This is a collection of essays that, in keeping with the intentions of the series, provides an introduction to, not an exhaustive study of, one of the great figures in medieval monastic history: St Bernard, founding abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux, itself the third daughter house of Cîteaux, the powerhouse of monastic reform in the twelfth century. In these essays we see various facets of Bernard, as a monk and abbot, preacher and writer, through his own words and through the words and the eyes of others. The editor, Brian Patrick McGuire, opens the collection with an overview of Bernard's life and works, providing a lucid account for those unfamiliar with the saint's career, and a context for the essays that follow. Michael Casey searches for ‘the man, the medium, and the message’ through Bernard's own writings, arguing that these show a sense of humour – which is not usually seen as a characteristic of Bernard – and through his medieval biographers and the recollections of those, such as Isaac of Etoile, who knew him well. He does so with full acknowledgement of the difficulties of generating a coherent picture of his whole career. E. Rozanne Elder investigates the relationship between Bernard and the Benedictine abbot William of St Thierry perhaps best known as the man to whom Bernard addressed his Apologia and as a contributor to the Vita prima of Bernard. William emerges, in Elder's words, as ‘a theologian far more speculative and nuanced’ than Bernard himself, and she considers the reasons why William, when he converted to the Cistercian way of life, chose to do so not at Clairvaux but at Signy. William of St Thierry is a link between Bernard and one of the fervent controversies in which the saint became embroiled. Bernard could be a fierce opponent, never more so than against Peter Abelard, whose writings on the Redemption Bernard bitterly condemned. Constant J. Mews revisits their relationship, showing how it is to be seen in the context of tensions within the political and religious culture of twelfth-century Europe and particularly France. Moreover, Mews offers a more subtle interpretation of the relationship between the two men, demonstrating that there was more to it than conflict. Perhaps one of the most testing challenges in interpreting Bernard is to reconcile his role as a dominant personality in European affairs with his monastic vocation. Christopher Holdworth's essay is firmly rooted in Bernard's monastic career: not just as the abbot of one Cistercian house, but as father abbot of probably over sixty daughter houses which were, moreover, geographically dispersed across France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and the British Isles. Based on a study of his letters the chapter reveals Bernard wrestling with issues of recruitment, encouraging and cajoling would-be patrons and benefactors, and on occasion dealing with matters pertaining to abbatial elections. M. B. Pranger turns our attention to Bernard the writer, investigating his literary techniques and his rhetoric, while Mette Bruun argues that in his writings Bernard creates a topographical landscape to envisage salvation. Two contrasting chapters focus on the theme of Bernard and art. Diane J. Reilly begins with Bernard's famous comments, in the Apologia, on ‘lively and colourful artworks and the soaring stone churches’ of his contemporary world. She places this ‘diatribe’ in the context of a discussion of art – including the production of manuscripts – in the world of the earliest Cistercians. James France, on the other hand, considers the representation of Bernard himself in medieval art, the earliest known of which dates to before 1135 and was the product of a Benedictine house, St Augustine's, Canterbury. Included in his discussion are the distinctive amplexus Bernardi image, in which the crucified Christ bends to embrace Bernard and the lactatio image in which Bernard is offered milk from the Virgin's breast. The collection ends with two reflective pieces. The shorter is by John Sommerfeldt, and in the longer Chysogonus Waddell ponders a lifetime spent, as a monk and scholar, in the company of Bernard. It was written just a few months before his death in 2008. Cistercian scholars and those coming new to Bernard will find much of interest in this collection.