Oct 15 2008
The Memory of Bernard of Clairvaux, Part III
The three exempla from Liber de Miraculis in the following discussion present a full range of types, from one that approximates Tubach’s “proto-exemplum,” through an intermediate form, to a more “socially-oriented” one. (This range is in no sense a chronological progression. These three exempla are contemporary with one another and represent the coexistence of the forms in question during the later twelfth century.) All three demonstrate the sort of rhetorical craft involved with transmitting Bernardine Cistercian culture at its peak. And all three involve the figure of Bernard of Clairvaux, who had been instrumental in forming Cistercian ideals, and whose memory continued to play an important role in expressing them.
The Exemplum of “Constant Bound Over for Hanging”
(Constantium Suspendio Addictum)
One of these exempla tells a story in which Bernard rescues a condemned criminal from the gallows, and successfully converts him to the Cistercian way of life. Much of the excitement of the story rests on the confrontation between the Abbot Bernard and the Count Theobald. Bernard assures Theobald that a monastic existence at Clairvaux would be an onerous punishment for this criminal, compared to the mercy of a quick execution. The new monk, having taken the name Constant, lives obediently in the monastery for more than thirty years thereafter.
The title or heading of this exemplum, like the others in Liber de Miraculis, is actually a quite full summary of the entire story: “Constant bound over for hanging, when he is led to the pillory, Saint Bernard snatches him from the torturer, fleeces Theobald in Clairvaux for his comital approval, and dresses Constant in monastic attire.” This longish heading is intended as an aid to memory. It provides the rough outline of the entire exemplum, before the remainder of the text adds the finer detail. It is an epitome, further extending the mnemonic advantages of brevitas to the reader of Herbert’s collection who will study the exempla in order to offer them in sermons.
