On the trail of the secret: The lovers of the Middle Ages
Reading time: 4 min.
Between passion and oppression – what is the story behind the alleged correspondence between Abelard and Heloïse, which is considered a testimony to their mutual devotion?
At best, the key dates of this most famous of all medieval love couples are certain: Peter Abelard, born in 1079, a controversial theologian, was already teaching at his own school near Paris in his early twenties. Around 1117, he became Heloïse's private tutor in the house of her uncle Fulbert, if he wasn't her father. This is as unclear as her exact date of birth: around 1092, some say 1100. A 37-year-old man and a young woman, whether twenty-something or teenager – Abelard describes it like this: "All too often our hands strayed from our books to our bosoms, and we read one thing in the other's eyes more eagerly than in the scriptures."
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