In 1128, Heloise established a convent in the buildings formerly occupied by Abelard's monastery. Meanwhile Abelard's enemies in Brittany tried several times to have him killed, so he escaped and in 1132 wrote a volume translated as The Story of My Misfortunes. Heloise obtained a copy and wrote him a letter in which she made it clear that she still loved him. Abelard responded: "If... you have need of my instruction and writings in matters pertaining to God, write to me what you want, so that I may answer as God permits me." She understood that he no longer wanted to speak of love, but they continued to correspond on questions of faith.
By 1136, Abelard was back in Paris, preparing to debate Bernard. But Bernard was not about to engage in an argument he knew he would lose, and on June 3, 1140, he charged Abelard with heresy (HAIR-uh-see)—that is, holding ideas that went against established church beliefs. Abelard appealed to Pope Innocent II (ruled 1130-43), but he learned that the pope supported Bernard, so he agreed to make peace. In private, however, he wrote a work the English title of which is Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian. In it he still maintained that reason, as opposed to blind faith, was a necessary part of religious belief.
By this time, Abelard was sixty-three and in ailing health. He died on April 21, 1142, and in accordance with his wishes, was buried at the Paraclete. When Heloise died twenty-two years later, she was laid to rest beside him. Later their bodies were moved to Pere-Lachaise (PAYR luh-SHEZ), a famous cemetery in Paris, where their headstone reads, "ABELARD: HELOISE—For Ever One."
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