Editing Cistercians (section)

==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 |last1=Escrivá de Balaguer |first1=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>