Letters of Abelard and Heloise By the late John Hughes Heloise was a brilliant scholar of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and had a reputation for intelligence and insight. Abelard writes that she was nominatissima, "most renowned" for her gift in reading and writing. Not a great deal is known of her immediate family except that in her letters she implies she is of a lower social standing (probably the Garlande family, who had money...