History Video Blog #14

Posted on February 14, 2010 by admin

Let’s hear a love story from history. Just a warning–it’s a tragic one. You may shed a tear. Cole Porter wrote a love song that included a reference to this particular love story called Just One of Those Things. Here are some of the lyrics:

As Abelard said to Eloise,

“Don’t forget to drop a line to me, please”

As Juliet cried, in her Romeo’s ear,

“Romeo, why not face the fact, my dear?”

It was just one of those things

Just one of those crazy flings

One of those bells that now and then rings

Just one of those things.

The point of the song is that sometimes love must end, and when it does there is no explanation because it was just one of those things that happen. The first stanza above was not sung in many popular versions by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr., Sarah Vaughn and others, probably because while everyone knows who Romeo and Juliet were, no one has a clue about Abelard and “Eloise”. To find out who they were, and to hear the story of their star-crossed love, we have to go back almost 900 years, to the first third of the 12th century in France.

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  • http://www.readwithjoy.com Dee Anne

    I must confess that what comes to mind about the the Middle Ages is the highly romanticized “knights in shinning armor.” Lords and serfs and feudal systems. Monasteries with learned monks and discovery and manuscripts! :-) What was it really like?

  • http://www.emmahouse.org admin

    There is a long answer to your last question (You were going to lose another 1000 points before you asked it, but I feel merciful today), but I will not give it fully now. The armor didn’t shine much, and the place really smelled bad. The feudal and manorial systems were not as pervasive as once thought. But it was also not as dark, nor were people as dumb as Mark Twain would have us believe. Your ancestors were sending those monks running to safer places and generally making society unstable by their unpredictable raids and terror. But it all turned out for the best, after all we have you, and fortunately my ancestors stopped worshiping trees and performing human sacrifices. they prefer a beer these days. All in all, the Europeans of the Middle Ages did a remarkable job of rebuilding a culture on the foundations of Rome, despite plague, Vikings (your people), and warring nobles.