From Knights to Monks - How Secular Skills Helped Build the Cistercian Orde

What happens when an entire noble household abandons power, warfare, and inheritance for a life of discipline and prayer? In the early twelfth century, one Burgundian family did exactly that, reshaping the trajectory of medieval monasticism. But how did their individual roles actually shape the success of the Cistercian movement?

Bernard de Clairvaux' youth - from squire to monk

Bernard de Clairvaux (1090/1091 - 1153), Cistercian abbot and theologian, is renowned for his sermons and letters that eloquently blend Christian mysticism with the ideals of knighthood. However, the first 21 years of his life (the years of legal minority) he lived as Bernard de la Fontaine the life of a member of the Burgundian nobility, being a squire himself in direct contact with knights. What is known of these early years?