(Bishops and Their Office According to Bernard of Clairvaux)

Abstract: This article aims to reconstruct the picture of the bishop and his office captured in the correspondence of Bernard of Clairvaux, providing two crucial insights. The first is the Clairvaux abbot’s personal view of bishops and their position in medieval society. He himself rejected this rank and ministry on several occasions, but this did not prevent him from publicly articulating the basic principles and, above all, the moral demands on any candidate for this responsible office. As on other issues, Bernard’s outlook was on the side of strict discipline and firm orthodoxy, while still keeping in mind the vulnerability and imperfection of individual bishops. This opens up a second level of significance in examining Bernard’s correspondence. For in his letters he did not merely portray an ideal state or an idealised theory of the episcopal vocation. On the contrary, most of his letters were addressed to specific bishops and responded to concrete events, problems, and pitfalls in the exercise of their office. In this way we learn a great deal about contemporary society, about the workings of the Church and, more specifically, about the everyday problems of bishops. By analysing the information from the letters under study, we can thus come closer to reconstructing a realistic picture of the position, functioning and importance of bishops in the society of the first half of the twelfth century.

Authors: Zupka, Dušan

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2023.16.2.14-23

Publication order reference: doc. Mgr. Dušan Zupka, PhD.; Comenius University Bratislava
Faculty of Arts, General History Department, Gondova 2, 811 02 Bratislava, Slovakia; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2699-3736, WOS Researcher ID: W-9166-2019, SCOPUS Author ID: 57202319187

Source: Konštatínove listy, 2023, vol.: 16, issue: 2, pages: 14-23 (PDF file)

Keywords: BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, BISHOPS, CISTERCIANS, MEDIEVAL CHURCH, CORRESPONDENCE

Language: SLOVAK

Recommended Citation:
Zupka, Dušan. 2023. Biskupi a ich úrad podľa Bernarda z Clairvaux [Bishops and Their Office According to Bernard of Clairvaux]. In Konštantínove listy [Constantine’s Letters] 16/2, 14-23.