Several blocks from Notre-Dame is a home which displays a plaque and sculptures in memory of two of Paris’ most celebrated lovers. Nearly a century ago, this was the site of a Notre-Dame canon who lived with his niece, Heloise. A famous scholar and philosopher, Peter Abelard, came to Paris and started a school on the Left Bank (it later became the University of Paris). Thousands of students from all countries were drawn to the city because of the fame of his teachings.At the same time, Heloise’s uncle hired Abelard to tutor his niece and they fell in love. When her uncle discovered their relation, he separated them; however, they continued to meet, Heloise became pregnant, and they finally married in secret. (They named their son Astrolabe after a scientific instrument.) When the canon found out, he and others broke into Abelard’s chamber at night and castrated him. In disgrace, Heloise became a nun and Abelard entered a monastery to bury his sorrows. Although they never lived together again as husband and wife, they communicated in secret over the next two decades. Somewhere, many of these letters still survive. Abelard eventually left the cloister to write and reopen his school; Heloise became an influential abbess.
When Abelard died, his remains were secretly turned over to the loving care of Heloise who eventually came to be buried with him. Supposedly the bones of the pair were moved more than once but eventually, Paris’ Pere Lachaise administrators transferred the remains in order to attract more burials in their cemetery. The oldest residents of the cemetery, the canopy of Abelard and Heloise’s crypt was made from fragments of Heloise’s abbey and Abelard’s monastery. The dog laying at Abelard’s feet symbolizes their fidelity to each other.“Thou, O Lord, brought us together, and when it pleased Thee, Thou hast parted us.” --From a prayer of Heloise and Abelard
This photo was taken at the Conciergerie. It is a bas-relief carving thought to portray Heloise and Abelard on one of the three pillars dividing the Guardroom (built around 1310 by King Philip the Fair) into two naves.
