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The letters of Heloïse (1101–1162) and Peter Abelard are among the best known records of early romantic love.

Heloïse (also spelled Eloise, Héloïse, Hélose, Heloisa, and Helouisa, among other variations). Not a great deal is known of her immediate family except that in her letters she implies she is of a lower social standing than was Abélard, who was originally from the nobility, though he had rejected knighthood to be a philosopher.

What is known is that she was the ward of an uncle, a canon in Paris named Fulbert, and by the age of 13 she had become the student of Pierre Abélard, who was one of the most popular teachers and philosophers in Paris.

In his writings, Abélard tells the story of his seduction of Heloïse, and their subsequent illicit relationship, which they continued until Heloïse bore him a son, whom Heloïse named Astrolabius (Astrolabe). Afterwards, he placed Heloïse in a convent in Argenteuil and secretly married her according to the wishes of her uncle. It was then that Fulbert divulged the secret of the marriage and ordered some of his acquaintances to castrate Abélard. Some have surmised that Fulbert was in fact her father, which accounts both for the unusual manner in which Heloïse was brought up due to a possible illegitimacy, as well as the extreme measures he took to punish Abélard. After the castration, left with little else, Abélard became a monk.

At the convent in Argenteuil, Heloïse took the habit and eventually became prioress. She and the other nuns were turned out when the convent was taken over by the abbey at which Abélard had first taken his monastic vows. At this point Abélard arranged for them to enter the Oratory of the Paraclete, an abbey he had established, where Heloïse became abbess.

It was at about this time that a correspondence sprang up between the two former lovers. After Abélard left the Paraclete, fleeing from either real or imagined persecution, he wrote explaining his woes both in his youth as a philosopher only and now as a monk as well. Heloïse responded. In the letters which followed, Heloïse expressed her dismay at the problems which Abélard had to face, but also reprimanded him for years of silence offered to her; technically, Abelard was still wed to Heloïse. Thus began a correspondence both passionate and erudite. Heloïse encouraged Abélard in his philosophical work, and he dedicated his profession of faith to her.

The Problemata Heloissae (Heloise's Problems) is a collection of 42 theological questions directed from Heloise to Abelard at the time when she was abbess at the Paraclete, and his answers to them.

Her place of burial is uncertain. According to the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, the remains of both lovers were transferred from the Oratory in the early 19th century and were reburied in the famous crypt on their grounds.

I see lots of parallels between this and the history of penny and desmond. the letters, the love, the absence, the oppressive "father figure", and whats up with the 42 questions? I think it was significant for the mouse to be named such so that we would read into this?