There are a certain number of medieval monasteries and other Cistercian buildings (salt factories, watermills) that are abandoned or ruined, or converted into hotels such as Monasterio de Piedra or St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church. [4], Fountains Abbey was founded in 1132 by discontented Benedictine monks from St. Mary's Abbey, York, who desired a return to the austere Rule of St Benedict. [72], The Cistercian abbeys of Fontenay in France,[74] Fountains in England,[75] Alcobaa in Portugal,[76] Poblet in Spain[77] and Maulbronn in Germany are today recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. [74] The abbeys of 12th century England were stark and undecorated a dramatic contrast with the elaborate churches of the wealthier Benedictine houses yet to quote Warren Hollister, "even now the simple beauty of Cistercian ruins such as Fountains and Rievaulx, set in the wilderness of Yorkshire, is deeply moving". Robert had been the idealist of the order, and Alberic was their builder. Some Cistercian abbeys did contain later medieval wall paintings, two examples being found in Ireland: Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of murals in Tintern Abbey, and traces still survive in the presbytery of Abbeyknockmoy. Here is a four-footed beast with a serpent's tail; there, a fish with a beast's head. Although this was revised on several occasions to meet contemporary needs, from the outset it emphasised a simple life of work, love, prayer and self-denial. Les cisterciennes de Castille et d'ailleurs face au Chapitre Gnral aux XIIe et XIIIe sicles", Les religieuses de Castille. With this new history of the White Monks and Nuns, two of the UKs leading monastic scholars present an engaging and authoritative history of the Cistercian order from its origins to the end of the Middle Ages. [39] This last abbey was founded in 1225 from Whitland Abbey in Wales, and at least in its earliest years, its monks were Welsh-speaking. Emphasised here are their provision of charity and their attitudes to and participation in the Crusades, including the fight against the Cathars, and the Reconquista in Spain, examining in particular Bernard of Clairvauxs polemic in praise of crusade and military orders. In her second chapter, Burton explains the spread of the Cistercian order via the foundations of daughter houses, the first of which came into existence as early as 1113 at La Fert, described in the foundation charter as a perfect spot for the monks to serve God. Some survived and new monasteries have been founded since the 19th century. Runs the Cistercian Preparatory School in Irving, TX. This is a wonderful selection of Cistercian monastic writings from the 12th century. Firstly, there was the permanent difficulty of maintaining the initial fervour of a body embracing hundreds of monasteries and thousands of monks, spread all over Europe. [90] As the historian Alain Erlande-Brandenburg writes: The quality of Cistercian architecture from the 1120s onwards is related directly to the Order's technological inventiveness. For God's sake, if men are not ashamed of these follies, why at least do they not shrink from the expense? By the end of the 13th century, the Cistercian houses numbered 500. [47] A graduate of both Oxford and Paris, and a future Abbot of Clairvaux (to be appointed in 1243), Stephen was one of the outstanding figures in 13th-century Cistercian history. The book ends with a useful index of the Cistercian houses mentioned in the text and an extensive bibliography, as well as a glossary which explains specialist terms to the non-specialist, elements which further contribute to making this a most recommendable work for scholars and students alike, as well as for anyone with a less professional interest in one of the most enduringly fascinating religious groups of medieval Europe. [88] The English science historian James Burke examines the impact of Cistercian waterpower, derived from Roman watermill technology such as that of Barbegal aqueduct and mill near Arles in the fourth of his ten-part Connections TV series, called "Faith in Numbers". [53] As a Cistercian, he had a notable theological background and, unlike his predecessor John XXII, he was a stranger to nepotism and scrupulous with his appointments. ; Price: 25.00. Word Games. Kerr here succeeds in making the reader appreciate the very real achievement that was the successful organisation of a structure that sought to combine lofty ideals and (not always equally lofty) human beings. The Cistercians, (/sstrnz/)[1] officially the Order of Cistercians (Latin: (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns 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. considering them in the religious, cultural, political and economic contexts of their world and time. [58] Slag from contemporary furnaces contained a substantial concentration of iron, whereas the slag of Laskill was low in iron content, and is believed to have produced cast iron with efficiency similar to a modern blast furnace. Interested in reviewing for us? Cistercian , or White Monk or Bernardine, Member of a Roman Catholic monastic order founded by St. Stephen Harding (1098) at Cteaux (Latin, Cistercium), Burgundy, by Benedictines dissatisfied with their abbey's laxity. [55] According to his detailed report to the General Chapter, the monks of only two monasteries, Dublin and Mellifont, kept the rule or even wore the habit. [31] He perceived the attraction of evil not simply as lying in the obvious lure of wealth and worldly power, but in the "subtler and ultimately more pernicious attraction of false ideas". [35] Nearly half of these houses had been founded, directly or indirectly, from Clairvaux, so great was St Bernard's influence and prestige. Some mouth-watering food for thought. These forms of communication are integrated into the discipline of maintaining a general atmosphere of silence, which is an important help to continual prayer.[101]. Cisteaux means reeds in Old French), given to them expressly for the purpose of founding their Novum Monasterium. It also operated "Laser Monks", which provided recycled. [60], In the 16th century had arisen the reformed Congregation of the Feuillants, which spread widely in France and Italy, in the latter country under the name of Improved Bernardines. The very raison d'tre of the Cistercian order consisted of its being a reform, by means of a return to primitive monasticism with its agricultural labour and austere simplicity. What was distinctive about Cistercian spiritual life? [1][2], Cistercian monasteries are divided into those that follow the Common Observance and the Strict Observance (Trappists). Corcomroe in Ireland contains one of only two surviving examples of Gaelic royal effigies from 13th and 14th century Ireland: the sarcophagal tomb of Conchobar na Siudaine Ua Briain (d. Visitors 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. In a number of ways it . At the abbey of Fontenay the forge is not outside, as one might expect, but inside the monastic enclosure: metalworking was thus part of the activity of the monks and not of the lay brothers. The order used its own numbering system, which could express numbers from 0 to 9999 in a single sign. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Cistercian barns consisted of a stone exterior, divided into nave and aisles either by wooden posts or by stone piers. As to grants of land, the order would normally accept only undeveloped land, which the monks then developed by their own labour. The head of the order, the abbot general of Cteaux, lives in Rome. Cistercians were severely ascetic, rejected feudal revenues, and engaged in manual labor. 1268). But some survived, and from the beginning of the last half of the 19th century there was a considerable recovery. [94] He also rejected the notion that crusaders could be regarded as martyrs if they died while despoiling non-Christians. By far the most influential of the early Cistercians was Bernard of Clairvaux. The best known of them were Robert of Molesme, Alberic of Cteaux and the English monk Stephen Harding, who were the first three abbots. Benedict was shy of personal power and was devoted exclusively to restoring the authority of the Church. Moving from internal to external organization and control, Kerr leads us through the system of visitations to the annual General Chapter held at Cteaux, considering both male and female houses of the Cistercian order and explaining the relative successes of Cistercian administration. The original Cistercians, now known as Cistercians of the Common Observance, focused on hard . Chief among Robert's followers included Alberic, a former hermit from the nearby forest of Colan, and Stephen Harding, a member of an Anglo-Saxon noble family which had been ruined as a result of the Norman conquest of England. Cistercian spirituality is the focus of the sixth chapter, and here Kerr discusses the liturgy, and what made it Cistercian, namely, the centrality of the Virgin, as well as the important topic of mystical writing among Cistercian authors. By the end of the 13th century, it had become a major autonomous power within the Castilian state, subject only to Morimond and the Pope; with abundant resources of men and wealth, lands and castles scattered along the borders of Castile, and feudal lordship over thousands of peasants and vassals. Mediaevistik enthlt Aufstze, Rezensionen und aktuelle Informationen. The largest Cistercian complex, the Abbatia Lubensis (Lubi, Poland), is a masterpiece of baroque architecture and the second largest Christian architectural complex in the world. At the time, it was the 38th Cistercian monastery founded but, due to the dissolution down the centuries of the earlier 37 abbeys, it is today the oldest surviving Cistercian house in the world. [12] Stephen handed over the west wing of Cteaux to a large group of lay brethren to cultivate the farms. [101] This has actually never been the case, although silence is an implicit part of an outlook shared by Cistercian and Benedictine monasteries. [105] This is a dispersed and uncloistered order of single, celibate, and married men officially recognized by the Church of England. [17] Bernard died in 1153, one month after his pupil Eugene III.[36]. The following chapter is dedicated to the daily life of monks and lay brethren, the monastic horarium and the monks diet. Bernard of Clairvaux entered the monastery in the early 1110s with 30 companions and helped the founding of the order. Clairvaux's daughter-house of Auberive (Hte-Marne) founded in 1135 may have been intended. Their incorporation into the order represents a compassionate outreach to the illiterate peasantry, as well as a realistic recognition of the need for additional sources of labour to tackle "unmanorialized" Cistercian lands. Cistercians represent. The final chapter draws together earlier conclusions and provides a usefully contextualizing frame for the entire book by considering the Cistercians involvement in worldly affairs. Keeping discipline within the monastery, among a group of men or women living according to a physically and mentally harsh regime, was not always an easy task for a monastic superior, as becomes clear when we consider the numerous references to (often, however, minor) transgressions committed by the monks (Kerr lists as the most common among them lateness, laziness, breaches of silence, and gluttony). However, of these 195 countries there are two that are not member states of the United Nations. He later came popularly to be regarded as the founder of the Cistercians, who have often been called Bernardines. 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 Cistercian order was innovative in developing techniques of hydraulic engineering for monasteries established in remote valleys. In short all things were so changed that the word of the Lord may be applied to this people: Which before was not my people, now is my people. The Abbey is situated on a dairy farm between Dannevirke and Takapau, Central Hawke's Bay. Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the technological advances in Europe were made in the monasteries. ), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Cistercian_monasteries&oldid=1156808170, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, Second of the four great daughter houses of Cteaux; refounded by the, Third of the four great daughter houses of Cteaux; founded by St Bernard, Fourth of the four great daughter houses of Cteaux, Founded on the site of a monastery established by Saint, The Abbey was moved from Koksijde to Bruges in the 17th century, 1151 by Archbishop Eskild & Bernard of Clairvaux, Founded by monks from Esrum & Varnhem, Sweden, Burned in 1190 and therefore finished 1325, Previously a Benedictine community; in 1196 it became Cistercian, Includes important hydrological works from the Middle Ages, including a dam on the, Closed 2011. Abbatia Purissimi Cordis B.M.V. [73] Tracings were architectural drawings incised and painted in stone, to a depth of 23mm, showing architectural detail to scale. [94] The English Cistercian Abbot Isaac of l'Etoile, near Poitiers, preached against the "new monstrosity" of the nova militia in the mid-12th century and denounced the use of force to convert members of Islam. He left four of his companions to be trained as Cistercians, and returned to Ireland to introduce Cistercian monasticism there. [72] It is from the 12th century Byland Abbey in Yorkshire that the oldest recorded example of architectural tracing is found. But then in turn their influence began to wane, as the initiative passed to the mendicant orders,[17] in Ireland,[44] Wales[26] and elsewhere. Tue 27 Jun 2023 15.30 EDT. [84], According to one modern Cistercian, "enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit" have always been a part of the order's identity, and the Cistercians "were catalysts for development of a market economy" in 12th-century Europe. According to the historian Piers Paul Read, his vocation to the order, by deciding "to choose the narrowest gate and steepest path to the Kingdom of Heaven at Citeaux demonstrates the purity of his vocation". One hundred children. [71] St. Bernard's own brother, Achard, is known to have supervised the construction of many abbeys, such as Himmerod Abbey in the Rhineland. The headquarters in Bern, Switzerland are the central hub for executive management, sales, marketing and distribution services, working closely with the editorial companies based in Berlin, Bern, Brussels, Oxford, and New York, and supported by commissioning editors working out of local offices in Vienna, Dublin, Warsaw and Istanbul. A powerful mercenary military leader brought in by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to help salvage his floundering invasion of Ukraine turned . It was here that a group of Benedictine monks from the monastery of Molesme founded Cteaux Abbey in 1098, with the goal of following more closely the Rule of Saint Benedict. [70], The Cistercians acquired a reputation in the difficult task of administering the building sites for abbeys and cathedrals. The whole order was affected, but some abbeys never accepted the reform as such. Notable dynastic burial places were Alcobaa for the Kings of Portugal, Cteaux for the Dukes of Burgundy, and Poblet for the Kings of Aragon. [61] Some historians believe that the suppression of the English monasteries may have stamped out an industrial revolution. The Cistercians became the leading iron producers in Champagne, from the mid-13th century to the 17th century, also using the phosphate-rich slag from their furnaces as an agricultural fertiliser. Kerr examines the nature of their relationship with the fully professed members of the order, and explains their duties and activities. In 1098, a Benedictine abbot, Robert of Molesme, left Molesme Abbey in Burgundy with around 20 supporters, who felt that the Cluniac communities had abandoned the rigours and simplicity of the Rule of St. Benedict. The third chapter takes a closer look at the Cistercians choice of sites for their monasteries, considering the ways in which the White Monks tried, often successfully, to recreate the spiritual desert image in their settlements, while simultaneously catering for their more practical, physical needs. 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. Reviewer: Dr Karen Stober . The first monastery of the order was at Cistercium (now Cteaux), near Dijon. The Trappists were eventually consolidated in 1892 into a new order called the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Latin: Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae), abbreviated as OCSO. [14], In 1129 Margrave Leopold the Strong of Styria called upon the Cistercians to develop his recently acquired March which bordered Austria on the south. Burton addresses the ongoing historical debate about the emergence of the Cistercians as an order, which has been challenged by Constance Hoffman Berman, who argues for a later date than previous scholars. [85] It was as agriculturists and horse and cattle breeders that the Cistercians exercised their chief influence on the progress of civilisation in the Middle Ages. Chapters three to eight are the work of Julie Kerr and look in illuminating detail at particular aspects of Cistercian life, spirituality, economy, and their involvement with the world outside the monastery walls. Many bodies are there seen under one head, or again, many heads to a single body. [67] Usually Cistercian churches were cruciform, with a short presbytery to meet the liturgical needs of the brethren, small chapels in the transepts 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. the 5th to the 16th century, corresponding with the geographical boundaries of Latin Christianity in the High Middle Ages. Membership of the Cistercian Order had included a large number of men from knightly families, and when King Alfonso VII began looking for a military order to defend the Calatrava, which had been recovered from the Moors a decade before, the Cistercian Abbot Raymond of Fitero offered his help. . Following the 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, Comber Abbey, Duiske Abbey, Abington, Abbeylara and Tracton. [24], Thirteen Cistercian monasteries, all in remote locations, were founded in Wales between 1131 and 1226. Negative numbers justkeep a leading -, and numbers with an absolute number greater than 9999 are displayed with multiple Cistercian digits. The French congregation of Sept-Fontaines (1654) also deserves mention. The Cistercians were a strict branch of the Benedictine order who fled worldly commerce to live "remote from the habitation of man." Under St. Bernard, they achieved that life by setting up economic independence based on high technology. This, as Kerr explains, was bound to have an impact on the monks mental wellbeing, and psychological problems were not uncommon even among monks who did not take the physical mortification to extremes. [4] In Dublin, the two Savigniac houses of Erenagh and St Mary's became Cistercian. [51], In Germany the Cistercians were instrumental in the spread of Christianity east of the Elbe. Crucifixes were allowed, and later some painting and decoration crept back in.
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