Peter Abelard, (1079-1142) was a
scholastic philosopher and an extremely well distinguished
teacher.
Abelard falling in love with young
Heloise led to his downfall. Teachers, which were all from the church at that time, were not allowed to marry.
Heloise was said to be very bright. Her knowledge extended beyond
Latin, it is said, to
Greek and
Hebrew.
Abelard tutored her and the two fell in love. When
Heloise became pregnant,
Abelard whisked her away from her uncle Fulbert and she gave birth to a son.
Abelard promises to marry
Heloise in secret so as to not mar his advancement in the church.
Heloise refused to allow
Abelard to sacrifice his career for her, and ran away to convent of
Argenteuil. Uncle Fulbert, thinking that
Heloises disappearance is due to Abelard wanting to get rid of her, hired some men to break into Abelard's chambers one night and
castrated him. This puts and abrupt end to the love affair of
Abelard and Heloise.
Abelard retires to the
Abbey of St. Denis for some time, and
Heloise becomes a
nun so she can be closer to
Abelard. During this time they write many letters to each other, and the collection of their correspondenses is now in a book
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise.