THEIR AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 7
CHARLEMAGNE. (742 814.) Vide under JOHN DRYDEN.
BERNARD.
10911153.
THE great Bernard, who is distinguished as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, was born at Fontaine, in Burgundy. His father was a nobleman. Both his parents were pious, and he owed much to the piety of his mother, who died when he was young. After being educated at the University of Paris, he entered, at the age of twenty-two, the Cistercian monastery of Citeaux, near Dijon, in Burgundy. That which he was afterwards so distinguished for, his remarkable influence over the minds of others, already appeared. By means of it he induced his five brothers and several companions to accompany him into monastic life. The order was severe in its ascetic practices, and Bernard carried these so far as to injure his health. His austerity made him famous, and at the age of twenty-five he was appointed abbot of a new monastery at Clairvaux, in Champagne.
In this position, which he continued to retain, notwithstanding several offers of bishoprics, he obtained extraordinary power and reputation : even kings and popes received his advice. His eloquent preaching was everywhere welcomed. Convents and monasteries, after his model, sprang up in all parts of Europe. His works were read, and he was hailed as the champion of the orthodoxy of those times. Having been challenged by the rationalizing Abelard, Bernard met him for controversy, at Sens, in 1140; but after hearing Bernard s opening statement, Abelard lost all courage, and having appealed to the Pope, retired pusillani- mously from the contest. It was Bernard also who persuaded the King of France to undertake the crusade of the year 1146.
Luther calls Bernard "the best monk that ever lived." He was
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