sophy and theology that were so vital in the
Middle Ages interest us no more, even when they are less obscure
than those so rife in the twelfth century, but the problem of human
love is always near and so it is not perhaps surprising that the
abiding interest concerns itself with Abelard's relationship with
Heloise. So far as he is concerned it is not a very savoury matter.
He deliberately seduced a pupil, a beautiful girl entrusted to him
by her uncle, a simpleminded old canon of the Cathedral of Paris,
under whose roof he ensconced himself by false pretences and with
the full intention of gaining the niece for himself. Abelard seems
to have exercised an irresistible fascination for men and women
alike, and his plot succeeded to admiration. Stricken by a belated
remorse, he finally married Heloise against her unselfish protests
and partly to legitimatize his unborn child, and shortly after he
was surprised and overpowered by emissaries of Canon Fulbert and
subjected to irreparable mutilation. He tells the story with
perfect frankness and with hardly more than formal expressions of
compunction, and thereafter follows the narrative of their
separation, he to a monastery, she to a convent, and of his care
for her during her conventual life, or at least for that part of it
that had passed before the "History" was written. Through the whole
story it is Heloise who shines brightly as a curiously beautiful
personality, unselfish, self sacrificing, and almost virginal in
her purity in spite of her fault. One has for her only sympathy and
affection whereas it is difficult to feel either for Abelard in
spite of his belated efforts at rectifying his own sin and his
life-long devotion to his solitary wife in her hidden cloister.

The whole story was instantly known, Abelard's assailants were
punished in kind, .and he himself shortly resumed his work of
lecturing on philosophy and, a little later, on theology.
Apparently his reputation did not suffer in the least, nor did
hers; in fact her piety became almost a by-word and his name as a
great teacher increased by leaps and bounds: neither his offence
nor its punishment seemed to bring lasting discredit. This fact,
which seems strange to us, does not imply a lack of moral sense in
the community but rather the prevalence of standards alien to our
own. It is only since the advent of Puritanism that sexual sins
have been placed at the head of the whole category. During the
Middle Age