The past and monastic debate in the time of Bernard of Clairvaux

Abstract

The period from the earlier decades of the eleventh century to the middle of the twelfth is characterized by a number of great debates on subjects which arose out of some of the most significant aspects of the institutions of the time. There wasthestruggle, that between kingdoms and priesthood, or empire and papacy as it has sometimes misleadingly been called, reflected in the huge folio volumes simply entitledLibelli de Lite. At a rather rarer, theological level, there was a great argument about the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, which had implications both for the status of the clergy (in particular their links with their lay patrons), and for relations between those churches which looked to Rome for their guidance and those which, if they focused anywhere, looked to Constantinople. Somewhat between these two levels, people argued about the right relationship between secular and regular clergy, while within the monastic family there was dispute about the best way in which men, and to a much lesser degree women, could make their route heavenwards. A great deal no doubt was said about all these issues at the time which has now evaporated, but much was written down, the residue which survives making up a series of the most sustained discussions in the West on any kind of subject since the great theological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries.