Peter Abelard After Marriage: The Spiritual Direction of Heloise and Her Nuns Through Liturgical Song Volume 211

Famous for their love affair and their letter exchange, Heloise, abbess of the Paraclete, and Abelard, monk and scholar, are less known for their ongoing monastic relationship. Abelard's letters of direction to Heloise and her nuns were complemented by the liturgical music he composed for them. In this first study of Abelard as musician and spiritual director, the importance liturgical song has in forming the virtues of obedience, penitence, and humility is explained, as is Abelard's mastery of rhetoric, poetry and melody.