A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Heloise
HELOISE,
Rendered famous by her unfortunate passion for Abelard, was born about 1101 or 1102. Her parents are unknown, but she lived with her uncle, Fulbert, a canon of the cathedral of Paris. Her childhood was passed in the convent of Argenteuil, but as soon as she was old enough, she returned to her uncle, who taught her to speak and write in Latin, then the language used in literary and polite society. She is also said to have understood Greek and Hebrew. To this education, very uncommon at that time, Heloise added great beauty, and refinement and dignity of manner; so that her fame soon spread beyond the walls of the cloister, throughout the whole kingdom.
Just at this time, Pierre Abelard, who had already made himself very celebrated as a rhetorician, came to found a new school in that art at Paris, where the originality of his principles, his eloquence, and his great physical strength and beauty, made a deep sensation. Here he saw Heloise, and commenced an acquaintance by letter; but, impatient to know her more intimately, he proposed to Fulbert that he should receive him into his house, which was near Abelard's school. Fulbert was avaricious, and also desirous of having his niece more thoroughly instructed, and these two motives induced him to consent to Abelard's proposal, and to request him to give lessons in his art to Heloise. He even gave Abelard permission to use physical punishment towards his niece, if she should prove rebellious.
Discovering too late the criminal intimacy of his niece and Abelard, he sent the latter from his house; but he contrived to return, and carry off Heloise to Palais, in Brittany, his native country. Here she gave birth to a son, surnamed Astrolabe from his beauty, who passed his life in the obscurity of a monastery.
The flight of Heloise enraged Fulbert to the highest degree; but he was afraid to act openly against Abelard, lest his niece, whom he still loved, might be made to suffer in retaliation. At length Abelard, taking compassion on his grief, sent to him, implored his forgiveness, and offered to marry Heloise, if the union might be kept secret, so that his reputation as a religious man should not suffer. Fulbert consented to this, and Abelard went to Heloise for that purpose; but Heloise, unwilling to diminish the future fame of Abelard by a marriage, which must be a restraint upon him, refused at first to listen to him. She quoted the precepts and the example of all learned men, sacred and profane, to prove to him that he ought to remain free and untrammelled. She also warned him that her uncle's reconciliation was too easily obtained, and that it was but a feint to entrap him more surely. But Abelard was resolute, and Heloise returned to Paris, where they were soon after married.
Fulbert did not keep his promise of secrecy, but spoke openly of the marriage, which when Heloise heard she indignantly denied, protesting that it had never taken place. This made her uncle treat her so cruelly, that Abelard, either to protect her from his violence, or to prove that the announcement of the marriage was false, took her himself to the convent of Argenteuil, where she did not immediately take the veil, but put on the dress of a novice. Not long after he ordered her to take the veil, which she did, although the nuns, touched by her youth and beauty, endeavoured to prevent her from making the sacrifice.
Twelve years passed without Heloise ever hearing mentioned the name of the one she so devotedly loved. She had become Prioress of Argenteuil, and lived a life of complete retirement. But her too great kindness and indulgence to the nuns under her control, gave rise to some disorders, which, although she was perfectly blameless, yet caused her to be forced by Ligur, Abbot of St. Denis, to leave her retreat, with her companions. Abelard, hearing of her homeless situation, left Brittany, where he was living in charge of the monastery of St. Gildas-de-Ruys, and went to place Heloise and her followers in the little oratory of the Paraclete, which had been founded by him. Here Heloise exerted herself to the utmost to build up a convent; and though their life at first was a painful one, yet, by the end of a year, their wealth was so much increased by the munificence of pious persons about them, that they became very comfortable.
Heloise had the rare charm of attaching every one who approached her to herself. Bishops called her daughter; priests, sister; and laymen, mother. Every one reverenced her for her piety, her wisdom, her patience, and her incomparable sweetness. She rarely appeared in public, but devoted herself almost wholly to prayer and meditation.
She happened, one day, to see a letter that Abelard had written, giving an account of his life. She read it many times with tears, and at length wrote to her lover that well-known, eloquent, and passionate letter. His reply was severe but kind; and these two letters were followed by several others.
In April, 1142, Heloise having heard a report of Abelard's death, wrote to demand his body, that it might be buried at the Paraclete, according to a wish that he had himself expressed in writing. He was buried in a chapel built by his order, and for more than twenty years, Heloise went every night to weep over his tomb. She died May 17th., 1164, aged sixty-three, and was placed in the same tomb.
In 1497, from religious motives, the tomb was opened, and the bones of Abelard and Heloise were removed. In 1800, by order of Lucien Buonaparte, these hallowed remains were carried to the Museum of French Monuments. And in 1815, when this Museum was destroyed, the tomb was taken to Père-le-Chaise, where it still remains