Bernward came of a noble family.  His figure may be seen—­as near an approach to a portrait of this great worker as we have—­among the bas-reliefs on the beautiful choir-screen in St. Michael’s Church in Hildesheim.

[Illustration:  Bernward’s chalice, Hildesheim]

The cross executed by Bernward’s own hands in 994 is a superb work, with filigree covering the whole, and set with gems en cabochon, with pearls, and antique precious stones, carved with Greek divinities in intaglio.  The candlesticks of St. Bernward, too, are most interesting.  They are made of a metal composed of gold, silver, and iron, and are wrought magnificently, into a mass of animal and floriate forms, their outline being well retained, and the grace of the shaft and proportions being striking.  They are partly the work of the mallet and partly of the chisel.  They had been buried with Bernward, and were found in his sarcophagus in 1194.  Didron has likened them, in their use of animal form, to the art of the Mexicans; but to me they seem more like delightful German Romanesque workmanship, leaning more towards that of certain spirited Lombard grotesques, or even that of Arles and certain parts of France, than to the Aztec to which Didron has reference.  The little climbing figures, while they certainly have very large hands and feet, yet are endowed with a certain sprightly action; they all give the impression of really making an effort,—­they are trying to climb, instead of simply occupying places in the foliage.  There is a good deal of strength and energy displayed in all of them, and, while the work is rude and rough, it is virile.  It is not unlike the workmanship on the Gloucester candlestick in the South Kensington Museum, which was made in the twelfth century.

Bernward’s chalice is set with antique stones, some of them carved.  On the foot may be seen one representing the three Graces, in their customary state of nudity “without malice.”

Bernward was also an architect.  He built the delightful church of St. Michael, and its cloister.  He also superintended the building of an important wall by the river bank in the lower town.

When there was an uneasy time of controversy at Gandesheim, Bernward hastened to headquarters in Rome, to arrange to bring about better feeling.  In 1001 he arrived, early in January, and the Pope went out to meet him, kissed him, and invited him to stay as a guest at his palace.  After accomplishing his diplomatic mission, and laden with all sorts of sacred relics, Bernward returned home, not too directly to prevent his seeing something of the intervening country.

A book which Bishop Bernward had made and illuminated in 1011 has the inscription:  “I, Bernward, had this codex written out, at my own cost, and gave it to the beloved Saint of God, Michael.  Anathema to him who alienates it.”  This inscription has the more interest for being the actual autograph of Bernward.