Bernard de Claraval’s discourse and the Christian ideology of the Middle Age

Abstract

The Middle Age ideology is profoundly marked by Christianity and, during XII, Bernardo de Claraval is its most distinguished representative. Therefore, taking as corpus the preaches In laudibus Virginis Matris, written in Latin by Claraval around 1125, this paper tries to analyze, in his speech, the contingency of the use of language as the medieval Christian ideology revelation. Also, this research focus on showing how Claraval builds the sense into his speech by articulating the lexicon, semantics and the intertextuality with the Bible as the argumentation source to reinforce the “Unquestionable Truths” of the Gospel and of Christianity, its rites, its dogmas and its liturgy. It is concluded that in his works, influenced by his entire politics-ecclesiastic activity, it is latent the vision of the philosophy and of Christianity in the Middle Age period rightfully called “the century of Saint Bernard.”