Bernard Clergue was the town bayle of the village of Montaillou in the south of France in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.
A great deal about his life is recorded in the Fournier Register and has been studied by historians, most notably Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie in his book Montaillou.
While Bernard was one of the few educated and literate people in the town he was still a peasant and most of his work was farming.
As with the rest of the family Bernard himself was a staunch Cathar, but was for a long time protected by his wealth and connections.
While not as great a womanizer as his brother Pierre, Bernard did father a child out of wedlock: Mengarde Clergue, who later married Raymond Aymeric of Prades d'Aillon.