Eve of Wilton first encountered Goscelin of Saint Bertin as a child at the aristocratic nunnery at Wilton. Goscelin probably served as the abbey's chaplain, and, upon first meeting Eve, he was struck by her spiritual beauty. They shared a close friendship for approximately fifteen years (ca. 1065–ca. 1080), with Goscelin acting as Eve's tutor, before the churchman fell out of favor with the bishop of Wiltshire and was banished. Before he was able to return, Eve had left England for the church of Saint Laurent du Tertre in Angers, where she became an anchoress. When Goscelin discovered that his beloved had left without a proper farewell, he was deeply saddened. And so he wrote his Liber confortatorius (Book of Encouragement) for his absent friend. In it he referred to himself and to Eve as possessing a joint "singular soul [unice anime]," emphasizing their shared spiritual intimacy, a theme that appears throughout the text. Indeed, in the Liber Goscelin articulated a fervent love, friendship, and longing that few other high medieval discourses on friendship can rival.

The Liber confortatorius was written in an epistolary format meant to instruct and comfort Eve as she lived in solitude, yet the work was equally important to Goscelin himself, as it helped him come to terms with his sense of loss at Eve's unannounced departure. He obviously missed Eve's companionship and longed for her presence. Monika Otter captures this peculiar double function of the Liber in her description: it is "a letter of guidance to a female recluse by her male spiritual advisor, a guide to meditation and prayer, and an anthology of spiritual and meditative texts, it is also a personal letter and an account of a deep, desperate, only half sublimated love between a man and a woman in religious orders." The text also contains an internal dialogue that places its composition within the eleventh- and twelfth-century phenomenon that Colin Morris terms "the discovery of the individual." Still, as will be argued here, while the Liber confortatorius was indeed a manual of guidance, it reveals not a self-sublimated love between a religious man and woman but rather a friendship that was deep, intimate, and mutually beneficial—although not sexual. It simultaneously illuminates Goscelin's conflicting opinions on distant friendship as well as his respect for Eve's spirituality and intellect. Moreover, it shows how Goscelin regarded their friendship as spiritual love, ennobling Goscelin himself and Eve in return.

In the Middle Ages friendship was an aspect of love, yet it was also an integral part of spirituality. By participating in friendship, an individual might attain spiritual growth through the beneficial nature of the relationship. Rosemary Rader has commented on this phenomenon: "Mutuality of goals as a basis for true friendship was a recurring theme in the Christian writers' depiction of heterosexual friendship." According to Morris, furthermore, friendship was "closely connected with the exploration of the self and the search for a true identity." Goscelin expressed intense emotions of love and friendship in his Liber confortatorius, but his passionate exhortations should not be confused with expressions of romantic or erotic love. For medieval men and women, friendship was love, and thus these kinds of expressions would not necessarily have seemed unnatural or suspicious. Although accusations of inappropriate relations were sometimes leveled at religious men and women, allegations of this sort were often the result of religious politics and not the direct result of sinister activity itself. As we shall see, Goscelin took care in the Liber to guard himself and Eve against these charges.

Scholars who have written about Goscelin's Liber confortatorius and his relationship with Eve have addressed the question of the monk's true feelings for Eve, speculating as to whether or not Goscelin had romantic or even erotic feelings for Eve. Scholarship on Goscelin and Eve falls into two general categories: those who view Goscelin's feelings for Eve as something more than a spiritual connection, and those who view his feelings as purely spiritual. Most recently, Rebecca Hayward has argued against the claim that Goscelin had romantic or sexual feelings for Eve, and my own interpretation of the Liber confortatorius follows...