With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, it is perhaps timely to recount the love story of one of the Middle Ages’ most well-known couples: Peter Abelard and Heloise. While their romance has been recounted many times, there was another, less-discussed love in Abelard’s life—a love through which he expressed his adoration for Heloise: music. This article will explore Abelard and Heloise’s relationship before turning to the songs he wrote for her, as mentioned in their letters.
Forbidden Love: The Story of Abelard and Heloise
Peter Abelard was a twelfth-century French philosopher and theologian. Much of what we know about his life comes from the letters he wrote to Heloise and others close to him. In a letter titled Historia Calamitatum, Abelard detailed his early life, recounting that he was born around 1079 in Le Pallet, a town near Brittany. His father, a knight, had acquired some education before taking up arms, which instilled in Abelard a lifelong passion for learning. Choosing scholarship over a military career, Abelard excelled in his studies and earned the admiration of many prominent thinkers—though not without stirring jealousy among his colleagues.
As a renowned scholar, Abelard attracted students from across Europe, many traveling to Paris to study under him. By 1115, he was a celebrated teacher in his thirties when he met a young woman in her late teens or early twenties named Heloise. While much is known about Abelard’s early life, Heloise’s origins remain more obscure. Abelard tells us that she was the niece of a canon named Fulbert and had received her early education at the nunnery of Argenteuil. She later became an abbess and respected scholar in her own right.
At the time of their meeting, Heloise was highly regarded for her intelligence. Abelard describes his first impression of her in Historia Calamitatum:
There was in Paris at the time a young girl named Heloise, the niece of Fulbert, one of the canons, and so much loved by him that he had done everything in his power to advance her education in letters. In looks she did not rank lowest, while in the extent of her learning she stood supreme. A gift for letters is so rare in women that it added greatly to her charm and had made her most renowned throughout the realm. I considered all the usual attractions for a lover and decided she was the one to bring to my bed, confident that I should have an easy success, for at that time I had youth and exceptional good looks as well as my great reputation to recommend me, and feared no rebuff from any woman I might choose to honour with my love.
Knowing the girl’s knowledge and love of letters, I thought she would be all the more ready to consent, and that even when separated we could enjoy each other’s presence by exchange of written messages in which we could write many things more audaciously than we could say them, and so need never lack the pleasures of conversation.
Abelard did not hesitate to pursue Heloise and sought ways to see her regularly. He approached her uncle, Fulbert, offering to pay for lodging in his household under the pretense that domestic duties were interfering with his academic work. Fulbert, eager for extra income and impressed by Abelard’s reputation, agreed, giving Abelard full access to Heloise’s schedule. However, their lessons soon became more about love than learning. Abelard recalls that “love drew our eyes to look on each other more than reading kept them on our texts.”
Abelard and Heloise – Chantilly. Library and Archives of the Château, Ms. 482 f. 060v
Eventually, Fulbert discovered the affair and forbade Abelard from seeing Heloise. Undeterred, the couple met in secret, leading to Heloise’s pregnancy. Abelard arranged for her to leave Fulbert’s house and stay with his sister in Brittany, where she gave birth to their son, Astrolabe. Furious, Fulbert sought revenge. Hoping to placate him, Abelard offered to marry Heloise, provided the marriage remained secret to protect his scholarly reputation. Fulbert agreed but later betrayed Abelard by publicizing the marriage.
Fearing the consequences of their union, Heloise opposed the marriage, believing it would damage Abelard’s career and bring disgrace upon them both. She worried that their love would distract him from academia and that the world would resent her for it. Despite her protests, Abelard insisted, and they married in the presence of Fulbert and a few witnesses.
After the wedding, Abelard and Heloise kept their relationship discreet. However, Fulbert and his family, still thirsting for vengeance, spread news of the marriage. When Heloise protested, she suffered abuse at her uncle’s hands. Learning of this, Abelard placed her in the convent at Argenteuil for safety. This only enraged Fulbert further, who interpreted the move as Abelard’s attempt to rid himself of responsibility. Seeking the ultimate revenge, Fulbert and his relatives conspired to have Abelard castrated.
One night, while Abelard slept, Fulbert’s men gained access to his room and carried out their brutal attack. Mutilated and humiliated, Abelard saw his suffering as divine punishment for his sins. Overcome with shame, he withdrew into monastic life, while Heloise took vows at the convent.
Though physically separated, they maintained a spiritual love and intellectual bond, continuing their relationship through letters.
Abelard’s Love Songs for Heloise
Despite their hardships, Abelard and Heloise never ceased to express their love for one another. For Abelard, one of the ways he did so was through song—a passion he continued throughout his life. During his monastic years, he composed sacred music, including hymns such as O quanta, qualia, which musicologist Margot Fassler identifies as one of the most beloved melodies of the Middle Ages.
Unfortunately, Abelard’s love songs for Heloise have not survived, but their existence is confirmed in their letters. In Historia Calamitatum, Abelard recalls that when he fell in love with Heloise, he lost inspiration for teaching and academic research. Instead, his creative energies went into composing love songs, which, as he tells us, “had been sung in many places.” According to Heloise, these songs were written in Latin rather than French.
Heloise herself attested to Abelard’s talent for songwriting. In her first letter to him, she remarked that his gift for composition and performance made him irresistible:
In you, I readily admit, there were two things especially, with which you could immediately win the heart of any woman – the gift of composing and the gift of singing. We know that the other philosophers achieved no success in these things, whereas for you they served as a kind of game, as a recreation from the labour and exertion of philosophy. You have left many songs composed in amatory verse or rhyme. Because of the great sweetness of their poetry as much as their tunes, they have been frequently sung and they kept your name unceasingly on everyone’s lips. The beauty of the melodies ensured that even those who knew no Latin did not forget you; more than anything this made women sigh for you. And as most of these songs told of our love, they soon made me widely known and roused the envy of many women against me.
Although we may never know the lyrics of Abelard’s songs for Heloise, their popularity in the Middle Ages and the way they immortalized their love serve as a testament to their passion.
Sonja Maurer-Dass is a Canadian musicologist and harpsichordist. She is a PhD candidate in Musicology at The University of Western, researching 18th-century French musical exoticism in the operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau. She holds a master’s degree in Musicology specializing in late medieval English choral music from York University (Toronto, Canada) and has written for The Medieval Magazine and Ancient History Magazine.
By Sonja Maurer-Dass
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, it is perhaps timely to recount the love story of one of the Middle Ages’ most well-known couples: Peter Abelard and Heloise. While their romance has been recounted many times, there was another, less-discussed love in Abelard’s life—a love through which he expressed his adoration for Heloise: music. This article will explore Abelard and Heloise’s relationship before turning to the songs he wrote for her, as mentioned in their letters.
Forbidden Love: The Story of Abelard and Heloise
Peter Abelard was a twelfth-century French philosopher and theologian. Much of what we know about his life comes from the letters he wrote to Heloise and others close to him. In a letter titled Historia Calamitatum, Abelard detailed his early life, recounting that he was born around 1079 in Le Pallet, a town near Brittany. His father, a knight, had acquired some education before taking up arms, which instilled in Abelard a lifelong passion for learning. Choosing scholarship over a military career, Abelard excelled in his studies and earned the admiration of many prominent thinkers—though not without stirring jealousy among his colleagues.
As a renowned scholar, Abelard attracted students from across Europe, many traveling to Paris to study under him. By 1115, he was a celebrated teacher in his thirties when he met a young woman in her late teens or early twenties named Heloise. While much is known about Abelard’s early life, Heloise’s origins remain more obscure. Abelard tells us that she was the niece of a canon named Fulbert and had received her early education at the nunnery of Argenteuil. She later became an abbess and respected scholar in her own right.
At the time of their meeting, Heloise was highly regarded for her intelligence. Abelard describes his first impression of her in Historia Calamitatum:
There was in Paris at the time a young girl named Heloise, the niece of Fulbert, one of the canons, and so much loved by him that he had done everything in his power to advance her education in letters. In looks she did not rank lowest, while in the extent of her learning she stood supreme. A gift for letters is so rare in women that it added greatly to her charm and had made her most renowned throughout the realm. I considered all the usual attractions for a lover and decided she was the one to bring to my bed, confident that I should have an easy success, for at that time I had youth and exceptional good looks as well as my great reputation to recommend me, and feared no rebuff from any woman I might choose to honour with my love.
Knowing the girl’s knowledge and love of letters, I thought she would be all the more ready to consent, and that even when separated we could enjoy each other’s presence by exchange of written messages in which we could write many things more audaciously than we could say them, and so need never lack the pleasures of conversation.
Abelard did not hesitate to pursue Heloise and sought ways to see her regularly. He approached her uncle, Fulbert, offering to pay for lodging in his household under the pretense that domestic duties were interfering with his academic work. Fulbert, eager for extra income and impressed by Abelard’s reputation, agreed, giving Abelard full access to Heloise’s schedule. However, their lessons soon became more about love than learning. Abelard recalls that “love drew our eyes to look on each other more than reading kept them on our texts.”
Eventually, Fulbert discovered the affair and forbade Abelard from seeing Heloise. Undeterred, the couple met in secret, leading to Heloise’s pregnancy. Abelard arranged for her to leave Fulbert’s house and stay with his sister in Brittany, where she gave birth to their son, Astrolabe. Furious, Fulbert sought revenge. Hoping to placate him, Abelard offered to marry Heloise, provided the marriage remained secret to protect his scholarly reputation. Fulbert agreed but later betrayed Abelard by publicizing the marriage.
Fearing the consequences of their union, Heloise opposed the marriage, believing it would damage Abelard’s career and bring disgrace upon them both. She worried that their love would distract him from academia and that the world would resent her for it. Despite her protests, Abelard insisted, and they married in the presence of Fulbert and a few witnesses.
After the wedding, Abelard and Heloise kept their relationship discreet. However, Fulbert and his family, still thirsting for vengeance, spread news of the marriage. When Heloise protested, she suffered abuse at her uncle’s hands. Learning of this, Abelard placed her in the convent at Argenteuil for safety. This only enraged Fulbert further, who interpreted the move as Abelard’s attempt to rid himself of responsibility. Seeking the ultimate revenge, Fulbert and his relatives conspired to have Abelard castrated.
One night, while Abelard slept, Fulbert’s men gained access to his room and carried out their brutal attack. Mutilated and humiliated, Abelard saw his suffering as divine punishment for his sins. Overcome with shame, he withdrew into monastic life, while Heloise took vows at the convent.
Though physically separated, they maintained a spiritual love and intellectual bond, continuing their relationship through letters.
Abelard’s Love Songs for Heloise
Despite their hardships, Abelard and Heloise never ceased to express their love for one another. For Abelard, one of the ways he did so was through song—a passion he continued throughout his life. During his monastic years, he composed sacred music, including hymns such as O quanta, qualia, which musicologist Margot Fassler identifies as one of the most beloved melodies of the Middle Ages.
Unfortunately, Abelard’s love songs for Heloise have not survived, but their existence is confirmed in their letters. In Historia Calamitatum, Abelard recalls that when he fell in love with Heloise, he lost inspiration for teaching and academic research. Instead, his creative energies went into composing love songs, which, as he tells us, “had been sung in many places.” According to Heloise, these songs were written in Latin rather than French.
Heloise herself attested to Abelard’s talent for songwriting. In her first letter to him, she remarked that his gift for composition and performance made him irresistible:
In you, I readily admit, there were two things especially, with which you could immediately win the heart of any woman – the gift of composing and the gift of singing. We know that the other philosophers achieved no success in these things, whereas for you they served as a kind of game, as a recreation from the labour and exertion of philosophy. You have left many songs composed in amatory verse or rhyme. Because of the great sweetness of their poetry as much as their tunes, they have been frequently sung and they kept your name unceasingly on everyone’s lips. The beauty of the melodies ensured that even those who knew no Latin did not forget you; more than anything this made women sigh for you. And as most of these songs told of our love, they soon made me widely known and roused the envy of many women against me.
Although we may never know the lyrics of Abelard’s songs for Heloise, their popularity in the Middle Ages and the way they immortalized their love serve as a testament to their passion.
Sonja Maurer-Dass is a Canadian musicologist and harpsichordist. She is a PhD candidate in Musicology at The University of Western, researching 18th-century French musical exoticism in the operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau. She holds a master’s degree in Musicology specializing in late medieval English choral music from York University (Toronto, Canada) and has written for The Medieval Magazine and Ancient History Magazine.
Further Readings:
Abelard, Peter, and Heloise. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise. Trans. Betty Radice. London: Penguin Classics, 2004.
Fassler, Margot. Music in the Medieval West: Western Music in Context. W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.
Top Image: Abelard and Heloise. Painting by Harry Morley (1881–1943)
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