historian Sylvain Piron translated the correspondence into French. Whether the letters were indeed the actual correspondence became a matter of intense scholarly debate in France. Mews and other scholars who support the authenticity case say all the evidence in and around the text points to Abelard and Heloise. Opponents say that is too simple and want definitive proof. They reject accusations of tunnel vision and deny they are motivated by professional envy at not having got there first. "It's not jealousy, it's a question of method," said Monique Goullet, director of research in medieval Latin at Paris's Sorbonne University. "If we had proof that it was Abelard and Heloise then everyone would calm down. But the current position among literature scholars is that we are shocked by too rapid an attribution process." But after his years of research, Mews is all the more convinced. "The first time I encountered the words and ideas they sent a shiver down my spine. Unfortunately, that has been attacked as evidence of an emotional response," he said. "There has been some very quick stereotyping of other people's arguments." Most Latin experts agree the document is authentic and of great literary worth, but its uniqueness makes some scholars suspicious. "The most probable explanation is that it is a literary work written by one person who decided to reconstitute the writings of Abelard and Heloise," Goullet said. Others say it was a stylistic exercise between two students who imagined themselves as the lovers, or that it was written by another couple. Mews has since discovered further textual parallels between the letters and the writings of Abelard which further support his arguments, included in Abelard and Heloise, Great Medieval Thinkers and journal articles published in 2007 and 2009. Selected works "Abelard and his Legacy", Variorum Reprints, London, Ashgate, 2001. "Reason and Belief in the Age of Roscelin and Abelard", Variorum Reprints, London, Ashgate, 2002. "The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France", Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 1999; 2nd edition, 2008. "Abelard and Heloise", New York, Oxford University Press, 2005. "Cicero and the Boundaries of Friendship in the Twelfth Century", Viator 38/2 (2007), 369–384. "Discussing Love: The Epistolae duorum amantium and Abelard's Sic et Non", Journal of Medieval Latin 19 (2009), 130–47. References External links Monash University, Constant Mews, profile and major Publications (Retrieved 21 February 2014) 1954 births People educated at