d) Free her from the convent.

13. What qualities must distinguish an Abbess, in Abelard's opinion?
(a) Broad life experience.
(b) Learning and teaching.
(c) Management experience.
(d) Lifelong chastity.

14. How are things distributed in poverty, according to Abelard?
(a) According to right.
(b) According to need.
(c) According to power.
(d) According to deserving.

15. What news about Abelard does the sender of Letter 9 relate?
(a) That he is instituting progressive reforms.
(b) That he is becoming a popular leader.
(c) That he is accused of heresy.
(d) That he has proposed an order for nuns.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Peter the Venerable say he is particularly impressed by?

2. What does Abelard say he is correcting with the life of silence?

3. Where is weakness taken into account, according to Heloise?

4. What does Peter the Venerable say he admires?

5. What does Heloise ask Abelard in Letter 6?

(see the answer keys)

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