For 20 years, medievalists have been debating whether the love letters discussed in this volume were written by Abelard and Heloise. The present study comes to a surprising conclusion: the famous lovers are actually ridiculed in and by these letters. On the one hand, the male writer appears to be a show-off and a macho; on the other hand, he emerges as a ‘crybaby’ who humiliates himself to secure the object of his desire. The female writer is meanwhile stylized as the epitome of ideal love, but above all, she hopes for sexual pleasure. However, her desire is cleverly concealed by religious vocabulary borrowed in these letters.