Medievalists.net » Bernard of Clairvaux http://www.medievalists.net Where the Middle Ages Begin Sun, 06 Dec 2015 19:35:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.9 Embracing Death, Celebrating Life: Reflections on the Concept of Martyrdom in the Order of the Knights Templar http://www.medievalists.net/2015/07/15/embracing-death-celebrating-life-reflections-on-the-concept-of-a-martyrdom-in-the-order-of-the-knights-templar/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/07/15/embracing-death-celebrating-life-reflections-on-the-concept-of-a-martyrdom-in-the-order-of-the-knights-templar/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2015 13:35:52 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=59684 Although research on the concept of martyrdom during the era of the Crusades has gained considerable prominence, it has rarely been applied to the Knights Templar. This is surprising, as the Templars were the first military order and paved the way for a new monastic development; they were devoted to warfare only; and they, together with the other military orders, but unlike most Crusaders, established a permanent presence in the hostile environment of the Holy Land, consequently facing the threat of death both regularly and frequently.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/07/15/embracing-death-celebrating-life-reflections-on-the-concept-of-a-martyrdom-in-the-order-of-the-knights-templar/feed/ 0 Bernard of Clairvaux’s Writings on Violence and the Sacred http://www.medievalists.net/2014/03/18/bernard-clairvauxs-writings-violence-sacred/ http://www.medievalists.net/2014/03/18/bernard-clairvauxs-writings-violence-sacred/#comments Tue, 18 Mar 2014 22:26:20 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=48385 Monk, exegete, political actor and reformer, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was not just a man of his times; he was a man who shaped his times.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2014/03/18/bernard-clairvauxs-writings-violence-sacred/feed/ 0 Charisma, Medieval and Modern http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/02/charisma-medieval-and-modern/ http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/02/charisma-medieval-and-modern/#comments Fri, 03 Jan 2014 01:20:19 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=46301 Popularized by the mass media, Max Weber’s sociological concept of charisma now has a demotic meaning far from what Weber had in mind. Weberian charismatic leaders have followers, not fans, although, exceptionally, fans mutate into followers.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/02/charisma-medieval-and-modern/feed/ 0 They Hasten toward Perfection: Virginal & Chaste Monks in the High Middle Ages http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/01/they-hasten-toward-perfection-virginal-chaste-monks-in-the-high-middle-ages/ http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/01/they-hasten-toward-perfection-virginal-chaste-monks-in-the-high-middle-ages/#comments Wed, 01 Jan 2014 22:50:02 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=46255 As perennial Christian ideals, virginity and chastity were frequent themes in medieval religious discourse. Male religious were frequently virgins and were expected to cultivate chastity; however, women not men were usually the focus of such discussions. But some monastic writers did draw on those models when considering their own spirituality, and it is worth knowing how they were understood and enlisted in those instances.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/01/they-hasten-toward-perfection-virginal-chaste-monks-in-the-high-middle-ages/feed/ 0 Bernard of Clairvaux’s Writings on Violence and the Sacred http://www.medievalists.net/2013/08/26/bernard-of-clairvauxs-writings-on-violence-and-the-sacred/ http://www.medievalists.net/2013/08/26/bernard-of-clairvauxs-writings-on-violence-and-the-sacred/#comments Mon, 26 Aug 2013 16:20:18 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=43218 A man sworn to earthly nonviolence, poverty and obedience, he was the product of a knightly family; he envisioned himself and his monastic brethren as spiritual soldiers on the front lines of a cosmic war. Bernard explored themes of spiritual and earthly violence throughout his many compositions...

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2013/08/26/bernard-of-clairvauxs-writings-on-violence-and-the-sacred/feed/ 0 Penance and Peter Abelard’s Move Within http://www.medievalists.net/2013/04/21/penance-and-peter-abelards-move-within/ http://www.medievalists.net/2013/04/21/penance-and-peter-abelards-move-within/#comments Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:03:42 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=40679 Of the many individuals in the twelfth century whose fame in their own time has reached down to ours, figures like Thomas Becket, Frederick Barbarossa and Bernard of Clairvaux, there is no one whose fame surpassed that of Master Peter Abelard and no figure more public. Indeed, fame was something Abelard coveted, something he consciously built.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2013/04/21/penance-and-peter-abelards-move-within/feed/ 0 Sisters Between: Gender and the Medieval Beguines http://www.medievalists.net/2013/03/17/sisters-between-gender-and-the-medieval-beguines-2/ http://www.medievalists.net/2013/03/17/sisters-between-gender-and-the-medieval-beguines-2/#comments Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:43:03 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=39937 The origins of the Beguines can be traced to two important medieval religious reform movements: monastic mysticism and the vita apostolica, or "apostolic life."

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2013/03/17/sisters-between-gender-and-the-medieval-beguines-2/feed/ 0 Bernard of Morlaix: the literature of complaint, the Latin tradition and the twelfth-century “Renaissance” http://www.medievalists.net/2013/03/09/bernard-of-morlaix-the-literature-of-complaint-the-latin-tradition-and-the-twelfth-century-renaissance/ http://www.medievalists.net/2013/03/09/bernard-of-morlaix-the-literature-of-complaint-the-latin-tradition-and-the-twelfth-century-renaissance/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 02:26:04 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=39685 Bernard of Morlaix was a monk of the order of Cluny who flourished around 1140. Excerpts from one of his poems appear in some anthologies of medieval Latin verse1 and he is briefly noticed in some works on the twelfth-century renaissance, but he has received little critical attention and only one of his poems has been translated from the Latin.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2013/03/09/bernard-of-morlaix-the-literature-of-complaint-the-latin-tradition-and-the-twelfth-century-renaissance/feed/ 0 The Representation of Antichrist in Hildegard of Bingen’s Scivias http://www.medievalists.net/2013/01/13/the-representation-of-antichrist-in-hildegard-of-bingens-scivias/ http://www.medievalists.net/2013/01/13/the-representation-of-antichrist-in-hildegard-of-bingens-scivias/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 01:35:25 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=38701 The image thatis the subjectof this essay is one of thirty-five miniatures that once illuminated the lost Rupertsberg manuscript (Wiesbaden, Hessisches Landesbibl., MS 1, ca. 1165-75), a deluxe copy of Scivias.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2013/01/13/the-representation-of-antichrist-in-hildegard-of-bingens-scivias/feed/ 0 Salutare Animas Nostras: The Ideologies Behind the Foundation of the Templars http://www.medievalists.net/2012/11/18/salutare-animas-nostras-the-ideologies-behind-the-foundation-of-the-templars/ http://www.medievalists.net/2012/11/18/salutare-animas-nostras-the-ideologies-behind-the-foundation-of-the-templars/#comments Sun, 18 Nov 2012 17:29:23 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=37224 The meteoric rise of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon (more commonly known as the Knights Templar) and their equally swift fall has fueled fanciful tales and scholarly research. The order promoted their mythological origins and the extreme charges leveled against them by Philip IV of France (1285-1314) created an atmosphere of speculation.

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