John counted Bernard the best Platonist of his time,
although to us he seems less interesting than Gilbert of
Poitiers or Thierry of Chartres (who is unlikely to have
been his younger brother, as is sometimes asserted). He
seems to have had no academic contact with the great
scholars of his day, William of Champeaux, Roscelin,
or Anselm of Laon. Like all the Chartrians, he got his
Plato through Neoplatonist sources, chiefl y Chalcidius,
Boethius, and Eriugena. His work survives only in frag-
ments quoted by John of Salisbury, though a possible set
of glosses on the Timaeus by Bernard is now in print.
Famous for his cultivation of faith and goodness, as
well as simple academic brilliance, Bernard is perhaps
best remembered today for reporting the aphorism that
compared scholars of the modern age to dwarfs standing
on giants’ shoulders—their further vision was the result
of their elevated viewpoint, not their greater acumen
(Metalogicon 3.4).
See also Eriugena, Johannes Scottus;
Gilbert of Poitiers; John of Salisbury
Further Reading
Bernard of Chartres. Glosae super Platonem, ed. Paul Edward
Dutton. Toronto: Pontifi cal Institute of Mediaeval Studies,
1991.
Dutton, Paul Edward. “The Uncovering of the ‘Glosae super
Platonem’ of Bernard of Chartres.” Mediaeval Studies 46
(1984): 192–221.
Gilson, Ètienne. “Le platonisme de Bernard de Chartres.” Revue
néo-scholastique de philosophie 25 (1923): 5–19.
Lesley J. Smith
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX
(1090/91–1153)
Born in Fontaines near Dijon and educated with the
canons of Saint-Vorles in Châtillon-sur-Seine, Bernard
entered the Cistercian monastery of Cîteaux, together
with thirty companions, in 1112. In 1115, he founded
the monastery of Clairvaux. From this remote corner of
the civilized world, he intervened in matters both politi-
cal and ecclesiastical. In 1128, at the Synod of Troyes,
he obtained recognition for the Rule of the new order
of Knights Templar. In 1130, he supported Innocent II
against Anacletus II in the dispute over papal succes-
sion, and a few years later he supported Innocent in
the confl ict with Arnold of Brescia. In 1145, a pupil of
his became Pope Eugenius III. Besides continuing to
mediate in all kinds of confl icts, Bernard energetically
preached the Second Crusade and lived to witness its
utter failure in 1148.
Bernard presided over the enormous expansion
of the Cistercian order. The first houses founded
from Cîteaux—La Ferté, Pontigny, Morimond, and
Clairvaux—became centers from which hundreds of
monasteries spread over all of western Europe. As ab-
bot of Clairvaux, an obscure Cistercian settlement on
the border of Burgundy and the Champagne, Bernard
traveled widely, not only advising bishops and princes
but also raising his voice on delicate doctrinal isssues.
Lacking the modern dialectical skills of his opponents,
he focused his criticism on their alleged deviations from
traditional theological methods. At the Council of Sens
(1141), his intervention decided the fate of Abélard, and
a few years later, at the Council of Reims, he spoke out
against Gilbert of Poitiers. Bernard was canonized in
1174 and created a doctor of the church in 1830.
Bernard’s œuvre consists of treatises, many sermons,
and letters. His most famous work is the series of ser-
mons on the Song of Songs (Sermones super Cantica
canticorum), left unfi nished at his death. In it, he deals
with a variety of themes from the behavior of monks to
the mystical union between the Bridegroom from the
Canticle (Christ) and the Bride (Bernard, or the church).
The method applied to the Canticle text is based on the
medieval exegetical scheme of the fourfold meaning
of Scripture: literal, allegorical, moral, and mystical.
However, unlike earlier medieval commentators on the
Canticle, such as Bede, Bernard never loses sight of
the literal, dramatic power of the Canticle text. Isolat-
ing one textual fragment or even a single word, he then
creates clusters of associations with other biblical and
patristic writings. The result is a rich and a meticulously
organized text that could be used both by the monks
as an amplifi cation of their ritual form of life and by
a wider literate public, both clergy and lay, for literary
enjoyment and religious insight.
Many of Bernard’s other sermons follow the cycle
of the liturgical feast days (Sermones per annum), such
as the Annunciation, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, the
Assumption. Noteworthy for their poetic quality and
intensity, Bernard’s sermons on the Virgin Mary con-
tributed to the development of mariological devotion in
the later Middle Ages.
In his treatises, Bernard deals in a more thematic
way with the issues of monastic life and of religion
in general. A treatise on the steps of humility, De gra-
dibus humilitatis et superbiae, is a commentary on a
passage from the Benedictine Rule. A treatise on love,
De diligendo Deo, describes the journey toward God,
who is to be loved because of himself with a love that is
“measure without measure” (modus sine modo). Bernard
combines the relentless desire for God characteristic of
the monastic life with the stability of its goal. The long
treatise on consideration, De consideratione, dedicated
to Pope Eugenius III, outlines the ideal portrait of a pope
while offering theological and mystical refl ections on
the knowledge of God.
In his many letters, Bernard often takes circumstantial
matters as a point of departure for refl ection. His fi rstBERNARD OF CHARTRES