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{{Short description|Catholic religious order}}
{{About|the religious order also sometimes known as the Cistercians of the Common Observance|the order founded in La Trappe Abbey and also known as the Cistercians of the Strict Observance|Trappists}}
{{redirect|White Monks|the White Friars|Carmelites|the White Canons|Premonstratensians}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = Order of Cistercians
| native_name         = {{lang|la|(Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis}}
|native_name_lang=la
| image               = Coat of arms of the Cistercian Order.svg
| caption             = [[Coat of arms]] of the Cistercians
| formation           = {{start date and age|1098}}
| type                = [[Catholic religious order]]
| headquarters        = Piazza del Tempio di Diana, 14<br />[[Rome]], Italy
| coords              = 
| leader_title        = Abbot General
| leader_name         = [[Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori]]
| key_people          = 
| main_organ          = 
| parent_organization = [[Catholic Church]]
| size                = 150px
| abbreviation        = OCist or SOCist
| founder             = [[Bernard of Clairvaux]]; [[Robert of Molesme]], [[Stephen Harding]], and [[Alberic of Cîteaux]]
| website             = {{URL|http://www.ocist.org/}}
| founding_location   = [[Cîteaux Abbey]]
}}

[[Image:Bernhard von Clairvaux (Initiale-B).jpg|thumb|St. [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], one of the most influential early Cistercians, seen here depicted in a [[historiated initial]]]]
[[Image:Vietnamese Cistercians.jpg|thumb|[[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] Cistercian monks standing in a [[cloister]] and wearing their [[religious habit]]s]]
The '''Cistercians''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɪ|ˈ|s|t|ɜːr|ʃ|ən|z}}), officially the '''Order of Cistercians''' ({{langx|la|(Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis}}, abbreviated as '''OCist''' or '''SOCist'''), are a [[Catholic religious order]] of [[monk]]s and [[nun]]s that branched off from the [[Benedictines]] and follow the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]], as well as the contributions of the highly influential [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], known as the [[Latin Rule]]. They are also known as '''Bernardines''', after [[Bernard of Clairvaux|Saint Bernard]], or as '''White Monks''', in reference to the colour of their [[cowl]], as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines.

The term ''Cistercian'' derives from ''Cistercium,'' the Latin name for the locale of Cîteaux, near [[Dijon]] in eastern France. It was here that a group of Benedictine monks from the monastery of [[Molesme Abbey|Molesme]] founded [[Cîteaux Abbey]] in 1098. The first three abbots were [[Robert of Molesme]], [[Alberic of Cîteaux]] and [[Stephen Harding]]. Bernard helped launch a new era when he entered the monastery in the early 1110s with 30 companions. By the end of the 12th century, the order had spread throughout most of Europe.

The keynote of Cistercian life was a return to literal observance of the Benedictine Rule. The reform-minded monks tried to live monastic life as they thought it had been in [[Benedict of Nursia|Benedict]]'s time; at various points they went beyond it in austerity. They returned to manual labour, especially agricultural work in the fields. The Cistercians made major contributions to culture and technology: [[Cistercian architecture]] has been recognized as a notable form of [[medieval architecture]], and the Cistercians were the main force of technological diffusion in fields such as agriculture and [[hydraulic engineering]].

Over the centuries, education and scholarship came to dominate the life of many monasteries. A reform movement seeking a simpler lifestyle began in 17th-century France at [[La Trappe Abbey]], and became known as the [[Trappists]]. They were eventually consolidated in 1892 into a new order called the Order of [[OCSO|Cistercians of the Strict Observance]], abbreviated as OCSO. The Cistercians who remained within the Order of Cistercians are called the '''Cistercians of the Common Observance''' (OCist).

== Cistercian practices ==
The abbot general is the leader of the "administrative machinery" of a Cistercian order.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=David H. |title=The early Cistercian documents: what have they to say to us today? |journal=Cistercian studies quarterly |date=1999 |volume=34 |pages=299–310 |url=http://opac.regesta-imperii.de/id/488371}}</ref>

The burial practices for Cistercian monks involve complex rituals, and monks may be buried with or without shrouds.<ref>{{cite web |title=Death and burial – The Cistercians in Yorkshire |url=https://www.dhi.ac.uk/blogs/cistercians/cistercian-life/monastic-life/death-and-burial/}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rudolph |first1=Conrad |title=Violence and daily life: reading, art, and polemics in the Cîtaux Moralia in Job |date=1997 |publisher=Princeton Univ. Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=9780691026732}}</ref>

=== No vow of silence ===
Cistercian monks and nuns have a reputation of cultivating solitude and silence; the great monastics have explained silence as "the language of liberation, enlightenment, or union with God."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Teahan |first=John F. |date=1982 |title=Solitude: A Central Motif in Thomas Merton's Life and Writings |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1462940 |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=521–538 |issn=0002-7189}}</ref> Some observers deduced, incorrectly, that Cistercians take a vow of silence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fermor |first=Patrick Leigh |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Time_to_Keep_Silence/cpPLWihINaoC?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=cistercian+%22vow+of+silence%22&pg=PA93&printsec=frontcover |title=A Time to Keep Silence |date=2011-11-09 |publisher=New York Review of Books |isbn=978-1-59017-521-7 |pages=93 |language=en}}</ref> Watching over one's tongue is a general theme in the Rule of St. Benedict which, however, never required a [[vow of silence]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=James |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Encyclopaedia_of_Religion_and_Ethics/Ef2yrHAWUiAC?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=cistercian+%22vow+of+silence%22&pg=PA650&printsec=frontcover |title=Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics |last2=Selbie |first2=John Alexander |last3=Gray |first3=Louis Herbert |date=1922 |publisher=Scribner |volume=12 |publication-date=1922 |pages=650 |language=en}}</ref>

==Origins and early expansion==

===Foundation===
[[Image:Stephen Harding.jpg|thumb|right|An illumination of [[Stephen Harding]] (right) presenting a model of his church to the [[Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)|Blessed Virgin Mary]] (Municipal Library, Dijon). Cîteaux, c.&nbsp;1125. At this period Cistercian illumination was the most advanced in France, but within 25 years it was abandoned altogether under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux.]]

In 1098, a [[Order of St. Benedict|Benedictine]] [[abbot]], [[Robert of Molesme]], left [[Molesme Abbey]] in [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]] with around 20 supporters, who felt that the [[Cluniac]] communities had abandoned the rigours and simplicity of the [[Rule of St. Benedict]]. Chief among Robert's followers included [[Alberic of Cîteaux|Alberic]], a former [[hermit]] from the nearby forest of Colan, and [[Stephen Harding]], a young monk from England.<ref name="Read94">Read, p 94</ref> Stephen had experienced the monastic traditions of the [[Camaldolese]] and [[Vallombrosians]] before joining Molesme Abbey.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stephen Harding, St. {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/stephen-harding-st|access-date=21 November 2021|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

On 21 March 1098, Robert's small group acquired a plot of [[marshland]] just south of [[Dijon]] called [[Cîteaux]] (''Latin:'' "Cistercium". ''Cisteaux'' means reeds in [[Old French]]), given to them expressly for the purpose of founding their ''Novum Monasterium''.<ref>Tobin, pp 29, 33, 36.</ref> During the first year, the monks set about constructing lodging areas and farming the lands of Cîteaux, making use of a nearby chapel for [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]. In Robert's absence from Molesme, however, the abbey had gone into decline, and [[Pope Urban II]], a former Cluniac monk, ordered him to return.<ref>Read, pp 94–95</ref>

The remaining monks of Cîteaux elected Alberic as their abbot, under whose leadership the abbey would find its grounding. Robert had been the idealist of the order, and Alberic was their builder. Upon assuming the role of abbot, Alberic moved the site of the fledgling community near a brook a short distance away from the original site. Alberic discontinued the use of Benedictine black garments in the abbey and clothed the monks in white habits of undyed wool.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03780c.htm Gildas, Marie. "Cistercians." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 21 January 2020{{PD-notice}}</ref> Alberic forged an alliance with the [[Dukes of Burgundy]], working out a deal with [[Duke]] [[Odo I of Burgundy]] concerning the donation of a vineyard ([[Meursault]]) as well as materials for building the abbey church, which was consecrated on 16 November 1106 by the [[Bishop of Chalon sur Saône]].<ref>Tobin, pp 37–38.</ref>

On 26 January 1108, Alberic died and was succeeded by Stephen Harding, the man responsible for carrying the order into its crucial phase.

====Cistercian reform====
[[File:São Bento e São Bernardo (1542) - Diogo de Contreiras.png|thumb|left|''[[Benedict of Nursia|Saint Benedict]] and [[Bernard of Clairvaux|Saint Bernard]]'' (1542), by [[Diogo de Contreiras]]. Saint Bernard is depicted in the white cowl of the Cistercians.]]
Harding framed the original version of the Cistercian constitution, soon to be called the ''[[Carta Caritatis]]'' (''Charter of Charity''). Although it was revised on several occasions to meet contemporary needs, from the outset it emphasised a simple life of work, love, prayer and self-denial. The Cistercians soon came to distinguish themselves from Benedictines by wearing white or grey [[tunic]]s instead of black; white habits are common for reform movements.<ref name="Hollister209">Hollister, p 209</ref> Much of Cistercian reform took place against the rivalry with the famous Benedictine abbey of Cluny, where wealth and excess were said to have set in.<ref>Lekai, Ideals and Reality, p. 25.</ref>

Harding acquired land for the abbey to develop to ensure its survival and ethic. As to grants of land, the order would normally accept only undeveloped land, which the monks then developed by their own labour. For this they developed over time a very large component of uneducated lay brothers known as ''conversi''.<ref>Hollister, p 209–10</ref> In some cases, the order accepted developed land and relocated the [[serf]]s elsewhere.<ref name="Hollister209"/>

=====Charter of Charity=====
The outlines of the Cistercian reform were adumbrated by Alberic, but it received its final form in the ''[[Carta Caritatis|Carta caritatis]]'' (''Charter of Charity''), which was the defining guide on how the reform was to be lived.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://users.skynet.be/scourmont/script/docprim/car_car/lat/carta_car_som.htm |title=Latin text |publisher=Users.skynet.be |access-date=18 January 2010 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181230/http://users.skynet.be/scourmont/script/docprim/car_car/lat/carta_car_som.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[[Jacques Paul Migne|Migne]], ''[[Patrologia Latina|Patrol. Lat.]]'' clxvi. 1377</ref> This document governed the relations between the various houses of the Cistercian order, and exercised a great influence also upon the future course of western [[monachism]]. From one point of view, it may be regarded as a compromise between the primitive Benedictine system, in which each abbey was autonomous and isolated, and the centralization of [[Cluny Abbey|Cluny]].{{sfn|Butler|1911|p=394}}

The Cistercians maintained the independence of individual houses: each abbey had its own abbot, elected by its own monks, and its own property and finances administered without outside interference. On the other hand, all the abbeys were subjected to the [[General Chapter]], the constitutional body which exercised vigilance over the order. Made up of all the abbots, the General Chapter met annually in mid-September at [[Cîteaux]]. Attendance was compulsory, with the abbot of Cîteaux presiding.<ref name="Watt52">Watt, p 52</ref> He was to enforce conformity to Cîteaux in all details of monastic observance, liturgy, and customs. Cîteaux was always to be the model to which all the other houses had to conform.<ref>See [[F. A. Gasquet]], ''Sketch of Monastic Constitutional History,'' pp. xxxv–xxxviii, prefixed to English trans. Of Montalembert's ''Monks of the West'', ed. 1895</ref>

=== Cistercian nuns ===
{{main|Cistercian nuns}}
[[File:Soeurodilerieunette.jpeg|thumb|Prioress of Rieunette priory in France.]]
The first community of [[Cistercian nuns]], [[Tart Abbey|Tart]], was founded 1125 in the [[Diocese of Langres]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berthier |first=Karine |title=Cîteaux et les femmes |year=2001 |isbn=9782907150996 |editor-last=Montulet-Henneau |editor-first=Marie-Elisabeth |chapter=De la campagne à la ville, du XIIe au XVIIe siècle : Notre-Dame de Tart}}</ref> Their number rose so quickly in the course of the next century that the historian and cardinal [[Jacques de Vitry]] wrote: "Cistercian nunneries multiplied like stars in the sky."<ref>Quoted in Lekai, Ideals and Reality, p. 349.</ref> At their most populous point, there may have been over 900 women's monasteries, but not all were officially integrated into the order. One of the best known of Cistercian women's communities was the Abbey of [[Port-Royal-des-Champs|Port-Royal]], associated with the [[Jansenism|Jansenist controversy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Norberg |first=Kathryn |date=2012 |title=Review of Feminism, Absolutism, and Jansenism: Louis XIV and the Port-Royal Nuns |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23428020 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=117 |issue=4 |pages=1303–1304 |doi=10.1093/ahr/117.4.1303 |jstor=23428020 |issn=0002-8762}}</ref> In Spain and France, a number of Cistercian [[abbess]]es had extraordinary privileges.<ref>Ghislain Baury, [https://www.academia.edu/3550063/Emules_puis_sujettes_de_lordre_cistercien._Les_cisterciennes_de_Castille_et_dailleurs_face_au_Chapitre_General_aux_XIIe_et_XIIIe_siecles "Emules puis sujettes de l'ordre cistercien. Les cisterciennes de Castille et d'ailleurs face au Chapitre Général aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles"], ''Cîteaux: Commentarii cistercienses'', t. 52, fasc. 1–2, 2001, p. 27–60. Ghislain Baury, ''[https://www.academia.edu/3549380/Les_religieuses_de_Castille._Patronage_aristocratique_et_ordre_cistercien_XIIe-XIIIe_siecles Les religieuses de Castille. Patronage aristocratique et ordre cistercien, XIIe-XIIIe siècles]'', Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2012.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Escrivá de Balaguer |first=José María |title=La abadesa de Las Huelgas |last2=Blanco |first2=María |last3=Martín |first3=María del Mar |date=2016 |publisher=Ediciones Rialp |isbn=978-84-321-4687-9 |series=Obras completas de San Josemaría Serie I, Obras publicadas |location=Madrid}}</ref>

== International expansion ==
In the 1130s and 1140s, the Cistercians expanded into "an order of immense size" by incorporating independent religious communities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berman |first=Constance Hoffman |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Cistercian_Evolution/FWIu1Yk8W-EC?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=cistercian+expansion&pg=PA95&printsec=frontcover |title=The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe |date=2010-08-03 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0079-9 |pages=95 |language=en}}</ref>

=== France ===
In 1113, [[Bernard of Clairvaux|Bernard]] joined the Cîteaux monastery along with 35 relatives and friends.<ref>Lekai, Ideals and Reality, p. 19.</ref> Bernard's charisma greatly expanded the size of the order.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Holdsworth |first=Christopher |title=Bernard of Clairvaux: his first and greatest miracle was himself |date=2012-11-22 |work=The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order |pages=173–185 |editor-last=Birkedal Bruun |editor-first=Mette |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CCO9780511735899A024/type/book_part |access-date=2024-11-03 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cco9780511735899.017 |isbn=978-1-107-00131-2}}</ref> In 1115, [[Hugh, Count of Champagne|Count Hugh of Champagne]] gifted the order a tract of forested land located forty miles east of [[Troyes]]. At the age of 25, Bernard founded the [[Clairvaux Abbey|Abbey of Clairvaux]] with twelve other monks.<ref name="Read93-95">Read, p 93, 95</ref> At this time, Cîteaux had four daughter houses: [[Pontigny Abbey|Pontigny]], [[Morimond Abbey|Morimond]], La Ferté and Clairvaux.

The most foundations made by any Cistercian monastery came from Clairvaux.<ref name=":0" />

=== Austria ===
[[Rein Abbey, Austria|Rein Abbey]] was founded in 1129 from [[Ebrach Abbey]] in Bavaria, which had been founded from [[Morimond Abbey]] in France.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Andrée |first=Alexander |last2=Sharp |first2=Tristan |last3=Shaw |first3=Richard |date=2016 |title=Aquinas and "Alcuin": A New Source of the "Catena Aurea" on John |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26486045 |journal=Recherches de théologie et philosophie médiévales |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=3–20 |issn=1370-7493}}</ref> In 1129 Margrave [[Leopold the Strong]] of [[March of Styria|Styria]] granted the Bavarian monks an area of land just north of what is today the provincial capital [[Graz]], where they founded [[Rein Abbey, Austria|Rein Abbey]]. At the time, it was the 38th Cistercian monastery founded; as of 2024, it is the oldest surviving Cistercian house in the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winkler |first=Gerhard |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lexikon_f%C3%BCr_Theologie_und_Kirche/_X3YAAAAMAAJ?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=stift+rein+janauschek&pg=PA1009&printsec=frontcover |title=Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche |last2= |first2= |date=1993 |publisher=Herder |isbn=978-3-451-22008-1 |editor-last=Kasper |editor-first=Walter |pages=1009 |language=de |chapter=Rein}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=katholisch.at |title=Ordensgemeinschaften im Portrait: Stift Rein |url=https://www.katholisch.at/site/kirche/sr/orden/ordenimportrait/article/122474.html |access-date=2024-11-17 |website=www.katholisch.at |language=de}}</ref> In 1133, [[Heiligenkreuz Abbey]] was founded near Vienna by [[Morimond Abbey|Morimond]] monks;<ref>Lutter, M-C. (2012). Locus horroris et vastae solitudinis? Zisterzienser und Zisterzienserinnen in und um Wien. ''Historisches Jahrbuch'', ''132'', pp. 141-176.</ref> it is (as of 2024) the largest men's abbey in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rios |first=Loreto |date=2024-03-09 |title=Das "Phänomen" des Stiftes Heiligenkreuz |url=https://www.omnesmag.com/de/nachrichten/phanomen-abtei-heiligkreuz/# |access-date=2024-11-17 |website=Omnes |language=de}}</ref>

=== Britain ===
The order entrusted the oversight of the English, Welsh and (intermittently) Irish abbeys to two or more abbots-commissary, thereby abrogating the famous Cistercian system of filiation: not the mother abbeys, but the abbots-commisary had full powers of visitation. This variation on the original vertical descent of authority produced "a system of centralized national control" much closer to that of the [[Premonstratensians]] or [[Mendicant orders|mendicants]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knowles |first=David |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9780511560668/type/book |title=The Religious Orders in England |date=1979 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-29568-0 |edition= |pages=28 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511560668.004}}</ref> The first Cistercian house to be established in Britain, a monastery at [[Waverley Abbey]], Surrey, was founded by William Gifford, Bishop of Winchester in 1128. It was founded with 12 monks and an abbot from [[L'Aumône Abbey]], in the South of France. By 1187 there were 70 monks and 120 lay brothers in residence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Graham |first=Rose |date=1929 |title=The Great Schism and the English Monasteries of the Cistercian Order |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/553036 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=44 |issue=175 |pages=373–387 |issn=0013-8266}}</ref>
[[Image:Tintern Abbey-inside-2004.jpg|thumb|left|Tintern Abbey, founded in 1131]]
Thirteen Cistercian monasteries, all in remote locations, were founded in Wales between 1131 and 1226. The first of these was [[Tintern Abbey]], which was sited in a remote river valley, and depended largely on its agricultural and pastoral activities for survival.<ref name="Dykes76">Dykes, pp 76–78</ref> Other abbeys, such as at [[Neath Abbey|Neath]], [[Strata Florida Abbey|Strata Florida]], [[Aberconwy Abbey|Conwy]] and [[Valle Crucis Abbey|Valle Crucis]] became among the most hallowed names in the history of religion in medieval Wales.<ref name="Roderick164">Roderick, p 164</ref> Their austere discipline seemed to echo the ideals of the [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic saints]], and the emphasis on pastoral farming fit well into the Welsh stock-rearing economy.<ref name="Roderick164"/>
 
[[File:MelroseAbbey01.jpg|thumb|The ruins of [[Melrose Abbey]], mother house of the Cistercians in Scotland]]
In [[Yorkshire]], [[Rievaulx Abbey]] was founded from Clairvaux in 1131, on a small, isolated property donated by [[Walter Espec]], with the support of [[Thurstan]], [[Archbishop of York]]. By 1143, three hundred monks had entered Rievaulx, including the famous [[Ailred of Rievaulx|St Ælred]]. It was from Rievaulx that a foundation was made at [[Melrose Abbey|Melrose]], which became the earliest Cistercian monastery in [[Scotland]]. Located in [[Roxburghshire]], it was built in 1136 by King [[David I of Scotland]], and completed in less than ten years.<ref name="NA-Melrose">{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10170a.htm |author=Michael Barrett|title=Abbey of Melrose |publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia |date=1 October 1911 |access-date=18 January 2010}}</ref> Another important offshoot of Rievaulx was [[Revesby Abbey]] in [[Lincolnshire]].<ref name="NewAdvent">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cistercians in the British Isles |encyclopedia=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |publisher=NewAdvent.org |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16025b.htm |access-date=18 June 2008 |author=Herbert Thurston}}</ref>

[[Fountains Abbey]] was founded in 1132 by discontented Benedictine monks from [[St Mary's Abbey, York|St. Mary's Abbey, York]], who desired a return to the austere Rule of St Benedict. After many struggles and great hardships, St Bernard agreed to send a monk from Clairvaux to instruct them, and in the end they prospered. Already by 1152, Fountains had many offshoots, including [[Newminster Abbey]] (1137) and [[Meaux Abbey]] (1151).<ref name="NewAdvent"/>

=== Ireland ===
In the spring of 1140, [[Saint Malachy]], the archbishop of Armagh, visited Clairvaux, becoming a personal friend of Abbot Bernard and an admirer of Cistercian life. He left four of his companions to be trained as Cistercians, and returned to Ireland to introduce Cistercian monasticism there.<ref name="Watt20">Watt, p. 20</ref> [[Mellifont Abbey]] was founded in [[County Louth]] in 1142 and from it daughter houses of [[Bective Abbey]] in [[County Meath]] (1147), [[Inislounaght Abbey]] in [[County Tipperary]] (1147–1148), Baltinglass in [[County Wicklow]] (1148), [[Monasteranenagh Abbey|Monasteranenagh]] in [[County Limerick]] (1148), Kilbeggan in [[County Westmeath]] (1150) and [[Boyle Abbey]] in [[County Roscommon]] (1161).<ref name="Watt21">Watt, p 21</ref>

Following the [[Norman invasion of Ireland|Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland]] in the 1170s, the English improved the standing of the Cistercian Order in Ireland with nine foundations: [[Dunbrody Abbey]], [[Inch Abbey]], [[Grey Abbey, Down|Grey Abbey]], [[Comber|Comber Abbey]], [[Duiske Abbey]], Abington, [[Abbeylara]] and [[Tracton]].<ref>Watt, pp 49–50</ref> This last abbey was founded in 1225 from [[Whitland Abbey]] in Wales, and at least in its earliest years, its monks were [[Welsh language|Welsh-speaking]]. By this time, another ten abbeys had been founded by Irishmen since the invasion, bringing the total number of Cistercian houses in Ireland to 31. This was almost half the number of those in England, but it was about thrice the number in each of Scotland and Wales.<ref name="Watt50">Watt, p 50</ref> Most of these monasteries enjoyed either noble, episcopal or royal patronage. In 1269, the [[Archbishop of Cashel]] joined the order and established a Cistercian house at the foot of the [[Rock of Cashel]] in 1272.<ref>Watt, p 115</ref> Similarly, the Irish-establishment of [[Abbeyknockmoy]] in [[County Galway]] was founded by [[Kings of Connacht|King of Connacht]], [[Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair]], who died a Cistercian monk and was buried there in 1224.<ref name="Doran53">Doran, p 53</ref>

[[File:Abbaye de savigny 9.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Congregation of Savigny|houses affiliated]] with the [[Abbey of Savigny]] merged with the Cistercian Order.]]

By 1152, there were 54 Cistercian monasteries in England, few of which had been founded directly from the Continent.<ref name="NewAdvent"/> Overall, there were 333&nbsp;Cistercian abbeys in Europe, so many that a halt was put to this expansion.<ref>Logan, p 139</ref> Nearly half of these houses had been founded, directly or indirectly, from Clairvaux, so great was St Bernard's influence and prestige. He later came popularly to be regarded as the founder of the Cistercians, who have often been called Bernardines.{{sfn|Butler|1911|p=394}} Bernard died in 1153, one month after his pupil Eugene III.<ref>Read, p 126</ref>

=== The Iberian Peninsula ===<!--[[Image:Abbaye.Citeaux.png|thumb|left|A plan of [[Cîteaux Abbey]] in the 16th century.]]-->
[[File:Bélapátfalvai ciszterci kolostor, Nagyboldogasszony-templom, Okt 31.jpg|thumb|left|Cistercian abbey in [[Bélapátfalva]], Hungary]][[File:Mosteiro de Alcobaça (Portugal) 2.jpg|thumb|The royal [[Alcobaça Monastery]], founded in Portugal in 1153]]
In 1153, the first King of Portugal, [[D. Afonso Henriques]] (Afonso, I), founded [[Alcobaça Monastery]]. The original church was replaced by the present construction from 1178. The abbey's church was consecrated in 1223. Two further building phases followed in order to complete the nave, leading to the final consecration of the medieval church building in 1252.<ref name="Toman98">Toman, p 98</ref>

As a consequence of the wars between the Christians and Moors on the [[Iberian Peninsula]], the Cistercians established a [[Military order (society)|military branch]] of the order in [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]] in 1157: the [[Order of Calatrava]]. Membership of the Cistercian Order had included a large number of men from knightly families, and when King [[Alfonso VII of León and Castile|Alfonso VII]] began looking for a [[Military order (society)|military order]] to defend the [[Calatrava la Vieja|Calatrava]], which had been recovered from the Moors a decade before, the Cistercian Abbot Raymond of [[Fitero]] offered his help. Lay brothers were to be employed as "soldiers of the Cross" to defend Calatrava. The initial successes of the new order in the Spanish [[Reconquista]] were convincing, and the arrangement was approved by the General Chapter at Cîteaux and successive popes; the Knights of Calatrava were given a definitive rule in 1187, modeled upon the Cistercian rule for lay brothers, which included the evangelical counsels of [[poverty, chastity, and obedience]]; specific rules of silence; abstinence on four days a week; the recitation of a fixed number of [[Pater Noster]]s daily; to sleep in their [[armour]]; and to wear, as their full dress, the Cistercian white mantle with the scarlet cross ''fleurdelisée''.<ref name="Calatrava">{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03149d.htm |author=Charles Moeller|title=Military Order of Calatrava |publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia |date=1 November 1908 |access-date=18 January 2010}}</ref>

Calatrava was not subject to Cîteaux, but to Fitero's mother-house, the [[Morimond Abbey|Abbey of Morimond]] in Burgundy. By the end of the 13th century, the knights had become a major autonomous power within the Castilian state, subject only to Morimond and the pope. They had abundant resources of men and wealth, lands and castles scattered along the borders of Castile, and feudal lordship over thousands of peasants and vassals. On more than one occasion, the Order of Calatrava brought to the field a force of 1200 to 2000 knights – considerable in medieval terms. Over time, as the Reconquista neared completion, the canonical bond between Calatrava and Morimond relaxed more and more, and the knights of the order became virtually secularized, finally undergoing dissolution in the 18th–19th centuries.<ref name="Calatrava"/>

The first Cistercian abbey in Bohemia was founded in [[Sedlec Abbey|Sedlec]] near [[Kutná Hora]] in 1142. In the late 13th century and early 14th century, the Cistercian order played an essential role in the politics and diplomacy of the late [[Přemyslid]] and early Luxembourg state, as reflected in the ''[[Czech literature|Chronicon Aulae Regiae]]''. This chronicle was written by Otto and Peter of [[Zittau]], abbots of the [[Zbraslav]] abbey (Latin: ''Aula Regia'', "Royal Hall"), founded in 1292 by the [[King of Bohemia]] and [[King of Poland|Poland]], [[Wenceslas II]]. The order also played the main role in the early [[Gothic art]] of Bohemia; one of the outstanding pieces of [[Cistercian architecture]] is the [[Alt-neu Shul]], Prague. The first abbey in the present day Romania was founded in 1179, at [[Egres Abbey|Igris (Egres)]], and the second in 1204, the [[Cârța Monastery]].

By the end of the 13th century, the Cistercian houses numbered 500.<ref name="OSCOFAQ1">{{cite web|url=http://www.ocso.org/HTM/net/faq-eng.htm#come |title=Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists): Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=Ocso.org |date=8 December 2003 |access-date=18 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917223746/http://www.ocso.org/HTM/net/faq-eng.htm |archive-date=17 September 2009 }}</ref> In this period, the monks performed pastoral tasks in and outside of the monastery and began preaching and teaching, even though their movement originally forbade schools and parishes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jamroziak |first=Emilia |title=Pastoral care and monasticism in Latin christianity and Japanese buddhism (ca. 800-1650) |date=2024 |publisher=LIT |isbn=978-3-643-15497-2 |editor-last=Ōnuki |editor-first=Toshio |series=Vita regularis Abhandlungen |location=Münster |chapter=Cistercians and the Care of Souls from the Twelfth to the Early Sixteenth Century |editor-last2=Melville |editor-first2=Gert |editor-last3=Akae |editor-first3=Yūichi |editor-last4=Takeda |editor-first4=Kazuhisa}}</ref> At the order's height in the 15th century, it would have nearly 750 houses.

It often happened that the number of lay brothers became excessive and out of proportion to the resources of the monasteries, there being sometimes as many as 200, or even 300, in a single abbey. On the other hand, in some countries, the system of lay brothers in course of time worked itself out; thus in England by the close of the 14th century it had shrunk to relatively small proportions, and in the 15th century the regimen of the English Cistercian houses tended to approximate more and more to that of the [[Order of Saint Benedict|Black Monks]].{{sfn|Butler|1911|p=394}}

== Influence with popes and kings ==
Cistercian influence more than kept pace with the material expansion.{{sfn|Butler|1911|p=393}} St. Bernard had become mentor to popes and kings, and in 1145, King [[Louis VII of France|Louis VII]]'s brother, [[Henry of France (1121–1175)|Henry of France]], entered Clairvaux.<ref name="Read118">Read, p 118</ref> That same year, Bernard saw one of his monks elected pope as [[Pope Eugene III]].<ref>Read, pp 117–118</ref> Eugene was an Italian of humble background, who had first been drawn to monasticism at Clairvaux by the magnetism of Bernard. At the time of his election, he was [[Tre Fontane Abbey|Abbot of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio]] outside Rome.<ref name="Read117">Read, p. 117</ref>
 
A considerable reinforcement to the Order was the merger of the [[Congregation of Savigny|Savigniac houses]] with the Cistercians, at the insistence of [[Pope Eugene III|Eugene III]]. Thirteen English abbeys, of which the most famous were [[Furness Abbey]] and [[Jervaulx Abbey]], thus adopted the Cistercian formula.<ref name="NewAdvent"/> In [[Dublin]], the two Savigniac houses of Erenagh and St Mary's became Cistercian.<ref name="Watt21"/> It was in the latter case that medieval Dublin acquired a Cistercian monastery in the very unusual suburban location of [[Oxmantown]], with its own private harbour called The Pill.<ref>Clarke, pp 42–43</ref>

== Decline and attempted reforms<!--'Cistercian reforms' redirects here--> ==
For a hundred years, until the first quarter of the 13th century, the Cistercians supplanted Cluny as the most powerful order and the chief religious influence in western Europe. But then in turn their influence began to wane, as the initiative passed to the [[mendicant order]]s,{{sfn|Butler|1911|p=394}} in Ireland,<ref name="Lalor200">Lalor, p 200</ref> Wales<ref name="Roderick164"/> and elsewhere.

Relaxations were gradually introduced into Cistercian life with regard to diet and simplicity of life. Also, they began accepting the traditional sources of income that monks in comparable orders used: like rents, tolls, and benefices. The agricultural operations were blessed by success. Wealth and splendour characterized the monasteries, so that by 1300, the standard of living in most abbeys was comparable, if not higher, than the standards middling nobles enjoyed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jaritz |first=Gerhard |title=Goad and Nail |date=1985 |publisher=Cistercian Publications |isbn=978-0-87907-984-0 |editor-last=Elder |editor-first=E. Rozanne |series=Studies in medieval Cistercian history |location=Kalamazoo, Michigan |pages=57 |chapter=The Standard of Living in German and Austrian Cistercian Monasteries of the Late Middle Ages |quote=A study [Watzl 1978] done for the Lower-Austrian abbey of Heiligenkreuz demonstrates that in the first half of the fifteenth century, no fewer than 201-207 days of the year saw extra food.}}</ref> Two important papal bulls tried to introduce reforms: Clement IV's ''[[Parvus fons]]'' and Benedict XII's ''[[Fulgens sicut stella matutina]]''. The General Chapter continued to battle against abuses.{{sfn|Butler|1911|p=394}}

[[File:Mellifont Abbey lavabo County Louth Ireland.JPG|thumb|right|The now-ruined [[Mellifont Abbey]], the centre of medieval Irish Cistercian monasticism and of the "Mellifont rebellion"]]
In Ireland, the information on the Cistercian Order after the Anglo-Norman invasion gives a rather gloomy impression.<ref name="Richter154">Richter, p 154</ref> Absenteeism among Irish abbots at the General Chapter became a persistent and much criticised problem in the 13th century, and escalated into the ''conspiratio Mellifontis'', a "rebellion" by the abbeys of the Mellifont filiation. [[Visitor]]s were appointed to reform Mellifont on account of the ''multa enormia'' that had arisen there, but in 1217 the abbot refused their admission and had lay brothers bar the abbey gates. There was also trouble at Jerpoint, and alarmingly, the abbots of Baltinglass, Killenny, Kilbeggan and Bective supported the actions of the "revolt".<ref name="Watt53">Watt, p. 53</ref>

In 1228, the General Chapter sent the [[Stanley Abbey|Abbot of Stanley]] in [[Wiltshire]], [[Stephen of Lexington]], on a well-documented visitation to reform the Irish houses.<ref>Watt, p. 55</ref> A graduate of both [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Paris|Paris]], and a future Abbot of Clairvaux (to be appointed in 1243), Stephen was one of the outstanding figures in 13th-century Cistercian history, having founded the [[Collège des Bernardins|College of St. Bernard]] in Paris in 1244.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Merton |first1=Thomas |title=Medieval Cistercian history |last2=Grimes |first2=William R. |last3=Merton |first3=Thomas |date=2019 |publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0-87907-043-4 |editor-last=O'Connell |editor-first=Patrick F. |series=Initiation into the monastic tradition / Thomas Merton |location=Collegeville, Minnesota |pages=217}}</ref> He found his life threatened as a result of the Irish visitations: his representatives were attacked and his party harassed, while the three key houses of Mellifont, Suir and Maigue had been fortified by monks to hold out against him.<ref name="Watt56">Watt, p. 56</ref> However, with the help of his assistants, the core of obedient Irish monks and the aid of both English and Irish secular powers, he was able to envisage the reconstruction of the Cistercian province in Ireland.<ref>Watt, pp. 56–57</ref> Stephen dissolved the Mellifont filiation altogether, and subjected 15 monasteries to houses outside Ireland.<ref name="Richter154"/> In breadth and depth, his instructions constituted a radical reform programme: "They were intended to put an end to abuses, restore the full observance of the Cistercian way of life, safeguard monastic properties, initiate a regime of benign paternalism to train a new generation of religious, isolate trouble-makers and institute an effective visitation system."<ref>Watt, p. 59</ref> The arrangement lasted almost half a century, and in 1274, the filiation of Mellifont was reconstituted.<ref name="Richter155">Richter, p. 155</ref>

In Germany the Cistercians were instrumental in the spread of Christianity east of the Elbe. They developed grants of territories of 180,000 acres where they would drain land, build monasteries and plan villages. Many towns near Berlin owe their origins to this order, including [[Heiligengrabe]] and [[Chorin]]; its [[Chorin Abbey]] was the first brick-built monastery in the area.<ref name="Alexandra Richie A History of Berlin">Richie, p. 21</ref> By this time, however, "the Cistercian order as a whole had experienced a gradual decline and its central organisation was noticeably weakened."<ref name="Richter155"/>

[[Image:Benedikt XII1.png|thumb|left|[[Pope Benedict XII]]]]
In 1335, the French cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, was elected and consecrated [[Pope Benedict XII]]. He was devoted to reducing the culture of [[nepotism]] at the Vatican. He promulgated a series of regulations to restore the spirit of reform in the Cistercian Order.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wiedemann |first=Benedict G E |date=2020-07-28 |title=Pope Benedict XII (1334–1342): The Guardian of Orthodoxy, ed. Irene Bueno |url=https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article/135/573/464/5848761 |journal=The English Historical Review |language=en |volume=135 |issue=573 |pages=464–466 |doi=10.1093/ehr/ceaa020 |issn=0013-8266}}</ref>

By the 15th century, however, the Cistercians had fallen on dark days. The General Chapter lost virtually all its power to enforce its decrees, and the strength of the order which derived from this uniformity declined. Wars, amon them the [[Hundred Years' War]], and a lack of leadership did damage. Many of the monasteries were controlled by dynasties who appointed their relatives to leadership positions, and pocketed the abbeys' profits. The system of placing abbeys ''[[in commendam]]'' was widespread and led to the spiritual and material decline of many abbeys.<ref>Lekai, Ideals and Reality, pp. 91-108.</ref>

== Protestant Reformation ==
[[File:Abbey Church at Rievaulx.jpg|thumb|right|[[Rievaulx Abbey]], confiscated by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] along with its [[blast furnace]] at [[Laskill]]]]
Germany became the scene of violence and destabilization following [[Martin Luther]]'s efforts to gain independence from the Vatican. Many abbeys lost scores of monks, as these left religious life in order to marry. Monastic property was confiscated by nobles who saw an opportunity to profit from the chaos. During the [[English Reformation]], [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]'s [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] saw the confiscation of every single monastery in that country, a disaster not only for the Cistercians. Some historians believe that the suppression of the English monasteries may have stamped out an industrial revolution.<ref name="Woods">David Derbyshire, 'Henry "Stamped Out Industrial Revolution"', ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' (21 June 2002); cited by Woods, p 37.</ref>

=== After the Reformation ===
[[File:Ansicht des Zisterzienserstiftes Lilienfeld.jpg|thumb|250px|left|View of the [[Lilienfeld Abbey|Lilienfeld Cistercian Abbey]], 1747]]
The reformed [[Congregation of the Feuillants]] spread widely in France and Italy in the 16th century. The French congregation of Sept-Fontaines (1654) also deserves mention. In 1663 [[Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé|Jean de Rancé]] reformed La Trappe (see [[Trappist]]s).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petruzzello |first=Melissa |title=Trappist |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trappists |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

In the 17th century another great effort at a general reform was made, promoted by the pope and the king of France; the general chapter elected [[Cardinal Richelieu|Richelieu]] to be (commendatory) abbot of Cîteaux, thinking he would protect them from the threatened reform. In this they were disappointed, for he threw himself wholly on the side of reform. A formidable battle ensued, making it clear that Italian and Central European abbeys did not want to go the way of the Trappists. Civic politics also played a role in the conflict.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hayden |first=J. Michael |date=1972 |title=Review of The Rise of the Cistercian Strict Observance in Seventeenth Century France (Book review) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25018975 |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=664–665 |jstor=25018975 |issn=0008-8080}}</ref>

The [[Protestant Reformation]], the ecclesiastical policy of [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Joseph II]], the [[French Revolution]], and the revolutions of the 18th century almost wholly destroyed the Cistercians. But some survived, and from the beginning of the last half of the 19th century there was a considerable recovery.{{sfn|Butler|1911|p=394}}

In 1892, the Trappists left the Cistercians and founded a new order, named the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.<ref>Alcuin Schachenmayr and Polycarp Zakar: ''Union And Division: The Proceedings of the Three Trappist Congregations at their General Chapter in 1892''. In: Analecta Cisterciensia 56 (2006) 334–384.</ref> The Cistercians that remained within the original order thus came to be known as the "Common Observance".{{sfn|Butler|1911|p=394}}

==Influence==

===Architecture===
[[File:Veruela - Iglesia abacial de Santa María de Veruela - Vista desde el pie.jpg|thumb|The "pure", unadorned style of Cistercian architecture at the 12th century [[Royal Monastery of Santa María de Veruela]]]]
{{Main|Cistercian architecture}}
<!--File:Rueda - Claustro - Entrada a sala capitular.jpg-->

[[Cistercian architecture]] has made an important contribution to European civilisation. Cistercian foundations were primarily constructed in [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] and [[Gothic architecture]] during the Middle Ages; although later abbeys were also constructed in [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] and [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}[[File:Kloster arnsburg zisterzienser klosterkirche aufriss langhaus dehio 1888.jpg|thumb|Cistercian architecture was applied based on rational principles.]]

St. Bernard saw church decoration as a distraction from piety, and the builders of the Cistercian monasteries had to adopt a style that followed his austere aesthetics. However, contrary to what is often claimed, there were no fixed building rules in the Cistercian order.<ref>[[Matthias Untermann|Untermann, Matthias]] (2001). "[http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/volltexte/2007/282 Gebaute unanimitas. Zu den "Bauvorschriften" der Zisterzienser]" [Built unanimitas. On the ‘building regulations’ of the Cistercians]. In: Knefelkamp, Ulrich (ed.): ''Zisterzienser. Norm, Kultur, Reform.'' Berlin/Heidelberg/New York, pp. 239-266.</ref> Furthermore, the order itself was receptive to the technical improvements of Gothic principles of construction and played an important role in its spread across Europe.<ref name="Toman10">Toman, p 10</ref>

Cistercian architecture embodied the ideals of the order, and was in theory at least utilitarian and without ornamentation.<ref name="Lalor1">Lalor, p 1</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sorabella |first1=Authors: Jean |title=Monasticism in Western Medieval Europe {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mona/hd_mona.htm |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |language=en}}</ref> The same "rational, integrated scheme" was used across Europe to meet the largely homogeneous needs of the order.<ref name="Lalor1"/> Various buildings, including the chapter-house to the east and the dormitories above, were grouped around a [[cloister]], and were sometimes linked to the transept of the church itself by a night stair.<ref name="Lalor1"/> Usually Cistercian churches were cruciform, with a short [[presbytery (architecture)|presbytery]] to meet the liturgical needs of the brethren, small chapels in the [[transept]]s for private prayer, and an aisled [[nave]] that was divided roughly in the middle by a screen to separate the monks from the lay brothers.<ref>Lalor, p 1, 38</ref>

=== Engineering and construction ===<!--File:Villers Abbey plan.jpg-->
[[Image:Dehio 191 Fontenay.png|thumb|upright|Plan of the church of [[Abbaye de Fontenay]]]]
The building projects of the Church in the [[High Middle Ages]] showed that the era encourage colossal architecture, with vast amounts of stone being quarried; the same was true of the Cistercian projects.<ref name="Cathedrals33">Erlande-Brandenburg, p 32–34</ref> Foigny Abbey was {{convert|98|m|ft}} long, and Vaucelles Abbey was {{convert|132|m|ft}} long.<ref name="Cathedrals33"/> Monastic buildings came to be constructed entirely of stone, right down to the most humble of buildings. In the 12th and 13th centuries, even Cistercian barns consisted had stone exteriors.<ref>Erlande-Brandenburg, p 28</ref>

The Cistercians acquired a reputation as masters in administering ecclesial construction projects.<ref name="Cathedrals50">Erlande-Brandenburg, p 50</ref> St. Bernard's own brother, [[Achard]], is known to have supervised the construction of many abbeys, such as [[Himmerod Abbey]] in the Rhineland.<ref name="Cathedrals50"/> On one occasion the abbot of La Trinité at [[Vendôme]] loaned a monk named John to the [[Bishop of Le Mans]], [[Hildebert de Lavardin]], for the building of a cathedral; after the project was completed, John refused to return to his monastery.<ref name="Cathedrals50"/> However, the monks did not construct their edifices alone. As early as 1133, St. Bernard was hiring workers to help the monks erect new buildings at Clairvaux.<ref name="Cathedrals101">Erlande-Brandenburg, p 101</ref> An illustration from the 16th century shows monks working alongside other craftsmen at [[Schönau Abbey (Odenwald)|Schönau Abbey]].<ref name="Cathedrals101" />

====Legacy====
[[Image:Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|[[Fountains Abbey]]]]

The Cistercian abbeys of [[Abbey of Fontenay|Fontenay]] in France,<ref name="UNESCO165">{{cite web |title=Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay (No. 165) |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/165 |publisher=[[UNESCO|unesco.org]] |work=[[UNESCO World Heritage Sites|UNESCO World Heritage Sites list]] |access-date=7 August 2009 }}</ref> [[Fountains Abbey|Fountains]] in England,<ref name="UNESCO373">{{cite web |title=Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (No. 372) |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/372 |publisher=[[UNESCO|unesco.org]] |work=[[UNESCO World Heritage Sites|UNESCO World Heritage Sites list]] |access-date=7 August 2009 }}</ref> [[Monastery of Alcobaça|Alcobaça]] in Portugal,<ref name="UNESCO505">{{cite web |title=Monastery of Alcobaça (No. 505) |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/505 |publisher=[[UNESCO|unesco.org]] |work=[[UNESCO World Heritage Sites|UNESCO World Heritage Sites list]] |access-date=7 August 2009 }}</ref> [[Poblet Monastery|Poblet]] in Spain<ref name="UNESCO518">{{cite web |title=Poblet Monastery (No. 518) |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/518 |publisher=[[UNESCO|unesco.org]] |work=[[UNESCO World Heritage Sites|UNESCO World Heritage Sites list]] |access-date=7 August 2009 }}</ref> and [[Maulbronn Abbey|Maulbronn]] in Germany are today recognised as [[UNESCO World Heritage Sites]].<ref name="UNESCO546">{{cite web |title=Maulbronn Monastery Complex (No. 546) |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/546 |publisher=[[UNESCO|unesco.org]] |work=[[UNESCO World Heritage Sites|UNESCO World Heritage Sites list]] |access-date=7 August 2009 }}</ref>

The abbeys of France and England are fine examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The architecture of Fontenay has been described as "an excellent illustration of the ideal of self-sufficiency" practised by the earliest Cistercian communities.<ref name="UNESCO165"/> The abbeys of 12th century England were stark and undecorated – a dramatic contrast with the elaborate churches of the wealthier Benedictine houses – yet to even the Cistercian ruins, such as in Fountains and [[Tintern Abbey|Tinturn Abbey]], attracted many tourists, pilgrims and poets.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kennedy |first=Deborah |date=2002 |title=Wordsworth, Turner, and the Power of Tintern Abbey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24044961 |journal=The Wordsworth Circle |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=79–84 |doi=10.1086/TWC24044961 |jstor=24044961 |issn=0043-8006}}</ref>

In the purity of architectural style, the beauty of materials and the care with which the Alcobaça Monastery was built,<ref name="UNESCO505"/> Portugal possesses one of the most outstanding and best preserved examples of Early Gothic.<ref>Toman, p 289</ref> Poblet Monastery, one of the largest in Spain, is considered similarly impressive for its austerity, majesty, and the fortified royal residence within.<ref name="UNESCO518"/>
[[File:VaulxDeCernay.jpg|thumb|[[Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey]] in [[Yvelines]], France]]
The fortified Maulbronn Abbey in Germany is considered "the most complete and best-preserved medieval monastic complex north of the [[Alps]]".<ref name="UNESCO546"/> The Transitional Gothic style of its church had a major influence in the spread of Gothic architecture over much of northern and central Europe, and the abbey's elaborate network of drains, irrigation canals and reservoirs has since been recognised as having "exceptional" cultural interest.<ref name="UNESCO546"/>

In Poland, the former Cistercian monastery of [[Pelplin|Pelplin Cathedral]] is an important example of [[Brick Gothic]]. [[Wąchock Abbey]] is one of the most valuable examples of Polish Romanesque architecture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bialoskorska |first=Krystina |date=1965 |title=Polish Cistercians Architecture and Its Contacts with Italy |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/766680 |journal=Gesta |language=en |volume=4 |pages=14–22 |doi=10.2307/766680 |jstor=766680 |issn=0016-920X}}</ref> The largest Cistercian complex, the [[Abbatia Lubensis abbey|Abbatia Lubensis]] ([[Lubiąż]], Poland), is a masterpiece of [[baroque architecture]] and the second largest Christian architectural complex in the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hauptmann-Fischer |first1=Ewa |last2=Kapelański |first2=Maksymilian |date=2019 |title=The Cistercian Musical Practice in Eighteenth-Century Silesia in Light of Surviving Musical and Archival Collections |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26776433 |journal=Fontes Artis Musicae |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=138–155 |jstor=26776433 |issn=0015-6191}}</ref>

== Art ==
The mother house of the order, Cîteaux, had developed an advanced style of painting in [[illuminated manuscript]]s during the first decades of the 12th century. However, as Bernard of Clairvaux's influence increased, decoration gradually diminished in Cistercian manuscripts. He had a strong aversion to the extensive use of imagery. Decorations were finally banned altogether in the order. Any wall paintings that may have existed were presumably destroyed. [[Crucifix]]es were allowed, and later some painting and decoration crept back in.<ref>Dodwell, 211–214</ref> Bernard criticized abbey churches for their "immoderate length, their superfluous breadth, the costly polishings, the curious carvings and paintings which attract the worshipper's gaze and hinder his attention." He loathed the fantastical, often deformed beasts used in medievial church decoration. Weaker monks would be tempted "to spend the whole day in wondering at these things rather than in meditating the law of God."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth212/Apologia.html |title=Bernard's letter |publisher=Employees.oneonta.edu |access-date=18 January 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Tumulo de D. Pedro I 55c.jpg|thumb|left|The highly elaborate 14th-century tomb of [[Peter I of Portugal]] in [[Alcobaça Monastery|Alcobaça]]]]
Nonetheless, many Cistercian abbey churches housed the tombs of royal or noble patrons, and these were often elaborately carved and painted. Notable dynastic burial places were Alcobaça for the [[Kings of Portugal]], [[Abbey of Cîteaux|Cîteaux]] for the [[Dukes of Burgundy]], and [[Poblet Monastery|Poblet]] for the [[Kings of Aragon]]. Corcomroe in Ireland contains one of only two surviving examples of Gaelic royal [[effigy|effigies]] from 13th and 14th century Ireland.<ref name="Doran48">Doran, p 48</ref>

== Agriculture, technology, and commerce ==
[[Image:Jörg Breu d. Ä. 002.jpg|thumb|Cistercians at work in a detail from the ''Life of St. [[Bernard of Clairvaux]]'', illustrated by [[Jörg Breu the Elder]] (1500)]]
Successful farmers, the white monks introduced and propagated many improvements in medieval agriculture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Janovský |first1=Martin |date=2024 |title=Stable isotope analysis in soil {{sic|prospection|nolink=y}} reveals the type of historic land‑use under contemporary temperate forests in Europe |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=14 |doi=10.1038/s41598-024-63563-1 |quote=the Cistercian Order has been renowned for its role in bringing into cultivation often inhospitable, marginal landscapes in different regions of Europe. Present-day landscapes still preserve various traces of their economic activities.|pmc=11208554 }}</ref> They developed an organised system for selling produce, cattle and horses, and notably contributed to commercial progress in Western Europe.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hoffman Berman |first=Constance |title=Agriculture and economies |date=2012-11-22 |work=The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order |pages=112–124 |editor-last=Birkedal Bruun |editor-first=Mette |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CCO9780511735899A019/type/book_part |access-date=2024-11-03 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cco9780511735899.012 |isbn=978-1-107-00131-2}}</ref> To the wool and cloth trade, which was especially fostered by the Cistercians, England was largely indebted for the beginnings of her commercial prosperity.<ref name="NewAdvent"/>

From the beginning, the monks used a system of [[lay brothers]] and employees to operate their farms; monks and priests were busy with their liturgical and sacramental duties. The lay brothers formed a body of men who lived alongside of the choir monks, but separate from them, not taking part in the canonical office, but having their own fixed round of prayer and religious exercises. They were not ordained, nor did they have a voice in the monks' chapter.<ref>{{Cite book |last=France |first=James |title=Separate but equal: Cistercian lay brothers, 1120-1350 |date=2012 |publisher=Cistercian Publications; Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0-87907-246-9 |series=Cistercian studies series |location=Trappist, Ky. : Collegeville, Minn}}</ref>
[[File:Cistercian numerals.svg|thumb|Numbers written with [[Cistercian numerals]].]]
One Cistercian monk claims that, until the [[Industrial Revolution]], most of the technological advances in Europe were made in the monasteries.<ref name="SpringBankBaedekerSFChron">{{cite web |author=Rob Baedeker |date=24 March 2008 |title=Good Works: Monks build multimillion-dollar business and give the money away |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/03/24/moneytales.DTL&hw=lasermonks&sn=001&sc=1000 |access-date=7 August 2009 |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref> According to the medievalist Jean Gimpel, their high level of industrial technology facilitated the diffusion of new techniques: "Every monastery had a model factory, often as large as the church and only several feet away, and waterpower drove the machinery of the various industries located on its floor."<ref name="Gimpel">Gimpel, p 67. Cited by Woods.</ref> Waterpower was used for crushing wheat, sieving flour, fulling cloth and tanning – a technological achievement in use in practically all of the order's monasteries.<ref>Woods, p 33</ref> The monks used their own [[Cistercian numerals|numbering system]], which could express all the numbers from 0 to 9999 in a single sign.<ref>{{Cite book|last=King|first=David A.|title=[[The Ciphers of the Monks|The Ciphers of the Monks: a forgotten number-notation of the Middle Ages]]|date=2001|publisher=F. Steiner|isbn=3-515-07640-9|location=Stuttgart|oclc=48254993|pages =16, 29, 34, 41}}</ref>

[[File:Braine le Chateau,Belgium,moulin banal.JPG|thumb|left|The Cistercians helped facilitate the spread of waterwheel technology.]]
The Cistercian order was innovative in developing techniques of [[hydrology|hydraulic engineering]] for monasteries established in remote valleys.<ref name="Toman10"/> In Spain, one of the earliest surviving Cistercian houses, the [[Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda]] in [[Aragon]], is a good example of such early hydraulic engineering, using a large [[waterwheel]] for power and an elaborate water circulation system for [[central heating]].

The Cistercians are known to have been skilled [[metallurgy|metallurgists]], and knowledge of their technological advances was transmitted by the order.<ref name="Woods34">Woods, pp 34–35</ref> Iron ore deposits were often donated to the monks along with forges to extract the iron, and within time surpluses were being offered for sale. The Cistercians became the leading iron producers in [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]], from the mid-13th century to the 17th century, also using the phosphate-rich slag from their furnaces as an agricultural fertiliser.<ref name="Gimpel68">Gimpel, p 68; cited by Woods, p 35</ref> The forge at Fontenay abbey, for instance, is not on the margins of the abbey grounds, but within the monastic enclosure itself. Cistercian innovations may have shaped the very course of Gothic architecture.<ref>Erlande-Brandenburg, pp 116–117</ref>

== Theology ==
[[File:Abbaye d'Acey 30.jpg|thumb|Liturgical celebration in the Cistercian [[Acey Abbey|Abbey of Acey]] in France]]
By far the most influential of the early Cistercians was [[Bernard of Clairvaux]]. He attracted vocations, served as a papal envoy, and attracted international attention to the movement: he was "one of the most influential churchmen of his time."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Meyer |first=John Richard |date=2024-10-12 |title=Saint Bernard of Clairvaux |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Bernard-of-Clairvaux |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=Britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Bernard was an ascetic and intellectual, which he demonstrated in his sermons on [[Divine grace|Grace]], [[Free will]] and the [[Song of Songs]].<ref name="Read118"/> He was quick to recognise heretical ideas, and in 1141 and 1145 respectively, he accused the celebrated scholastic theologian [[Peter Abelard]] and the popular preacher [[Henry of Lausanne]] of heresy.<ref name="Read118"/> He was also charged with the task of promulgating Pope Eugene's bull, ''[[Quantum praedecessores]]'', and his eloquence in preaching the [[Second Crusade]] recruited many to the cause.<ref name="Read119">Read, p. 119</ref>

Although Bernard's ''De laude novae militiae'' was in favour of the [[Knights Templar]],<ref name="Read180">Read, p. 180</ref> the English Cistercian Abbot [[Isaac of Stella]], near [[Poitiers]], preached against the very same group as a "new monstrosity".<ref name="Read180"/> In the course of the 12th and 13th centuries, many Cistercian authors wrote on spiritual topics.<ref>{{Citation |last=Elder |first=E. Rozanne |title=Early Cistercian writers |date=2012-11-22 |work=The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order |pages=199–217 |editor-last=Birkedal Bruun |editor-first=Mette |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CCO9780511735899A026/type/book_part |access-date=2024-06-04 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cco9780511735899.019 |isbn=978-1-107-00131-2}}</ref> The "four evangelists" of the movement are: Bernard, [[William of St-Thierry|William of Saint Thierry]], [[Aelred of Rievaulx]], and [[Guerric of Igny]]. Besides Bernard, the others were only re-discovered in the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGinn |first=Bernard |title=Three treatises on man: a Cistercian anthropology |date=1977 |publisher=Cistercian Publications |isbn=978-0-87907-024-3 |editor-last=McGinn |editor-first=Bernard |series=Cistercian fathers series |location=Kalamazoo, Mich |pages=27 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>

==Cistercians today==
[[File:Mauro-giuseppe-lepori-varese-2015-03-02.jpg|thumb|Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, Abbot General since 2010]]
Many Cistercian monasteries make produce goods such as cheese, bread, and craft products. In the United States, some abbeys support themselves through agriculture, forestry and real estate. European Trappist monasteries are known for their beer.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Castle |first=Stephen |date=11 July 2023 |title=At This Brewery, Blessings Are as Important as Barley and Hops |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/world/europe/england-trappist-beer.html |work=The New York Times |quote=There are just a dozen Trappist breweries worldwide, most in Belgium and the Netherlands.}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Cistercian monasteries]]
* [[Monastic sign languages]]
* [[Cistercian numerals]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Literature==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Cistercians|volume=6|pages=393–395|first=Edward Cuthbert|last=Butler|author-link=Edward Cuthbert Butler}}
*{{cite book |author=Clarke, Howard B. |author2=Dent, Sarah |author3=Johnson, Ruth |url=https://archive.org/details/dubliniastoryofm0000clar |title=Dublinia: The Story of Medieval Dublin |publisher=O'Brien |location=Dublin |url-access=registration |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-86278-785-1}}
*[[Charles Reginald Dodwell|Dodwell, C.R.]]; ''The Pictorial arts of the West, 800–1200'', (1993), Yale UP, {{ISBN|0-300-06493-4}}
*{{cite book |editor1=Doran, Linda |editor2=Lyttleton, James |title=Lordship in Medieval Ireland: Image and reality |edition=Hardback, illustrated |publisher=Four Courts Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84682-041-0}}
*{{cite book |author=Dykes, D.W.|title=Alan Sorrell: Early Wales Re-created|publisher=National Museum of Wales|year=1980 |isbn=978-0-7200-0228-7|title-link=Alan Sorrell}}
*Gimpel, Jean, ''The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages'' New York, Penguin, (1976) {{ISBN?}}
*{{Cite book | first = C. Warren | last = Hollister | edition=6th |year=1992 | title = The Making of England, 55 BC to 1399 | others=Volume I of ''A History of England'', edited by Lacey Baldwin Smith | location=[[Lexington, MA]] | orig-year = 1966 | isbn = 978-0-669-24457-1 |publisher=D.C. Heath. }}
*Lekai, Louis (1977). ''The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality''. The Kent State University Press, 1977. ISBN 978-0-873-38201-4.
*Logan, F. Donald, ''A History of the Church in the Middle Ages''. {{ISBN?}}
*{{cite book |title=Medieval Ireland: the enduring tradition |first=Michael |last=Richter |edition=Revised, illustrated |publisher=[[Gill & Macmillan]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7171-3293-5 }}
*Rudolph, Conrad, "The 'Principal Founders' and the Early Artistic Legislation of Cîteaux", ''Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture'' 3, Cistercian Studies Series 89 (1987) 1–45
*Rudolph, Conrad, ''Violence and Daily Life: Reading, Art, and Polemics in the Cîteaux Moralia in Job'' (1997) {{ISBN?}}
*Tobin, Stephen. ''The Cistercians: Monks and Monasteries in Europe''. The Herbert Press, LTD (1995). {{ISBN|1-871569-80-X}}.
*{{cite book |title=The Art of Gothic: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting |editor=Toman, Rolf |others=photography by Achim Bednorz |year=2007 |publisher=[[Tandem Verlag GmbH]] |isbn=978-3-8331-4676-3 }}
*Watt, John, ''The Church in Medieval Ireland''. University College Dublin Press; 2nd Rev. ed. (1998). {{ISBN|978-1-900621-10-6}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource|The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi/Volume I/1895 Description of Cistercians Vegetarion Missionaries|Mahatma Gandhi's 1895 Description of Cistercians Vegetarion Missionaries}}
*{{Official website|http://www.ocist.org}}
*[http://www.cistercensi.org/ Website on Cistercian Order, Architecture and History (''Italian'')]
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03780c.htm Newadvent.org], [[Catholic Encyclopedia]]
*[http://cistercium.blogspot.com/ EUCist News, a blog about current Cistercian research in English and German]
*[http://users.skynet.be/scourmont/script/docprim/car_car/lat/carta_car_som.htm Carta Caritatis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181230/http://users.skynet.be/scourmont/script/docprim/car_car/lat/carta_car_som.htm |date=3 March 2016 }} (Latin)
*[https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cistercian/ Center for Cistercian and Monastic Studies]
*[https://www.coe.int/en/web/cultural-routes/the-european-route-of-cistercian-abbeys European route of Cistercian abbeys]

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[[Category:Cistercians| ]]
[[Category:Cistercian Order| ]]
[[Category:Catholic monastic orders]]