Relationship Between Abelard And Heloise

Heloise captured my attention early in my studies at Georgetown, as I was familiar with Heloise from reading The Letters of Abelard and Heloise in separate course on Medieval Thought and Culture. Heloise’s fortitude and influence as a woman in the Middle Ages intrigued me at a deeper level than the through the well-known story of Abelard and Heloise and their romantic and sometimes tragic letters. As such, this paper focuses more on Heloise herself rather than the story of Abelard and Heloise. Hers is a story of tragic love, and how you can be a devoted member of the faith and yet be at tremendous odds with a person of the same faith and disposition, which is worthy of exploring. Basic Biographic Information (Who/What; When/Where; Significance
The story of Heloise can only be told within the context of her love relationship with Abelard. Social, Cultural, & Geographic Context; Family Relations and their Influence; Mentors; Detractors or Opponents. (Heloise - New World Encyclopedia; Markus; Abelard).
Heloise was probably raised in the nunnery of Argenteuil (12m NW of Paris), where her mother, Hersinde, lived. There is no record of her father or of her birth. Her mother could have been married, a widow, a formal concubine, or simply an unwed mother.
OF NOTE: During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, male primogeniture was established. This allowed the eldest son to inherit all the property instead of cutting it up among all the offspring including daughters, thus keeping it intact for the family. Other sons were then sent off to soldiering or scholarship or monastic life, daughters were married off or sent to a nunnery. In this period, many wealthy women chose to live in monasteries, where they could receive education, while other institutional structures increasingly denied them this opportunity up until the late nineteenth
Jerome.
The extent of Heloise's education is uncertain, but even in her youth she was considered a prodigy. Her fame was already known before she moved to Paris, and this is one of the attractions that brought Abelard to arrange to become her tutor.
In 1116 Heloise left the abbey in Argenteuil and moved to the home of her uncle, Fulbert. He lived very near St. Etienne, which was later replaced by the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It was in her uncle's home that her life began its most famous episode.
Abelard was the most popular philosopher and teacher in Paris, he was respected above all others and many flocked to hear his lectures at the cathedral school of Paris. Abelard had heard of Heloise before he met her; he wrote: "A gift for letters is so rare in women that it added greatly to her charm and had won her renown throughout the realm." Abelard says in his Historica clamitatum (The Story of My Calamity), that his pride led to experiment with sexual subjects. He laid a plan to become Heloise's tutor and seduce her. He arranged to actually move into the home of Canon Fulbert, claiming that his own home was too