H�lo�se c.1098-1164
French abbess

She was the niece of canon Fulbert of Notre Dame, who arranged for her to be educated by the theologian Peter Abelard. H�lo�se and Abelard fell in love but had to flee to Brittany when Fulbert discovered their affair. Secretly married, they had a son, but H�lo�se's family were angered at this. She sought safety at the convent at Argenteuil but Abelard was attacked one night and castrated. Filled with shame, he became a monk at St Denis and persuaded his wife to take the veil at Argenteuil. Later he gave her the Benedictine convent, the Paraclete, that he had founded and she became abbess there, despite her self-confessed devotion to Abelard rather than God. Abelard's account of their tragic story, Letters to a Friend, and their famous correspondence form the basis for a plethora of literature on the subject.