This will be a brief, accessible introduction to the lives and thought of two of the most controversial personalities of the Middle Ages. Abelard and Heloise are familiar names. It is their star quality, argues Constant Mews, that has prevented them from being seen clearly in the context of 12th-century thought - that task he has set himself in this book. He contends that the dramatic intensity of these famous lives needs to be examined in the broader context of their shared commitment to the study of philosophy.