Heloise And Abelard: A Twelfth Century Love Story

It was the greatest love story of the middle ages.

Abelard was a brilliant philosopher in Paris. Heloise, his student and 15 years his junior, was a poet already famous for her learning, a woman with a uniquely powerful insight into her own feelings.

The letters they wrote to each other - some of which have only recently come to light - open a miraculous window onto the story of their affair.

We know about their terms of endearment, about the passion of their lovemaking, of stolen moments in churches, of their erotic play.

The letters tell the story of the birth of their child, of their secret marriage and the violence and tragedy which followed, culminating in a brutal attack in which Abelard was castrated.

In panic and shame the couple separated to continue their lives - and very successful careers - in monasteries. But their love continued through their letters.

'A great story' - The Spectator

'Burge opens up this tale with great sympathy and directness' - Daily Mail

'The most striking part of the book is its modernity ... Burge achieves something truly difficult: he reminds us that, for Abelard and Heloise, their world was as new, risky and unpredictable as ours is.' - Sunday Times

'Burge is excellent at empathy. He keeps you alive to the agony of Abelard ... [and] makes a moving, likeable document of an extraordinary love.' - Scotland on Sunday

'Intelligent, clearly written, and, perhaps inevitably, heart-rending ... Burge is rather in love with Heloise himself: she writes, thinks and feels exquisitely' - Independent on Sunday

James Burge is a television programme-maker turned writer. He has written two acclaimed non-fiction books about the Middle Ages: ‘Heloise and Abelard’ and ‘Dante’s Invention’. He has also written historical novellas starting with ‘The Murders on the Grand Pont’. He lives in London.

Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.