A Transmission, With Compassion

a terminally online lover's quarrel

If you look up the letters of Heloise and Abelard online today, you'll most likely meet them through John Hughes's 1713 English. It's on Project Gutenberg twice, it's on Wikisource, and Wikipedia's "Translation" link sends you to it. Hughes is lovely. He is also a paraphrase of a French paraphrase, and he leaves things out.

For my DHU437 project at the University of Toronto I wanted to see what that means passage by passage. I picked twelve places in the letters that scholars actually argue about. Then I set every version I could get my hands on side by side, and I recorded how open each one is.

What I compared

The full comparison, all twelve passages in every version, is at the end of this post.

Four things the comparison shows

1. "Mistress" does a lot of work. Heloise says the name of wife may seem holier, but amica (friend, lover) was always sweeter to her, "or, if you are not ashamed, concubina or scortum." A few lines later she'd rather be called Abelard's meretrix than the emperor's imperatrix. It's a deliberate climb down the social ladder. Here is what each version does with it:

Version amica concubina scortum meretrix
Troyes 802 (13th c.) amica concubina scortum meretrix
BnF fr. 920 (15th c.) amie meschine soignante putain
Scott Moncrieff (1925) friend concubine whore strumpet
McLaughlin / Columbia (2009) mistress concubine whore mistress
Hughes (1713) mistress — — mistress

The medieval French translator and Scott Moncrieff keep the whole climb. Hughes flattens it to one word. More surprisingly, the modern translation that's free to read on Columbia's site also uses "mistress" twice, for amica and for meretrix. So the bottom rung disappears there too.

2. The open English translations erase a grammatical argument. In Heloise's speech against marriage, Troyes 802 and the modern edition read Que ("what woman") could bear the squalor of babies. Barbara Newman has argued that the feminine matters, against translations that make it general. Bellows (1922) and Scott Moncrieff, the two public-domain translations, both have "Who…". The question vanishes. The 15th-century French goes the other way and gives the whole sentence to a man, esquelz homs.

3. The open Latin follows the edition, not the manuscript. Heloise's sixth letter opens Suo specialiter, sua singulariter ("To his own specially, from his own singularly") in the printed edition and everything copied from it. Troyes 802 opens Dno (Domino, "To her Lord"), with a big initial D. Scott Moncrieff follows Domino ("To her Lord, who is specially his, singularly"). Columbia, Wikisource and, interestingly, the 15th-century French all follow Suo. The French starts Du sien especial.

4. Where the "letters" end depends on who you ask. Troyes 802 runs on from letter 7 into the Rule for nuns and then the Paraclete's own statutes. Jean de Meun's French stops at the end of letter 7: "que Dieu m'otroit que je parface aussi la seconde… Amen. Explicit." Scott Moncrieff includes the Rule. Hughes stops at Abelard's fifth letter and never gives us Heloise's sixth at all.

Who gets to read what

Version What's open
Troyes 802 Images open (IRHT, CC BY-NC). No open transcription until this one.
BnF fr. 920 Images open on Gallica. The only edition (Brook, 2019) is paid.
Printed Latin On Wikisource, but scanned from editions that are still in copyright, with OCR errors.
McLaughlin / Columbia Free to read. The site is CC BY-NC-SA, but the translation is "reprinted with permission".
Hughes Public domain, everywhere.
Scott Moncrieff Public domain in the US. On HathiTrust as page images; only one letter exists as e-text (Fordham Sourcebook).
Bellows Public domain, Project Gutenberg.

The pattern is that the easiest version to find is the loosest. The closest English translations sit behind paywalls or exist only as page images. The open Latin is a copy of in-copyright editions, and the French survives openly only as pictures. While looking, I also found a full PDF of a recent in-copyright translation sitting on the Internet Archive. So "open" here sometimes just means "unlicensed".

Explore the passages

Pick a passage by number, or click a column in the grid. Each card is one version of that passage, with what's open about it.

The twelve passages in full

The same comparison as plain text, for reading by email or RSS. First, a map of which version gives you text at each passage.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Troyes ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ○
fr. 920 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ○
Latin ed. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ○
Columbia ○ ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ○ ○
Hughes ● ● ● ● ◌ ● ● ● ○ ○ ● ○
Scott M. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ○
Bellows ● – – – – – – – – – – –

● text at this passage · ○ passage missing from this version · ◌ not yet checked · – not applicable

In the quotations, a slash marks a line break in the manuscript. The French is given in a normalised reading; brackets mark letters lost to decorated initials.

1. Que etiam inhonestas illas paruulorum sordes

Letter 1 (Historia calamitatum)

2. Domino suo immo patri ... (salutation)

Letter 2

3. ad me forte quidam nuper attulit

Letter 2

4. amice uocabulum ... concubine uel scorti

Letter 2

5. amorem coniugio, libertatem uinculo preferebam

Letter 2

6. tua dici meretrix quam illius imperatrix

Letter 2

7. Inter ipsa missarum sollempnia ... obscena ... phantasmata

Letter 4

8. Castam me predicant qui non deprehendunt ypocritam

Letter 4

9. Domino / Suo specialiter, sua singulariter (salutation)

Letter 6

10. uerbis ... immoderati doloris tue frenum impositum est iussionis

Letter 6

11. Where the collection ends

Letter 7 / 8

12. Epistolae duorum amantium

A separate collection

Caveats

This is work in progress. The French is machine-transcribed and I'm still correcting it. I've checked passages 1 and 9 against the images; the other French readings are normalised from the machine output and may still change. The Wikisource Latin matches the Latin Columbia prints, but I haven't yet compared either against Muckle's printed page. Short quotations from in-copyright translations and editions are here for comparison only.

Sources: Troyes, Médiathèque, MS 802 (IRHT/BVMM); Paris, BnF, fr. 920 (Gallica); Latin Wikisource, "Epistolae (Abaelardus)"; Columbia University, Epistolae, letters 175, 176, 902; Project Gutenberg #40227, #35977, #14268; C. K. Scott Moncrieff, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Knopf, 1926), HathiTrust; Internet Medieval Sourcebook (Fordham).

The data

The viewer above reads this table: the same comparison, in JSON.

{"title":"Heloise & Abelard: version alignment at 12 loci","built":"2026-10-18","sources":{"troyes802":{"label":"Troyes, Médiathèque, MS 802 (13th c.)","access":"Images open (IRHT, CC BY-NC 3.0); text = our transcription, eScriptorium manual layer"},"fr920":{"label":"Paris, BnF, fr. 920 (15th c.), Jean de Meun's French","access":"Images open (Gallica). Text: raw CATMuS HTR, not yet corrected. Only edition (Brook 2019) is paid"},"printed_latin":{"label":"Printed Latin via Latin Wikisource 'Epistolae (Abaelardus)' (scans of Monfrin 1978 / Muckle 1953, 1955 / McLaughlin 1956)","access":"Open on Wikisource, but copied from in-copyright editions; contains OCR errors. Matches the Latin printed on Columbia's pages; not yet checked against Muckle's printed volumes"},"columbia":{"label":"Columbia Epistolae: Mary Martin McLaughlin trans. (ed. Wheeler, Palgrave 2009)","access":"Open to read; site CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 but translation 'reprinted with permission' — not clearly CC"},"hughes":{"label":"John Hughes 1713 (from Bussy-Rabutin/Bayle), Seymour reprint 1903 of the 1722 ed.","access":"Public domain; Project Gutenberg #40227 (also #35977, Wikisource Temple Classics)"},"scott_moncrieff":{"label":"C. K. Scott Moncrieff 1925/1926","access":"Public domain in the US. Full view on HathiTrust as page images (Google-digitized UC copy, with a reader's pencil marks); e-text only for Heloise's first letter (Fordham Internet Medieval Sourcebook)"},"bellows":{"label":"Henry Adams Bellows 1922 (Historia calamitatum only)","access":"Public domain; Project Gutenberg #14268"}},"loci":[{"n":1,"locus":"Que etiam inhonestas illas paruulorum sordes","letter":"1 (Historia calamitatum)","troyes802":{"ref":"6r B ll.50-52","text":"Que ⁊̃ inhonestas | illas paruuloꝵ sordes assiduas to | lerare ualebit:"},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 17 ll.3-5","raw":"esquelz homis attendans aus pensees saites et a philosophes pourra | souffore les biras des enfans ... | et auec ce les in honteus et contuueus ordures dos petrz enfaris","norm":"esquelz homs ... pourra souffrir ... et avec ce les inhonteuses et continueuses ordures des petiz enfans","note":"l.3 reads 'esquelz homs attendans aus pensees saintes et a philosophes'. One male subject ('homs') carries on through the squalor clause; no separate 'what woman'."},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Monfrin 1978 via Wikisource","text":"Quae etiam inhonestas illas paruulorum sordes assiduas tolerare ualebit?"},"columbia":{"text":null,"note":"Epistolae collects letters to and from women; the Historia calamitatum is not there"},"hughes":{"ref":"Gutenberg #35977","text":"... comport with the cries of children, the songs of nurses, and all the hurry of a family","note":"Squalor sentence omitted"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"1926 ed., p. 17","text":"Who, moreover, will have strength to tolerate the foul and incessant squalor of babes?","note":"'Who': the feminine Que is lost, as in Bellows"},"bellows":{"ref":"Gutenberg #14268, ch. VII","text":"Who can endure the continual untidiness of children?","note":"'Who': gender of Que lost"}},{"n":2,"locus":"Domino suo immo patri ... (salutation)","letter":"2","troyes802":{"ref":"18r ll.25-29","text":"Domino: Heloyse sue ad ipsum | suo: immo: patri: deprecatoria. | coniugi: suo: ĩmo: fr̃i: Ancilla: | sua: immo: filia: ipsius: uxor. ĩmo: | Soror: abaelardo: he lo y sa.","note":"Rubric interleaved with the salutation"},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 58 ll.23-27","raw":"u parolle la bonne heloys qui a entendues | les coplaintes abaielars et dit | on seigneur mes a son pere a son mari mes ason | frere Sa chamberiere mes sa fille Sa feme mes sa | ereur","norm":"[Ci] parolle la bonne Heloys ... [A s]on seigneur mes a son pere, a son mari mes a son frere, sa chamberiere mes sa fille, sa feme mes sa [s]erour","note":"Rubric: 'la bonne Heloys'"},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1953 via Wikisource","text":"Domino suo immo patri, coniugi suo immo fratri, ancilla sua immo filia, ipsius uxor immo soror: Abaelardo Heloisa."},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 175","text":"To her lord or rather, her father, to her husband or rather, her brother ..."},"hughes":{"ref":"Gutenberg #40227, Letter I","text":"To her Lord, her Father, her Husband, her Brother; his Servant, his Child, his Wife, his Sister","note":"The self-corrections ('immo') are flattened into a list"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"Fordham heloise1","text":"To her master, nay father, to her husband, nay brother; his handmaid, nay daughter, his spouse, nay sister:"}},{"n":3,"locus":"ad me forte quidam nuper attulit","letter":"2","troyes802":{"ref":"18r ll.30-31","text":"Missam ad amicũ ꝓ ꝯsolatione epłã | dilectissime urãm ad me forte qͥdam"},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 58 l.27 - p. 59 l.1","raw":"Treschiers anno uo honis ma nouuellemet | monstre ure espitre que uous enuoyastes a nre ami","norm":"Treschiers, ... m'a nouvellement monstré vostre espitre que vous envoyastes a nostre ami","note":"'forte' (by chance) is not obviously rendered"},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1953","text":"Missam ad amicum pro consolatione epistolam, dilectissime, uestram ad me forte quidam nuper attulit."},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 175","text":"The letter you wrote to comfort a friend, my beloved, has recently chanced to come into my hands."},"hughes":{"ref":"#40227, Letter I","text":"A consolatory letter of yours to a friend happened some days since to fall into my hands"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"Fordham","text":"Your letter written to a friend for his comfort, beloved, was lately brought to me by chance."}},{"n":4,"locus":"amice uocabulum ... concubine uel scorti","letter":"2","troyes802":{"ref":"19v ll.49-52","text":"⁊ si uxoris nom̃ sanctius ac ua | lidius uidetur: dulcius mͥ semꝑ | extitit amice uocabłm. aut si nõ | indigneris ꝯcubine uł scorti."},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 65 ll.9-12","raw":"Et se li nouis destre appellee tafeme me semblast | plus sains et nuelx uaillans li nouis danne me fust tousionis | plus dous ou setu nen as desdaun le nom de mesthine ou deta | soirgnaute","norm":"Et se li nons d'estre appellee ta feme me semblast plus sains ..., li nons d'amie me fust tousjours plus dous, ou, se tu n'en as desdaing, le nom de meschine ou de ta soignante","note":"amica = amie; concubina = meschine; scortum = soignante: the graded series survives"},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1953","text":"dulcius mihi semper exstitit amicae uocabulum aut, si non indigneris, concubinae uel scorti"},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 175","text":"If the name of wife seems holier and more impressive, to my ears the name of mistress always sounded sweeter or, if you are not ashamed of it, the name of concubine or whore.","note":"amica = 'mistress'"},"hughes":{"ref":"#40227, Letter I","text":"I despised the name of wife that I might live happy with that of mistress","note":"Series collapsed to 'mistress'"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"Fordham","text":"sweeter to me is ever the word friend, or, if thou be not ashamed, concubine or whore.","note":"amica = 'friend'"}},{"n":5,"locus":"amorem coniugio, libertatem uinculo preferebam","letter":"2","troyes802":{"ref":"20r ll.1-3","text":"s plerisq tacitis quib amo | rem coniugio: lib̾tatem uinculo p̃ | ferebam."},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 65 ll.19-21","raw":"Ie entaise pluys par quoy ie priseroie nielx amour que | mariaige et franchise que leu","norm":"... par quoy je priseroie mielx amour que mariaige et franchise que lien"},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1953","text":"sed plerisque tacitis quibus amorem coniugio libertatem uinculo praeferebam."},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 175","text":"But you neglected to mention the many reasons that made me prefer love to marriage, liberty to bondage."},"hughes":{"text":null,"note":"Not checked yet"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"Fordham","text":"but wert silent as to many, in which I preferred to love to wedlock, freedom to a bond."}},{"n":6,"locus":"tua dici meretrix quam illius imperatrix","letter":"2","troyes802":{"ref":"20r ll.3-9","text":"karius mͥ ⁊ dignius ui | deretur tua dici meretrix: qͣm illiꝰ | imꝑatͥx."},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 65 ll.21-26","raw":"si me sembleroit il | plus chiere chose et plus digne destre appellee ta putam | que seue ir empereris","norm":"si me sembleroit il plus chiere chose et plus digne d'estre appellee ta putain que sa empereris","note":"meretrix = putain"},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1953","text":"carius mihi et dignius uideretur tua dici meretrix quam illius imperatrix."},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 175","text":"... it would have seemed sweeter and more honorable to me to be called your mistress than his empress.","note":"meretrix = 'mistress', the same word used for amica at passage 4"},"hughes":{"ref":"#40227, Letter I","text":"it was infinitely preferable to me to live with Abelard as his mistress than with any other as Empress of the World","note":"No Augustus; 'mistress'"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"Fordham","text":"dearer to me and of greater dignity would it seem to be called thy strumpet than his empress."}},{"n":7,"locus":"Inter ipsa missarum sollempnia ... obscena ... phantasmata","letter":"4","troyes802":{"ref":"26r ll.27-34","text":"Int̃ ip̃a missarum sol | lempnia uͥ purior eẽ debet orõ: obsce | na eaꝵ uoluptatum phantasmata. ... suspiro | potius de amicis.","note":"amicis corrected toward amissis above the line (l.34)"},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 87 ll.21-26","raw":"Eutre les sollempuitez mesmes decerar en | dermane | des messes la ou loroisõn doit estre plus pure li ors delis | de ceste fantosme ... Ie soupire plus des pertes","norm":"Entre les sollempnitez mesmes des messes, la ou l'oroison doit estre plus pure, li ors delis de ceste fantosme ... je soupire plus des pertes","note":"Obscenity kept; 'pertes' = amissis."},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1953","text":"Inter ipsa missarum solemnia, ubi purior esse debet oratio, obscena earum uoluptatum phantasmata ... suspiro potius de amissis."},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 176","text":"In the most solemn moments of the Mass itself, when prayer should be especially pure, the impure fantasies of those pleasures so obsess my wretched soul ... When I should be lamenting what I have done, I long instead for what I have lost."},"hughes":{"ref":"#40227, Letter III","text":"Even into holy places before the altar I carry the memory of our love, and far from lamenting for having been seduced by pleasures, I sigh for having lost them.","note":"Mass and obscenity dropped"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"p. 81","text":"In the very solemnities of the Mass, when prayer ought to be more pure, the obscure phantoms of those delights so thoroughly captivate my wretched soul ... I sigh rather for what I have had to forego.","note":"obscena rendered 'obscure', which softens it; 'what I have had to forego' = amissis"}},{"n":8,"locus":"Castam me predicant qui non deprehendunt ypocritam","letter":"4","troyes802":{"ref":"26r ll.60-61","text":"Castam me p̃dicãt | qui ñ deprehendunt ypocritam."},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 88 ll.23-25","raw":"cil me | tienuent a chaaste qui na ꝑtoient pas ce que Ie suy | ypotrites","norm":"cil me tiennent a chaaste qui n'aperçoivent pas ce que je suy ypocrite"},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1953","text":"Castam me praedicant qui non deprehendunt hypocritam."},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 176","text":"I am called chaste by those who do not see the hypocrite in me."},"hughes":{"ref":"#40227, Letter III","text":"All who are about me admire my virtue ... this seeming virtue is a real vice.","note":"'chaste' becomes 'virtue'"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"pp. 81-82","text":"They preach that I am chaste who have not discovered the hypocrite in me."}},{"n":9,"locus":"Domino / Suo specialiter, sua singulariter (salutation)","letter":"6","troyes802":{"ref":"35r l.1","text":"Dno: Specialiter: Sua:singłariter.","note":"Domino, abbreviated"},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 120 ll.7-8","raw":"Iopparolle me loriys. | Du sien esp̃al la Siene senglement","norm":"[rubric: Ci parolle Heloys] Du sien especial, la sienne singulierement","note":"The decorated initial D begins 'Du'; a long abbreviation stroke runs over 'spal' (= especial). The French renders Suo specialiter, not Domino."},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1955","text":"Suo specialiter, sua singulariter."},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 902","text":"To him who is especially hers, from her who is uniquely his.","note":"Follows Muckle's Suo"},"hughes":{"text":null,"note":"Letter absent: Hughes ends with Abelard's Letter V"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"p. 109","text":"To her Lord, who is specially his, singularly.","note":"Follows the Domino reading (as in Migne), against Muckle's Suo and Columbia"}},{"n":10,"locus":"uerbis ... immoderati doloris tue frenum impositum est iussionis","letter":"6","troyes802":{"ref":"35r ll.1-4","text":"Ne me forte in aliquo deͥ obedi | entia causari queas: uerbis ⁊̃ immo | derati doloris. tue frenum imposi | tum ÷ iussionis.","note":"in- of inobedientia added above the line"},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 120 ll.8-10","raw":"pour ce que tu ne | ne puisses Reprandre par auenture en aucue chose | de mobedience re framn de ton cõmandement est amis aus | parolles de ma desatrempee douleur","norm":"pour ce que tu ne [me] puisses reprandre par aventure en aucune chose de inobedience, le frain de ton commandement est mis aus parolles de ma desatrempee douleur"},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Muckle 1955","text":"Ne me forte in aliquo de inobedientia causari queas, uerbis etiam immoderati doloris tuae frenum impositum est iussionis"},"columbia":{"ref":"Epistolae 902","text":"I do not wish to give you the slightest reason for accusing me of disobedience in anything. Following your command, I have put a rein on the expression of my boundless grief ..."},"hughes":{"text":null,"note":"Letter absent"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"p. 109","text":"Lest haply thou shouldst find cause to blame me in anything for disobedience, upon the words of my unbounded grief is set the bridle of thine injunction"}},{"n":11,"locus":"Where the collection ends","letter":"7 / 8","troyes802":{"ref":"88v, then 89r","text":"Letters 1-7, the Rule (letter 8), then the Institutiones nostre from 89r"},"fr920":{"ref":"p. 213 ll.14-24","raw":"Ereschiere sereur en ihu | crist Ie cuit que I aye assez dit ... a la p̾miere | de ces dexreneres requestis ... que dieu moceroit que Ie parface aussi la seconde ... Amen. | Replicit","norm":"Treschiere sereur en Jhesucrist, je cuit que j'aye assez dit ... a la premiere de ces deux requestes ... que Dieu m'otroit que je parface aussi la seconde ... Amen. Explicit","note":"Ends with letter 7: no Rule, no Institutiones. Then: Confession to Heloise (p.217), Abelard on Bernard's charges, Peter the Venerable's letter 'translatee de latin en françoys' (p.223)"},"printed_latin":{"ref":"Wikisource","text":"Letters 1-8 (Monfrin, Muckle, McLaughlin) plus letters 9-14 (Smits 1983); no Institutiones nostre","note":"End of letter 7: 'Nunc ut secundam quoque, Domino annuente, perficiam, uestris id meritis et orationibus obtineam.'"},"columbia":{"text":null,"note":"Has Heloise's letters 2, 4 and 6 only"},"hughes":{"ref":"#40227","text":"Five letters, ending with Abelard's Letter V","note":"No Rule; Heloise's letter 6 absent"},"scott_moncrieff":{"ref":"Contents, p. vii","text":"Letters 1-8: ends with 'The Eighth Letter ... an Institute or Rule of Nuns' (p. 179)","note":"Includes the Rule; no Institutiones nostre. Calls Abelard 'Peter' in the letter titles"}},{"n":12,"locus":"Epistolae duorum amantium","letter":"separate","troyes802":{"text":null,"note":"Not in MS 802 (Troyes MS 1452, Johannes de Vepria's extracts)"},"fr920":{"text":null,"note":"Not in fr. 920"},"printed_latin":{"text":null,"note":"Könsgen 1974 (in copyright)"},"columbia":{"text":null,"note":"Listed with Könsgen / Chiavaroli & Mews translations"},"hughes":{"text":null,"note":"Not included"},"scott_moncrieff":{"text":null,"note":"Not included"}}]}