[See also: CHARTRES; ERIUGENA, JOHANNES SCOTTUS; GILBERT OF
POITIERS; JOHN OF SALISBURY; PHILOSOPHY; PLATO, INFLUENCE OF;
THIERRY OF CHARTRES]
Bernard of Chartres. Glosae super Platonem, ed. Paul Edward Dutton. Toronto: Pontifical 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, Étienne. “Le platonisme de Bernard de Chartres.” Revue néo-scholastique de philosophie
25(1923):5–19.
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
political 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 succession, and a few years later he supported
Innocent in the conflict with Arnold of Brescia. In 1145, a pupil of his became Pope
Eugenius III. Besides continuing to mediate in all kinds of conflicts, 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 abbot
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 sermons on the Song of Songs (Sermones super Cantica
canticorum), left unfinished 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. Isolating 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 amplification of
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