Intellectually inferior to Abelard and to some others of those over
whom he triumphed, he was their superior in moral strength, in
zeal, and above all in the power of making others share his own
enthusiasms. Born in 1090, he was renowned as one of the foremost
of French churchmen before he was thirty years old; his share in
the contest which followed the death of Pope Honorius II in 1130
made him one of the most commanding figures in all Europe. It was
to him that the Cistercian order owed its extraordinary expansion
in the twelfth century. That Abelard should have fallen before so
redoubtable an adversary (see the note on Pierre Abelard) is in no
way surprising, but there can be no doubt that St. Bernard's
"persecution" of Abelard was inspired solely by high ideals and an
intense zeal for the truth as Bernard perceived it.
ABBEY OF ST. GILDAS
Traditionally, at least, this abbey was the oldest one in Brittany.
According to the anonymous author of the Life and Deeds of St.
Gildas, it was founded during the reign of Childeric, the second of
the Merovingian kings, in the fifth century. Be that as it may, its
authentic history had been extensive before Abelard assumed the
direction of its affairs.
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