Bernard of Clairvaux Preaches

Date: March 31, 1146 • Location: Avallon, France

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1146–1149.

Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.

Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist., venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order.