Bernard of Clairvaux, the Last of the Fathers and the End of the Middle Ages
Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde ParkCosponsored by The Medieval Studies Workshop and The Theology Workshop The 12th century monastic reformer Bernard of Clairvaux recruited hundreds of young men to the cloister or claustrum (enclosure) of Cistercian monastic life. The rhythm of life in the monastic enclosure not only rules the structured existence of the monks but also alters their experience of time from linear to circular while maintaining the goal of the world to come. Bernard’s eloquent insistence on this way of life represents the end of an era and, to an extent, the end of the Middle Ages.
