Star-crossed Lovers - Heloise

CA. 1100–64

Before Romeo and Juliet, there were Abelard and Heloise. Their story occurred in the early 1100s, and it captivated the romantic imagination of the late Middle Ages. It was a tale of scandalous passion, tragic turns, and brutal violence. But where Shakespeare’s fictional characters, penned more than four centuries later, hurtled toward a tragic death, Abelard and Heloise found a new kind of life.

Both were brilliant. Heloise was raised by her uncle, who provided her with the best education possible. Even in her teens, her intelligence and academic insight were widely known. Peter Abelard was a leading philosopher in Paris, known for edgy thinking, sometimes accused of heresy. Perhaps it was inevitable that these two great minds would connect. Abelard was hired as a live-in teacher for the young Heloise.

And somewhere in the midst of their lessons, they fell madly in love, carrying on a torrid affair. She became pregnant. He apologized to her uncle and asked for Heloise’s hand in marriage. They had a secret wedding, fearing that Abelard’s career might be damaged if people knew he had married a student (who, by the way, was twenty years younger). But when Heloise was sent to stay in a convent for a while, the men of her family mistakenly thought that Abelard had abandoned her. They attacked him in his bed one night and mutilated him. (Let’s just say he wouldn’t be fathering any more children.)

Their romance was over. Abelard became a monk, Heloise a nun. Years later they began writing letters to each other. This correspondence, later published and distributed widely, sort of processed their relationship, reexamining it in hindsight with appropriate longing and regret. Yet it also contains theology, philosophy, and the highly educated musings of two very smart believers.

How many Christians today are still mulling over some past relationship—regretting their own mistakes or pining after someone who “got away”? Often these feelings keep us from fully enjoying the life God has given us. Let the past be past, and live today for the Lord.

I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.

Philippians 1:12