Bernard Silvestris was one of the most important writers of the twelfth-century renaissance. Best known for his magisterial Cosmographia (Description of the Universe, circa 1150), Bernard's works reflect the scientific and philosophical concerns of his day. In poetic form he examines the processes of creation in the macrocosm of the cosmos and in the microcosm of humanity. In his Mathematicus (Astrologer) and Experimentarius (Practitioner, circa 1170s), Bernard focuses on questions critical to late medieval and Renaissance literature and philosophy: How much of the world and of human life is controlled by the stars? Do human beings possess free will or are their lives predestined"

Details of Bernard's life are sketchy. He was probably a teacher of the ars dictaminis (craft of composition) and of poetry at St. Martin in Tours, France. One of his students, Matthew of Vendôme, the author of Ars versificatoria (Art of Versification, circa...