When the name of Heloise is mentioned we immediately think of a clever girl who became a desperately unhappy nun. But when the name of Abelard is mentioned people do not usually associate him with monasticism. He finds little place in their standard histories of the medieval monastic and religious orders. In addition to inhabiting four abbeys Abelard also lived at various times in a number of priories and hermitages. He apparently left his first monastery in or shortly after 1119 to move to a smaller house belonging to Saint-Denis in order to be free to carry on teaching. To discover what Abelard and also Heloise tried to say about monasticism, as well as to attempt to assess this historically it may be helpful to organise some observations around a few themes. It is now an established view that the convent of the Paraclete under Heloise's direction adopted mainly Cistercian customs.