Peter Abelard was a Medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer, and musician. Heloise was his young student, famous as the most well-educated and intelligent woman in Paris at the time. Abelard was surrounded by students drawn from all countries by the fame of his teaching. At the height of his fame, he encountered romance that stands the test of time.

The Letters of Abelard and Heloise is a collection of letters between the couple, originally written in Latin in the twelfth century. In the eighteenth century, the couple was effectively revered as romantic saints; for some, they were forerunners of modernity, at odds with the ecclesiastical and monastic structures of their day and to be celebrated more for rejecting the traditions of the past than for any particular intellectual achievement. The collection of the letters is an important source for readers who are curious about the story of Abelard and H