In the middle ages 31

system of Cluny. The congregation of Citeaux

continued the work of reformation, moral and

rehgious, with which Cluny had occupied itself ; but

it attached more importance to that part of the rule

which called for manual labour, — and, indeed, by

undertaking works of public utility, such as drain-

ing swamps and clearing vast expanses of territory,

the Cistercians changed the agricultural map of

Europe. At the same time, they did much to

abolish serfdom.

The religious and social spirit of Citeaux is most

apparent in the authoritative and energetic figure

of St. Bernard, who dominated the whole twelfth

century. Abbot of Clairvaux — a monastery

founded by him and a dependent of Citeaux — this

extraordinary monk was not only saint, and ascetic,

but he was surprisingly man of action as well. He

was a leader, an eloquent orator whose sermons

moved multitudes, and he dared to reprove the

great and the humble alike. Thus, he criticizes the

monks of Cluny as men "whose cowl is cut from the

same piece of cloth as the dress of the knight," and

whose churches are decorated with' useless luxury.

He criticizes the abuses of the Roman court, and he

has no eye for the succes'sor of Peter adorned with

silk and borne upon a white palfrey and escorted

by clamorous ministers. He criticizes the abuses

in the lives of the clerics, and he cries out to their

teachers: "Woe betide you who hold the keys not

only of knowledge but also of power." He dares

32 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

to correct the most renowned professors, like Abae-

lard and Gilbert de la Porree, and summons them

to ecclesiastical councils. He urges men and wo-

men alike to crowd into the monasteries; he pro-

motes the Second Crusade; he encourages the ris-

ing order of the Templars, that military order

whose members were at once monks and warriors,

and who added to the vows of religion those of de-

fending the Holy Land and the pilgrims ; he takes

interest in the founding of the order of the Car-

thusians, in 1132, and of the Premonstratensians, in

1120; he dreams of moulding all society after the

plan of an ascetic ideal. His own ideal was even

more lofty than that of his age ; and when he died,

in 1153, mediaeval society had already achieved the

height of its monastic ideal."

But our picture of the mentality of the period

would be incomplete if we rested simply with the

activities of the Benedictine orders; in addition we

must point out briefly the activities of bishops and

Pope.

The bishops were involved more intimately in

tlie working of the feudal machinery than were the

monasteries; for they were temporal princes within

the limits of their fiefs and prelates in their dioceses.

They owed to their overlords support in time of

war, and such bisliops as Hugh of Noyers, at Aux-

erre, or Mathew of Lorraine, at Toul, were war-

riors of a rough and primitive type. Others, like

11 See Vacandard, Vie de S. Bernard, 2 vol. Paris, 1902.