Heloise

French abbess and philosopher — correspondent with Peter Abelard — abbess of the Paraclete — who was one of the most educated women of the medieval period and whose letters to Abelard are the most remarkable personal philosophical correspondence from a medieval woman.

Creates the most intellectually sophisticated female voice in medieval philosophy — Héloïse's letters to Abelard demonstrate philosophical reasoning, knowledge of classical literature, and theological argument equal to the most educated men of her era; her argument against marriage (on philosophical and practical grounds) is the most rigorous pre-modern feminist case for female intellectual autonomy.