Heloise and Abelard

Today in my gender studies class, my professor told the fascinating story of Heloise and Abelard, and it sparked my creativity quite a bit.

The story goes like so:

Heloise was a French girl born in the early 12th century. She was orphaned at an early age and sent to be educated in a convent. It soon became apparent that she was extremely intelligent, far beyond the usual capacities of children her age. The nuns taught her all they could, then, when she came of age, she was sent to live with her uncle in Paris.

While there, her uncle decided to hire a tutor for her to help further her studies; as a woman, she wasn't allowed to go to university or get a degree, so the only option was a private tutor.

The tutor's name was Peter Abelard, and he was already renowned as a master intellectual and brilliant debator across France, and known as one of the smartest men in all of Europe. The only success he had never seen was in the field of love...

Although Abelard was extraordinarily arrogant, it wasn't long before Heloise inevitably fell for his charms and a love affair began.

As things happen, Heloise became pregnant. When her uncle found out, he was none too pleased. He ordered Abelard to marry her, but Abelard, wishing to go into the clergy, refused for fear of ruining his career. Eventually, they did get married, but kept it a secret from the outside world. To Heloise's uncle, though, it seemed like Abelard was pushing her away, trying to get away from her influence, and this pissed him off, to say the least.

One night, Heloise's uncle hired some hitmen to break into Abelard's house, tie him up, and castrate him. Humiliated and in agony, Abelard weighed his options, and none of them looked good.

By this time, the child had been born, and his parents, being the nerds they were, named him possibly the most embarassing name in history: Astrolabe, after the coolest newest scientific instrument. I assume that that would be sort of like naming your kid something like "Large Hadron Collider" today. Poor kid.

After that, Heloise joined a convent. She became very powerful and respected there, but it was never what she really wanted. At the same time, Abelard joined a monastery, assuming that there was nothing else he could do. The two wrote hundreds of love letters between each other for the rest of their lives.

After some years, Abelard left the monastic life to teach at a university, where eventually he was accused of heresy. Heloise eventually became an abbess and very famous intellectual.

And that's the story of Heloise and Abelard.

I love it.

There are lots of things wrong with this drawing, but I sort of like it anyway.

I'm starting to get the hang of digital drawing, I think. I mean, as well as I can draw in the first place.

irl, Abelard was 20 years older than Heloise. Just for clarification.