William of Champeaux
William of Champeaux was a French scholastic philosopher who studied and taught in Paris, France. He was active in establishing a well-known school called St. Victor and stayed active in its administration until his death. He is known for his role in the dispute over the nature of the universals in the Middle Ages. William is most well known for his interactions with one of his extremely famous students Peter Abelard. Peter Abelard was one of Williamís students soon after he had established his school in Paris. Peter was an extremely intelligent student and was very proud of the fact that he could make almost anyone look like a total invalid on almost any subject. At the time William was one of the most respected philosopher and teacher in his field of study until he encountered Peter Abelard in class. Peter publicly embarrassed William on a subject that William was most noted for being a master of and William was thereby forced to change his opinions and teachings of the material to what Peter thought was reasonable. William of Champeaux is not found in many literary works but he found to be a big part of the book Letters of Abelard and Heloise by the authors Abelard and Heloise.
More information on the story of William can be found in the book by Abelard and Heloise called Letters of Abelard and Heloise.
Websites with information on William of Champeaux and Abelard and Heloise include:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saints/victorinparis.html