> Skip to content
  • Published: 24 March 1993
  • ISBN: 9780140433562
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $32.99

The Cistercian World

Monastic Writings of the Twelfth Century




The Cistercian Order was born in Burgundy at the start of the twelfth century as a movement of radical renewal - an Order that survives to this day with the greater part of its written heritage preserved. This volume brings together a selection of its finest works, which speak powerfully across the centuries to modern readers. Writings by St Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153) - including his letters, The Life of Malachy the Irishman, sermons on the Song of Songs and the sharply satirical Apologia for Abbot William - reveal him to be a highly individual and influential writer of the Middle Ages. Also included here are a charming description of Clairvaux, biographies of abbots and a series of exemplary stories, all drawing on the Scriptures to express intensely personal forms of monastic theology.

  • Published: 24 March 1993
  • ISBN: 9780140433562
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $32.99