Chapter 10

See Godet,Bermuda, its History, Geology, Climate, &c. (London, 1860); Lefroy,Discovery and Settlement of the Bermudas(London, 1877-1879); A. Heilprin,Bermuda Islands(Philadelphia, 1889); Stark,Bermuda Guide(London, 1898); Cole,Bermuda ... Bibliography(Boston, 1907); and for geology see also A. Agassíz, “Visit to the Bermudas in March 1894,”Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, vol. xxvi. No. 2, 1895; A.E. Verrill, “Notes on the Geology of the Bermudas,”Amer. Journ. Sci.ser. 4, vol. ix. (1900), pp. 313-340; “The Bermuda Islands; Their Scenery, &c.,”Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts and Sci.vol. xi. pt. 2 (1901-1902).

BERMUDEZ,a N.E. state of Venezuela, between the Caribbean Sea and the Orinoco river, bounded E. by the gulf of Paria and the Delta-Amacuro territory, and W. by the states of Guarico and Miranda. Pop. (est. 1905) 364,158. It was created in 1881 by the union of the states of Barcelona, Cumaná and Maturín, dissolved in 1901 into its three original states, and reorganized in 1904 with a slight modification of territory. The state includes the oldest settlements in Venezuela, and was once very prosperous, producing cattle and exporting hides, but wars and political disorders have partly destroyed its industries and impeded their development. Its principal productions are coffee, sugar, and cacáo, and—less important—cotton, tobacco, cocoanuts, timber, indigo and dyewoods. Its more important towns are the capital, Barcelona, Maturín (pop. 14,473), capital of a district of the same name, and Cumaná (10,000), on the gulf of Cariaco, founded in 1520 and one of the oldest towns of the continent.

BERN(Fr.Berne), after the Grisons, the largest of the Swiss cantons, but by far the most populous, though politically Bern ranks after that of Zürich. It extends right across Switzerland from beyond the Jura to the snow-clad ranges that separate Bern from the Valais. Its total area is 2641.9 sq. m., of which 2081 sq. m. are classed as “productive” (including 591 sq. m. of forests, and 2.1 m. of vineyards), while of the remainder 111.3 sq. m. are occupied by glaciers (the Valais and the Grisons alone surpass it in this respect). It is mainly watered by the river Aar (q.v.), with its affluents, the Kander (left), the Saane or Sarine (left) and the Emme (right); the Aar forms the two lakes of Brienz and Thun (q.v.). The great extent of this canton accounts for the different character of the regions therein comprised. Three are usually distinguished:—(1) TheOberlandor Highlands, which is that best known to travellers, for it includes the snowy Alps of the Bernese Oberland (culminating in the Finsteraarhorn, 14,026 ft., and the Jungfrau, 13,669 ft.), as well as the famous summer resorts of Grindelwald, Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken, Meiringen, Kandersteg, Adelboden, Thun and the fine pastoral valley of the Simme. (2) TheMittellandor Midlands, comprising the valley of the Aar below Thun, and that of the Emme, thus taking in the outliers of the high Alps and the open country on every side of the town of Bern. (3) TheSeeland(Lakeland) and the Jura, extending from Bienne and its lake across the Jura to Porrentruy in the plains and to the upper course of the Birs. The Oberland and Mittelland form the “old” canton, the Jura having only been acquired in 1815, and differing from the rest of the canton by reason of its French-speaking and Romanist inhabitants.

In 1900 the total population of the canton was 589,433, of whom 483,388 were German-speaking, 97,789 French-speaking, and 7167 Italian-speaking; while there were 506,699 Protestants, 80,489 Romanists (including the Old Catholics), and 1543 Jews. The capital is Bern (q.v.), while the other important towns are Bienne (q.v.), Burgdorf (q.v.), Delémont or Delsberg (5053 inhabitants), Porrentruy or Pruntrut (6959 inhabitants), Thun (q.v.), and Langenthal (4799 inhabitants). There is a university (founded in 1834) in the town of Bern, as well as institutions for higher education in the principal towns. The canton is divided into 30 administrative districts, and contains 507 communes (the highest number in Switzerland). From 1803 to 1814 the canton was one of the six “Directorial” cantons of the Confederation. The existing cantonal constitution dates from 1893, but in 1906 the direct popular election of the executive of 9 members (hitherto named by the legislature) was introduced. The legislature orGrossrathis elected for four years (like the executive), in the proportion of 1 member to every 2500 (or fraction over 1250) of the resident population. Theobligatory Referendumobtains in the case of all laws, and of decrees relating to an expenditure of over half a million francs, while 12,000 citizens have the right ofinitiativein the case of legislative projects, and 15,000 may demand the revision of the cantonal constitution. The 2 members sent by the canton to the federalStänderathare elected by theGrossrath, while the 29 members sent to the federalNationalrathare chosen by a popular vote. In the Alpine portions of the canton the breeding of cattle (those of the Simme valley are particularly famous) is the chief industry; next come the elaborate arrangements for summer travellers (theFremdenindustrie). It is reckoned that there are 2430 “Alps” or mountain pastures in the canton, of which 1474 are in the Oberland, 627 in the Jura, and 280 in the Emme valley; they can maintain 95,478 cows and are of the estimated value of 46½ million francs. The cheese of the Emme valley is locally much esteemed. Other industries in the Alpine region are wood-carving (at Brienz) and wine manufacture (on the shoresof the lakes of Bienne and of Thun). The Mittelland is the agricultural portion of the canton. Watchmaking is the principal industry of the Jura, Bienne and St Imier being the chief centres of this industry. Iron mines are also worked in the Jura, while the Heimberg potteries, near Thun, produce a locally famous ware, and there are both quarries of building stone and tile factories. The canton is well supplied with railway lines, the broad gauge lines being 228 m. in length, and the narrow gauge lines 157½ m.—in all 385½ m. Among these are many funicular cog-wheel lines, climbing up to considerable heights, so up to Mürren (5368 ft.), over the Wengern Alp (6772 ft.), up to the Schynige Platte (6463 ft.), and many others still in the state of projects. All these are in the Oberland where, too, is the so-called Jungfrau railway, which in 1906 attained a point (the Eismeer station) in the south wall of the Eiger (13,042 ft.) that was 10,371 ft. in height, the loftiest railway station in Switzerland.

The canton of Bern is composed of the various districts which the town of Bern acquired by conquest or by purchase in the course of time. The more important, with dates of acquisition, are the following:—Laupen (1324), Hasli and Meiringen (1334), Thun and Burgdorf (1384), Unterseen and the Upper Simme valley (1386), Frutigen, &c. (1400), Lower Simme valley (1439-1449), Interlaken, with Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen and Brienz (1528, on the suppression of the Austin Canons of Interlaken), Saanen or Gessenay (1555), Köniz (1729), and the Bernese Jura with Bienne (1815, from the bishopric of Basel). But certain regions previously won were lost in 1798—Aargau (1415), Aigle and Grandson (1475), Vaud (1536), and the Pays d’En-Haut or Château d’Oex (1555). From 1798 to 1802 the Oberland formed a separate canton (capital, Thun) of the Helvetic Republic.

(W. A. B. C.)

BERN(Fr.Berne), the capital of the Swiss canton of the same name, and, by a Federal law of 1848, the political capital of the Swiss confederation. It is most picturesquely situated on a high bluff or peninsula, round the base of which flows the river Aar, thus completely cutting off the old town, save to the west. Five lofty bridges have been thrown over the Aar, the two most modern being the Kirchfeld and Kornhaus bridges which have greatly contributed to create new residential quarters near the old town. Within the town the arcades (orLauben) on either side of the main street, and the numerous elaborately ornamented fountains attract the eye, as well as the two remaining towers that formerly stood on the old walls but are now in the centre of the town; theZeilglockenthurm(famous for its singular 16th-century clock, with its mechanical contrivances, set in motion when the hour strikes) and theKäficthurm. The principal medieval building in Bern is the (now Protestant) Münster, begun in 1421 though not completed till 1573. The tower, rising conspicuously above the town, has recently been well restored, but the church was never a cathedral church (as is often stated), for there has never yet been a bishop of Bern. The federal Houses of Parliament (Bundeshaus) were much enlarged in 1888-1892, the older portions dating from 1852-1857, and also contain the offices of the federal executive and administration. The town-hall dates from 1406, while some of the houses belonging to the old gilds contain much of interest. The town library (with which that of the university was incorporated in 1905) contains a vast store of MSS. and rare printed books, but should be carefully distinguished from the national Swiss library, which, with the building for the federal archives, is built in the new Kirchfeld quarter. There are a number of museums; the historical (archaeological and medieval), the natural history (in which the skin of Barry, the famous St Bernard dog, is preserved), the art (mainly modern Swiss pictures), and the Alpine (in which are collections of all kinds relating to the Swiss Alps). Bern possesses a university (founded in 1834) and two admirably organized hospitals. The old fortifications (Schanzen) have been converted into promenades, which command wonderful views of the snowy Alps of the Bernese Oberland. Just across the Nydeck bridge is the famous bear pit in which live bears are kept, as they are supposed to have given the name to the town; certainly a bear is shown on the earliest known town seal (1224), while live bears have been maintained at the charges of the town since 1513. There is comparatively little industrial activity in the town, the importance of which is mainly political, though of late years it has been selected as the seat of various international associations (postal, telegraph, railway, copyright, &c.). The climate is severe, as the town is much exposed to cold winds blowing from the snowy Alps. In point of population it is exceeded in Switzerland by Zürich, Basel and Geneva, though the number of inhabitants has risen from 27,558 in 1850 and 43,197 in 1880 to 64,227 in 1900. In 1900, 59,698 inhabitants were German-speaking; while 57,144 were Protestants, 6087 Romanists (including Old Catholics) and 655 Jews. The height of the town above the sea-level is 1788 ft.

The ancient castle of Nydeck, at the eastern end of the peninsula, guarded the passage over the Aar, and it was probably its existence that induced Berchtold V., duke of Zäringen, to found Bern in 1191 as a military post on the frontier between the Alamannians (German-speaking) and the Burgundians (French-speaking). Thrice the walls which protected the town were moved westwards, about 1250, in 1346 and in 1622, though even at the last-named date the town only stretched a little way to the west of (or beyond) the present railway station. After the extinction of the Zäringen dynasty (1218) Bern became a free imperial city, but it had to fight hard for its independence, which was finally secured by the victories of Dornbühl (1298) over Fribourg and the Habsburgs, and of Laupen (1339) over the neighbouring Burgundian nobles. In the second battle Bern received help from the three forest cantons with which it had become allied in 1323, while in 1353 it entered the Swiss confederation as its eighth member. It soon took the lead in the confederation, though always aiming at enlarging its own borders, even at great risks (see the article on the canton). In 1528 Bern accepted the religious reformation, and henceforth became one of its chief champions in Switzerland. In the 17th century the number of families by which high offices of state could be held was diminished, so that in 1605 there were 152 thus qualified, but in 1691 only 104, while towards the end of the 18th century there were only 69 such families. Meanwhile the rule of the town was extending over more and more territory, so that finally it governed 52 bailiwicks (acquired between 1324 and 1729), the Bernese patricians being thus extremely powerful and forming an oligarchy that administered affairs like a benevolent and well-ordered despotism. In 1723 Major Davel, at Lausanne, and in 1749 Henzi, in Bern itself, tried to break down this monopoly, but in each case paid the penalty of failure on the scaffold. The whole system was swept away by the French in 1798, and though partially revived in 1815, came to an end in 1831, since which time Bern has been in the van of political progress. From 1815 to 1848 it shared with Zürich and Lucerne the supreme rule (which shifted from one to the other every two years) in the Swiss confederation, while in 1848 a federal law made Bern the sole political capital, where the federal government is permanently fixed and where the ministers of foreign powers reside.

Authorities.—Die Alp- und Weidewirthschaft im Kant. Bern(Bern, 1903);Archiv d. hist. Vereins d. Kant. Bern, from 1848, andBlätter für bernische Geschichte, from 1905;Bernische Biographien(Bern, 1898-1906); E. Friedli,Bärndutsch als Spiegel bernischen Volkstums. vol. i. (Lützelflüh, Bern, 1905), and vol. ii. (Grindelwald, Bern, 1908);Festschrift zur 7ten Säkularfeier d. Gründung Berns, 1191 (Bern, 1891);Fontes Rerum Bernensium(to 1378), (9 vols., Bern, 1883-1908); K. Geiser,Geschichte d. bernischen Verfassung, 1191-1471 (Bern, 1888); B. Haller,Bern in seinen Rathsmanualen, 1465-1565 (3 vols., Bern, 1900-1902); E.F. and W.F. von Mülinen,Beiträge zur Heimathskunde d. Kantons Bern, deulschen Theils(3 vols., Bern, 1879-1894); W.F. von Mülinen,Berns Geschichte, 1191-1891 (Bern, 1891); E. von Rodt,Bernische Stadtgeschichte(Bern, 1888), and 6 finely illustrated vols. on Bern in the 13th to 19th centuries (Bern, 1898-1907); L.S. von Tscharner,Rechtsgeschichte des Obersimmenthales bis zum Jahre 1798(Bern, 1908); E. von Wattenwyl,Geschichte d. Stadt u. Landschaft Bern(to 1400), (2 vols.); Schaffhausen and Bern (1867-1872); F.E. Welti,Die Rechtsquellen d. Kant. Bern, vol. i. (Aarau, 1902); Gertrud Züricher,Kinderspiel u. Kinderlied im Kant. Bern(Zürich, 1902).

(W. A. B. C.)

BERNARD, SAINT(1090-1153), abbot of Clairvaux one of the most illustrious preachers and monks of the middle ages, was born at Fontaines, near Dijon, in France. His father, a knight named Tecelin, perished on crusade; and his mother Aleth, a daughter of the noble house of Mon-Bar, and a woman distinguished for her piety, died while Bernard was yet a boy. The lad was constitutionally unfitted for the career of arms, and his own disposition, as well as his mother’s early influence, directed him to the church. His desire to enter a monastery was opposed by his relations, who sent him to study at Châlons in order to qualify for high ecclesiastical preferment. Bernard’s resolution to become a monk was not, however, shaken, and when he at last definitely decided to join the community which Robert of Molesmes had founded at Citeaux in 1198, he carried with him his brothers and many of his relations and friends. The little community of reformed Benedictines, which was to produce so profound an influence on Western monachism (seeCisterciansandMonasticism) and had seemed on the point of extinction for lack of novices, gained a sudden new life through this accession of some thirty young men of the best families of the neighbourhood. Others followed their example; and the community grew so rapidly that it was soon able to send off offshoots. One of these daughter monasteries, Clairvaux, was founded in 1115, in a wild valley branching from that of the Aube, on land given by Count Hugh of Troyes, and of this Bernard was appointed abbot.

By the new constitution of the Cistercians Clairvaux became the chief monastery of the five branches into which the order was divided under the supreme direction of the abbot of Citeaux. Though nominally subject to Citeaux, however, Clairvaux soon became the most important Cistercian house, owing to the fame and influence of Bernard.1His saintly character, his self-mortification—of so severe a character that his friend, William of Champeaux, bishop of Châlons, thought it right to remonstrate with him—and above all, his marvellous power as a preacher, soon made him famous, and drew crowds of pilgrims to Clairvaux. His miracles were noised abroad, and sick folk were brought from near and far to be healed by his touch. Before long the abbot, who had intended to devote his life to the work of his monastery, was drawn into the affairs of the great world. When in 1124 Pope Honorius II. mounted the chair of St Peter, Bernard was already reckoned among the greatest of French churchmen; he now shared in the most important ecclesiastical discussions, and papal legates sought his counsel. Thus in 1128 he was invited by Cardinal Matthew of Albano to the synod of Troyes, where he was instrumental in obtaining the recognition of the new order of Knights Templars, the rules of which he is said to have drawn up; and in the following year, at the synod of Châlons-sur-Marne, he ended the crisis arising out of certain charges brought against Henry, bishop of Verdun, by persuading the bishop to resign. The European importance of Bernard, however, began with the death of Pope Honorius II. (1130) and the disputed election that followed. In the synod convoked by Louis the Fat at Etampes in April 1130 Bernard successfully asserted the claims of Innocent II. against those of Anacletus II., and from this moment became the most influential supporter of his cause. He threw himself into the contest with characteristic ardour. While Rome itself was held by Anacletus, France, England, Spain and Germany declared for Innocent, who, though banished from Rome, was—in Bernard’s phrase—“accepted by the world.” The pope travelled from place to place, with the powerful abbot of Clairvaux at his side; he stayed at Clairvaux itself, humble still, so far as its buildings were concerned; and he went with Bernard to parley with the emperor Lothair III. at Liége.

In 1133, the year of the emperor’s first expedition to Rome, Bernard was in Italy persuading the Genoese to make peace with the men of Pisa, since the pope had need of both. He accompanied Innocent to Rome, successfully resisting the proposal to reopen negotiations with Anacletus, who held the castle of Sant’ Angelo and, with the support of Roger of Sicily, was too strong to be subdued by force. Lothair, though crowned by Innocent in St Peter’s, could do nothing to establish him in the Holy See so long as his own power was sapped by his quarrel with the house of Hohenstaufen. Again Bernard came to the rescue; in the spring of 1135 he was at Bamberg successfully persuading Frederick of Hohenstaufen to submit to the emperor. In June he was back in Italy, taking a leading part in the council of Pisa, by which Anacletus was excommunicated. In northern Italy the effect of his personality and of his preaching was immense; Milan itself, of all the Lombard cities most jealous of the imperial claims, surrendered to his eloquence, submitted to Lothair and to Innocent, and tried to force Bernard against his will into the vacant see of St Ambrose. In 1137, the year of Lothair’s last journey to Rome, Bernard was back in Italy again; at Monte Cassino, setting the affairs of the monastery in order, at Salerno, trying in vain to induce Roger of Sicily to declare against Anacletus, in Rome itself, agitating with success against the antipope. Anacletus died on the 25th of January 1138; on the 13th of March the cardinal Gregory was elected his successor, assuming the name of Victor. Bernard’s crowning triumph in the long contest was the abdication of the new antipope, the result of his personal influence. The schism of the church was healed, and the abbot of Clairvaux was free to return to the peace of his monastery.

Clairvaux itself had meanwhile (1135-1136) been transformed outwardly—in spite of the reluctance of Bernard, who preferred the rough simplicity of the original buildings—into a more suitable seat for an influence that overshadowed that of Rome itself. How great this influence was is shown by the outcome of Bernard’s contest with Abelard (q.v.). In intellectual and dialectical power the abbot was no match for the great schoolman; yet at Sens in 1141 Abelard feared to face him, and when he appealed to Rome Bernard’s word was enough to secure his condemnation.

One result of Bernard’s fame was the marvellous growth of the Cistercian order. Between 1130 and 1145 no less than ninety-three monasteries in connexion with Clairvaux were either founded or affiliated from other rules, three being established in England and one in Ireland. In 1145 a Cistercian monk, once a member of the community of Clairvaux—another Bernard, abbot of Aquae Silviae near Rome, was elected pope as Eugenius III. This was a triumph for the order; to the world it was a triumph for Bernard, who complained that all who had suits to press at Rome applied to him, as though he himself had mounted the chair of St Peter (Ep. 239).

Having healed the schism within the church, Bernard was next called upon to attack the enemy without. Languedoc especially had become a hotbed of heresy, and at this time the preaching of Henry of Lausanne (q.v.) was drawing thousands from the orthodox faith. In June 1145, at the invitation of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, Bernard travelled in the south, and by his preaching did something to stem the flood of heresy for a while. Far more important, however, was his activity in the following year, when, in obedience to the pope’s command, he preached a crusade. The effect of his eloquence was extraordinary. At the great meeting at Vezelay, on the 21st of March, as the result of his sermon, King Louis VII. of France and his queen, Eleanor of Guienne, took the cross, together with a host of all classes, so numerous that the stock of crosses was soon exhausted; Bernard next travelled through northern France, Flanders and the Rhine provinces, everywhere rousing the wildest enthusiasm; and at Spires on Christmas day he succeeded in persuading Conrad, king of the Romans, to join the crusade.

The lamentable outcome of the movement (seeCrusades) was a hard blow to Bernard, who found it difficult to understand this manifestation of the hidden counsels of God, but ascribed it to the sins of the crusaders (Ep. 288;de Consid. ii. 1). The news of the disasters to the crusading host first reached Bernard at Clairvaux, where Pope Eugenius, driven from Rome by the revolution associated with the name of Arnold of Brescia, was his guest. Bernard had in March and April 1148 accompanied the pope to the council of Reims, where he led the attack oncertain propositions of the scholastic theologian Gilbert de la Porrée (q.v.). From whatever cause—whether the growing jealousy of the cardinals, or the loss of prestige owing to the rumoured failure of the crusade, the success of which he had so confidently predicted—Bernard’s influence, hitherto so ruinous to those suspected of heterodoxy, on this occasion failed of its full effect. On the news of the full extent of the disaster that had overtaken the crusaders, an effort was made to retrieve it by organizing another expedition. At the invitation of Suger, abbot of St Denis, now the virtual ruler of France, Bernard attended the meeting of Chartres convened for this purpose, where he himself was elected to conduct the new crusade, the choice being confirmed by the pope. He was saved from this task, for which he was physically and constitutionally unfit, by the intervention of the Cistercian abbots, who forbade him to undertake it.

Bernard was now ageing, broken by his austerities and by ceaseless work, and saddened by the loss of several of his early friends. But his intellectual energy remained undimmed. He continued to take an active interest in ecclesiastical affairs, and his last work, theDe Consideratione, shows no sign of failing power. He died on the 20th of August 1153.

The greatness of St Bernard lay not in the qualities of his intellect, but of his character. Intellectually he was the child of his age, inferior to those subtle minds whom the world, fired by his contagious zeal, conspired to crush. Morally he was their superior; and in this moral superiority lay the secret of his power. The age recognized in him the embodiment of its ideal: that of medieval monasticism at its highest development. The world had no meaning for him save as a place of banishment and trial, in which men are but “strangers and pilgrims” (Serm. i., Epiph. n. 1; Serm. vii., Lent. n. 1); the way of grace, back to the lost inheritance, had been marked out once for all, and the function of theology was but to maintain the landmarks inherited from the past. With the subtleties of the schools he had no sympathy, and the dialectics of the schoolmen quavered into silence before his terrible invective. Yet, within the limits of his mental horizon, Bernard’s vision was clear enough. His very life proves with what merciless logic he followed out the principles of the Christian faith as he conceived it; and it is impossible to say that he conceived it amiss. For all his overmastering zeal he was by nature neither a bigot nor a persecutor. Even when he was preaching the crusade he interfered at Mainz to stop the persecution of the Jews, stirred up by the monk Radulf. As for heretics, “the little foxes that spoil the vines,” these “should be taken, not by force of arms, but by force of argument,” though, if any heretic refused to be thus taken, he considered “that he should be driven away, or even a restraint put upon his liberty, rather than that he should be allowed to spoil the vines” (Serm. lxiv.). He was evidently troubled by the mob violence which made the heretics “martyrs to their unbelief.” He approved the zeal of the people, but could not advise the imitation of their action, “because faith is to be produced by persuasion, not imposed by force”; adding, however, in the true spirit of his age and of his church, “it would without doubt be better that they should be coerced by the sword than that they should be allowed to draw away many other persons into their error.” Finally, oblivious of the precedent of the Pharisees, he ascribes the steadfastness of these “dogs” in facing death to the power of the devil (Serm. lxvi. on Canticles ii. 15).

This is Bernard at his worst. At his best—and, fortunately, this is what is mainly characteristic of the man and his writings—he displays a nobility of nature, a wise charity and tenderness in his dealings with others, and a genuine humility, with no touch of servility, that make him one of the most complete exponents of the Christian life. His broadly Christian character is, indeed, witnessed to by the enduring quality of his influence. The author of theImitatiodrew inspiration from his writings; the reformers saw in him a medieval champion of their favourite doctrine of the supremacy of the divine grace; his works, down to the present day, have been reprinted in countless editions. This is perhaps due to the fact that the chief fountain of his own inspiration was the Bible. He was saturated in its language and in its spirit; and though he read it, as might be expected, uncritically, and interpreted its plain meanings allegorically—as the fashion of the day was—it saved him from the grosser aberrations of medieval Catholicism. He accepted the teaching of the church as to the reverence due to our Lady and the saints, and on feast-days and festivals these receive their due meed in his sermons; but in his letters and sermons their names are at other times seldom invoked. They were overshadowed completely in his mind by his idea of the grace of God and the moral splendour of Christ; “from Him do the Saints derive the odour of sanctity; from Him also do they shine as lights” (Ep.464).

The cause of Bernard’s extraordinary popular success as a preacher can only imperfectly be judged by the sermons that survive. These were all delivered in Latin, evidently to congregations more or less on his own intellectual level. Like his letters, they are full of quotations from and reference to the Bible, and they have all the qualities likely to appeal to men of culture at all times. “Bernard,” wrote Erasmus in hisArt of Preaching, “is an eloquent preacher, much more by nature than by art; he is full of charm and vivacity and knows how to reach and move the affections.” The same is true of the letters and to an even more striking degree. They are written on a large variety of subjects, great and small, to people of the most diverse stations and types; and they help us to understand the adaptable nature of the man, which enabled him to appeal as successfully to the unlearned as to the learned.

Bernard’s works fall into three categories:—(1)Letters, of which over five hundred have been preserved, of great interest and value for the history of the period. (2)Treatises: (a) dogmatic and polemical,De gratia el libero arbitrio, written about 1127, and following closely the lines laid down by St Augustine;De baptismo aliisque quaestionibus ad mag. Hugonem de S. Victore; Contra quaedam capitala errorum Abaelardi ad Innocentem II.(in justification of the action of the synod of Sens); (b) ascetic and mystical,De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae, his first work, written perhaps about 1121;De diligendo Deo(about 1126);De conversione ad clericos, an address to candidates for the priesthood;De Consideratione, Bernard’s last work, written about 1148 at the pope’s request for the edification and guidance of Eugenius III.; (c) about monasticism,Apologia ad Guilelmum, written about 1127 to William, abbot of St Thierry;De laude novae militiae ad milites templi(c.1132-1136);De precepto et dispensatione, an answer to various questions on monastic conduct and discipline addressed to him by the monks of St Peter at Chartres (some time before 1143); (d) on ecclesiastical government,De moribus et officio episcoporum, written about 1126 for Henry, bishop of Sens; theDe Considerationementioned above; (e) a biography,De vita et rebus gestis S. Malachiae, Hiberniae episcopi, written at the request of the Irish abbot Congan and with the aid of materials supplied by him; it is of importance for the ecclesiastical history of Ireland in the 12th century; (f) sermons—divided intoSermones de tempore; de sanctis; de diversis; and eighty-six sermons,in Cantica Canticorum, an allegorical and mystical exposition of the Song of Solomon; (g) hymns. Many hymns ascribed to Bernard survive,e.g.Jesu dulcis memoria, Jesus rex admirabilis. Jesu decus angelicum, Salve caput cruentatum. Of these the three first are included in the Roman breviary. Many have been translated and are used in Protestant churches.

St Bernard’s works were first published in anything like a complete edition at Paris in 1508, under the titleSeraphica melliflui devotique doctoris S. Bernardi scripta, edited by André Bocard; the first really critical and complete edition is that of Dom J. MabillonSancti Bernardi opp. &c.(Paris, 1667, improved and enlarged in 1690, and again, by Massuet and Texier, in 1719), reprinted by J.P. Migne,Patrolog. lat.(Paris, 1859). There is an English translation of Mabillon’s edition, including, however, only the letters and the sermons on the Song of Songs, with the biographical and other prefaces, by Samuel J. Eales (4 vols., London, 1889-1895). See further Leopold Janauschek,Bibliographia Bernardina(Vienna, 1891), which includes 2761 entries, including 120 works wrongly ascribed to Bernard.

Authorities.—The principal source for the life of St Bernard is theVita Prima, compiled, in six books, by various contemporary writers: book i. by William, abbot of St Thierry near Reims; book ii. by Ernald, or Arnald, abbot of Bonnevalle; books iii., iv. and v. by Geoffrey (Gaufrid), monk of Clairvaux and Bernard’s secretary; book vi., on Bernard’s miracles, by Geoffrey and Philip, another monk of Clairvaux, &c. A MS. is preserved,int. al., in the library of Lambeth Palace (§ xiv. No. 163). TheVitawas first published inBernardi op. omn.by Mabillon (Paris, 1690), ii. pp. 1061 ff.; it was included in Migne,Patrolog. lat.clxxxv. pp. 225-416, which also contains the abridgments or amplifications, by later hands, of theVita Prima, known as theVita Secunda,TertiaandQuarta. For a critical study of these sources see G. Hüffer,Der heilige Bernhard von Clairvaux(2 vols., Münster, 1886), and E. Vacandard,Vie de Saint Bernard(2 vols., Paris, 1895).Among the numerous modern works on St Bernard may be mentioned, besides the above, J.C. Morison,The Life and Times of St Bernard(London, 1863); G. Chevallier,Histoire de Saint Bernard(2 vols., Lille, 1888); S.J. Eales,St Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux(London, 1890, “Fathers for English Readers” series); ib.Life and Works of St Bernard(London, 1889); R.S. Storrs,Bernard of Clairvaux: the Times, the Man and His Work(New York, 1893); Comte d’Haussonville,Saint Bernard(Paris, 1906). See also the article by Vacandart in A. Vacant’sDictionnaire de théologie(with full bibliography), and that by S.M. Deutsch in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie(3rd ed.), vol. ii. (bibliography). Further works, monographs, &c., are givens.“Vita S. Bernardi” in Potthast.Bibliotheca Historica Medii Aevi(Berlin, 1896).

Among the numerous modern works on St Bernard may be mentioned, besides the above, J.C. Morison,The Life and Times of St Bernard(London, 1863); G. Chevallier,Histoire de Saint Bernard(2 vols., Lille, 1888); S.J. Eales,St Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux(London, 1890, “Fathers for English Readers” series); ib.Life and Works of St Bernard(London, 1889); R.S. Storrs,Bernard of Clairvaux: the Times, the Man and His Work(New York, 1893); Comte d’Haussonville,Saint Bernard(Paris, 1906). See also the article by Vacandart in A. Vacant’sDictionnaire de théologie(with full bibliography), and that by S.M. Deutsch in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie(3rd ed.), vol. ii. (bibliography). Further works, monographs, &c., are givens.“Vita S. Bernardi” in Potthast.Bibliotheca Historica Medii Aevi(Berlin, 1896).

(W. A. P.)

1The Cistercians of this branch of the order were commonly known as Bernardines.

BERNARD OF CHARTRES(1080?-1167), surnamedSylvestris, scholastic philosopher, described by John of Salisbury asperfectissimus inter Platonicos nostri saeculi. He and his brother Theodore were among the chief members of the school of Chartres (France), founded in the early part of the 11th century by Fulbert, the great disciple of Gerbert. This school flourished at a time when medieval thought was directed to the ancient philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, and had perversely come to regard Aristotle as merely the founder of abstract logic and formal intellectualism, as opposed to Plato whose doctrine of Ideas seemed to tend in a naturalistic direction. Thus Bernard is a Platonist and yet the representative of a “return to Nature” which curiously anticipates the humanism of the early Renaissance. John of Salisbury (Metalogicus, iv. 35) attributes to him two treatises, of which one contrasts the eternity of ideas with the finite nature of things, and the other is an attempt to reconcile Plato and Aristotle. The only extant fragments of Bernard’s writings are from a treatiseMegacosmus and Microcosmus(edited by C.S. Barach at Innsbruck, 1876). The source of Bernard’s inspiration was Plato’sTimaeus. He maintained that ideas are really existent and are laid up for ever in the mind of God. He further attempted to build up a symbolism of numbers with the view of elaborating the doctrine of the Trinity, and explaining the meaning of unity, plurality and likeness.

SeeScholasticism; also V. Cousin,Œuvres inéditesof Abelard (Paris, 1836); Hauréau,Philosophie scolastique, i. 396 foll.

BERNARD, CHARLES DE,whose full name wasPierre Marie Charles de Bernard du Grail de la Villette(1804-1850), French writer, was born at Besançon on the 25th of February 1804. After studying for the law, and then taking to journalism, he was encouraged by Balzac (whosePeau de chagrinhe had reviewed) to settle in Paris and devote himself to authorship; and the result was a series of volumes of fiction, remarkable for their picture of provincial society and the Parisianbourgeoisie. The best of these areLe Nœud gordien(1838), containing among other short storiesUne Aventure de magistrat, from which Sardou drew his comedy of thePommes du voisin; Gerfaut(1838), considered his masterpiece;Les Ailes d’Icare(1840),La Peau du lion(1841) andLe Gentilhomme campagnard(1847).

HisŒuvres complètes(12 vols.), which appeared after his death on the 6th of March 1850, include also his poetry and two comedies written in collaboration with “Léonce” (C.H.L. Laurençot, 1805-1862). A flattering appreciation by Armand de Pontmartin is prefixed toUn Beau-pèrein this collection. In W.M. Thackeray’sParis Sketch-book(“On some fashionable French novels”) there is an admirable criticism of Bernard. See also an essay by Henry James inFrench Poets and Novelists(1884).

BERNARD, CLAUDE(1813-1878), French physiologist, was born on the 12th of July 1813 in the village of Saint-Julien near Villefranche. He received his early education in the Jesuit school of that town, and then proceeded to the college at Lyons, which, however, he soon left to become assistant in a druggist’s shop. His leisure hours were devoted to the composition of a vaudeville comedy,La Rose du Rhône, and the success it achieved moved him to attempt a prose drama in five acts,Arthur de Bretagne. At the age of twenty-one he went to Paris, armed with this play and an introduction to Saint-Marc Girardin, but the critic dissuaded him from adopting literature as a profession, and urged him rather to take up the study of medicine. This advice he followed, and in due course became interne at the Hôtel Dieu. In this way he was brought into contact with the great physiologist, F. Magendie, who was physician to the hospital, and whose officialpréparateurat the Collège de France he became in 1841. Six years afterwards he was appointed his deputy-professor at the collège, and in 1855 he succeeded him as full professor. Some time previously he had been chosen the first occupant of the newly-instituted chair of physiology at the Sorbonne. There no laboratory was provided for his use, but Louis Napoleon, after an interview with him in 1864, supplied the deficiency, at the same time building a laboratory at the natural history museum in the Jardin des Plantes, and establishing a professorship, which Bernard left the Sorbonne to accept in 1868—the year in which he was admitted a member of the Institute. He died in Paris on the 10th of February 1878 and was accorded a public funeral—an honour which had never before been bestowed by France on a man of science.

Claude Bernard’s first important work was on the functions of the pancreas gland, the juice of which he proved to be of great significance in the process of digestion; this achievement won him the prize for experimental physiology from the Academy of Sciences. A second investigation—perhaps his most famous—was on the glycogenic function of the liver; in the course of this he was led to the conclusion, which throws light on the causation of diabetes, that the liver, in addition to secreting bile, is the seat of an “internal secretion,” by which it prepares sugar at the expense of the elements of the blood passing through it. A third research resulted in the discovery of the vaso-motor system. While engaged, about 1851, in examining the effects produced in the temperature of various parts of the body by section of the nerve or nerves belonging to them, he noticed that division of the cervical sympathetic gave rise to more active circulation and more forcible pulsation of the arteries in certain parts of the head, and a few months afterwards he observed that electrical excitation of the upper portion of the divided nerve had the contrary effect. In this way he established the existence of vaso-motor nerves—both vaso-dilatator and vaso-constrictor. The study of the physiological action of poisons was also a favourite one with him, his attention being devoted in particular to curare and carbon monoxide gas. The earliest announcements of his results, the most striking of which were obtained in the ten years from about 1850 to 1860, were generally made in the recognized scientific publications; but the full exposition of his views, and even the statement of some of the original facts, can only be found in his published lectures. The various series of theseLeçonsfill seventeen octavo volumes. He also publishedIntroduction à la médecine expérimentale(1865), andPhysiologie générale(1872).

An EnglishLife of Bernard, by Sir Michael Foster, was published in London in 1899.

BERNARD, JACQUES(1658-1718), French theologian and publicist, was born at Nions in Dauphiné on the 1st of September 1658. Having studied at Geneva, he returned to France in 1679, and was chosen minister of Venterol in Dauphiné, whence he afterwards removed to the church of Vinsobres. As he continued to preach the reformed doctrines in opposition to the royal ordinance, he was obliged to leave the country and retired to Holland, where he was well received and appointed one of the pensionary ministers of Gouda. In July 1686 he commenced hisHistoire abrégée de l’Europe, which he continued monthly tillDecember 1688. In 1692 he began hisLettres historiques, containing an account of the most important transactions in Europe; he carried on this work till the end of 1698, after which it was continued by others. When Le Clerc discontinued hisBibliothèque universellein 1691. Bernard wrote the greater part of the twentieth volume and the five following volumes. In 1698 he collected and publishedActes et négotiations de la paix de Ryswic, in four volumes 12mo. In 1699 he began a continuation of Bayle’sNouvelles de la république des lettres, which continued till December 1710. In 1705 he was unanimously elected one of the ministers of the Walloon church at Leiden; and about the same time he succeeded M. de Valder in the chair of philosophy and mathematics at Leiden. In 1716 he published a supplement to Moreri’s dictionary, in two volumes folio. The same year he resumed hisNouvelles de la république des lettres, and continued it till his death, on the 27th of April 1718. Besides the works above mentioned, he was the author of two practical treatises, one on late repentance (1712), the other on the excellence of religion (1714).

BERNARD, MOUNTAGUE(1820-1882), English international lawyer, the third son of Charles Bernard of Jamaica, the descendant of a Huguenot family, was born at Tibberton Court, Gloucestershire, on the 28th of January 1820. He was educated at Sherborne school, and Trinity College, Oxford. Graduating B.A. in 1842, he took his B.C.L., was elected Vinerian scholar and fellow, and having read in chambers with Roundell Palmer (afterwards Lord Selborne), was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1846. He was specially interested in legal history and in church questions, and was one of the founders of theGuardian. In 1852 he was elected to the new professorship of international law and diplomacy at Oxford, attached to All Souls’ College, of which he afterwards was made a fellow. But besides his duties at Oxford he undertook a good deal of non-collegiate work; he was a member of several royal commissions; in 1871 he went as one of the high commissioners to the United States, and signed the treaty of Washington, and in 1872 he assisted Sir Roundell Palmer before the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva. In 1874 he resigned his professorship at Oxford, but as member of the university of Oxford commission of 1876 he was mainly responsible for bringing about the compromise ultimately adopted between the university and the colleges. Bernard’s reputation as an international lawyer was widespread, and he was an original member of the Institut de Droit International (1873). His published works includeAn Historical Account of the Neutrality of Great Britain during the American Civil War(London, 1870), and many lectures on international law and diplomacy.

BERNARD, SIMON(1779-1839), French general of engineers, was born at Dôle, educated at the École Polytechnique, and entered the army in the corps of engineers. He rose rapidly, and served (1805-1812) as aide-de-camp to Napoleon. He was wounded in the retreat after Leipzig, and distinguished himself the same year (1813) in the gallant defence of Torgau against the allies. After the emperor’s fall he emigrated to the United States, where, being made a brigadier-general of engineers, he executed a number of extensive military works for the government, notably at Fortress Monroe, Va., and around New York, and did a large amount of the civil engineering connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Delaware Breakwater. He returned to France after the revolution of 1830, was made a lieu tenant-general by Louis Philippe, and in 1836 served as minister of war.

BERNARD, SIR THOMAS,Bart. (1750-1818), English social reformer, was born at Lincoln on the 27th of April 1750, the younger son of Sir Francis Bernard, 1st bart. (1711-1779), who as governor of Massachusetts Bay (1760-1770) played a responsible part in directing the British policy which led to the revolt of the American colonies. On the death of his elder brother in 1810, Bernard succeeded to the baronetcy conferred on his father in 1769. His early education was obtained in America, partly at Harvard, in which college his father took a great interest. He then acted as confidential secretary to his father during the troubles which led (1769) to the governor’s recall, and accompanied Sir Francis to England, where he was called to the bar, and practised as a conveyancer. He married a rich wife, and acquired a considerable fortune, and then devoted most of his time to social work for the benefit of the poor. He was treasurer of the Foundling Hospital, in the concerns of which he took an important part. He helped to establish in 1796 the “Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor,” in 1800 a school for indigent blind, and in 1801 a fever institution. He was active in promoting vaccination, improving the conditions of child labour, advocating rural allotments, and agitating against the salt duties. He took great interest in education, and with Count Rumford he was an originator of the Royal Institution in London. He died without issue on the 1st of July 1818.

BERNARDIN OF SIENA, ST(1380-1444), Franciscan friar and preacher, was born of a noble family in 1380. His parents died in his childhood, and on the completion of his education he spent some years in the service of the sick in the hospitals, and thus caught the plague, of which he nearly died. In 1402 he entered the Franciscan order in the strict branch called Observant, of which he became one of the chief promoters (seeFranciscans). Shortly after his profession the work of preaching was laid upon him, and for more than thirty years he preached with wonderful effect all over Italy, and played a great part in the religious revival of the beginning of the 15th century. In 1437 he became vicar-general of the Observant branch of the Franciscans. He refused three bishoprics. He died in 1444 at Aquila in the Abruzzi, and was canonized in 1450.

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