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Journal of Religious History

Vol. 37, No. 3, September 2013
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9809.2013.01223.x

MARIA L. RUBY WAGNER

The Impact of the Second Crusade on

the Angelology and Eschatology of
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux*

Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, made a significant impact on twelfth-century Europe

and the church. As a result of the proliferation of Cistercian monasteries under
his guidance, his numerous theological writings, and the miracles he performed,
Bernard was canonised soon after his death. Conversely, there was no lack of
criticism levied for his involvement in matters that some considered inappropriate.
When Pope Eugenius III called the Second Crusade and requested that Bernard
preach it, the infirm abbot could have justifiably declined but instead embarked upon
the arduous task. However, he did so in the belief that this task, if successful, might
propel humankind into the next age of time. After the crusade failed and as he neared
death himself, Bernards writings reflect a change from his previous assertions
surrounding eschatology and the role of angels in the lives of the faithful. These
alterations in Bernards theology may also have encompassed a reaffirmation of his
commitment to the contemplative life. It took the disaster of the Second Crusade to
return him to his core convictions and ignore the arrogant speculations of those who
claimed that they knew what Christ said they never would: the day or the hour.

Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux (b. 1090), made a significant impact on twelfthcentury Europe and the church. As a result of the intense proliferation of
Cistercian monasteries under his guidance, his large corpus of theological
teachings and writings, and the many miracles attributed to him, Bernard was
canonised by the church a mere twenty years after his death. Conversely, there
was no lack of criticism levied against him for his involvement in matters that
some considered inappropriate for a monk. Bernards hagiographers had struggled with this issue in their quest for his canonisation,1 and subsequent scholars
1. A. H. Bredero, Bernard of Clairvaux: Between Cult and History (Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 1996), 56, 9, 8189.
Maria L. Ruby Wagner holds a Master of Arts in Medieval History from Loyola University
Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
* For his assistance in translating the source documents and in reading drafts of this article
(without incurring any responsibility for its content), as well as his continuous encouragement, the
author sincerely thanks Fr John M. McManamon, SJ of Loyola University Chicago.

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must contend with a paradigm in which historical analysis of him is fragmented, difficult, and even unjust.2
There is no disagreement that Bernards accomplishments were many. In his
first fifty years, he actively participated in the resolution of the papal schism of
the 1130s, substantially expanded the number of Cistercian monasteries, confronted and dispelled heresies, and vehemently opposed any activity or teaching that he viewed as a threat to the church. Bernard also corresponded with a
number of kings and military leaders, never hesitating to bestow advice or
criticism when he felt it was warranted even though such matters were often
perceived as outside his domain. By 1145, when Pope Eugenius III, a fellow
Cistercian and Bernards protg, called the Second Crusade and requested
that Bernard preach it to the people, the infirm abbot could have justifiably
declined. Instead, he undertook long and difficult journeys throughout Europe
in order to exhort the faithful to take up the cross and rescue the Holy Land
from the Lords enemies.3
Why would Bernard embark upon such an arduous task? On numerous
occasions, he had written of his preference to remain at Clairvaux and had
expressed no desire to journey to the Holy Land. Indeed, to him, the monastery
was the spiritual equivalent of Jerusalem. In a letter to Alexander, Bishop of
Lincoln, dated 1129,4 Bernard wrote, And this, if you want to know, is
Clairvaux. She is the Jerusalem united to the one in heaven by whole-hearted
devotion, by conformity of life and by a certain spiritual affinity.5 Bernard
strongly believed that experience of God could occur in any place through
prayer and contemplation of scripture, especially the Song of Songs. As he
explained to his brothers:

2. To cite just a few examples, see Bredero, Bernard of Clairvaux, 27981: This duality
in Bernards life has reemerged as a historiographical problem [and] a compromise has
been invented that would supposedly do justice to both views regarding Bernards personality
. . . based on the presupposition that Bernard must have been internally torn. See also
T. Merton, The Last of the Fathers: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and the Encyclical Letter,
Doctor Mellifluus (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1954), 9, where he notes that
after his death, Bernard suffered a rapid and disconcerting fragmentation at the hands of his
own fame. See also B. P. McGuire, The Difficult Saint: Bernard of Clairvaux and His Tradition
(Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991), 17: Bernard of Clairvaux is not an easy person
with whom to deal . . . one can easily end up with two Bernards, the abbot who is forever lost
to us in the silence of the cloister, and the ecclesiastical politician whose voice is almost too
strident.
3. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Letters of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, trans. Bruno S. James
(Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1953), Letter 400, 472.
4. S. Robson, With the Spirit and Power of Elijah: The Prophetic-Reforming Spirituality
of Bernard of Clairvaux as Evidenced Particularly in his Letters (Rome: Editrice Pontificia
Universit Gregoriana, 2004), 115.
5. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 67, 91. See also Bernard of Clairvaux,
Sancti Bernardi Opera, vol. VII (Romae: Editiones Cistercienses, 1957), Epistola 64, 158. Et si
vultis scire, Claravallis est. Ipsa est Ierusalem, et quae in caelis est, tota mentis de devotione, et
conversationis imitatione, et cognatione quadam spiritus sociata. Hereafter, this source will be
referred to as SBO with a volume number in Roman numerals. McGuire describes Bernards
understanding of the Holy Land as more a state of mind and spiritual exaltation than a concrete
place . . . an allegory rather than a worldly city. See B. P. McGuire, ed., A Companion to Bernard
of Clairvaux (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2011), 38.
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I admit that the Word has come to me I speak as one without wisdom (insipientia)
and has come many times . . . So when the Bridegroom, the Word, came to me, he
never made known his coming by any signs, not by sight, not by sound, not by touch.
It was not by any movement of his that I recognized his coming; it was not by any of
my senses that I perceived he had penetrated to the depths of my being. Only by the
movement of my heart (ex motu cordis), as I have told you, did I perceive his presence.6

Bernard treasured his contemplative time at Clairvaux and missed it terribly when he was away. During the height of the papal schism while he was
traveling in Italy, he lamented to his brothers, Sorrowfully and reluctantly . . .
I have bowed before the urgent request of the Emperor . . . and suffered myself
to be dragged to Apulia . . . my words are broken with tears and sobs.7 Later,
in 1146, as crusade fever in Europe was building, in large part due to Bernards
own efforts, he informed Pope Eugenius, If any suggestion be made to you of
adding to my present labors, I would have you know that my strength is not
equal to those which devolve on me already. My intention of not leaving the
monastery, I believe, is not a secret to you.8
This is not to suggest that Bernard was unconcerned about the possible
loss of the Holy Land to the enemies of the cross of Christ,9 or that he did not
ardently endorse the new Christian mission to the East. As a small boy, Bernard
had witnessed the triumphal return of the crusaders, many of whom were
members of his family, after they had recaptured Jerusalem in 1099. In about
1130, Bernard made his support of crusading clear in his treatise entitled
In Praise of the New Knighthood,10 where he reconciled the apparent contradiction between the violent actions of the soldier and the irenic prayers
of the monk. Bernard explained that when one kills a pagan as a defender
of Christians, that death wins glory for Christ. For Bernard, the true knight of
Christ was not a man-killer (homicida), but . . . an evil-killer (malecida),11 or,
in other words, the extermination of injustice rather than the unjust.12 Therefore, when Imad-ad-Din Zengi, a Muslim ruler, captured Edessa in 1144,
Bernard, as well as many Christian leaders in both the West and the East,
decided that military action was warranted.
6. The English translation offered here is my slight rewording of the translation from Bernard
of Clairvaux on the Song of Songs III, trans. K. Walsh and I. Edmonds (Kalamazoo: Cistercian
Publications, 1979), 8991 referenced by Robson, With the Spirit and Power of Elijah, 11718.
See SBO II, Sermo 74 super Cantica canticorum, verses 56, 242. My revision is noted in bold
lettering.
7. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 146, 215. SBO VII Epistola 144.
8. J. C. Morison, The Life and Times of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux (London: Chapman
and Hall, 1863), 417. SBO VIII Epistola 245, 136. Propositium meum monasterium non egrediendi credo non latere vos.
9. Eugenius III, Der Text der Kreuzzugbulle Eugens III, edoted by P. Rassow, Neues Archiv der
Gesellschaft fr ltere deutsche Geschichtskunde, vol. 45 (1924), 30205. Translation from L. and
J .S. C. Riley-Smith, The Crusades, 5758, quoted in J. Phillips, Defenders of the Holy Land:
Relations between the Latin East and the West, 11191187 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 76.
10. Bernard of Clairvaux, In Praise of the New Knighthood, trans. M. C. Greenia, OSCO
(Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2000[1977]), 9. The dating of this work is the subject of
some debate among scholars. At the latest, it was completed in 1137. See Kennans introduction,
13 n. 10.
11. Bernard of Clairvaux, In Praise of the New Knighthood, Chapter 3, 39.
12. D. Seward, The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders (Hamden, CT: Archon Books,
1972), 26.
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Did the abbot have motivations to preach the Crusade other than concern for
the Holy Land? One recent historical analysis of Bernards preaching of the
Second Crusade examines the notion that his opinions about the end of days,
that is, his view of the history of humankind and his eschatological expectations, also weighed heavily in his decision.13 The analysis in question also
suggests that Bernards reaction to the failure of the Second Crusade strongly
and negatively affected his eschatological beliefs. This article seeks to consider
these contentions further and offer additional insights into the latter thesis
by examining Bernards revised views of angels and their roles in assisting
humankind.
Although eschatology was not a term employed in the medieval period,
it usefully explains the interest in the Last Judgment and apocalypse that most
medieval theologians and exegetes maintained. Ideas about last things were
(and remain) quite complex, oscillat[ing] along several spectra: from collective to individual, from temporal to beyond time or atemporal, from a stress on
spirit to a sense of embodied or reimbodied self.14 Thus, concerns about ones
individual death and its immediate consequences were mingled with predictions about the timing of the millennial reign of the saints, worry over the
impending arrival of Antichrist, also called the noonday devil (daemonium
meridianum), expectations that Jesus would come again to judge all of humanity, and most critically, hope for the souls eternal rest with God.15
None of these questions was new to the twelfth century. Apocalyptic
concerns had been present since the earliest days of the church as it
became increasingly apparent that the parousia (Second Coming of Jesus)
was not as close at hand as many had hoped. Naturally, Christian leaders
looked to the New Testament, particularly the Gospels and the Book of
Revelation, for explanations that would comfort the disappointed faithful.
Thus, intense dissections of the narrative of visions contained in the Book
of Revelation, attempts to identify the Antichrist in historical figures,
and periodisations of history that offered longer timelines were offered and
revised as needed.
The earliest Christian writings, while varying in details, offer scenarios in
which at a certain time, signs of the end including strife, corruption, war, and
disease will commence. Natural disasters will strike and the motion of the
universe will cease. Into this chaos will come Antichrist, a human figure
guided by evil and one who will persecute Christians until Christ appears in
glory and defeats him. At this point, the gates of hell will open and souls
of the dead will be reunited with their bodies in a state of incorruptibility.
13. Others have suggested different motivations, including loyalty to the pope who was also a
Cistercian, Bernards own egotistical desires to control events of his day, and his desire to see
Christendom expand territorially.
14. C. W. Bynum and P. Freedman, eds., Last Things: Death and the Apocalypse in the Middle
Ages (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2000), 5.
15. See B. McGinn, St. Bernard and Eschatology, in Bernard of Clairvaux: Studies presented
to Dom Jean Leclercq, ed. J. Leclerq (Washington, DC: Cistercian Publications Consortium Press,
1973), 16163 for a discussion of the two tendencies of medieval eschatological thought, spiritual
(vertical) and historicising (horizontal).
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In their omnipotence, Christ and the Father will judge each individual so that
the good will be welcomed to enter Paradise while the wicked will perish in
eternal fire and torture.16 Origen (d. 253/54), perhaps, the first fully professional Christian thinker, added to this milieu a lengthier timeline as well as
a revised eschatological perspective. For him, earthly issues were superseded
by the larger goal of full union with God, a notion that appealed to mystics
and was criticised by those who favoured literal interpretations of Scripture.17
Later, Augustine (d. 430), the theologian who has most influenced the development of Latin eschatology,18 altered Christian doctrine by reinterpreting
time before and after the end of the world. In his view, eternity was not
measured in units of time as measured on earth, but was instead, the utterly
simple, unchanging present of Gods being.19 Although he retained the
general characteristics and events described by earlier Christian thinkers in
his own historical observations, Augustine preferred not to speculate on the
identity of Antichrist or to calculate the date of the Last Judgment. Nonetheless, he did offer a seven-age periodisation of history that aligned with the
seven days of creation in Genesis and became a touchstone for future eschatological speculation.
Subsequent theologians created an array of periodisations, including sevenage schemes that differed from Augustines, four-age plans that linked to the
four principal virtues or the four watches of the night from the Gospel of
Matthew, as well as Trinitarian three-age schemes.20 Like a number of others,
Bernard of Clairvaux subscribed to a four-age theory. However, his plan was
unique in that it linked periods of human history to the four temptations
described in Psalm 91:56: You will not fear the terror of the night (timor
nocturnis), or the arrow that flies by day (sagitta volans in die), or the pestilence that stalks in darkness (negotium perambulans in tenebris), or the
destruction that wastes at noonday (daemonium meridianum).21 In a sermon
from 1139, Bernard names these four time periods as the age of martyrs, when
the church was primitive and martyrdom was common; the age of heretics,
when false dogma spread throughout the land; the age of corruption and
hypocrisy, in which Bernard places his own generation; and the worst age, that
of the noonday devil or Antichrist, when deception will prevail. In another
treatise, also written in 1139, he describes his own time period in more detail:
Today the stinking corruption (putida tabes) slowly spreads throughout the

16. See B. E. Daley, SJ, The Hope of the Early Church: A Handbook of Patristic Eschatology
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 79. He references the Apocalypse of Peter, the
Ascension of Isaiah, the Fifth and Sixth books of Ezra, and the Sibylline Oracles. Many of these
writings were adapted from Jewish apocrypha.
17. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church, 5960.
18. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church, 131.
19. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church, 132.
20. See J. G. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, PhD diss. (Marquette
University, 2000), 14757 and McGinn, St. Bernard and Eschatology, 17273 for details of these
various schemes and the proliferation of them in the twelfth century.
21. Ps. 90:56. See SBO IV, 119 for this sermon and McGinn, St. Bernard and Eschatology,
173 for discussion of the unique nature of Bernards scheme and the original Latin.
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whole body of the Church . . . they [i.e. the hypocrites] are ministers of Christ
and serve (serviunt) the Antichrist.22
Another current of historicising eschatological thought to which Bernard
may have subscribed involved the legend of the Last World Emperor, which
had been transmitted to the medieval West through at least three sources. The
first and oldest of the sources was the Sibylline prophecies of Roman religion,
which had been reinterpreted to encompass aspects of Judaism and eventually,
Christianity.23 The second was the Pseudo-Methodius, an apocalyptic text of
Syriac origin that was written in the late seventh century and attributed to the
early fourth-century martyr Bishop Methodius.24 Lastly, the most recent text
available to Bernard was Adso of Montier-en-Ders reverse hagiography
of the Antichrist, written in the middle of the tenth century and translated
widely throughout Europe.25 While the details in each vary, they all claimed
that before the Last Judgment of God could take place, a warlike ruler would
defeat all Romes (and now Gods) enemies, vindicate the goodness of the
just in a messianic time of plenty and achieve supreme imitation of Christ by
handing over world dominion to God.26 Only then would the Antichrist (Final
Enemy of God) arrive, conquer the world, and eventually be vanquished by
Jesus in a second coming.
While issues of historical theology were of undoubted interest27 to
Bernard, it is clear from his writing that he favoured the spiritual over the
temporal. As noted above, his explication of the Song of Songs reveals an
intense yearning for his own souls union with God, which he claimed to have
experienced briefly through contemplation. Thus, for Bernard, historicising
eschatology represented just one possible path to God. Bernard and his friends
no longer needed to scrutinize the secret of the Apocalypse for answers about
Christs coming as many of their contemporaries did, rather they found their
delight in the explanation of the Song of Songs.28 In Sermo 74 on the Song of
Songs, Bernard discusses his own interactions with God using language found
in that psalm:
22. SBO I, Sermo 33 super Cantica canticorum verses 16, 244. Serpit hodie putida tabes per
omne corpus Ecclesiae . . . Ministri Christi sunt, et serviunt Antichristo. Bernard had earlier
presented, in Sermo 23 on verse 3 of the Song of Songs, a three-age division of history. It included
the time of Creation, the time of Reconciliation, i.e. the time of Jesus, and the time of Restoration,
which is still to come and will usher in a new heaven and new earth, and the good shall be
gathered from among the wicked, as fruits from a garden, to be laid up safely in the barns of God.
See PL183:886AB. McGinn does not address this particular version of Bernards historical ages,
but does mention a passage in the Brevis Commentatio (PL 184:431D32A) that includes similar
phrasing and content. See McGinn, St. Bernard and Eschatology, 189, n. 61.
23. This process of adaptation and transmission is described in B. McGinn, Teste David cum
Sibylla: The Significance of the Sibylline Tradition in the Middle Ages, in Women of the Medieval
World, Essays in Honor of John H. Mundy, eds. J. Kirshner and S. F. Wemple (Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1985), 1011.
24. B. McGinn, Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil (San
Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994), 90.
25. McGinn, Antichrist, 100103. McGinns translation of Adsos letter can be found at http://
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/primary/adsoletter.html
26. McGinn, Antichrist, 8889.
27. McGinn, St. Bernard and Eschatology, 178.
28. Robson, With the Spirit and Power of Elijah, 118.
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I have experienced the goodness of his mercy . . . I perceived the excellence of his
glorious beauty, and when I contemplate all these things I am filled with awe of his
manifold greatness. But when the Word has left me, and all these things become dim
and weak and cold . . . my soul cannot help being sorrowful until he returns.29

Such prioritisation is also evident in Bernards preaching on the states of the

soul as it progresses from life to death to glorified resurrection at the Last Day.
Although each individual is subject to temptations and sin during life, one can
nonetheless seek hints of ones souls eventual union with God through contemplation. After death, the joyful soul waits impatiently without its body in
the company of the saints and martyrs for the Last Day, when it will finally be
reunited with a glorified body and be admitted into Gods presence.30
In a recent dissertation, James Kroemer argues that although Bernards
eschatological theory did not figure in subsequently approved Catholic
doctrine, it was the culmination of his spiritual thought.31 Furthermore, the
abbots principal motivation in preaching the Second Crusade and his reactions
to its ultimate failure were grounded in his eschatological beliefs. As a result,
late in Bernards life, the optimistic enthusiasm which marked his crusade
preaching was gone, replaced with a bitter, almost morbid attitude. Yet, the
abbot was not apologetic because he had promoted the Second Crusade for
those souls that he was about to join, hoping that his efforts would hurry along
the coming of the Last Day.32 Bernard had rushed in . . . compromising
everything he had stood for as a Cistercian . . . his great longing for the happy
end of the Last Day outweighed all other considerations.33
As further evidence for this preoccupation of Bernards, Kroemer indicates
a discussion of the New Testament figures of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus
presented in Sermo 57 on the Song of Songs, written in 1147.34 Explicating

29. Bernard of Clairvaux, Bernard of Clairvaux: Selected Works, trans. G. R. Evans (New York:
Paulist Press, 1987), 256.
30. See Bernards third sermon on the Feast of All Saints, SBO V, 349350, Sermon 16 of He
Who Dwells, in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on Conversion: On Conversion, A Sermon to
Clerics and Lenten Sermons on the Psalm He Who Dwells, trans. M.-B. Sad, OSB (Kalamazoo:
Cistercian Publications, 1981), 248 (SBO IV, 28283), and Sermon 38 in Bernard of Clairvaux,
Sermons on the Song of Songs, 114. While you are in the body, you have not strength to look up
on the marvellous noon-day light wherein I dwell. You must wait till the very last for that, when I
shall have made you glorious before Me.
31. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, v and 8687. This statement refers to
Bernards teachings about the literal resurrection of the body as required for union with God at the
Last Day. Per Kroemer, in 1336, Pope Benedict XII settled the matter in Benedictus Deus, which
stated that the soul will experience the divine essence before the general judgment, i.e. it does not
have to wait for resurrection of the body in order to unite with God.
32. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, 209.
33. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, 213.
34. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, 1417. Although sermo is most often
translated as sermon in English, it is more usefully translated as discourse. In Cistercian
tradition, such sermones were not opportunities for preaching, but rather for discussing theological
matters. They were delivered daily in the chapter room after Prime. See M. Casey, Reading Saint
Bernard: The Man, the Medium, the Message, in A Companion to Bernard of Clairvaux, ed. B. P.
McGuire (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2011), 8591. When Cistercian abbots preached, they were
not delivering an academic address but sharing the fruit of their own reading, meditation
and prayer.
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verse 2:10 of the psalm,35 Bernard described Lazarus in a manner that Kroemer
interprets to mean that, for Bernard, Lazarus represented eschatological hope,
one of the three endowments of the soul along with the active life, represented
by Martha, and contemplation, represented by Mary. Thus, Bernard could shift
away from his earlier reliance on the metaphor of Rachel and Leah that he had
used to explain his own participation in secular affairs, and toward a more
complete scriptural paradigm.36
When one examines the passage in Sermo 57 in its full context, however, this
interpretation appears problematic. It is true that Bernard described Lazarus as
entreating the grace of resurrection, and shortly thereafter remarked that
although we often fail in our desire to please God, we have among us . . .
Lazarus, the mourning dove, in our novices who, until recently, were dead in
sin and still go in fear of judgement till (sic) the assurance of Christs pardon
rolls away the stone and they can breathe again.37 Nonetheless, this is not
the primary message that Bernard was attempting to convey. Rather, he was
linking the three words of the psalm, my love, my dove, and my fair one,
directly to preaching, prayer and contemplations, which he viewed as manifest in the three figures of Martha, Lazarus, and Mary. The full text is worth
quoting:
The Bridegroom calls the Bride My love, My dove, My fair one; and I think these
titles answer to preaching, prayer and contemplations. For she is fitly called His love,
who labours faithfully, by exhorting and counseling and serving others . . . and fitly
also is she called His dove, who does not cease to mourn her sins and to entreat
His mercy in her prayer. Fitly, again, does He call her His fair one; for the supernal
contemplation, to which she gives herself as often as she may, makes her bright and
beautiful with heavenly desire. Any one soul may gain this threefold good; but I think
its three parts are represented by the three close friends who lived together in one
house. For Martha served, Lazarus groaned as it were beneath the stone that sealed
his tomb, entreating the grace of resurrection; and Mary did nothing but attend to
Christ.38

Bernard formulated a similar comparison in his last chapter of In Praise of

the New Knighthood. In reference to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus respectively,
the saint described them as typifying zeal for good works (studium bonae
actionis), . . . holy contemplation (otium sanctae contemplationis) and tears
35. Per Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard on the Song of Songs: Sermones in Cantica
Canticorum, trans. and ed. A Religious of the CSMV (London: A. R. Mowbray, 1952), 180, the
verse is Lo, my Beloved saith to me, Arise, make haste, My love, My dove, My fair one, and come.
For lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. Per the NRSV, it is My beloved speaks and
says to me:Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over
and gone. This translation omits the phrase my dove that Bernard had referenced.
36. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, 25, 1216. This metaphor related to
the two wives of Jacob of the Old Testament in the Book of Genesis. Leah, with whom Jacob had
many children, represented activity in the world and Rachel, whom Jacob loved but with whom he
failed to conceive children, represented contemplation and love.
37. Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard on the Song of Songs, 18485.
38. Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard on the Song of Songs, 185. Kroemer explains Bernards
divergence from a neat three-way comparison of the three individuals as an example of Bernard
having no compunction to be consistent in his exegesis of Scripture. See Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, 15. While this is often true, it does not apply in this case.
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of penance (lacrima paenitentis).39 In both of these portrayals of Lazarus,

eschatological hope is merely implied.
As for the legend of the Last World Emperor, Kroemer argues that,
by encouraging the recapture of Jerusalem and hoping for this figure to be
revealed as either King Louis VII of France (r. 11311180) or Emperor Conrad
III of Germany (r. 11381152), Bernard had been attempting to propel the
world from the third age of time (the age of hypocrisy) into the last age of time
(that of the Antichrist), thereby bringing himself closer to eventual, full union
with God.40
Both of Bernards royal candidates for the role of Last World Emperor
departed for the East in 1147. Although Louiss specific motives for participating and the exact goals of the Second Crusade are the subject of historiographical debate,41 in the end, Edessa was not recaptured and a subsequent
Western attack at Damascus, attempted as a desperate effort to gain some
territory, also failed. The primary reasons for this debacle included a lack of
coordination of the European leaders, opposing priorities of Raymond of
Antioch and the Westerners, and surprise manoeuvres by the Byzantine Emperor
Manuel Comnenus, who was fearful of an attack by Western armies. The
Crusaders returned home, disheartened and quarrelling among themselves.42
Notwithstanding that Pope Eugenius considered the idea of returning to the
Holy Land a dubious enterprise at best,43 Bernard and Abbot Suger, King
Louiss primary advisor, together requested a gathering be held at Chartres in
1150 to discuss another expedition to regain Edessa. Both men solicited the
presence of another contemporary, Peter the Venerable of Cluny, since the
matter need[ed] the counsel of all the eminent men in the kingdom,44 and
because Peter had previously been supportive of the mission. Although
the abbot of Cluny was regrettably unable to attend,45 interestingly, at this
meeting, Bernard himself was selected as the next campaigns leader, a role he
quickly refused.46 Still dissatisfied with the state of things, Bernard called for
a second meeting to be held at Compigne several months later, and again

39. Bernard of Clairvaux, In Praise of the New Knighthood, Chapter 13, 79. SBO III, De Laude
Novae Militiae, Chapter XIII, 239.
40. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, 1719. McGinn does not believe that
Bernard and the Cistercians were particularly influenced by the legend. See McGinn, Antichrist,
126.
41. See J. Phillips, Defenders of the Holy Land: Relations between the Latin East and the West,
11191187 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 7984.
42. For more on the Second Crusade, see J. Phillips, The Second Crusade: Extending the
Frontiers of Christendom (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007).
43. B. M. Bolton, The Cistercians and the Aftermath of the Second Crusade, in The Second
Crusade and the Cistercians, ed. M. Gervers (New York: St Martins Press, 1992), 136.
44. SBO VIII, Epistola 364, 31819. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 398,
470. Suger also requested Peters presence. Per Bolton, The Cistercians, 132, see Suger,
Epistolae, letter 107 in Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, ed. M. Bouquet et al.
(Paris: Corpus Bibliographique tampois, 17381904), vol. 15, 325.
45. Bolton, The Cistercians, 134.
46. SBO VIII, Epistola 256, 16365. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 399,
472. In this letter to Pope Eugenius, Bernard asked, Who am I to arrange armies in battle order,
to lead forth armed men? I could think of nothing more remote from my calling.
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requested the presence of Peter the Venerable.47 However, no religious or

military leaders were apparently willing to commit additional resources and, as
the extant sources are so laconic, it is possible a second meeting never actually
occurred. Upon the death of Abbot Suger in 1151, it seems the entire matter
was quietly dropped.
As word spread of the general collapse of the Crusade, many Christians
quickly expressed dismay and anger, much of which was aimed at Bernard as
the key spokesman for the effort.48 The abbot, however, refused to accept blame
for the debacle and pointed to the Crusades leaders. In a letter to his uncle
Andr de Montbard, a founder of the order of Knights Templar, he complained,
Woe to our princes! They accomplished no good in the land of the Lord and
in their own lands, to which they hastened back, they are doing unbelievable
evil. They use their power for evil and know not how to do good.49 In Five
Books on Consideration, a treatise of advice composed for Pope Eugenius,
he lamented:
For we have entered a difficult period, as you well know, which appears to herald an
end almost to our very existence, not to mention our endeavors. Clearly, the Lord,
provoked by our sins, seems in some way to have judged the earth before the
appointed time, justly, of course, but unmindful of his mercy . . . Strife has spread
among the princes and the Lord makes them wander in trackless wastes. Destruction
and misery are in their paths; fear and grief and confusion are in the inner chambers
of the kings.50

According to Kroemer, the disappointment reflected in this apologia caused

Bernard to question his previous assertion about being in the third age of
history, and to recognise that no prince was able to successfully meet the
expectations of the legend of the Last World Emperor. As a result, Bernard
abandoned this legend and neatly move[d] his worlds present place in history
from the age of hypocrisy . . . to the final age of the Antichrist.51 He also
adopted a bitter, almost morbid attitude in place of his previous optimism.52
Kroemer supports the first contention with a comment that Bernard made in
1152, the year after Sugers death, found in the preface to his hagiography of
the Irish Cistercian abbot, Saint Malachy:

47. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 400, 47273.

48. P. J. Cole, Religious Pollution in Crusade Documents, in Crusaders and Muslims in
Twelfth-Century Syria, ed. M. Shatzmiller (New York: E. J. Brill, 1993), 104. The pope and Bernard
were referred to as pseudo-prophets, sons of the devil and witnesses of Antichrist by an annalist
of Wrzburg. See Annales Herbipolenses MGHS 16, 3.
49. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 410, 479. SBO VIII, Epistola 288, 203.
Vae principibus nostris! In terra Domini nihil boni fecerunt: in suis, ad quas velociter redierunt,
incredibiliem exercent malitiam . . . Potentes sunt ut faciant mala, bonum autem facere nequent.
James omits the phrase et non compatiuntur super contritione Ioseph in his translation of this
letter. It may be translated as but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
50. Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books on Consideration: Advice to a Pope, trans. J. D. Anderson
and E. T. Kennan (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1976), Book 2, An Apologia on the Plight
of Jerusalem, 4748.
51. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, 208.
52. Kroemer, The Eschatology of Bernard of Clairvaux, 209.
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And I suspect that he is already at hand or at least close by (aut praesto, aut prope
est), of whom it is written: Want shall go before his face. Unless I am mistaken this
is Antichrist, whom famine and absence of all good precedes and accompanies. Then
whether he is the messenger of one already here or a presage of one still to come, the
need is all too evident. I say nothing of the mob or of the vile crowd of the sons of
this world . . . they are the ones who seek in the Lords inheritance not the things of
the Lord but their own.53

This statement by the abbot directly opposes an earlier refutation (dated

between 1124 and 1128) of Norbert of Xantens claim that the Antichrist was
to arrive in the current generation. McGinn is more cautious in his assessment
of this passage and remarks that Bernard seems to have made the transition
from the generalised eschatology common to all Medieval authors to a more
intense eschatology at least partly as a result of his involvement in and reflection upon major contemporary crises in the life of the Church.54 A third
historian, however, rightly disagrees with both Kroemer and McGinn. She
believes that Bernards warning about the Antichrist was made in the context
of rhetorical exaggeration that is common to hagiography.55 In making such
a dramatic pronouncement, the abbot had intentionally created a sharp contrast
between the men around him whom he viewed as lacking spiritual enlightenment, and Saint Malachy, who, through his successful expansion of Cistercian
monasteries to Ireland, had been a burning and a shining light, an epitome of
holiness.56
Kroemers second contention, that Bernard was overcome with pessimism
after the Second Crusade, is not supported by a more complete review of the
primary sources. While Bernards writings indicate disappointment and frustration with the state of affairs around him, they do not express hopelessness.
Indeed, several paragraphs later in the Apologia mentioned above, Bernard
called for yet another attempt to save the Holy Land. In offering this option for
the popes consideration, he averred, I prefer that the murmuring of men be
against us rather than against God.57
Nonetheless, one can discern that Bernard had possibly reconsidered some
of his prior beliefs in response to the failure of the Second Crusade. In order
to better understand this possible shift in Bernards thought, this paper will
analyse his views on angels and their involvement in the affairs of humankind
as expressed in his writings. Since most Christian thinkers had interpreted
Scripture to indicate that angels would play a direct role in announcing the
53. McGinn, St Bernard and Eschatology, 16185, citing Vita Sancti Malachiae in SBO III,
307: Et, ut sispicor ego, aut praesto, aut prope est, de quo scriptum est: Faciem eius praecedet
egestas. Ni fallor, Antichristus est iste, quem fames ac sterilitas totius boni et praeit, et comitatur.
Sive igitur nuntia iam preasentis, sive iamiamque ad futuri praenuntia, egestas in evidenti est.
The English translation offered here is my slight rewording of that found in Bernard of Clairvaux,
The Life and Death of Saint Malachy the Irishman, trans. R. T. Meyer (Kalamazoo: Cistercian
Publications, 1978), 1112. My revisions are noted in bold lettering.
54. McGinn, St Bernard and Eschatology, 18485.
55. S. Flanigan, Twelfth-Century Apocalyptic Imaginations and the Coming of the Antichrist,
Journal of Religious History 24, no. 1 (2000), 62.
56. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Life and Death of Saint Malachy the Irishman, 1213.
57. Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books on Consideration, 51.
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onset of the final age and participating in the Last Judgment of humankind,58
Bernards comments on these important heavenly beings offer a valuable
window into his broader eschatological suppositions.
Angelology has been present in Christianity from its earliest days and helped
establish a necessary link between Jewish tradition and the advent of the
parousia. Early angelic doctrine also had the advantage of blending with rising
Neoplatonism and providing a means to absorb Roman notions of pantheism
by presenting a hierarchy of lesser and greater beings.59 Throughout Scripture,
angels are generally presented as having three primary functions: to serve as
messengers of God, to accompany God as a heavenly retinue, and to act as
ministers of God in the Last Judgment. Additionally, they are said to watch over
each individual,60 protect the church as a whole,61 and even punish those who
have sinned.62
Early Christian exegetes expanded this list of duties. According to Clement
of Alexandria (d. 215), the first theologian to combine Greek philosophical
tradition with Christianity, at Christs second coming, all the good [people]
will be brought to heaven into a life of contemplation with the angels and the
angels will be relieved of their earthly duties, and can rest in contemplation.63
On earth, according to Clement, the angels watch over the nations, which had
been apportioned among them according to an ancient and divine decree.64
Later, Origen asserted that angels had transmitted divine law in the form of
the Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites,65 and spoke of custodia, the angels
ongoing spiritual protection of divine law. Hilary of Poitiers (d. 368), a former
pagan who had converted to Christianity, linked the angels presence with the
Israelites during their forty years of Exodus to their later assistance of Christ
after his forty days of temptation in the desert. Others believed that angels not
only join with humans to praise God through prayer and song, as portrayed in
the Sanctus of the liturgy, but that they act as mediators as well by conducting
prayers from humans to God. Lastly, angels were often included in burial rites
and sculpted or inscribed on tombs, since they were believed to bear souls to
God and comfort those who remained.66
58. Rev. 8:211:15 in which seven angels blow seven trumpets to announce the end of days.
59. J. Danilou, The Angels and their Mission, trans. David Heimann (Westminster and Maryland: Newman Press, 1957), ix.
60. Ps. 91.
61. Michael the Archangel is most commonly referenced in this context. See Jude 1: 9 and Rev.
12:7.
62. 2 Sam. 24:16. Per NRSV, But when the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to
destroy it, the Lord relented concerning the evil, and said to the angel who was bringing destruction
among the people, It is enough; now stay your hand.
63. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church, 45.
64. Danilou, The Angels and their Mission, 15, citing Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 6, 17.
For regiments of angels are distributed over the nations and cities. And, perchance, some are
assigned to individuals. See http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02106.htm.
65. Danilou, The Angels and their Mission, 89. In subsequent pages, Danielou describes
Origens exegesis of we will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver from Song of Songs
1:10. Per Origen, just as the Old Law was a herald of the Gospel, angels were provisional in that
they represented Judaism, a harbinger of Jesus, the true gold.
66. D. Keck, Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 204.
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During the fourth century, a time of relative peace and acceptance for
Christians, great numbers of ardent believers withdrew from society in order
to purify their commitment to Christ by voluntary martyrdom in the desert
and to re-imagine the spiritual drama of death.67 Although a number of the
more dramatic aspects of the desert ascetics eschatological writings were later
condemned, a few of their fantastic and innovative ideas about angels and the
end of days nonetheless influenced Western thought. For example, Egyptian
ascetics wrote of angels who battled with demons over souls of the departed.
After these militant angels had advocated for the just, they would carry them
at their side into the pure eternity, and so lead them to the Lord.68
Apocalyptic writing experienced a revival in the beginning of the fifth
century, most likely due to upheaval associated with an influx of foreigners
into the heart of Europe. One work of this period, the Apocalypse of Paul (Visio
Sancti Pauli) claims to have recorded the experiences of the saint as he toured
the realms of eternal reward and punishment with the assistance of an angelic
guide. While on the tour, Paul observes angels in heaven taking an active role
at each persons earthly death. Good angels attempt to protect the soul while
others challenge it. Also, when Paul visits hell, he finds merciful angels who
grant a day and a night of ease once each year to the condemned on the day
Christ rose from the dead.69
By the twelfth century, angels had acquired such a wide range of activities
in human affairs that medieval people constantly believed themselves to be in
conspectu angelorum,70 and therefore, in the presence of God. Such a view
aligned with Bernards mystical approach to Scripture, which had been influenced by both Origen and Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite, a late-fifthcentury exegete whose work was recovered and circulated widely in the twelfth
century. In the tradition of these two scholars, Bernard too could employ
allegorical and anagogical techniques to perceive angelic influence and the
ineffability of Gods presence in the most intelligible and concrete biblical
passages, while simultaneously devising a hierarchy of angels that reinforced
the reality of human relations on earth.71

67. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church, 69.

68. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church, 70 and 118. He cites the writings of Antony and
Ammonas, as well as the fifth-century Apophthegmata Patrum, a compendium of eastern monastic
writings and oral tradition. The quote is from a translation of the Apocalypse of Thomas.
69. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church, 12122. This is an adaptation of Jewish Sabbath rest
for the damned. Daley notes that the Visio left a vivid mark on the Latin West for centuries to
come. One cannot help but wonder, given its story line, if this work inspired Dantes Commedia.
70. Keck, Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages, 39. Ps. 137:1 (Vulgate 138:1.) Per the
Vulgate, the Latin text is ipsi David confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo quoniam audisti
verba oris mei in conspectu angelorum psallam tibi, which translates to English as, For David
himself. I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: for thou hast heard the words of my
mouth. I will sing praise to thee in the sight of the angels. See http://vulgate.org/ot/
psalms_137.htm. Per the NRSV, I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods
I sing your praise.
71. This refers to the four senses of Scripture: the historical, the allegorical, the moral, and
the anagogical. See H. de Lubac, Medieval Exegesis, vol. 1, The Four Senses of Scripture, trans.
M. Sebanc (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998[1959]).
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Bernard had knowledge of two nine-tiered hierarchical systems from which

he could select details for his own angelic arrangement. In the first, described
by Pseudo-Dionysius, the angels interact in rigidly fixed levels through which
instructions and guidance are passed downward from God. Therefore, only the
lowest rank, named the Angels, have opportunities for contact with humans.
The second system, devised by Gregory the Great (d. 604), reflected a diversified hierarchy in which each group of angels was assigned a different duty.
Thus, the first rank of angels, which included the seraphim, cherubim, and
thrones, served to worship God. The second rank, the dominions, principalities,
and powers, kept order in the universe. Finally, the third rank, which included
the virtues, archangels, and angels, served as protectors and messengers to
humankind.
Bernards hierarchy followed the latter schema, and can be found in Book 5
of Five Books on Consideration, written in 1145. While the names of Bernards
angelic groups matched Gregorys, their responsibilities did not. Instead, each
group was assigned roles specific to humankind. Thus, Bernard explains that
the lowest rank, the Angels, are believed appointed one to each man, and are
sent to serve those who are to obtain salvation, as Paul teaches. Modern
theology refers to these as guardian angels. Above them are the Archangels,
who, as confidants of the divine mysteries, are not sent except for matters of
extreme importance. Indeed, one of these, the great Archangel Gabriel, was
sent to Mary, on a matter which was, indeed, of the greatest importance.
Above the archangels are the Virtues, by whose will or instigation signs and
wonders appear in the elements . . . for the instruction of men.
In the middle rank are found the Powers, by whose strength the power
of darkness is checked; the Principalities, through whose moderation and
wisdom all the principalities on earth are established, ruled, limited, transferred, diminished and altered; and the Dominions, who supervise all those
below them. In the highest rank are the Thrones, who are seated because God
is seated upon them, and who offer a restful place from which God can
judg[e] all things with tranquility. Above them are the Cherubim, who drink
from the very font of wisdom, the mouth of the Most High, and pour forth a
stream of knowledge to all the citizens of heaven. The highest ranking angels
of all, the Seraphim, are totally enkindled with divine fire, and so enkindle
all so that each citizen is a lamp burning and shining: burning with love,
shining with knowledge.72
Since these descriptions of angels were written after 1148,73 that is, just after
the Second Crusade was deemed a failure, they may reflect an evolution from
the abbots earlier beliefs about these mystical beings and their ability to assist
humankind. By comparing these statements to Bernards earlier commentaries
on angels, it becomes clear that indeed a change is evident. In 1135, well before
the Muslims had captured Edessa, Bernard had begun an explication of the
72. Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books on Consideration, 5.4.8, 14749. See also SBO III, 472.
73. Bredero, Bernard of Clairvaux, 148, and McGuire, A Companion, 58. McGuire and Robson
state that it was written between 1149 and 1153.
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Song of Songs that presented his then-current ideas on angelology.74 Considered to be one of his most mystical treatises for its beautiful imagery and
creativity, this work, like many of his writings, also incorporates pragmatic
advice. For example, in Sermo 19, Bernard held up the angelic hierarchy as a
mirror for right behaviour to his monastic charges. Just like monks in a
monastery, angels have diversified functions, yet live harmoniously and obediently out of love for God.75 For Christ had said to his apostles, the sons of
God who remain sexually continent when they rise from the dead . . . are like
angels in heaven.76 Further on, in Sermo 41 on the Song of Songs, Bernard
explicated the verse we will make you golden earrings worked with silver.77
Following the commonly held theological view that angels assist in transmitting humans prayers to God,78 he explained that we represented angels and
gold symbolised signs of divinity that the angels insert in the internal ears
of the soul. This is an example of Bernards usage of the human senses to
explain mystical communion with God and his understanding of how Pure
Truth, or what one historian describes as a rare vision of divine splendor, can
become active in an individual.79
Angels also appear in Bernards Epistolae. Although these references were
most often merely passing in nature, occasionally Bernard introduced angels in
order to encourage the letters recipient to act in a more pious manner. In Letter
1, written in about 1119 to his nephew Robert, a Cistercian novice who was
finding the shift to monastic life rather difficult, Bernard asked, What have
you to fear at whose side angels stand (cui Angeli assistent a latere) and whom
Christ leads into battle encouraging his friends . . . ?80 Similarly, in another
early letter, again penned to one who strayed from the monastery, Bernard
asserted, We have angels for witnesses and allies (spectatores et protectores).
The Lord himself is at hand to sustain us, to teach our hand to make war and
the fingers of our hands to fight.81 While these remarks have been taken out of
74. McGinn, The Growth of Mysticism, 210. The most pervasive theme in this work, however, is
love love of God and of each other. See Casey, Reading Saint Bernard, 99102, McGinn, The
Growth of Mysticism, 193224, Keck, Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages, 120, and Bernard
of Clairvaux, On the Love of God and Other Selected Writings, ed. Msgr. C. J. Dollen (New York:
Alba House, 1996), 1926. Bernard describes four stages of love: Love of oneself for ones
own sake, of God for ones own benefit, of God for Gods sake, and of God for Gods sake alone.
SBO III, 13844.
75. Keck, Angels & Angelology in the Middle Ages, 119. See Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint
Bernard on the Song of Songs, 4849.
76. P. Brown, The Notion of Virginity in the Early Church, in Christian Spirituality: Origins to
the Twelfth Century, eds. B. McGinn and J. Meyendorff (New York: Crossroad, 1997), 42930. See
Mark 12:25, Matt. 22:2930, and Luke 20:3436.
77. Song 1:10.
78. Keck, Angels & Angelology in the Middle Ages, 169. Rev. 8:3: Another angel came and
stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along
with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne.
79. B. McGinn, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism, vol. 2, The
Development of Mysticism (New York: Crossroad, 1994), 209. McGinn uses the phrase Pure
Truth to designate divine wisdom. Bernard explicated the psalms earrings, which were fashioned
by angels, as representing this wisdom.
80. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 1, 9.
81. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 2, 18. See PL 182.87A: Adsunt angeli
spectators et protectores: adest ipse dominus adiutor et susceptor, qui doceat manus tuae ad
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context by some historians looking to call attention to the abbots purportedly

bellicose nature,82 Bernard more likely employed such language in order to
relate more easily to his worldly correspondents.
In his Sermons on Psalm 90,83 likely completed by 1139,84 Bernard again
addressed the heavenly nature of angels and explained the various ways in
which they assist humans in loving God. In explicating Verse 11 of the psalm,
For God has given the angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways,
Bernard noted that the means by which angels accomplish their protective
duties are both ascending and descending. While they ascend to contemplation
of God, also they descend, or rather they condescend, because of us . . . out of
compassion for you, so that they may guard (custodiant) you in all your
ways.85 Further on, Bernard stated that,
God has charged his angels not with turning you from (amoveant) your ways, but
with keeping you in them, and directing (dirigant) you as it were by their ways into
his ways . . . They who keep watch (custodire) over us deign to admit (admittere) us
with them into the ways of the Lord, or better, that they do not disdain to direct
(immittere) us into them.86

In all of these pre-Crusade writings, when Bernard described angelic duties

toward humankind, he employed forceful verbs: to guard, to watch, to direct, to
protect, to stand. These verbs are quite different from those chosen for his later
descriptions of the nine angelic groups in Five Books on Consideration. This
contrast becomes more evident toward that works conclusion, where Bernard
seems to diminish the role of angels in the lives of humankind. Rather than
guarding and directing humans, Bernard informed his readers that compared to
God, angels have no real impact on human lives at all. Although they exist on
multiple planes and do indeed aid humankind in a variety of ways, angels
can only do so through Gods love. For example, Bernard explained that
the Virtues in accordance with their ministry engage in arousing (excitare) the

proelium (praelium in PL) et digitos tuos ad bellum. Bernard is referencing Ps. 143:1: Blessed
be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.
82. G. R. Evans, Bernard of Clairvaux (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 168. Evans
reads this sentence to suggest that Bernard is encouraging a holy war, possibly the Second Crusade.
However, reading the letter thoroughly and in context demonstrates that, like Letter 1, the war to
which Bernard refers is figurative. Furthermore, this letter was written decades before the Second
Crusade.
83. Ps. 91 (Vulgate Ps. 90).
84. S. Chase, Angelic Spirituality: Medieval Perspectives on the Ways of Angels (New York:
Paulist Press, 2002), 108.
85. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on Conversion, 206. Also SBO IV, 452 and PL 183. In
Psalmium Qui Habitat, sermon 11, verse 6.
86. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on Conversion, 211. Also SBO IV, 456. In Psalmium Qui
Habitat, sermon 11, verse 6. . . . in vias Domini secum nos admittere, imo et immittere non
dedignentur, qui custodire dignantur in nostris. This is just one example of Bernards effective
manipulation of Latin, whether via rhymes, alliterations or oppositions to emphasise his messages.
See B. M. Kienzle, Verbum Dei et Verba Bernardi: The Function of Language in Bernards
Second Sermon for Peter and Paul, in Bernardus Magister: Papers Presented at the Nonacentenary
Celebration of the Birth of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, ed. J. R. Sommerfeldt (Kalamazoo:
Cistercian Publications, 1992), 14958. She concludes, Bernards intense love of the word of God
drove him to perfect the beauty of his own words . . . to fix in his audiences memory the word
of God conveyed by the words of Bernard. See also Casey, Reading Saint Bernard, 92.
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sluggish hearts of men . . . but in comparison with [Gods] virtue they do

nothing . . . Angels and Archangels are present, but [God] is closer to us who
is not only present but within us.87
Furthermore, Gods will supersedes all while angels merely assist. In a
passage from Five Books on Consideration, Bernard noted that, the Seraphim,
spirits totally enkindled with divine fire, enkindle (succundere) all so that each
citizen is a lamp burning and shining: burning with love, shining with knowledge.88 Moreover, the Angel is within a man suggesting (suggerens) the good,
not effecting (ingerens) it; he is in us urging (hortans) us toward the good, not
creating (creans) it . . . Therefore, the Angel is with the soul; God is in the soul.
The Angel is in the soul as its companion, God as its life.89 In his summary,
Bernard characterised the relationship between God and the angels in the
following way:
But God loves as charity, he knows as truth, he sits in judgment as justice, he rules
as majesty, he governs as a principle, he protects as salvation, he operates as strength,
he reveals as light, he assists as piety. And all of this the Angels also do, and so do we,
but in a far inferior manner; not indeed because of the good which we are but by the
good in which we share.90

In this writing, Bernard chose significantly milder words to describe angelic

activities than he did earlier, and he was quite deliberate in minimising angels
control over human lives. At the same time, Bernard seemed to be revising, or
perhaps renewing, his perceptions of God and Gods interactions with humanity. In these post-Crusade writings, God appears to be increasingly accessible
to humans through right intentions, prayer and deep contemplation. For
example, in the above-mentioned letter to his Uncle Andrew, after lamenting
the failure of the princes, Bernard went on to proclaim, The hand of the Lord
will triumph and his arm shall give his people courage, so that all men shall
know that they would do better to hope in the Lord than to put their trust in
princes.91
In Sermo 57 on the Song of Songs, likely written during or after the time of
the Second Crusade, Bernard again stressed the power of God alone in creating
love in humankind:
The Fire which God is consumes indeed, but without causing pain; sweet is the
burning, blissful devastation that its flames effect . . . it acts like fire on our faults,

87. Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books on Consideration, 153. SBO III, De Consideratione 5.4.11,
476 and PL 182. Virtutes pro suo ministerio satagunt excitare corda torpentia hominum . . . sed
in comparatione eius non faciunt . . . Adsunt Angeli et Archangeli, sed, ille germanior nobis,
qui non modo adest, sed inest.
88. Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books on Consideration, 149. SBO III, De Consideratione 5.4.8,
473.
89. Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books on Consideration, 154. SBO III, De Consideratione 5.4.12,
476.
90. Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books on Consideration, 154. SBO III, De Consideratione 5.4.12,
476477.
91. SBO VIII, Epistola 288, 203. Porro dextera Domini faciet virtutem et brachium suum
auxiliabitur ei, ut cognoscant omnes quia bonum est sperare in Domino quam sperare in principibus. Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, trans. James, Letter 410, 470.
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only in order that it may act as unction to the soul. Recognise, then, in the power that
changes your heart and the love that inflames you in the Presence of the Lord.92

Later, in Sermo 84, Bernard attempted to describe the ineffable delight of

seeking and knowing God: When the soul achieves the bliss (gaudii) of
finding [God], her longing is not quenched but kindled, as fire flames the more
when oil is poured upon it. That is how it is. Joy (laetitia) will be filled to the
brim; but the desire and the ensuing quest will not come to an end. Bernards
eschatological hope is evident throughout this passage and especially in a
subsequent reminder to his readers that God has always been searching for
them, whether they are devout or have gone astray.93
Optimism is also found in his later writings to Pope Eugenius. In Five Books
on Consideration, Bernard wrote of his trust in the heavenly salvation that love
of God offers. As he described his own souls longing to be free of the weight
of his body, Bernard informed his pupil that Gods
heart of mercy lies open, [Gods] thoughts of peace lie revealed, the riches of [Gods]
salvation, the mysteries of [Gods] good will, the secrets of [Gods] kindness, which
are hidden from mortals and beyond the comprehension of even the elect. This,
indeed, is for the good of their salvation, so they do not cease fearing before they are
found suited for loving worthily.

Interestingly, Bernard chose the ranks of angels to explain the multifaceted

love and limitless powers of God. He wrote:
In the Seraphim we can perceive how [God] loves who has nothing to elicit [Gods]
love but who does not hate anything which [God] has made . . . We can see in the
Cherubim, who are called the fullness of knowledge, that the Lord is a God of
knowledge . . . who is totally light and in whom there is no darkness . . . We can see
how [God] sits on the Thrones as a judge who causes no fear among the innocent . . .
In the Dominions we can see how great is the majesty of the Lord at whose nod an
empire is established with boundaries that are universal and eternal. In the Principalities we can see the principle from which all things derive . . . In the Powers it is
seen how mightily this same Prince protects those whom [God] rules . . . In the
Virtues we can see that there is everywhere equally present one noble force through
which all things have their being, which is vivifying, efficacious, invisible and
immobile yet beneficially moving all things and firmly sustaining them . . . Finally we
can see and admire in the Angels and Archangels the truth and the proof of that
saying, For [God] cares about us. [God] does not cease to delight us with visits from
such great beings, to instruct us by their revelations, to admonish us by their suggestions and to comfort us by their zeal.94

After reviewing this evidence, one can perceive that Bernards eschatological
approach did indeed change after the disappointment of the Second Crusade.
At this late stage in his life, knowing that death was imminent, the abbot
reassessed his reliance on the princes of his day and renounced the idea of a

92. Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard on the Song of Songs, 183.

93. Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard on the Song of Songs, 26061. PL 183.1185A.
94. Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books on Consideration, 15015. SBO III, De Consideratione
5.4.10.
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Last World Emperor. At the same time, he reaffirmed his belief in the omnipotence of God. This is not to infer that Bernard had not always considered God
to be above all, but rather that intercession by others, be they human or angelic,
no longer weighed heavily in his theology. This process also compelled
Bernard to modify his previous angelology. As intercessory beings in a unique
realm between humanity and God, their level of control over humanity was
reduced in his later writings. Indeed, as seen in the above citation, angels
depended on God for their assignments and duties, rather than being capable
of autonomous choice.
This modification of Bernards theology may also have encompassed a
reaffirmation of his commitment to the contemplative life. As he well knew
from his own experiences, interaction between God and a truly humble believer
was not mediated through human warfare or divine messengers. However, it
took the disaster of the Second Crusade to return him to his core convictions
and remind him to ignore the arrogant speculations of those who thought they
knew what Christ said that they would never know: the day or the hour.95

95. Matt. 24:36. In speaking of the Last Day, Jesus told the apostles, But about that day and hour
no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
2013 The Author
Journal of Religious History 2013 Religious History Association