Bernard of Clairvaux-Influence

Eventually Clairvaux became an unofficial court of mediation where disputes were settled by the wise judgment of Bernard. The verdict rendered by Bernard seemed to satisfy all parties, whether justified or condemned in the outcome. Bernard spoke to persons of every class in a way suited to their situation.

Miller makes the following comments concerning Bernard’s followers:

And, as might be expected, all looked back with superstitious reverence and affection to their founder. [5]

His wondering disciples vied with each other in publishing abroad the wonders wrought by his hand or his prayers, until his every act became a miracle and his every word a prophecy. The Gospels contain not such countless miracles as the life of Bernard. He healed diseases by his touch, the bread which he blessed produced supernatural effects, and a blind man received his sight by standing on the same spot where the holy man had stood!

To those who are at all acquainted with the spirit and temper of the mediaeval age, these groundless beliefs will excite no surprise . . . . [6]

Bernard made no pretence of being someone of importance. The spread of his fame does not seem to have affected him.

Because of the deterioration of his health under his earlier ascetic practices, Bernard was not able to work in the fields with the other monks. Instead he labored with his pen and preached in an impressive and persuasive manner.

Many sought to bestow honors on Bernard, but he declined. Much wealth came to Clairvaux; this, too, did not affect him

So persuasive was he, in fact, that when it was known that he was going to preach in a particular area the wives would make every effort to keep their husbands from hearing Bernard. Mothers hid their sons, and friends would invite their friends to go somewhere. They all realized how persuasive was Bernard to get them to enter the monastery. His reputation as a preacher and a writer spread throughout Christianity. Many sought to bestow honors on Bernard, but he declined. Much wealth came to Clairvaux; this, too, did not affect him. He became so influential, says Broadbent, that “he came to exercise an influence above that of kings and Popes.” [7]

The Crusades

Bernard’s preaching stirred people to enlist in the second crusade. Miller describes Bernard’s persuasive ways this way:

In the most glowing eloquence he pictured the sufferings of the Eastern Christians, the profanation of the holy places by the infidels, and the certain success of the armies of the Lord. Louis VII. of France, his queen, and a vast number of his nobles, took the vow, and devoted themselves to the holy war. Conrad III., Emperor of Germany . . . declared himself ready to obey the call to God’s service. Many of the chiefs of Germany followed the Emperor’s example in taking up the cross . . . but it was a cross without either truth or grace, the fearful delusion of Satan, . . . to the blinding and ruin of millions. [8]

Miller describes the pitiful and disastrous results of this second crusade to the Holy Land:

In 1149 [the Emperor of Germany and the King of France] lead back to Europe the few soldiers that survived. What had become of all the rest? . . . A million had perished in less than two years. Loud murmurs were heard against Bernard, as the priest by whose preaching, prophecies, and miracles, it had been chiefly promoted. But [he] convinced the people that he had been quite right in all he said, and that the failure of the expedition was a fit chastisement for the sins of the Crusaders. . . . Europe [was drained] of the flower of its armies, without bettering the condition of Christians in the East. [9]