Mews, Constant, ed., The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999). ISBN: 312216041
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Text name(s): Epistolae duorum amantium; Letters of Abelard and Heloise

Number of pages of primary source text: 0

Medieval Author(s): Abelard, Peter Heloise

Dates: 1100 - 1200

Archival Reference:

Original Language(s): Latin;

Translation: Original language included. English translation.

Translation Comments: Facing-page

Geopolitical Region(s): France;

County/Region:

Apparatus: Index Introduction

Comments:

The letters of Abelard and Heloise are famous examples of medieval learning intermingled with the story of an illicit love affair between a teacher and a future abbess. These particular letters are anonymous extracts and fragments found in a fifteenth century manual of style. The manual contains many letters not found in other manuscripts, as well as many paradigmatic greetings and closings for medieval Latin letters. These letters have often been used by historians studying women’s history because they showcase the writing of a woman in the twelfth century who was very learned and sophisticated. Heloise makes frequent references to classical works, and her Latin is eloquent and complex. This volume requires some knowledge of the historiographical debate surrounding the letters of Heloise and Abelard, as the large majority of the analytical sections are set to proving that the letters are not forgeries or the work solely of Ableard, and to proving the similarities between these later anonymous copies to the twelfth century examples.

Introduction Summary:

This volume contains a large amount of analytical material, most of which is devoted to proving that the anonymous authors of these letters are indeed Abelard and Heloise. The introduction also discusses the manuscript in which these letters are found.

Cataloger: cdb