One evening in about 1120, a gang of assailants broke into the Paris bedroom of a leading French scholar, Peter Abélard (1079–1142). Seizing the well-known teacher, the attackers held him down and then, in a vicious act of revenge, castrated him.
The victim, an arrogant and acerbic intellectual known for his brilliant insights and sharp wit, was one of the most influential Christian theologians of the Middle Ages. But today he is probably best known for his forbidden love—and for the gruesome treatment he received as punishment.
Abélard was born in Brittany and moved to Paris in his early twenties. Although he was the son of a minor nobleman, Abélard renounced his family’s inheritance so he could concentrate on his studies. He soon became a leading philosophy teacher in Paris and developed a reputation as a formidable debater.
His growing fame attracted the attention of a Paris church official named Fulbert, who hired Abélard as a tutor for his beautiful fifteen-year-old niece, Héloïse (1098–1164). Abélard became infatuated with the girl, who proved to be a brilliant student, and eventually he seduced her.
At first, the two lovers managed to keep their affair a secret from Fulbert, who was Héloïse’s guardian. But when Héloïse became pregnant and gave birth to a son, he was enraged. At first, he agreed to a secret marriage between Héloïse and Abélard, who was nineteen years her elder. But after Fulbert disclosed their marriage to the public, Héloïse denied it, as did Abélard—because he could not be married and keep his job. Fulbert, her uncle, interpreted Abélard’s decision to denounce Héloïse as his wife as a sign that he would abandon her. Fulbert then ordered the attack on Abélard as revenge for dishonoring him.
After the attack, Héloïse was packed off to a convent, and Abélard, now incapable of being her husband, remained in Paris and became a monk. There are many surviving letters between the two, but they mostly date to before the castration. After the attack, they continued to write to each other, but scholars question the reason for their correspondence. Some argue that they discussed purely religious matters.
When Héloïse died, twenty years after Abélard, the two lovers were finally reunited: They are buried side by side at a graveyard in Paris.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Héloïse named their illegitimate son Astrolabe, after the scientific instrument used in navigation that had recently been imported to Europe from the Islamic world.
- A Broadway musical about the two lovers, Abélard and Héloïse, debuted in 1971, and Diana Rigg (1938–), who portrayed Héloïse, was nominated for that year’s Tony Award for Best Actress. The two are also mentioned in the lyrics to the 1935 song “Just One of Those Things,” by the composer Cole Porter (1891–1964): “As Abélard said to Héloïse / Don’t forget to drop a line to me please.”
- Abélard and Héloïse are buried in the same Paris cemetery as rock legend Jim Morrison (1943–1971), the lead singer for the Doors.
