4. Heloise and Abelard

Peter Abelard and Heloise expressed their love for one another through letters, after it was apparent they couldn’t be together. Abelard did start off trying to get to know Heloise better after he’d persuaded Heloise’s uncle to let him move into the house with them. He was 20 years older than Heloise, but being this didn’t matter since Abelard was Heloise’s teacher. However, when the uncle found out about Heloise and Abelard being in love, he forced Abelard to leave. It turns out that Heloise was also pregnant with Abelard’s child. She went to stay with Abelard’s sister and gave birth to Astrolabe there, in order to be away from her furious uncle. Heloise and Abelard secretly married and Heloise became a nun. The uncle and a few other kinsmen of Heloise thought that Abelard had forced Heloise to become a nun, so they crept into his room one night and cut off his privates. Despite this at of mutilation, Abelard and Heloise continued to write to one another and be supportive and loving of one another through their writings only.