Abstract
Heloise (c. 1095–1164) was the lover and intellectual partner of the controversial philosopher and theologian, Peter Abelard (1079–1142), and abbess of a religious community that he entrusted to her, the abbey of the Paraclete from 1129 until her death. She is most well-known for the letters that she exchanged with Peter Abelard c. 1132/1133, after reacting to his Historia Calamitatum, in which he argued that providence had enabled him to survive a turbulent career in which she herself was profoundly implicated. Whereas Abelard had presented their affair simply in terms of lust, Heloise emphasizes that she had always been driven by ideals of selfless love. In a third letter, she extends her interest in the ethics of intention, asks him for an account of religious women in history, and a rule better adapted to the needs of women. Widely revered for her learning, she prompted Abelard to provide many writings for the Paraclete, including responses to a series of 42 Problemata about questions presented by inconsistencies within the Bible. Mews (The lost love letters of Heloise and Abelard, 2nd edn, 2008. St Martin’s Press, New York, 1999), Mews (J Mediev Latin 19:130–147, 2009) argues that she is the young woman whose voice is preserved in an exchange of over 100 Latin love letters (the Epistolae duorum amantium) between a controversial teacher and his brilliant pupil, preserved in a fifteenth-century manuscript of Clairvaux.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Betty, R. (trans) (2003). The letters of Abelard and Heloise. Penguin: London.
Heloise. (1991). Letters 2, 4. In E. Hicks (Ed.), La Vie et les epistres Pierres Abaelart et Heloys sa fame (p. 6). Paris: Honoré Champion.
Jacques, M. (Ed.). (1978). Abelard Peter, Historia calamitatum. Paris: Vrin.
Könsgen, E. (Ed.). (1974). Epistolae duorum amantium: Briefe Abaelards und Heloises? Mittellateinische Studien und Texte 8. Leiden: Brill.
Luscombe, D. E. (Ed.). (2013). The letter collection of Peter Abelard and Heloise. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Muckle, J. T. (Ed.). (1953). The personal letters between Abelard and Héloïse. Mediaeval Studies, 15, 47–94.
Muckle, J. T. (Ed.). (1955). The letter of Héloïse on the religious life and Abelard’s first reply. Mediaeval Studies, 17, 240–281.
Piron, S. (trans) (2005). Lettres des deux amants. Paris: Gallimard.
Problemata H (Ed.). Migne J-P (1885). Patrologia Latina, 178, 677–730.
Secondary Sources
Georgianna, L. (1987). Any corner of heaven: Heloise’s critique of monastic life. Mediaev Stud 49:221–53 (repr. in revised form in Wheeler B (ed) Listening to Heloise, pp 187–216).
Gilson, E. (1960) Heloise and Abelard (trans: Shook, L). Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press.
Griffiths, F. (2004). Men’s duty to provide for women’s needs’: Abelard, Heloise, and their negotiation of the Cura Monialium. Journal of Medieval History, 30, 1–24.
Lobrichon, G. (2005). Héloïse. L’amour et le savoir. Paris: Gallimard.
Marenbon, J. (2008). Lost love letters? A controversy in retrospect. Int J Class Tradit, 4, 267–280.
McLeod, E. (1971). Héloïse. A biography, 2nd edn. London: Chatto & Windus (first published 1938).
McNamer, E. M. (1991). The education of Heloise: Methods, content, and purpose of learning in the twelfth century. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press.
Mews, C. J. (1999). The lost love letters of Heloise and Abelard, 2nd Edn., 2008. New York: St Martin’s Press.
Mews, C. J. (2005). Abelard and Heloise. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mews, C. J. (2006). Negotiating the boundaries of gender in religious life: Robert of Arbrissel and Hersende, Abelard and Heloise. Viator, 37, 113–148.
Mews, C. J. (2007). Cicero and the boundaries of friendship in the twelfth century. Viator, 38(2), 369–384.
Mews, C. J. (2009). Discussing love: The epistolae duorum amantium and Abelard’s sic et non. J Mediev Latin, 19, 130–147.
Newman, B. (1992). Authority, authenticity, and the repression of Heloise. J Mediev Renaiss Stud 22:121–57 (repr. From virile woman to womanChrist: studies in medieval religion and literature, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1995, pp. 19–45).
Newman, B. (2016). Making love in the twelfth century: “Letters of two lovers” in Context. A new translation with Commentar. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Robl, W. (2003). Hersindis Mater. Neues zur Familiengeschichte Heloisas mit Ausblicken auf die Familie Peter Abaelards. In: Ursula Niggli (Ed.), Peter Abaelard. Leben, Werk, Wirkung. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau, pp. 25–89.
Von Moos, P. (2003). Die Epistolae duorum amantium und die säkulare Religion der Liebe. Methodenkritische Vorüberlegungen zu einem einmaligen Werk mittellateinischer Briefliteratur. Studi Medievali 3a ser. 44:1–115.
Wheeler, B. (Ed.). (2000). Listening to Heloise. The voice of a twelfth-century woman. New York: St Martin’s Press.
Ziolkowski, J. (2004). Lost and not yet found: Heloise, Abelard, and the Epistolae duorum amantium. J Mediev Latin, 14, 171–202.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Mews, C.J. (2020). Heloise. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_205-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_205-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-024-1151-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-024-1151-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities