Hitory of The Love Story of Abelard and Heloise

The love story of Abelard and Heliose has endured as one of the famous and popular love stories of all times.  It is the tale of a French philospher named Peter Abelard (1079-1142), one of the greatest thinkers of the Middle Ages, but because his teachings were controversial, he soon was accused of heresy.

Heliose ( 1101- 1164) was a well educated niece of a prominent cleric named Canon Fulbert.  It was through Canon Fulbert that Heloise and Abelard met.

In 1117 Abelard went to live at the house of Canon Fulbert of the Cathedral of Notre Dam as a border.  The moment he laid eyes on Heloise, he was intrigued by her beauty and intelligence.  He wanted to get to know her more so he convinced Canon Fulbert to let him tutor Heloise. Abelard was twenty years her senior.


The two fell in love and before long, Heliose found herself pregnant.  Abelard wanted to marry Heloise even though he would lose his job.  But Heloise refused his suit, citing that their marriage would impede his work because it would bring disgrace upon him. But Abelard refused to give up.  After much persistence, he convinced her to marry him in secret.  Heloise gave birth to their son.  Abelard hated keeping his marriage and new family a secret and he longed to tell Canon Fulbert regardless of the risk to his career.  Yet, he kept the secret.  Canon Fulbert somehow learned about their marriage.  Enraged that Abelard has ruined his niece, Fulbert sent some unsavory men to break into Abelard's quarters and castrate him. Once he recovered, in humiliation, Abelard entered the Abbey of St Denis and took his vows as a monk.  Heartbroken, and knowing in her heart that she wanted no other man, Heloise left her son with her sister and became a nun, despite Abelard's protestations. In her convent, she rose in rank due to her literacy and ability to manage.

Catherine Benincasa of Siena (1347 - 1380) History

I was born in Siena on the feast of the Annunciation, in the year 1347. I, and my twin sister who did not long survive, were the youngest of twenty-five children. My father, Giacomo Benincasa, was a prosperous wool dyer, and lived with my mother Lapa and our extended family, in a spacious house which the Sienese have preserved to the present day.

As a child, I was so merry that the family gave me the pet name of Euphrosyne, which is Greek for Joy and also the name of an early Christian saint.  At the age of six I had the remarkable experience which may be said to have determined my vocation.  With my brother, I was on the way home from a visit to a married sister, when suddenly I stopped still in the road, gazing up into the sky.  I did not hear the repeated calls of the boy, who had walked on ahead.  Only after he had gone back and seized me by the hand did I wake as from a dream.  I burst into tears.  My vision of Christ seated in glory with the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John had faded.  A year later, I made a secret vow to give my whole life to God.  I loved prayer and solitude, and when I mingled with other children it was to teach them.  This made me happy. 

When Catherine I was twelve, my mother, with marriage in mind, began to urge me to pay more attention to my appearance.  To please my mother and sister, I dressed in the bright gowns and jewels that were fashionable for young girls.  Soon I repented of this vanity, and declared with finality that I would never marry.  When my parents persisted in their talk about finding me a husband, I cut off the golden-brown hair that was my chief beauty.  As punishment, I was now made to do menial work in the household, and my family, knowing I craved solitude, never allowed me to be alone.  I bore all this with sweetness and patience.  Long afterwards, I wrote that God had shown me how to build in my soul a private cell where no tribulation could enter.

My father at last came to the realization that further pressure was useless, and he permitted me to do as I pleased.  In a small, dimly-lighted room now set apart for my use, a cell nine feet by three, I gave myself up to prayers and fasting.  I scourged myself three times daily with an iron chain, and slept on a board.  At first I wore a hair shirt, subsequently replacing it by an iron-spiked girdle.  Soon I obtained what I ardently desired, permission to assume the black habit of a Dominican tertiary, which was customarily granted only to matrons or widows.  I now increased my asceticism, eating and sleeping very little.  For three years I spoke only to my confessor and never went out except to the neighboring Basilica of Saint Dominic, where the pillar against which I used to lean is still pointed out to visitors.

History of Romeo and juuliet

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Romeo and Juliet is an enduring tragic love story written by William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. Shakespeare borrowed his plot from an original Italian tale.  It is believed Romeo and Juliette were based on actual characters from Verona.

The Montague and Capulet families are feuding.  The Prince of Verona intervenes and declares that any further fighting will be punishable by death.

When the Count of Paris approaches Lord Capulet about marrying his daughter, Juliet, he is wary of the request because she is only thirteen.  Capulet asks the Count of Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a ball.  Lady Capulet and Juliet's nurse urge Juliet to accept Paris' courtship.

In the Montague house, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Lord Montague's son, about Romeo's recent melancholy.  Benvolio discovers Romeo's unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, a niece of Lord Capulet's nieces.  Persuaded by Benvolio Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline.  But it is not Rosaline who sweeps him off his feet - it is the fair Juliette.