Date

5-20-2026

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)

Chair

Jennifer Depold

Keywords

Peter Abelard, Heloise, Abelard and Heloise correspondence, Historia Calamitatum, medieval intellectual history, high Middle Ages philosophy, scholasticism, medieval ethics, philosophy of love, women in medieval philosophy, female intellectual history, feminist medieval studies, gender and authorship, invisible intellectual labor, Abelard ethics, intentionality in ethics, moral philosophy, historiography of Abelard and Heloise, revisionist medieval scholarship, body politics in the Middle Ages, eroticization of historical figures, intellectual erasure, medieval spirituality, Christian ethics, monasticism, convent life in the Middle Ages, intellectual collaboration, psychological and spiritual bonds, textual analysis, epistolary analysis

Disciplines

Ethics in Religion | History

Abstract

The scandal surrounding the eleventh century love story of Peter Abelard and Heloise has eclipsed the depth of their individual intellects which has resulted in many scholars devoting their writings to the couple’s overly eroticized narrative. Following the castration, public humiliation, and academic ignominy of Abelard and after Heloise, a “fallen woman,” commissioned herself into a convent, the connection between tutor and tutee continued through written correspondence. Through an examination of their personal writings, this dissertation aims to expand upon the notion that Abelard was an eclipsed philosopher who should be standing alongside “giants in the field” of philosophy, but the arguably deeper aim is to demonstrate how the thoughts behind Abelard’s greatest philosophical ideas were indeed from the mind of his wife, Heloise. Heloise’s intellectual contributions are largely invisible; however, this project seeks to revise her status from a “fallen” woman draped in scandal, navigating the body politics of the high Middle Ages, to that of a philosopher in her own right. Heloise and her husband shared a shared a psychological, intellectual, and spiritual bond that defied their circumstances and resulted in philosophical achievements that should cast their fiery, physical affair in the shadows. The sustained merit of Heloise’s character reveals that her end was proof of her beginning, confirming that the intentions, ethical reflections, and selfless love she embodied from the start guided not only her life but also Abelard’s enduring philosophical legacy and spiritual conviction. This revised image of their philosophical statures recasts them from characters in a love story gone terribly wrong, to important contributors to the intellectual epoch that was the high Middle Ages.

Download

Share

COinS