The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics) Paperback - 2004

Peter Abelard (1079–1142) was the greatest logician of the twelfth century. He taught in Paris, where Heloise (1101–1164) was his pupil when they met.

For generations, Heloise has been the name in household advice. Continuing in the tradition of her mother, the original Heloise, today's Heloise has become a media phenomenon. Along with her numerous television appearances and worldwide syndicated newspaper column, she has a monthly feature in Good Housekeeping, and her own website. Heloise is the author of several bestselling books.

M. T. Clanchy researches at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London.

M. T. Clanchy researches at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London.

Betty Radice read classics at Oxford, then married and, in the intervals of bringing up a family, tutored in classics, philosophy and English. She became joint editor of the Penguin Classics in 1964. As well as editing the translation of Livy’s The War with Hannibal she translated Livy’s Rome and Italy, Pliny’s Letters, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise and Erasmus’s Praise of Folly, and also wrote the introduction to Horace’s Complete Odes and Epodes, all for the Penguin Classics. She also edited Edward Gibbon’s Memoirs of My Life for the Penguin English Library, and edited and annotated her translation of the younger Pliny’s works for the Loeb Library of Classics and translated from Renaissance Latin, Greek and Italian for the Officina Bodoni of Verona. She collaborated as a translator in the Collected Works of Erasmus, and was the author of the Penguin Reference Book Who’s Who in the Ancient World. Betty Radice was an honorary fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and a vice-president of the Classical Association. Betty Radice died in 1985.

Peter Abelard was a French philosopher and the greatest logician of the 12th century. He taught in Paris, where Heloise was his pupil. After the tragic end of their marriage, she became a nun and he a monk.

Betty Radice was the editor of the Penguin Classics during the 1960s and 70s and an acclaimed translator from Latin, Greek & Italian.

Michael Clanchy researches at the Institute of Historical Research UCL and the Warburg Institute.