oa Figuurstudies

This article offers an analysis of Bernard’s treatise De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae on the basis of a description of Benedictine monastic life as codified in the Rule.

On the one hand the Rule of Benedict sums up the main elements of monastic life, on the other hand, it leaves room for experiments. It is this flexibility which Bernard fully exploits in this treatise. Rearranging monastic and religious images and places (imagines and loci) he creates a framework in which the meaning of life and death changes slightly compared with their position in the Benedictine context. Above all, it is the possibility of failure and death which is introduced by Bernard in order to illustrate the emotional setting of monastic life.