Abelard and Heloise

We talked about the love story of Abelard and Heloise in class the other day and I found it so fascinating and tragic, I had to do my blog on it. Apparently Abelard was a philosopher and Heloise wished to expand her knowledge of the world, so she sought out Abelard as her teacher. Abelard asked permission from Heloise's uncle to be her teacher, and he soon moved into Heloise and the Uncle's house. Eventually, the two fell in love and started having a secret affair.

However, when the Uncle found out about the affair, he was so grief stricken that he tried to end it immediately. The twist here: Heloise was pregnant. She ran away from her uncle's house to live with Abelard.

Abelard knew that in order to save both their reputations, he must ask the uncle's permission to allow them to get married. The uncle complies, but soon it is uncovered that the Uncle's real plot is to get Heloise to come home to him where he will keep her for his own, and have Abelard killed.

Heloise flees to a convent in Argenteuil, but Abelard gets brutally attacked in Paris (where I think he is castrated). As a result, Abelard feels he can no longer continue as a teacher, and he thinks it is necessary that he and Heloise become Monks and Nuns.

Heloise must give up her child and accept the fact that she may never see Abelard again. However, they keep their love alive through writing letters for over 20 years. Then, by chance, they are briefly united in Paris where they promise to stay  "Forever One" and they realize that their love is the meaning of human existence.

They are never reunited again, but they continued writing to each other through their love letters. This has got to be the sweetest, saddest, love story ever!