Abelard & Heloise

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon September 8th, 2008, 4:55 am

Ash, Abélard and Héloïse's son was named Astralabe. He lived to adulthood. According to Constant Mews, who wrote a book called "The Lost Letters of Abelard and Héloïse" it's not certain what happened to Astralabe. According to a mid-12th century document from Brittany (the province from which Abélard hailed and where he still had plenty of family) there was a canon named Astralabe at Nantes, and as it's an uncommon name that does seem like a possibility. See blog below:
http://actsofhope.blogspot.com/2007/04/ ... mised.html

I've also enclosed an article about Luise Riner's novel "Abelard's Love", which was written from the perspective of Astralabe.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Mon September 8th, 2008, 7:09 am

Daphne du Maurier did a retelling of the Tristan and Isolde/Iseult in Castle D'Or. DduM happens to be one of my favourite authors.

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon September 8th, 2008, 7:33 am

And if you'd like a movie, Ridley Scott's "Tristan and Isolde" is full of Dark Age atmosphere and visually gorgeous. James Franco as Tristan is also visually gorgeous but acting abilities rather limited- he may have been working on his impression of the tortured hero nobly suffering, but looked more to me as if he was suffering from indigestion! Definitely worth a watch, though.

eclecticreader10 · Post by **eclecticreader10** » Mon September 8th, 2008, 7:44 pm

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I ended up ordering Stealing Heaven by Marion Meade and Iseult by Dee Morrison Meaney. I ordered them from Half.com and got both for $8.48, including shipping. I'm happy. The White Raven went on my reminder list for next time.

princess garnet · Post by **princess garnet** » Mon September 8th, 2008, 11:55 pm

I have a photo of a sign marking their home near Notre Dame Catherdal that I took while on summer study aboard in Paris 4 years ago.

ellenjane · Post by **ellenjane** » Mon September 15th, 2008, 5:31 pm

Abelard and Heloise, as well as Astrolabe, figure prominently in Sharan Newman's series of medieval mysteries (Catherine LeVendeur is the main character). They are secondary characters, but delightful all the same.