Peter Abailard, a renowned free-thinker, born in Britany, at Palais, or Pallet, in the neighbourhood of Nantes...  He was the commanding figure in the intellectual history of his age, Cui soli patuit scibile quidquid erat.  It was his general attitude towards the study of philosophy and of theology that demand notice, far rather than those technical points with which he was suspected of departing from catholic Christianity.  If he was, as he maintained, the devoted son of the church, he was none the less a herald of free thought by virtue of his bold assertion of the duty of private judgement and his contempt of those who take everything on trust. (Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought and Learning, Poole, 1884)