Lord, and the Christian is attached to God. The attachment is nor-
mally thought to be reciprocal: God loves God’s people, and the
feudal lord protects and maintains his tenants and vassals.^56
A particular mode of this attachmentconcerns the self-appropriation
that every human being has from birth. Medieval people could read a
philosophical version of this doctrine from Cicero; they could also look
at Augustine’sThe Trinityin which a theological version of recognitive
self-knowledge is given (see section 2.2 above). Both Cicero and August-
ine describe this appropriation as love. Natural self-love is normally
affirmed in the medieval tradition.^57
The theology of Bernard of Clairvaux offers a rich synthesis of
these ideas. Like Augustine, Bernard is interested in self-knowledge
and its relationship to the knowledge of God. He emphasizes religious
experience^58 and subjective attachment, often employing the verb
agnoscoto depict these realities. Bernard lives in a feudal society
and employs its codes of honour to illustrate religious allegiances.
Bernard’s ideas shape the monastic spirituality of Latin Europe. His
writings remain popular beyond confessional borders. He is highly
appreciated by later thinkers like Ficino, Luther, and Zinzendorf.
Bernard’s views of love and spiritual marriage have exercised a
lasting influence in European cultural history. In hisSermons on the
Song of Songs, Bernard focuses on the relationship between Christ and
the faithful church, considered as the bridegroom and the bride
described in the Song of Songs. Love, submission, right humility,
and self-knowledge are among the main themes of this collection.
Bernard’s highly symbolical text may sound alien to a modern
secular reader. At the same time, reading Bernard in purely spiritual
terms is also misleading. Bernard’s allegories need an awareness of the
medieval background to be understood properly. For this reason,
Bernard’s thoughts require some interpretative effort. Let us begin
with the following extract:
Do you not remember that the last commendation (commendatam)of
the breasts of the bride concerned the sweet-smell of the ointments? Is it
not becoming then that the bride should acknowledge this fragrance to
be the Bridegroom’s beneficial gift (de sponsi beneficio recognoscat)
rather than claim it as her own? It is along these lines that all I have(^56) Ganshof 1979, 83–102. (^57) Osborne 2005, 3.
(^58) For this, see Köpf 1980.
The Latin Traditions 63