Introduction

The letters open with Abelard's long letter to a friend, the Story of My Misfortunes, in which he tells with startling frankness of his fame and pride, his love for Heloise, the mutilation he suffered and the persecutions that followed. The letter came by chance into Heloise's hands, and she wrote to him at once. In the exchange that followed, Heloise, now an abbess, makes no secret of her love and longing: she would rather be his mistress than an empress, she says, and confesses that even at prayer her thoughts are still of him, while Abelard urges her to turn her love to Christ. These letters are among the most moving human documents of the Middle Ages and still touch countless readers today.