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The Cistercians (Medieval Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2. Cistercian monasticism began when in 1098 twenty-one monks from the wealthy Burgundian monastery of Molesme undertook to create a new monastery in which they would live in voluntary poverty, “poor with the poor Christ,” and in literal adherence to the Rule of Saint Benedict. Over the next millennium, in their habits of undyed wool (whence the term White Monks), increasing numbers of inhabitants of the New Monastery—later called Cîteaux from its location in the swampy area near Dijon known as Cistercium—spread across the world, developing new pastoral and agricultural methods and creating a distinctive architecture. While the Rule of Saint Benedict provided the essential regulations for Cistercian life, Cistercian polity derived from the Order’s early documents, beginning with the Charter of Charity, which defines the relationship among all members of the Order as grounded in charity, with all “united in spirit.” That principle underlies the horizontal links among the monasteries, as all abbots and abbesses meet regularly in a General Chapter to deliberate constitutional questions. A vertical relationship among the houses also exists, however, as superiors of founding—mother—houses carry out annual visitation of all their daughter houses and abbots of daughter houses visit their mother houses each year. As the young order did not accept child oblates, Cistercian communities drew their population from adult men, a fact that probably contributed to the number of distinguished early Cistercian writers and preachers. Medieval authors, beginning with Bernard, the influential 12th-century abbot of Clairvaux, wrote numerous commentaries, sermons, and treatises explicating the spiritual life as founded in the love of God and God’s love of the human soul, so formulating a recognizable Cistercian spirituality and theology. Cistercian libraries were rich in classical, patristic, and medieval works, and a desire to return to earlier traditions of hymnody and liturgy led to the initial musical development. In the mid-12th century other monastic groups began to desire to share the Cistercian life; in 1147 the Cistercian General Chapter admitted the entire orders of Savigny and of Obazine, the latter with both men’s and women’s houses. Today the appeal of Cistercian life and spirituality has led to both a number of affiliated monasteries and a growing movement of laity in the Association of Lay Cistercians, which maintains close ties with Cistercian monasteries. In the 19th century, descendants of the 17th-century monks at the French abbey of La Trappe formed a separate Cistercian branch, the Order of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O), also called Trappists. The original branch is known as the Order of the Common Observance (O.Cist.).
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  4. Historical and Cultural Context
  5. As Europe entered into the 1st millennium CE, a combination of anxiety and fervor led to new kinds of religious expression and life, visible in the creation of new religious orders, the most successful of which was the Order of Cîteaux, founded in 1198. Many scholars have explored the developments in 11th- and 12th-century culture that underlay that religious vitality, from the perspective of institutional change to that of personal spirituality. Lawrence 2001 treats Cistercian beginnings not as revolutionary but as in a clear line of descent from desert monasticism and early medieval eremitic life. Similarly Leclercq 1961 finds the origins of 12th-century monastic culture in patristic writings, a view supported by the importance to the Cistercians of the Rule of Saint Benedict as explicated in Fry 1981 and Vogüé 2013, while Melville 2016 calls attention to the originality of the order created by the new system of Cistercian governance. Constable 1996 examines not the origins of the new religious orders but the way they participated in the 12th-century cultural revolution, and Leclercq 1993 examines the origins and motives of the individuals who became part of the new orders. Fulton 2003 identifies Cistercian affectivity as originating in expectations that the world would end in 1000.
  6.  
  7. Constable, Giles. The Reformation of the Twelfth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  8.  
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  10.  
  11. A classic analytic work providing thorough context for religious change in 12th-century Europe, with special emphasis on the monastic reform begun at Cîteaux, arguing for the significant contributions made by the new orders, including Cistercians. Valuable for teaching and young scholars; many footnotes, an extensive bibliography, and a detailed index.
  12.  
  13. Find this resource:
  14.  
  15.  
  16. Fry, Timothy, ed. RB1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with Notes. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1981.
  17.  
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  19.  
  20. A standard text of the Rule; facing-page translation, copious footnotes. Extensive history and context for early monasticism to the 6th century, and for the Rule beyond the 6th century. Appendices by other scholars discuss the Rule’s content (liturgy, discipline, Scripture). A detailed Latin concordance, thematic and scriptural indices.
  21.  
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  24.  
  25. Fulton, Rachel. From Judgment to Passion: Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800–1200. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
  26.  
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  28.  
  29. An insightful study of changes in medieval patterns of spirituality. Compellingly looks to the unfulfilled popular expectation that the world would end in 1000 to explain the subsequent growth in compassion for the suffering Jesus, with Anselm as a pivotal influence. Contributes thoughtfully to an understanding of Cistercian affective spirituality.
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  33.  
  34. Lawrence, C. H. Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. 3d ed. New York: Routledge, 2001.
  35.  
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  37.  
  38. Outstanding single-volume work on monasticism during the Middle Ages. Follows a basic chronology from desert monasticism to the late medieval friars, including a chapter on The Cistercian Model and a clear chapter about monastic women. Endnotes in chapters, detailed index, no general bibliography. Glossary useful for classroom teaching.
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  40. Find this resource:
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  42.  
  43. Leclercq, Jean. The Love of Learning and the Desire for God. Translated by Catharine Misrahi. New York: Fordham University Press, 1961.
  44.  
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  46.  
  47. The essential study on the origins of monastic culture and the dominant influence exercised by Saints Benedict and Gregory the Great. Leclercq’s distinction between monastic theology and scholastic theology was a cornerstone for medieval studies in the late 20th century. Consistently readable. Originated as lectures for young monks.
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  51.  
  52. Leclercq, Jean. “Conversion to the Monastic Life in the Twelfth Century: Who, Why, and How?” In Studiosorum Speculum: Studies in Honor of Louis J. Lekai, O.Cist. Edited by Francis Swietek and John R. Sommerfeldt, 201–232. Cistercian Studies 141. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1993.
  53.  
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  55.  
  56. Leclercq addresses the question of what conversion meant for those joining 12th-century monasteries of Cistercian and other new orders. Provides no fixed typology of conversion, but categories such as the social strata of converts (mostly aristocratic), motives for conversion, and difficulty of entry requirements, including good health.
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  59.  
  60.  
  61. Melville, Gert. The World of Medieval Monasticism: Its History and Forms of Life. Translated by James D. Mixson. Cistercian Studies 263. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2016.
  62.  
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  64.  
  65. A thorough overview of European religious orders and their founders through the 15th century, ranging from regular canons through the Humiliati; photographs, maps, detailed time line, and bibliography. Two chapters explain Cistercians as the first true monastic order, with communities independent in life but linked through filiation and legislative authority.
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  67. Find this resource:
  68.  
  69.  
  70. Vogüé, Adalbert de. A Critical Study of the Rule of Saint Benedict. Vol. 1. Translated by Colleen Maura McGrane. New York: New City, 2013.
  71.  
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  73.  
  74. First volume of a thorough multivolume study of the Rule. An English translation of Vogüé’s in-depth scholarship on the Rule, its authorship, historical and liturgical context, literary sources (including Rule of the Master), dating, manuscript tradition, and textual criticism. Each chapter has detailed endnotes; no separate bibliography or index.
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  78.  
  79. Reference Works
  80. Scholarly entries on things Cistercian appear in most reference works on the Middle Ages, most significantly Viller, et al. 1932–1995, which is available online with a fee; Strayer 1989; Johnston 2000; and Bjork 2010, available online by subscription. Websites of the two Orders provide historical documents and current information as well as information about individual monasteries, with photographs. Two other websites sponsored by the Orders provide more focused information; Cistopedia—Encyclopædia Cisterciensis is the most extensive website for information about Cistercian history and life today, and Biographia Cisterciensis includes biographical information and links to other relevant sites.
  81.  
  82. Biographia Cisterciensis—Dictionary of Cistercian Biography—Ein Zisterzienserlexikon.
  83.  
  84. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  85.  
  86. The website of Biographia Cisterciensis (Cistercian Biography online), with entries for many important Cistercian figures from the 12th century to the present and a number of Cistercian monasteries. Includes a list of useful websites for Cistercian history and life with brief annotations. Site in progress, with requests for contributions.
  87.  
  88. Find this resource:
  89.  
  90.  
  91. Bjork, Robert E., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  92.  
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  94.  
  95. A four-volume encyclopedia covering European history, society, religion, and culture from c. 500 CE to c. 1500 CE. Contains 125 entries on Cistercian history, people, monasteries, liturgy, art and architecture, etc. Available online.
  96.  
  97. Find this resource:
  98.  
  99.  
  100. Cistopedia—Encyclopædia Cisterciensis.
  101.  
  102. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  103.  
  104. A database of Cistercian materials created jointly by today’s two Cistercian Orders and many non-monastic contributors, in six languages. It lists all Cistercian monasteries, with photos, arranged alphabetically, chronologically, and geographically, a list of online libraries, periodicals, Cistercian research centers, etc., and indices of persons and terms.
  105.  
  106. Find this resource:
  107.  
  108.  
  109. Johnston, William M., ed. Encyclopedia of Monasticism. 2 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000.
  110.  
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  112.  
  113. The work focuses on Christian and Buddhist monasticism. Three articles on Cistercian matters: “Cistercians: Females” and “Cistercians: General and Male” (Berman, volume 1) and “Trappists” (Bell, volume 2). Each article briefly, though with important detail, covers Order’s history and ideology with a few b/w images plus sources for further reading.
  114.  
  115. Find this resource:
  116.  
  117.  
  118. O.Cist. Order of Cistercians.
  119.  
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  121.  
  122. The website of the Order of Cistercians of the Common Observance, with statistics about monasteries and affiliated congregations, news items, records of liturgical celebrations and participation, General Chapter reports, and documents from the abbot general and other members of the Generalate. The essential source for current information about the Order.
  123.  
  124. Find this resource:
  125.  
  126.  
  127. O.C.S.O. Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.
  128.  
  129. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  130.  
  131. The website for the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, with a list and global map of monasteries, contact information, statistics from 2009 to 2014, historical texts, news (including a current necrology), pages about the Order and its life, and many photographs. The essential source for up-to-date information about the Order.
  132.  
  133. Find this resource:
  134.  
  135.  
  136. Strayer, Joseph, ed. Dictionary of the Middle Ages. 11 vols. New York: Scribner’s, 1989.
  137.  
  138. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  139.  
  140. This now-classic reference resource for the European Middle Ages covers all aspects of the period, including extensive entries on medieval monasticism. Volume 3 contains articles on Cistercians: “Chant” (Waddell), “Order” (Hill), and “Rite” (Waddell). Bibliographies for articles are now dated, but content is sound and especially helpful for students.
  141.  
  142. Find this resource:
  143.  
  144.  
  145. Viller, Marcel, Charles Baumgartner, and André Rayez, eds. Dictionnaire de spiritualité: Ascétique et mystique, doctrine et histoire. 17 vols. Paris: G. Beauchesne et ses fills, 1932–1995.
  146.  
  147. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  148.  
  149. The standard encyclopedia focused on ways of seeking God, including traditions of Christianity and other faiths. Historical and cultural entries include numerous entries on Cistercian people, life, and thought. An invaluable source for Cistercian history and spirituality. Available online for a fee.
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  151. Find this resource:
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  153.  
  154. Journals
  155. Scholarly articles about Cistercian history and thought, and reviews of relevant books and articles, appear regularly in scholarly journals, frequently in those published by religious orders. The American Benedictine Review is published in the United States by the Order of Saint Benedict. Six Cistercian journals are published by the two Cistercian Orders in the United States and Europe: Analecta Cisterciensia, Cistercian Studies Quarterly, Cistercienser Chronik, Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses, Collectanea Cisterciensia, and Revista Cistercium.
  156.  
  157. The American Benedictine Review. 1950–.
  158.  
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  160.  
  161. A distinguished quarterly monastic journal in English published by the Order of Saint Benedict; regularly includes articles on Cistercian thought and history alongside those devoted to general Benedictine history and thought. Includes book reviews. Terrence Kardong, OSB, ed.
  162.  
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  165.  
  166. Analecta Cisterciensia. 1945–.
  167.  
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  169.  
  170. A distinguished monastic journal annually publishing articles on Cistercian subjects and authors, mostly in German, French, and English. Published by the Cistercian Order of the Common Observance. Alkuin Schachenmayr, OCist, ed.
  171.  
  172. Find this resource:
  173.  
  174.  
  175. Cistercian Studies Quarterly. 1966–.
  176.  
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  178.  
  179. An international English-language review of the Christian monastic tradition, with book reviews and annual and ten-year indices; complete index available on the website. Aims to strengthen bonds of charity between the Cistercian Orders and among their communities. Published by the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. Lawrence Morey, OCSO, ed.
  180.  
  181. Find this resource:
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  183.  
  184. Cistercienser Chronik. 1889–.
  185.  
  186. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  187.  
  188. Articles on Cistercian history, art, literature, and spirituality from all periods of Cistercian history, mostly in German. Frequent articles on Cistercian life today and on monasteries of the Cistercian Order of the Common Observance. Published by the Order of the Common Observance. Norbert Orthen, OCist, editor-in-chief.
  189.  
  190. Find this resource:
  191.  
  192.  
  193. Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses. 1959–.
  194.  
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  196.  
  197. Quarterly journal with articles from all periods of Cistercian history in a variety of languages, with particular focus on archeology and Cistercian sites. Each article followed by a summary in French, English, and German. Also includes book reviews and short communications. Published by the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. Terryl N. Kinder, ed.
  198.  
  199. Find this resource:
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  201.  
  202. Collectanea Cisterciensia. 1965–.
  203.  
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  205.  
  206. French-language quarterly journal; each issue since 2001 includes a translated work by a medieval Cistercian writer. Reviews of recent books and articles and synopses of important articles from all monastic journals. One article per issue available online. Published by the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. Gérard Joyau, OCSO, editor-in-chief.
  207.  
  208. Find this resource:
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  210.  
  211. Revista Cistercium. 1949–.
  212.  
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  214.  
  215. This semiannual journal in Spanish is published by the Cistercian Spanish Regional Conference. An index through 2008 is available through the website. Includes book reviews and regularly reprints translations of articles from other Cistercian journals. Francisco R. De Pascual, OCSO, ed.
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  219.  
  220. Origins
  221. Building on the narrative account of the beginning of the Cistercian Order and subsequent explanations of the founding of early monasteries, many scholars have sought to expand the details of that account. Van Damm 1998 fleshes out the scarce information available about the Order’s abbots into brief biographies, Newman 2013 explains the lively cultural developments of the young Order as a result of its acceptance of adult vocations, and Freeman 2002 finds in early foundation narratives Cistercian readiness to innovate even while insisting on continuity with the past. Newman 1997 points to Stephen Harding’s reading of the Benedictine Rule as preparing the early Cistercians for the affectivity of Bernard’s sermons, and Ragnard 2014 recognizes the different strengths of Stephen and Bernard as contributing to the diversity and growth of the young Order. Newman 1997 moves outward from the monasteries to their relationship with the larger church. Challenging the general acceptance of the Order’s beginnings, Berman 2000 judges the “primitive documents” to be forged and/or fraudulent, arguing that they were written after the Order actually began in the second half of the 12th century in order to prove earlier origins. Waddell 2000 and Casey 2003 forcibly dispute Berman’s position.
  222.  
  223. Berman, Constance H. The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.
  224.  
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  226.  
  227. A much-disputed work arguing that Cistercian documents long considered foundational were actually written in the 1160s and 1170s. Concludes that there was no General Chapter before the 1160s (denying the 1147 chapter that admitted Savigniac and Obazine monasteries) and that no institutionalized Order existed until at least the 1160s.
  228.  
  229. Find this resource:
  230.  
  231.  
  232. Casey, Michael. “Bernard and the Crisis at Morimond: Did the Order Exist in 1124?” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 38 (2003): 119–175.
  233.  
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  235.  
  236. This lengthy article engages Berman’s thesis that Cistercians invented the Order in the late 12th century. Focusing on 1124 and the foundation of Morimond, Casey uses six Bernardine letters and analysis of the term ordo to show that the concept of the Cistercian Order existed before Berman claims.
  237.  
  238. Find this resource:
  239.  
  240.  
  241. Freeman, Elizabeth. Narratives of a New Order: Cistercian Historical Writing in England, 1150–1220. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002.
  242.  
  243. DOI: 10.1484/M.MCS-EB.5.112712Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  244.  
  245. This “exegetical” examination of early English Cistercian foundation narratives and historical treatises insightfully shows their construction of a past for the Order and for Plantagenet England, articulating through narrative history what it meant to be Cistercian and English. Focuses on Cistercian attempts to reconcile change with commitment to continuity.
  246.  
  247. Find this resource:
  248.  
  249.  
  250. Newman, Martha. “Stephen Harding and the Creation of the Cistercian Community.” Revue Bénédictine 107 (1997): 307–329.
  251.  
  252. DOI: 10.1484/J.RB.4.01373Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  253.  
  254. Argues that Stephen Harding’s reading of the Benedictine Rule bound the monks of Cîteaux into a community accessible to Bernard’s shaping their affective understanding through his sermons on the Song of Songs. Rejects a sharp distinction between the spirituality of the Order and the dynamics of its governance structure.
  255.  
  256. Find this resource:
  257.  
  258.  
  259. Newman, Martha. “Foundation and Twelfth Century.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 25–37. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  260.  
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  262.  
  263. Focuses on the young Order’s development of a distinctive culture interwoven with a new organizational structure, attracting imaginative people and open to new ideas, so creating a language of contemplation and experience that shaped medieval mysticism, worked for ecclesiastical reform, and initiated new economic and agricultural techniques.
  264.  
  265. Find this resource:
  266.  
  267.  
  268. Ragnard, Joël. “Saint Bernard and the New Monastery.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 49.4 (2014): 431–453.
  269.  
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  271.  
  272. This translation of “Saint Bernard et le Nouveau Monastère,” Collectanea Cisterciensia 75.1 (2013): 41–61, considers the relationship of Stephen Harding, abbot of Cîteaux, and Bernard, first abbot of Clairvaux, finding in their differences partial explanation of the success of the two communities and of the Order in its diversity.
  273.  
  274. Find this resource:
  275.  
  276.  
  277. Van Damm, Jean-Baptiste. The Three Founders of Cîteaux. Translated by Nicholas Groves and Christian Carr. Cistercian Studies 176. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1998.
  278.  
  279. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  280.  
  281. English translation of Les trois fondateurs de Cîteaux (Chambarand, France: Abbey de Chambarand, 1966). Brief yet solid biographies from scant sources on Robert of Molesme, Alberic, and Stephen Harding, the first three abbots of the New Monastery. Details from primary sources and historical context covering c. 1050 to 1134. Bibliography.
  282.  
  283. Find this resource:
  284.  
  285.  
  286. Waddell, Chrysogonus. “The Myth of Cistercian Origins: C. H. Berman and the Manuscript Sources.” Cîteaux: Commentarii Cisterciensis 51.3–4 (2000): 299–386.
  287.  
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  289.  
  290. A detailed response to The Cistercian Evolution (Berman 2000) by the distinguished editor of the early Cistercian sources, identifying fundamental errors in Berman’s reading and sequencing of the manuscripts, examining three important documents, and including an edition and analysis of early statuta.
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  293.  
  294.  
  295. Incorporating Women
  296. In part because women’s monasteries were not officially part of the Cistercian Order in its early years, some scholars have declared the Order hostile to women, and it has been difficult to determine when and where women defined themselves as Cistercian. In recent years, however, scholars have been able not only to find evidence of early women’s communities identifying themselves as Cistercian but also to learn more about the lives and practices of those communities. Probably the earliest general scholarship on Cistercian women is found in Presse 1934; Freeman 2013 contains the current best information about the topic, explaining the problems in finding and interpreting the data and presenting a wealth of specific findings. Between 1935 and 2013, numerous articles and books appeared focusing on particular aspects of the question. Connor 1995 examines the history and life of two of the earliest known communities of Cistercian nuns, Las Huelgas and Tart; Berman 1993 explores the economic life of Cistercian women; Lester 2006 surveys Cistercian nuns’ role in nursing; and Jordan 2012 addresses differences in 13th-century patronage of male and female houses. Lester 2011 comprehensively studies the lives of Cistercian women in the 13th century and afterward. Burton and Stöber 2015 provides current important studies on monastic women, several specifically about Cistercian women.
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  298. Berman, Constance H. “The Economic Practices of Cistercian Women’s Communities: A Preliminary Look.” In Studiosorum Speculum: Studies in Honor of Louis J. Lekai, O.Cist. Edited by Francis Swietek and John R. Sommerfeldt, 15–32. Cistercian Studies 141. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1993.
  299.  
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  301.  
  302. The first inquiry into the economy of medieval Cistercian women, comparing their situations with those of men. Concludes that although nuns’ enclosure complicated their ability to manage their property, their greatest disadvantage was insufficient land, resulting from benefactors’ tendency to give women rents and annuities rather than land.
  303.  
  304. Find this resource:
  305.  
  306.  
  307. Burton, Janet, and Karen Stöber, eds. Women in the Medieval Monastic World. Medieval Monastic Studies. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2015.
  308.  
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  310.  
  311. Fifteen valuable chapters on medieval European monastic women, five focusing on Cistercian women’s houses. Studies of architecture, space, and authority, etc., and of monasteries in, e.g., England, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, and Spain. Introduces a valuable new database currently containing 3,000 medieval women’s monasteries (FemMoData). Many photographs and architectural plans.
  312.  
  313. Find this resource:
  314.  
  315.  
  316. Connor, Elizabeth. “The Abbeys of Las Huelgas and Tart and Their Filiations.” In Hidden Springs: Cistercian Monastic Women. Edited by John A. Nichols and Lillian Thomas Shank, 29–48. Cistercian Studies 113B. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995.
  317.  
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  319.  
  320. A close examination of two early communities of Cistercian nuns, the Spanish royal foundation of Las Huelgas and the French abbey of Tart. While dependent on Cîteaux, both had many daughter houses and annual General Chapters. Reveals the strength of early women’s monasteries and the recognized authority of their abbesses.
  321.  
  322. Find this resource:
  323.  
  324.  
  325. Freeman, Elizabeth. “Nuns.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 100–111. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  326.  
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  328.  
  329. Best current scholarship on Cistercian nuns, detailing difficulties in finding 12th- and 13th-century data but estimating 650 to 700 medieval communities. Rejects the view that Cistercian monks resisted incorporating women, giving evidence of male support. A general summary supported with specificity about locations, numbers, governance, economic practices, etc.
  330.  
  331. Find this resource:
  332.  
  333.  
  334. Jordan, Erin L. “Gender Concerns: Monks, Nuns, and Patronage of the Cistercian Order in the Thirteenth-Century Flanders and Hainaut.” Speculum 87 (2012): 62–94.
  335.  
  336. DOI: 10.1017/S0038713411003861Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  337.  
  338. Challenges conventional views of differences between male/female Cistercian houses and uncritical assumptions about medieval attitudes toward gender and the impoverishment of Cistercian women. Analysis of thirty-seven foundations shows equivalent patronage of men and women, indicating that gender norms did not account for differences between houses, which were complementary, not competitive.
  339.  
  340. Find this resource:
  341.  
  342.  
  343. Lester, Anne E. “Cares beyond the Walls: Cistercian Nuns and the Care of Lepers in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Northern France.” In Religious and Laity in Western Europe 1000–1400. Edited by Emilia Jamroziak and Janet Burton, 197–224. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2006.
  344.  
  345. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  346.  
  347. Examines the role of Cistercian nuns in caring for laity and the consequent identification of such care with nuns’ spiritual vocation. Notes that many Cistercian houses grew out of a close connection with houses of lepers, as seen in foundation documents and land transfers. Explains the history of specific houses.
  348.  
  349. Find this resource:
  350.  
  351.  
  352. Lester, Anne E. Creating Cistercian Nuns: The Women’s Religious Movement and Its Reform in Thirteenth-Century Champagne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011.
  353.  
  354. DOI: 10.7591/cornell/9780801449895.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  355.  
  356. A study of women in and connected to the Cistercian Order, primarily in the 13th century, but with an epilogue detailing relevant events of the 14th and 15th centuries. Effectively engages past and current research. Includes detailed footnotes and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
  357.  
  358. Find this resource:
  359.  
  360.  
  361. Presse, Alexis. “Les Moniales cisterciennes.” Revue Mabillon 24 (1934): 1–14.
  362.  
  363. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  364.  
  365. An early article about Cistercian women in Europe until the 1930s. Part 1: the experience of houses in Spain, England, and France, with detailed discussion of events following the French Revolution, then the restoration of Cistercian communities in France. Part 2 (in Revue Mabillon 25 [1935]: 30–40): the canonical condition of Cistercian women until the 1930s.
  366.  
  367. Find this resource:
  368.  
  369.  
  370. Conversi and Conversae
  371. One early Cistercian economic advantage was the addition of laity as vowed members of the Order, often recruited at the same time as land was being donated. The conversi and later, in women’s houses, conversae were often illiterate and from a lower class than choir monks. Their agricultural labor allowed Cistercians to develop an extensive grange system that made it possible to own and farm land at considerable distances from the monastery. Waddell 2000 contains the early usages of the conversi in Latin and English, and France 2012 presents a fascinating study of their lives in the 12th though the 14th centuries. Lescher 1988 provides a general history of the role of medieval conversi in many orders, noting their exclusion over time from opportunities beyond manual labor. Newman 2003 approaches the topic through 13th-century saints’ lives, discovering that the corporeal spirituality of conversi paralleled that of monks and nuns of the period. De Moor 1992 offers a different perspective, focusing on conversi in the Low Countries, providing data about numbers, class origins, and monastic roles. As Greenia 1992 explains, the 1965 elimination by the Strict Observance of the role of conversi encountered unexpected resistance from lay brothers who regretted the loss of their vocation and their distinctive place in the order.
  372.  
  373. De Moor, Geertruida. “Laybrothers and Laysisters in Frisia and Holland: Circa 1300–circa 1600.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 27.4 (1992): 329–339.
  374.  
  375. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  376.  
  377. A detailed report about conversi and conversae with information including numbers, class origin, and jobs in monasteries. Notes that conversi in women’s houses were often managers of granges, conversae were sometimes allowed to become choir nuns, and older married couples sometimes took vows as conversi in the same community.
  378.  
  379. Find this resource:
  380.  
  381.  
  382. France, James. Separate but Equal: Cistercian Lay Brothers 1120–1350. Cistercian Studies 246. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2012.
  383.  
  384. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  385.  
  386. The only monograph on the origins, history, and function of medieval Cistercian conversi (conversae are not included). Topics include vitae, exempla, manual labor in Cistercian monasteries before conversi, and the decline of the lay brotherhood. Three appendices, including Waddell’s translation of lay brothers’ Usages, and an extensive bibliography. Many plates.
  387.  
  388. Find this resource:
  389.  
  390.  
  391. Greenia, Conrad. “Cistercian Laybrothers in the Twelfth and the Twentieth Centuries.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 27.4 (1992): 341–351.
  392.  
  393. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  394.  
  395. Primarily concerned with the situation since the 1965 OCSO Decree of Unification, which proposed to transform laybrothers into lay monks by their signing a document to that effect; a minority of the Order’s laybrothers signed. Concludes with discussion of the consequences, e.g., the new classification “monks not assigned to choir.”
  396.  
  397. Find this resource:
  398.  
  399.  
  400. Hoffmann, Eberhard. Das Konverseninstitut des Cistercienersordens in seinem Ursprung und seiner Organisation. Études historiques de Fribourg 1. Fribourg, Switzerland: Gschwend, 1905.
  401.  
  402. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  403.  
  404. The first modern history of Cistercian conversi, examining their place in the Order’s internal development, the roles they played within the communities, and their contribution to Cistercian economic growth. Suggests, perhaps inaccurately, that the Order introduced them in 1100 or 1101.
  405.  
  406. Find this resource:
  407.  
  408.  
  409. Lescher, Bruce. “Laybrothers: Questions Then, Questions Now.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 23.1 (1988): 63–85.
  410.  
  411. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  412.  
  413. A historical overview of the rise, conditions, roles, and difficulties of laybrothers in a variety of orders, with particular attention to Cistercians. Raises still-unanswered questions; concludes by noting the exclusion of laybrothers from administrative positions as hierarchical structures replaced the radical equality of Pachomian and Benedictine koinonia.
  414.  
  415. Find this resource:
  416.  
  417.  
  418. Newman, Martha. “Crucified by the Virtues: Monks, Laybrothers, and Women in Thirteenth-Century Cistercian Saints’ Lives.” In Gender and Difference in the Middle Ages. Edited by Sharon Farmer and Carol Braun Pasternack, 182–209. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.
  419.  
  420. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  421.  
  422. Using Cistercian hagiography from 13th-century Villers, explores gendered notions of spirituality expressed through bodily asceticism connecting the monk or nun to the bodily sufferings of Jesus. Concludes that lay brothers, choir monks, and nuns across the board and across gender are shown expressing this same form of corporeal spirituality.
  423.  
  424. Find this resource:
  425.  
  426.  
  427. Waddell, Chrysogonus, ed. Cistercian Lay Brothers: Twelfth-Century Usages with Related Texts. Studia et Documenta X. Brecht, Belgium: Cîteaux, Commentarii Cistercienses, 2000.
  428.  
  429. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  430.  
  431. A superb critical edition by a scholar especially accomplished in working with Cistercian manuscripts. Includes an English translation of the Cistercian Usus conversorum, with an account of laybrothers’ daily life, horarium, and crafts, and additional regulations added for the use of Clairvaux. Extensive insightful notes.
  432.  
  433. Find this resource:
  434.  
  435.  
  436. Governance
  437. An important aspect of early Cistercian polity was the creation of a radically new governance structure based not on hierarchy but on charity and unanimity, effected through regular meetings of all abbots for legislative purposes and annual visitations between abbots of mother and daughter houses, leading to the creation of the first monastic order. Melville 2016 explains the differences between early Cistercian structures and those of earlier and contemporary monastic groups, and McGuire 2013 focuses sharply on the Order’s legislative documents to explain norms of early Cistercian life. Leclercq 1988 focuses not on relationships among communities but on internal practice, considering the respective authority of abbot, abbot’s council, and monastic chapter. Lekai 1977 calls particular attention to the role of the papacy in facilitating the establishment of Cistercian practices and shows how governance evolved into the 16th century. De Ganck 1971 explores the way early abbots of Cîteaux functioned as the Order’s abbot generals, and Telesca 1976 carries that question into the 15th century, showing one abbot of Cîteaux as centralizing the Order’s judicial and economic authority in himself. Telesca 1971 considers the effects on the Order of 15th-century commendatory monasteries, one of the forces that led to the eventual Cistercian division into two orders.
  438.  
  439. De Ganck, Roger. “Les pouvoirs de l’Abbé de Cîteaux de la Bulle Parvus fons (1265) à la Révolution Française.” Analecta Cisterciensia 27 (1971): 3–63.
  440.  
  441. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  442.  
  443. The first article to discuss the development of the role of the Order’s abbot general, showing how in the early centuries the abbot of Cîteaux functioned in that capacity. Analyzes the relationship between his powers and the role of the General Chapter.
  444.  
  445. Find this resource:
  446.  
  447.  
  448. Leclercq, Jean. “Conventual Chapter and Council of the Abbot in Early Cîteaux.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 23.1 (1988): 14–24.
  449.  
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451.  
  452. Partial investigation of the role and authority of monastic chapter and abbot’s council, and of the comparative authority of the abbot and the chapter. Relies on evidence of Bernard’s views from letters, a sermon, and the Vita Sancti Bernardi. Notes an emerging obligation for the abbot to consult the community.
  453.  
  454. Find this resource:
  455.  
  456.  
  457. Lekai, Louis J. The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1977.
  458.  
  459. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  460.  
  461. One chapter in this standard Cistercian overview considers the Order’s constitutional and administrative developments until the French Revolution. Notes how papal granting of immunities and exemptions contributed to rapid growth. Discusses constitutional modifications, including powers of the four proto-abbots, changing role of the General Chapter, and increasing numbers of laws.
  462.  
  463. Find this resource:
  464.  
  465.  
  466. McGuire, Brian Patrick. “Constitutions and the General Chapter.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 87–99. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  467.  
  468. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  469.  
  470. This survey of the Order’s development defines Callixtus II’s bull confirming Cistercian documents as the Order’s founding instrument. Focuses on the Carta caritatis, then documents from 1147, especially Instituta Generalis Capituli. Full of detail about the norms of early Cistercian life. Includes a helpful summary of the CHAPTER’s 13th-century codifications.
  471.  
  472. Find this resource:
  473.  
  474.  
  475. Melville, Gert. The World of Medieval Monasticism: Its History and Forms of Life. Translated by James D. Mixson. Cistercian Studies 263. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2016.
  476.  
  477. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  478.  
  479. Translated from Die Welt der Mittelalterlichen Klöster: Geschichte und Lebensformen (Munich: Beck, 2012). A study of medieval European monasticism; one chapter analyzes Cistercian beginnings and the Cistercian Order as the first monastic order. Distinguishes between hierarchical monastic governance and Cistercian collegial relations among communities, quickly imitated by other religious groups.
  480.  
  481. Find this resource:
  482.  
  483.  
  484. Telesca, William J. “The Problem of the Commendatory Monasteries and the Order of Cîteaux during the Abbacy of Jean de Cirey, 1475–1501.” Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses 22 (1971): 154–177.
  485.  
  486. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487.  
  488. Perceptive analysis of the effects on Cistercian life of commendatory abbots (laypeople or non-monastic clerics appointed by kings for financial benefit), with abbots increasingly distanced from the monastic communities. Focuses on Jean de Cirey’s opposition to the practice of commendation as part of his concern for Cistercian reform.
  489.  
  490. Find this resource:
  491.  
  492.  
  493. Telesca, William J. “Jean de Cirey and the Question of an Abbot-General in the Order of Cîteaux in the Fifteenth Century.” In Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, II. Edited by John R. Sommerfeldt, 186–207. Cistercian Studies 24. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1976.
  494.  
  495. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  496.  
  497. Examination of the Order’s response to the 1477 General Chapter’s giving Jean de Cirey, abbot of Cîteaux, unprecedented financial powers, allowing him to centralize judicial and economic authority and to serve essentially as abbot general. Reads opposition to Cirey’s authority as resistance to the idea of an abbot general.
  498.  
  499. Find this resource:
  500.  
  501.  
  502. Documents
  503. Cistercian scholarship is fortunate in having a wealth of translations, often accompanied by critical editions, of many of the vital documents of the Order and of close scholarly studies of those documents. Critical editions of the fundamental documents appear in Waddell 1984, Waddell 1999, and Waddell 2000. Elder 1998 contains a number of short documents in translation, with accompanying reprints of relevant scholarly articles, and Conrad of Eberbach 2012 is an extensive volume of early Cistercian monastic exempla in translation. Altermatt 1990 has analyzed the essential documents of the Order from the beginning to the late 20th century, with a focus on materials from the Common Observance after the 19th century; his study is complemented by Collette Friedlander’s succinct treatment of the juridical documents for the Strict Observance from 1835 on (Friedlander 1990).
  504.  
  505. Altermatt, Alberic. “The Cistercian Patrimony: Introduction to the Most Important Historical, Juridical, and Spiritual Documents.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 25.4 (1990): 287–328.
  506.  
  507. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  508.  
  509. A close documentary examination of Cistercian historical evolution from 1098 to 1985, by a monk of the Common Observance. Includes papal bulls. Particularly valuable for the period after the French Revolution, with the splitting of the two Orders and the development of thirteen congregations of the Order of Common Observance.
  510.  
  511. Find this resource:
  512.  
  513.  
  514. Choisselet, Danièle, and Placide Vernet. Les “Ecclesiastica Officia” cisterciens du XIIème siècle. Documentation cistercienne 22. Reiningue, France: Abbaye d’Oelenberg, 1989.
  515.  
  516. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  517.  
  518. The most accessible edition of the earliest Cistercian Usages, from the 1130s, for monks and communities. In Latin with French notes, commentary, and index. Manuscript variants allow reconstruction of earlier versions. Everything from liturgical matters to office holders and duties, the monastic horarium, and the lives of conversi.
  519.  
  520. Find this resource:
  521.  
  522.  
  523. Conrad of Eberbach. The Great Beginning of Cîteaux: A Narrative of the Beginning of the Cistercian Order: The Exordium Magnum of Conrad of Eberbach. Translated by Benedicta Ward and Paul Savage. Edited by E. Rozanne Elder. Foreword by Brian Patrick McGuire. Cistercian Fathers 72. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2012.
  524.  
  525. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  526.  
  527. This translation of the massive 12th- to 13th-century Exordium Magnum Cisterciense (Bruno Griesser, ed. [Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1994]) contains inter alia chapters on the founding of Cîteaux and the first Cistercians, on Saint Bernard, and on the monks of Clairvaux. Glossary, bibliography, and several indices; highly accessible for students and scholars.
  528.  
  529. Find this resource:
  530.  
  531.  
  532. Elder, E. Rozanne, ed. The New Monastery: Texts and Studies on the Early Cistercians. Cistercian Fathers 60. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1998.
  533.  
  534. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  535.  
  536. Primary sources of select foundation documents in translation, combined with reprints of scholarly articles on the early history of Cîteaux and its founders. The short bibliography includes full citations to the original versions of the articles. A good introduction to Cistercian history and thought and to important Cistercian scholars.
  537.  
  538. Find this resource:
  539.  
  540.  
  541. Friedlander, Colette. “The Juridical Documents of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance up to the Present Day.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 25.4 (1990): 329–331.
  542.  
  543. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  544.  
  545. An essential overview of OCSO juridical documents from the emergence of the Order in 1835 through 1985, noting the initial requirement of separate constitutions for nuns. Identifies the most important as the Declaration on the Cistercian Life and Statute on Unity and Pluralism of 1969, which effected decentralization. Extensive footnotes.
  546.  
  547. Find this resource:
  548.  
  549.  
  550. Waddell, Chrysogonus. The Twelfth-Century Cistercian Hymnal. 2 vols. Cistercian Liturgy Series 1–2. Trappist, KY: Gethsemani Abbey, 1984.
  551.  
  552. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  553.  
  554. A critical edition with commentary of the two major recensions of the medieval Cistercian hymnal. In addition to the edition itself, with extensive discussion of its contents, Volume 2 discusses included texts and melodies.
  555.  
  556. Find this resource:
  557.  
  558.  
  559. Waddell, Chrysogonus, ed. Narrative and Legislative Texts from Early. Cîteaux, Commentarii Cistercienses, 1999.
  560.  
  561. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  562.  
  563. A critical edition of the earliest Cistercian documents, including Exordium Cistercii, Summa Cartae Caritatis, and Capitula, with English translations, done by the unparalleled authority on early Cistercian history. An extended introduction about texts’ origins, significance, and dating, thorough notes, and an extensive bibliography. Invaluable for Cistercian history and life.
  564.  
  565. Find this resource:
  566.  
  567.  
  568. Waddell, Chrysogonus, ed. Cistercian Lay Brothers: Twelfth-Century Usages with Related Texts. Studia et Documenta X. Brecht, Belgium: Cîteaux, Commentarii Cistercienses, 2000.
  569.  
  570. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  571.  
  572. A critical edition of the Usus Conversorum and Breve et Memoriale Scriptum (both late 12th century), with technical analysis of the texts and their recensions. In addition to the graceful scholarly editions and notes, English translations are clear and accompanied by useful footnotes. Includes a bibliography and detailed index.
  573.  
  574. Find this resource:
  575.  
  576.  
  577. The Medieval Period
  578. After its poverty-stricken beginnings, within a few decades the Cistercian Order experienced growth and economic success, increasing throughout the Middle Ages. Burton and Kerr 2011 focuses on the early period, highlighting the reasons for the Order’s subsequent endurance. The author of Williams 1998 extends his attention to cover the first 250 years, providing useful maps and images. King 2013 provides a quick-moving look at four centuries of significant events in the Order, while Jamroziak 2013 closely examines monastic practices and evolution during the same period. Eberl 2002 reaches from the beginning into the 20th century, with particular attention to Cistercian spiritual and artistic contributions. Other scholars have concentrated on specific issues and events within the period. A particularly important event was the 1147 Cistercian incorporation of the monastic orders of Savigny and Obazine, closely studied in Holdsworth 2004, with particular attention to Bernard of Clairvaux’s role in preparing for that decision, and Swietek and Deneen 2004, whose concern is the Cistercian seniority granted to the senior abbots of Savigny. Schimmelpfennig 1993 examines relationships between the Order and the papacy in the 15th and 16th centuries, with particular attention to questions of finances and abbatial authority.
  579.  
  580. Burton, Janet, and Julie Kerr. The Cistercians in the Middle Ages. Rochester, NY: Boydell, 2011.
  581.  
  582. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  583.  
  584. Cistercian history within the context of the “intellectual ferment” of 12th-century monastic reformation, highlighting Cistercian originality in founding a community rather than a hermitage at the New Monastery and establishing an order that endured. Introduces topics thematically throughout the medieval period. Includes detailed footnotes, glossary, and index (houses and general).
  585.  
  586. Find this resource:
  587.  
  588.  
  589. Eberl, Immo. Die Zisterzienser: Geschichte eines europäischen Ordens. Stuttgart: Thorbecke, 2002.
  590.  
  591. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  592.  
  593. An accomplished history of the Cistercian Order addressing themes of spirituality, liturgy, architecture, intellectual life, and economics from the beginning of the Order through the 20th century. Useful also for the post-medieval period. Has been criticized for not always engaging recent scholarship. Includes extensive bibliography and notes but no index.
  594.  
  595. Find this resource:
  596.  
  597.  
  598. Holdsworth, Christopher. “The Affiliation of Savigny.” In Truth as Gift: Studies in Honor of John R. Sommerfeldt. Edited by Marsha L. Dutton, Daniel M. La Corte, and Paul Lockey, 43–88. Cistercian Studies 204. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2004.
  599.  
  600. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  601.  
  602. A close examination of the 1147 affiliation of the Savigniac Order with the Cistercians; argues for Bernard’s role in preparing for Savigniacs’ request for admission. Some discussion of Obazine affiliation. Includes helpful analysis of contemporary political considerations affecting benefactors. Appendix shows distances between houses of the orders.
  603.  
  604. Find this resource:
  605.  
  606.  
  607. Jamroziak, Emilia. The Cistercian Order in Medieval Europe 1090–1500. New York: Routledge, 2013.
  608.  
  609. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  610.  
  611. A helpful survey of the first four centuries of Cistercian history, describing the history, practices, and evolution of Cistercian life; rejects views that the later period was one of decline. Effectively synthesizes other scholarship. No bibliography, but extensive endnotes and a useful glossary and index.
  612.  
  613. Find this resource:
  614.  
  615.  
  616. King, Peter. “The Cistercian Order 1200–1600.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 38–49. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  617.  
  618. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  619.  
  620. A helpful century-by-century overview of developments in the medieval Order, noting geographic expansion, the increase of women’s houses, establishment of a house of studies for monks in Paris, various attempts at reform, new contemplative themes, distinctive writers, and generosity. Excellent notes provide fuller information on the topics included.
  621.  
  622. Find this resource:
  623.  
  624.  
  625. Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard. “The Papacy and the Reform of the Cistercian Order in the Late Middle Ages.” In Studiosorum Speculum: Studies in Honor of Louis J. Lekai, O.Cist. Edited by Francis Swietek and John R. Sommerfeldt, 337–354. Cistercian Studies 141. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1993.
  626.  
  627. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  628.  
  629. Considering Cistercians after the High Middle Ages, this article examines reform efforts by 15th- and 16th-century popes, focusing on the Cistercian Benedict XII and his reform constitution, the Benedictina. Detailed discussion of regulations governing finances, an increased balance of authority between abbots and their communities, and monastic studies.
  630.  
  631. Find this resource:
  632.  
  633.  
  634. Swietek, Francis R., and Terrence M. Deneen. “‘Et inter Abbates de majoribus unus’: The Abbot of Savigny in the Cistercian Constitution, 1147–1243.” In Truth as Gift: Studies in Honor of John R. Sommerfeldt. Edited by Marsha L. Dutton, Daniel M. La Corte, and Paul Lockey, 89–118. Cistercian Studies 204. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2004.
  635.  
  636. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  637.  
  638. Examines a Cistercian constitutional adjustment after the 1147 admission of the Savigniac Order into the Cistercian Order, granting the abbot of Savigny high seniority; discusses the ranking of Savigniac daughter houses. An appendix prints sources of the 13th-century Chronicon Savigniacense, rejected as a reliable 12th-century witness.
  639.  
  640. Find this resource:
  641.  
  642.  
  643. Williams, David H. The Cistercians in the Early Middle Ages. Leominster, UK: Gracewing, 1998.
  644.  
  645. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  646.  
  647. Oversized book providing comprehensive treatment of the first 250 years of the Cistercian Order with thirty-one images along with useful maps and charts. In chronological order, details Cistercian life utilizing many primary sources. Includes chapter endnotes, extensive bibliography (primary and secondary sources), indices of abbeys, nunneries, persons, places, subjects.
  648.  
  649. Find this resource:
  650.  
  651.  
  652. Geographic Expansion
  653. Between the establishment of the New Monastery in 1089 and 1151, Cistercians had founded over three hundred houses all over Europe, spreading north to Scandinavia, south to Sicily, west to Ireland, and east to Poland—and since then houses have continued to spring up in Africa, the United States, Latin America, and Asia. Numerous studies focus on Cistercian expansion or life in individual monasteries and cultures; others examine the process of establishing new houses in new countries and the events that led to their end in the period of the Reformation. Lekai 1977 not only surveys the development of new foundations but also provides detail about the most important of those; Jamroziak 2013 similarly examines the range of early Cistercian growth, calling attention not only to new foundations but also to the incorporation of existing foundations and to relationships among communities. Considering a specific instance of Cistercian expansion, Burton 1999 explicates a Bernardine letter as proposing Cistercian expansion into England as a political favor to King Henry I. Other scholars have taken a broad overview, reaching from the founding of Cistercian monasteries to their closing. McGuire 1982 analyzes ten Danish communities and their landholdings into the 15th century, and France 1992 expands this focus to all of Scandinavia, until the 16th-century closing of the monasteries. Finally, O Combhui 1981 draws evidence of the widespread existence of Cistercian monasteries in Ireland from their landholdings as shown by evidence from charters and records from the 16th-century dissolution of the monasteries.
  654.  
  655. Burton, Pierre-André. “Aux origines de l’expansion anglaise de Cîteaux: La fondation de Rievaulx et la conversion d’Ælred (1132–34), I, II.” Collectanea Cisterciensia 61.3 (1999): 186–214.
  656.  
  657. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  658.  
  659. A meticulous study of political aspects of Cistercian expansion; includes a close reading of Bernard of Clairvaux’s letter to England’s Henry I offering monks to help pacify the northern English, who were still resisting Norman occupation. Part 1 translated by Elias Dietz in Cistercian Studies Quarterly 42.2 (2007): 151–182. Article continues in Collectanea Cisterciensia 61.4 (1999): 248–290.
  660.  
  661. Find this resource:
  662.  
  663.  
  664. France, James. The Cistercians in Scandinavia. Cistercian Studies 131. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1992.
  665.  
  666. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  667.  
  668. Well-organized history of Cistercians in medieval Scandinavia from 12th-century foundations to 16th-century closures. Reflects France’s firsthand knowledge of sites. Covers a wide range of topics on Cistercian life and experience with four “portraits” of abbots. Includes footnotes with Latin text, appendices with data on abbeys, a bibliography, and an index.
  669.  
  670. Find this resource:
  671.  
  672.  
  673. Jamroziak, Emilia. “Centres and Peripheries.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 65–79. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  674.  
  675. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  676.  
  677. Examines the early spread of Cistercian monasteries across Europe through new foundations and incorporation of existing monasteries. Considers Cistercians’ role in advancing Christianity and argues for the importance of relationships between mother and daughter houses; presents regional networks as stronger than the Order-wide connections centered in the General Chapter.
  678.  
  679. Find this resource:
  680.  
  681.  
  682. Lekai, Louis J. The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1977.
  683.  
  684. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  685.  
  686. An essential book about Cistercian development and geographical spread, arranged by century and with historical maps demonstrating locations of monasteries. Chapters on women’s houses, spirituality, learning, economy, and daily life. Many plates of monastic sites and houses, documents in translation, nationally grouped statistics, and an exhaustive index.
  687.  
  688. Find this resource:
  689.  
  690.  
  691. McGuire, Brian Patrick. The Cistercians in Denmark: Their Attitudes, Roles and Functions in Medieval Society. Cistercian Studies 35. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1982.
  692.  
  693. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  694.  
  695. A comprehensive analytical and narrative history of ten Cistercian foundations in Denmark, 12th through 15th centuries, effectively utilizing primary sources to investigate landholdings, episcopal and monarchical relationships, and “Cistercian outlook” in Christian Denmark. Engages earlier scholarship well. Includes copious endnotes, some b/w images, various charts, maps, and detailed index.
  696.  
  697. Find this resource:
  698.  
  699.  
  700. O Combhui, Colmcille S. “The Extent of Cistercian Lands in Medieval Ireland.” In Cistercians in the Late Middle Ages: Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, VI. Edited by E. Rozanne Elder, 59–69. Cistercian Studies 64. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1981.
  701.  
  702. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  703.  
  704. An unusual examination of medieval Irish Cistercian landholdings at the dissolution of the monasteries, 1540–1541. Includes a useful discussion of available sources, with tables showing monasteries and lands by province and county, with accompanying map. Reveals the early medieval success of Cistercian monasticism in Ireland, and its destruction.
  705.  
  706. Find this resource:
  707.  
  708.  
  709. The Trappist Reform
  710. The origins of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, also known as Trappists, lie in the 17th-century reforms exercised by the commendatory abbot of La Trappe Abbey, Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé. Waddell 1981 led the way to contemporary recovery of Rancé and his reforms through honest appraisal of both his contributions and his weaknesses, and Waddell 1995 explored the expansion of the reform at La Trappe to the women’s monastery of Les Clairets through the mutual efforts of Rancé and Françoise-Angelique d’Étampes Valençay, abbess of Les Clairets. Krailsheimer 1985 extended these studies of early Trappist experience to their influence on the charism of today’s Cistercians. Bonowitz 2000 focuses sharply on the penitential character of Rancé’s teaching, and Bell 2005 explores how the pessimism of Rancé’s time shaped his monastic emphasis on penitence and rejection of the world. Other scholars have examined post-17th-century Cistercian experience in terms of world events as well as larger consequences of the Trappist reform. Kervingant 1999 paints a harrowing picture of European Cistercians fleeing from place to place during political revolutions. Lekai 1968 connects Rancé’s reform with the 19th-century crisis that led to the separation of the descendants of La Trappe from the Order of Cîteaux; most recently Casey 2013 has returned to that subject with a close analysis of Cistercian experience in the troubled 17th and 18th centuries, so explaining the origins of the Order of the Strict Observance and providing statistical information about both of today’s Cistercian Orders.
  711.  
  712. Bell, David N. Understanding Rancé: The Spirituality of the Abbot of La Trappe in Context. Cistercian Studies Series 205. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2005.
  713.  
  714. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  715.  
  716. The best current study of Rancé and his abbacy of La Trappe, insightfully setting him within the absolutism and pessimism of 17th-century France and so explaining the emphasis on penitence and a radical rejection of the world that characterized the Trappist reform movement.
  717.  
  718. Find this resource:
  719.  
  720.  
  721. Bonowitz, Bernardo. “Monastic Sanctification in Rancé’s Conferences and Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 35.3 (2000): 317–326.
  722.  
  723. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  724.  
  725. Analysis of Rancé’s instruction to his monks in chapter talks and Scriptural teaching, emphasizing the contrast and opposition between world and cloister, explaining that union with God comes through conforming one’s will to God’s, as is impossible in the world. For Rancé, monastic vocation is true separation from the world.
  726.  
  727. Find this resource:
  728.  
  729.  
  730. Casey, Michael. “The Cistercian Order since 1600.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 50–62. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  731.  
  732. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  733.  
  734. An overview of 17th-century monastic experience, including commendatory abbots; explains division into Strict and Common Observances. A discussion of 18th-century monastic dissolution and effects of the French Revolution, followed by the history of the separated Order and data on the two branches. Lists important sources from both Orders.
  735.  
  736. Find this resource:
  737.  
  738.  
  739. Kervingant, Marie de la Trinité. A Monastic Odyssey. Translated by Jean Holman. Cistercian Studies 171. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1999.
  740.  
  741. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  742.  
  743. A translation of Des Moniales face à La Révolution Française (Paris: Beauchesne et ses fils, 1989), explaining struggles of Cistercians during 18th- and 19th-century European revolutions, especially the French. A gripping narrative with insightful scholarship; contains quantitative, geographical, and chronological data, numerous footnotes, a select bibliography, and indices to persons and places.
  744.  
  745. Find this resource:
  746.  
  747.  
  748. Krailsheimer, Alban John. Rancé and the Trappist Legacy. Cistercian Studies 86. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1985.
  749.  
  750. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  751.  
  752. One of the first books defining Rancé’s significant contribution to Cistercian life and charism. Begins with historical context and life at La Trappe, includes attention to Rancé’s own writing, and concludes with his current place in Cistercian life. Urges a balanced re-evaluation of Rancé as a devoted servant of God.
  753.  
  754. Find this resource:
  755.  
  756.  
  757. Lekai, Louis. The Rise of the Cistercian Strict Observance in Seventeenth Century France. Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1968.
  758.  
  759. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  760.  
  761. The earliest and most thorough work exploring the post-medieval crisis of the Order of Cîteaux, explaining reasons that the descendants of the Trappist Reform separated and created the Order of the Strict Observance. Links those events to, inter alia, fears of the power of the abbot of Cîteaux.
  762.  
  763. Find this resource:
  764.  
  765.  
  766. Waddell, Chrysogonus. “The Cistercian Dimension of the Reform of La Trappe (1662–1700): Preliminary Notes and Reflections.” In Cistercians in the Late Middle Ages: Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, VI. Edited by E. Rozanne Elder, 102–161. Cistercian Studies 64. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1981.
  767.  
  768. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  769.  
  770. A narrative introduction to Abbot Rancé, his experience at La Trappe, his reform movement, and his demand that monks commit themselves to God totally and without qualification. Lengthy quotations from Rancé’s writing. Detailed in describing life at La Trappe under Rancé. Honest about Rancé’s shortcomings but explicitly admiring.
  771.  
  772. Find this resource:
  773.  
  774.  
  775. Waddell, Chrysogonus. “Armand-Jean de Rancé and Françoise-Angelique D’Étampes Valençay: Reformers of Les Clairets.” In Hidden Springs: Cistercian Monastic Women: Book 2. Vol. 3 of Medieval Religious Women. Edited by John A. Nichols and Lillian Thomas Shank, 598–673. Cistercian Studies Series 113B. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995.
  776.  
  777. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  778.  
  779. This lengthy chapter surveys the details of the Trappist Reform, then provides a detailed narrative report on the royal nunnery of Les Clarets and specifically its participation in the Reform movement while Valençay was abbess (1687–1707) and Rancé the Father Visitor, with documents showing Rancé’s contributions to Les Clarets.
  780.  
  781. Find this resource:
  782.  
  783.  
  784. Cistercians Today
  785. Cistercians in the 20th and 21st centuries strive to adhere to the commitments of their founders while exploring new ways of relating authentically to one another and to the world. Louf 1983 finds in Cistercian history reinforcement for the 20th-century life of Cistercians; similarly, Connor 1995 begins with the early development of Cistercian women’s monasticism and concludes with women’s place in the Order’s governance today. Driscoll 2004 updates that discussion in a commentary on a document for the 2002 General Chapter and calls for Cistercians to find new meanings for their life in today’s world. Foulcher 2015 studies the committed lives of the Cistercian monks of Our Lady of Atlas Abbey, seven of whom were martyred in 1996. Interactions between Cistercians and laypeople around the world are seen in the rise of lay Cistercian associations over the last twenty years, cautiously considered in Olivera 1997 and embodied in the International Association of Lay Cistercian Communities.
  786.  
  787. Connor, Elizabeth. “Cistercian Nuns Today.” In Hidden Springs: Cistercian Monastic Women: Book 2. Vol. 3 of Medieval Religious Women. Edited by John A. Nichols and Lillian Thomas Shank, 769–784. Cistercian Studies Series 113B. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995.
  788.  
  789. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  790.  
  791. Detailed information about women in the Strict Observance, moving from the French Revolution into the end of the 20th century, with particularly interesting detail about practical results of monastic renewal, including the rapid spread of women’s houses in the Order since 1950 and their role in the Order’s governance structure.
  792.  
  793. Find this resource:
  794.  
  795.  
  796. Driscoll, Martha E. “Reflections on the Document ‘Vision of the Order, 2002.’” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 39.2 (2004): 181–200.
  797.  
  798. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  799.  
  800. The document produced by community reports for the 2002 General Chapter of the Strict Observance precedes the article by the abbess of Pertapaan Bunda Permersatu Abbey (Indonesia), discussing its first section, “The Phenomenon and Significance of Precariousness.” Urges Cistercians to seek new meaning for their traditional charism and observances.
  801.  
  802. Find this resource:
  803.  
  804.  
  805. Foulcher, Jane. Reclaiming Humility: Four Studies in the Monastic Tradition. Cistercian Studies 255. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2015.
  806.  
  807. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  808.  
  809. The fifth chapter of this study of monastic humility focuses on the Cistercian monks of Our Lady of Atlas Abbey, who committed themselves to life alongside and service to their Algerian neighbors; in 1996, seven monks were kidnapped and killed. Rich in narrative detail, quotations, and bibliographical notes.
  810.  
  811. Find this resource:
  812.  
  813.  
  814. International Association of Lay Cistercian Communities.
  815.  
  816. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  817.  
  818. The website of the International Association of Lay Cistercian Communities lists the forty-six communities and includes documents for seven international meetings (including that of 2017), documents of the organization, fundamental Cistercian texts, and communications from representatives of the Cistercian orders.
  819.  
  820. Find this resource:
  821.  
  822.  
  823. Louf, André. The Cistercian Way. Translated by Nivard Kinsella. Cistercian Studies Series 76. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1983.
  824.  
  825. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  826.  
  827. Translated from La voie cistercienne: À l’école de l’amour (Paris: De Brouwer, 1980); a classic historically based rationale for contemporary Cistercian life. Moves from early monasticism, Benedict, and the Cistercian reform through spiritual and communal practices of Cistercian life. Limited endnotes; appendices include English translations of three primary-source documents.
  828.  
  829. Find this resource:
  830.  
  831.  
  832. Olivera, Bernardo. “Reflections on the Challenge of ‘Charismatic Associations.’” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 32.2 (1997): 223–232.
  833.  
  834. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  835.  
  836. Addressing abbots and abbesses, this cautious consideration of Cistercian lay associations by abbot general of the Strict Observance concludes that they may enrich the monastic experience; raises concerns about lay connection with the Order, safeguarding differences between identities, and lay formation programs. Followed by a response from eleven lay Cistercians.
  837.  
  838. Find this resource:
  839.  
  840.  
  841. Theology
  842. The Cistercian reform occurred a generation or two before the rise of the schools and of scholastic theology, and the early Cistercians were generally hostile to the development of systematic theology of the sort represented by Peter Abelard and, later, Thomas Aquinas. As scholars have regularly noted, Cistercian theology, then and now, has thus been grounded in Scripture and the Rule of Saint Benedict rather than in academic learning and conflicts, and Cistercian writing, especially in the early period, has focused on basic principles of simplicity of life, charitable relationships among monasteries, and a balance of work and prayer. Casey 2002 points to one aspect of such principles in discussing the importance of unanimity in the early Order and distinguishing between that and uniformity. Casey 1988 articulates another set of basic principles in the relationship between solitude and communion, both essential aspects of Cistercian life. The daily liturgy and popular writings about it especially helped to define Cistercian theological and spiritual thought. Dutton 1987 shows how contemporary eucharistic theology shaped 12th-century Cistercian spiritual writings, and McGinn 1999 gives special attention to the role of medieval Cistercians in advancing Christian mystical theology. Unsurprisingly, however, in the mid-12th century Cistercians sometimes found themselves caught up in theological controversy. Elder 2003 shows Bernard of Clairvaux’s exposition of the criteria for sound doctrine in the face of the developing Marian feasts, and Mews 2011 examines the context and detail of the famous conflict between Bernard and Abelard. Recent theological writing by two Cistercian abbots demonstrates, however, that the tradition of theology grounded in the experience of Cistercian life continues to flourish. Quenardel 2014 returns to the balanced life of work and prayer as fundamentally Scriptural, Benedictine, and Cistercian, and Boyle 2012 places Christian life within the explosion of the cosmos and God’s incarnation.
  843.  
  844. Boyle, Joseph. “The Book of Nature Calling us to Union with God in Prayer.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 47.1 (2012): 87–96.
  845.  
  846. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  847.  
  848. An unexpected exploration of the meaning of human life and God’s incarnation set within a narrative of the expansion of the cosmos, focusing on Christ as the radiant dawn and inviting humans to be reminded of God’s presence and to reflect it in their lives and actions.
  849.  
  850. Find this resource:
  851.  
  852.  
  853. Casey, Michael. “The Dialectic of Solitude and Communion in Cistercian Communities.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 23.4 (1988): 273–309.
  854.  
  855. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  856.  
  857. A consideration of two paradoxically linked aspects of Cistercian monasticism: solitude, often expressed in terms of seeking the desert, and community or communion, inherent in cenobitism as presented in the Benedictine Rule. Identifies the presence of these themes in Cistercian documents and architecture.
  858.  
  859. Find this resource:
  860.  
  861.  
  862. Casey, Michael. “Unanimity First, Uniformity Second.” In Praise No Less Than Charity: Studies in Honor of M. Chrysogonus Waddell, Monk of Gethsemani Abbey. Edited by E. Rozanne Elder, 123–140. Cistercian Studies 193. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2002.
  863.  
  864. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  865.  
  866. Investigates early Cistercian documents for the differentiated concepts of unanimity and uniformity. Casey argues that the early Cistercians were eclectic in their practices and that uniformity was not an end per se but a means to unanimity in observance and ideals for the 12th-century Order.
  867.  
  868. Find this resource:
  869.  
  870.  
  871. Dutton, Marsha L. “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: The Eucharistic Spirituality of the Cistercian Fathers.” In Erudition at God’s Service: Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, XI. Edited by John R. Sommerfeldt, 1–31. Cistercian Studies 98. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1987.
  872.  
  873. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  874.  
  875. Explores Bernard, William of Saint-Thierry, and Aelred of Rievaulx’s teaching on contemporary eucharistic theology in their spiritual treatises. Shows Cistercian teaching on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the need to find Christ’s body in the host, and the effect of the Eucharist on the life to come.
  876.  
  877. Find this resource:
  878.  
  879.  
  880. Elder, E. Rozanne. “Macula nigra et virgo immaculata: Bernard’s Tests for True Doctrine.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 38.4 (2003): 423–438.
  881.  
  882. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  883.  
  884. Identifies Scripture, tradition, and reason as Bernard’s criteria for sound doctrine on the Immaculate Conception and feasts commemorating Mary (rejected by Bernard). Analyzes Bernard’s views on Mary and later criticism by Nicholas of Saint Albans and Duns Scotus. Shows Bernard’s 12th-century theological acumen as later relegated to piety.
  885.  
  886. Find this resource:
  887.  
  888.  
  889. McGinn, Bernard. The Growth of Mysticism: Gregory the Great through the 12th Century. Vol. 2 of The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism. New York: Crossroad, 1999.
  890.  
  891. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  892.  
  893. Monumental study of mysticism, its origins and development 500–1200 CE, largely within monasticism. Part 1: 6th–11th centuries as background and influence to the 12th century. Part 2, the bulk of the volume: the 12th century with special attention to Cistercians and their appropriation and advancement of Christian mysticism.
  894.  
  895. Find this resource:
  896.  
  897.  
  898. Mews, Constant. “Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Abelard.” In A Companion to Bernard of Clairvaux. Edited by Brian Patrick McGuire, 133–168. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic, 2011.
  899.  
  900. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004201392.i-406.28Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  901.  
  902. After thoroughly establishing the political and ecclesiastical context for the famous Bernard-Abelard conflict, a distinguished Abelardian scholar examines its extension into differences in theological teaching, partly resulting from Abelard’s concern with the meaning of words used about the Trinitarian God and Bernard’s existential reading of Scripture regarding the soul’s journey.
  903.  
  904. Find this resource:
  905.  
  906.  
  907. Quenardel, Olivier. “Ora et labora. Prie et travaille.” Collectanea cisterciensia 76.4 (2014): 332–338.
  908.  
  909. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  910.  
  911. Considers Cistercian relationship between prayer and work as in the Rule of Saint Benedict and the Constitutions of the Order of the Strict Observance. Defines the work of prayer as giving meaning to all other monastic work and declares manual labor part of Cistercian equilibrium and devotion to Christ’s humanity.
  912.  
  913. Find this resource:
  914.  
  915.  
  916. Liturgy and Music
  917. The centrality to Cistercian life of the Mass and the music that accompanies it meant that one of the earliest acts of the community at the New Monastery was to obtain from Metz new liturgical books and hymns to replace those that had come with them from Molesme, long thought to have originated at Cluny. Scholars have reconstructed the two primary liturgical revisions of those texts and the reasons for them. Waddell 1984 is the two-volume hymnal used in the 12th-century Order, with texts underlying most scholarship on its liturgy and music into the 17th century. Choisselet and Vernet 1989 complements that work with an edition of, inter alia, detailed liturgical guidelines for the Order. Waddell 1985 explains the source of the Molesme liturgical texts originally used at Cîteaux as not Cluniac. Maitre 1994 explains the reasons for Cîteaux’s rejection of the Metz chant as theoretical, based on reason, and Chadd 1986 notes the Order’s emphasis on methods of revision of that chant to assure uniformity among the monasteries. Waddell 2003 explores Bernard’s role in reforming the early liturgy and compares the earlier and the later versions. Dubois 2005 looks not to music but to the eucharistic practices of conversi and choir monks of the early Order, recognizing basic Cistercian characteristics in the practices and objecting to the loss of those characteristics in the 1962 Roman Ordo Missæ.
  918.  
  919. Chadd, D. F. L. “Liturgy and Liturgical Music: The Limits of Uniformity.” In Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles. Edited by Christopher Norton and David Park, 299–314. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  920.  
  921. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  922.  
  923. Discussion of early Cistercian determination to revise the chant books brought from Metz. Notes value of the personal transmission of methods of revision and emphasis on the manner of performance to ensure uniformity and distinctiveness throughout the Order. Detailed examination of the few surviving insular liturgical books.
  924.  
  925. Find this resource:
  926.  
  927.  
  928. Choisselet, Danièle, and Placide Vernet, eds. Les “Ecclesiastica Officia” cisterciens du XIIème siècle. Documentation cistercienne 22. Reiningue, France: Abbaye d’Oelenberg, 1989.
  929.  
  930. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  931.  
  932. The earliest Cistercian customary, from the 1130s, with extensive guidelines for liturgical practice and priests; manuscript variants allow reconstruction of differences between primitive Cistercian liturgical practice and changing practice as the Order grew, building larger churches and adding new eucharistic requirements like private masses and prayers for the dead.
  933.  
  934. Find this resource:
  935.  
  936.  
  937. Dubois, Marie-Gérard. “L’Eucharistie à Cîteaux au milieu du xiie siècle.” Collectanea Cisterciensia 67.4 (2005): 266–286.
  938.  
  939. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  940.  
  941. Using early documents, this article reconstructs eucharistic practice in the original small Cistercian churches with small communities, noting the emphasis on simplicity, authenticity, and austerity. Challenges the 1962 Roman Ordo Missæ’s imposition on Cistercian practice of a parochial emphasis, calling for more flexibility in accord with Cistercian tradition.
  942.  
  943. Find this resource:
  944.  
  945.  
  946. Maitre, Claire. “Authority and Reason in the Cistercian Theory of Music.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 29.2 (1994): 197–208.
  947.  
  948. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  949.  
  950. Explains early Cistercian music theory as established a priori, hence Cîteaux’s rejection of Metz chant as corrupt and revision of the antiphonary according not to the authority of the past but to rational understanding. Explicates Guido Augensis’s Regule de arte musica, written for the Order’s second chant reform, under Bernard.
  951.  
  952. Find this resource:
  953.  
  954.  
  955. Waddell, Chrysogonus. “The Pre-Cistercian Background of Cîteaux and the Cistercian Liturgy.” In Goad and Nail: Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, X. Edited by E. Rozanne Elder, 109–132. Cistercian Studies Series 84. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1985.
  956.  
  957. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  958.  
  959. Challenging previous assumptions, Waddell concludes from a preliminary examination of 12th- and 13th-century liturgical manuscripts that early Cîteaux followed the usages of Molesme, tracing those back not to Cluny but to the monasteries of Montier-la-Celle and, ultimately, Marmoutier. Calls for extensive further study of liturgical manuscripts of the period.
  960.  
  961. Find this resource:
  962.  
  963.  
  964. Waddell, Chrysogonus. “Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sweet Singer of Israel: The Textual Reform of the Primitive Cistercian Breviary.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 38.4 (2003): 439–448.
  965.  
  966. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  967.  
  968. Details Bernard’s reform of earliest Cistercian liturgy, which Bernard found lacking despite its being rooted in Ambrosian, Gregorian, and Carolingian sources and meeting the Rule’s requirements. New identification of manuscripts of the primitive and reformed liturgies makes comparison possible, showing their continuity and the improvement of the reformed version.
  969.  
  970. Find this resource:
  971.  
  972.  
  973. Waddell, Chrysogonus, ed. The Twelfth-Century Cistercian Hymnal. 2 vols. Cistercian Liturgy Series 1–2. Trappist, KY: Gethsemani Abbey, 1984.
  974.  
  975. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  976.  
  977. The fundamental beginning place for Cistercian liturgy and music. Critical edition with commentary on the two major recensions of the medieval Cistercian hymnal, used until the mid-17th century. Book 1: edition and discussion of antecedents, composition, and evolution through the early 12th century; Book 2: notes on texts and melodies.
  978.  
  979. Find this resource:
  980.  
  981.  
  982. Spirituality
  983. The powerful affective spirituality found in Cistercian sermons and treatises, often combined with a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary, to whom all Cistercian monasteries are dedicated, continues to be one of the most visible characteristics of the Order. In attempting to parse the distinctive spirituality of the Order, however, Bell 1998 has identified four aspects essentially unrelated to affectivity, including the creation of an architecture reflecting goals of spiritual balance and growth. Bell 1999 continues this quest for understanding the earliest Cistercian spirituality, identifying it with acts leading to virtue and connected to three texts fundamental to the life of the Order. Farkasfalvy 1998, investigating the spiritual concepts of the earliest Cistercians, examines the language of their documents, noting words that point to separation from the world. Dutton 1987 considers not the earliest Cistercians but the writers of the Cistercian Golden Age, finding the core of their spirituality as sacramental, located in their desire for intimacy with Christ in the Eucharist. McGinn 2013 similarly looks at the 12th-century writers, identifying their emphasis on personal experience as preparation for union with God, and Casey 1986 examines Bernard of Clairvaux’s sermons on the Song of Songs from the same period as expressions of Bernard’s own yearning for God. Elder 2004 considers the theological origins of the Marian feasts as a background to Cistercian Marian devotion, and Morgan 1999 approaches the topic through both text and art, pointing to Cistercian influence on Marian devotion.
  984.  
  985. Bell, David N. “Is There Such a Thing as ‘Cistercian Spirituality’?” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 33.4 (1998): 455–476.
  986.  
  987. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  988.  
  989. A significant discussion identifying the four aspects of a distinct Cistercian spirituality: emphasis on the quest for self-knowledge; attempt to restore balance of body, mind, and spirit; effort to create a new style of architecture as an environment for realizing these goals; and symbolic representation of their nature in that architecture.
  990.  
  991. Find this resource:
  992.  
  993.  
  994. Bell, David N. “From Molesme to Cîteaux: The Earliest ‘Cistercian Spirituality.’” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 34.4 (1999): 470–482.
  995.  
  996. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  997.  
  998. This essential approach to the meaning of spirituality in the New Monastery identifies it as acts leading to virtue rather than interiority and declares earliest Cistercian spirituality as grounded in three fundamental texts: Rule of Saint Benedict, illustrations in Stephen Harding’s Bible, and narrative and legislative texts from early Cîteaux.
  999.  
  1000. Find this resource:
  1001.  
  1002.  
  1003. Casey, Michael. Athirst for God: Spiritual Desire in Bernard of Clairvaux’s Sermons on the Song of Songs. Cistercian Studies 77. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1986.
  1004.  
  1005. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1006.  
  1007. An accessible study by one of the most incisively insightful of contemporary Cistercian scholars, exploring the best-known example of Cistercian commentaries on the Song of Songs, where Bernard of Clairvaux expresses the depth of his yearning to know God and to enter into union with God.
  1008.  
  1009. Find this resource:
  1010.  
  1011.  
  1012. Dutton, Marsha L. “Intimacy and Imitation: The Humanity of Christ in Cistercian Spirituality.” In Erudition at God’s Service: Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, XI. Edited by John R. Sommerfeldt, 33–69. Cistercian Studies 98. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1987.
  1013.  
  1014. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1015.  
  1016. Explains early Cistercian spirituality as fundamentally sacramental, with worshipers seeking intimacy with rather than imitation of Christ in his sacred humanity. Shows the spirituality of intimacy as grounded in gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and in 12th-century eucharistic theology, with worshipers seeking to find and know Jesus in the sacrament.
  1017.  
  1018. Find this resource:
  1019.  
  1020.  
  1021. Elder, E. Rozanne. “Shadows on the Marian Wall: The Cistercians and the Development of Marian Doctrine.” In Truth as Gift: Studies in Honor of John R. Sommerfeldt. Edited by Marsha L. Dutton, Daniel M. La Corte, and Paul Lockey, 537–574. Cistercian Studies 204. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2004.
  1022.  
  1023. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1024.  
  1025. Surveys the theological origins and medieval development in the West of the feasts of Mary’s Nativity and Assumption, from the late 6th century forward. Gives particular attention to Cistercian writing about and to Mary, including Bernard of Clairvaux’s resistance to the popular doctrine of her immaculate conception.
  1026.  
  1027. Find this resource:
  1028.  
  1029.  
  1030. Farkasfalvy, Denis. “The Biblical Spirituality of the Founders of Cîteaux.” In The New Monastery. Edited by E. Rozanne Elder, 145–157. Cistercian Fathers 60. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1998.
  1031.  
  1032. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1033.  
  1034. A useful introduction to Cistercian spiritual concepts, identified in biblical language in early Cistercian documents, especially novitas, servire Deo, quies, eremum, and desertum. Explicates the location and use of such terms and allusions in the documents and in the Bible, the Rule of Saint Benedict, patristic works, letters, prayers, etc.
  1035.  
  1036. Find this resource:
  1037.  
  1038.  
  1039. McGinn, Bernard. “The Spiritual Teaching of the Early Cistercians.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 218–232. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  1040.  
  1041. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1042.  
  1043. Posits that the continuing Cistercian appeal today depends on the Order’s spiritual teaching, grounded in the search for God and spiritual interpretation of the Bible, emphasizing personal experience as preparation for full union with God in the life to come. Mostly citing Bernard of Clairvaux and William of Saint-Thierry.
  1044.  
  1045. Find this resource:
  1046.  
  1047.  
  1048. Morgan, Nigel. “Texts and Images of Marian Devotion in English Twelfth-Century Monasticism, and Their Influence on the Secular Church.” In Monasteries and Society in Medieval Britain: Proceedings of the 1994 Harlaxton Symposium. Edited by Benjamin Thompson, 117–136. Harlaxton Medieval Studies VI. Stamford, UK: Paul Watkins, 1999.
  1049.  
  1050. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1051.  
  1052. Surveys monastic influence in England and France on the development of Marian offices, hymns, and prayers, distinguishing between practices that moved into secular use and those that remained within monasteries. Notes Marian theological writings by Cistercians, emphasizing the Virgin’s personifications as the church and as Queen of Heaven.
  1053.  
  1054. Find this resource:
  1055.  
  1056.  
  1057. Saints’ Lives and Exempla
  1058. Medieval scholars have long looked to saints’ lives for insights into the history and thought of the past and have more recently recognized the additional value of monastic exempla collections, which particularly flourished among Cistercians. Waddell 1986, examining several early Cistercian saints’ lives, points out the impossibility of drawing historical conclusions from works written to celebrate individual lives rather than to report historical truth; Heffernan 1988 carries this insight further in spelling out the differences between the moral and doctrinal purposes of saints’ lives—hagiography—and modern biography’s emphasis on factual reliability. Hagiography Society offers a rich resource for scholars of hagiography of all periods, with a regularly updated bibliography containing many hagiographical studies. Studies of exempla move from works written to celebrate holy men and women to stories about ordinary people, usually Cistercian monks. McGuire 1981 introduces one of the most important of Cistercian collectors of exempla, Caesarius of Heisterbach, and discusses several of the exempla in Caesarius’s Dialogus miraculorum. McGuire 2002 expands this focus with a number of chapters on the sources and significance of these collections. Newman 2011 considers the role of authors in retelling exempla, sometimes building narratives around their protagonists. Mula 2010 explores exempla collections origins and geographical spread and the image they created of the Cistercian Order, and Mula 2011 examines their internal role in creating a Cistercian identity.
  1059.  
  1060. Hagiography Society.
  1061.  
  1062. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1063.  
  1064. An organization promoting communication among scholars of textual and visual media pertaining to holy men and women, mostly but not exclusively Christian; publishes a newsletter and an annually updated bibliography, and sponsors conference sessions. Founded in 1990. Numerous Cistercian entries. Membership required for full access to bibliography.
  1065.  
  1066. Find this resource:
  1067.  
  1068.  
  1069. Heffernan, Thomas. Sacred Biography: Saints and Their Biographers in the Middle Ages. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  1070.  
  1071. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1072.  
  1073. The most comprehensive resource for hagiographical study, with a central chapter on a 12th-century saint’s life (Walter Daniel’s Vita Aelredi). Distinguishes usefully between the methods and goals of hagiography and modern biography and proposes the term sacred biography as a bridge between the two.
  1074.  
  1075. Find this resource:
  1076.  
  1077.  
  1078. McGuire, Brian Patrick. “Caesarius of Heisterbach and the Cistercians as Medieval People.” In Noble Piety and Reformed Monasticism: Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, VII. Edited by E. Rozanne Elder, 81–103. Cistercian Studies 65. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1981.
  1079.  
  1080. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1081.  
  1082. An introduction to one of the earliest Cistercian recorders of exempla, recounting what little can be known of Caesarius’s life and then exploring his Dialogus miraculorum, dialogues between monk and novice, containing monastic anecdotes dealing with theological or pastoral problems. Shows their intimate insights into 13th-century Cistercian life.
  1083.  
  1084. Find this resource:
  1085.  
  1086.  
  1087. McGuire, Brian Patrick. Friendship and Faith: Cistercian Men, Women, and Their Stories, 1100–1250. Variorum Collected Studies Series 742. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2002.
  1088.  
  1089. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1090.  
  1091. Six essays on Cistercian exempla collections, several by Caesarius of Heisterbach, including discussions of their written and oral sources and what exempla reveal about relationships between abbots and monks and the rise of the exemplum in 13th-century France. Provides insights into daily life in medieval Cistercian monasteries.
  1092.  
  1093. Find this resource:
  1094.  
  1095.  
  1096. Mula, Stefano. “Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Exempla Collections: Role, Diffusion, and Evolution.” History Compass 8.8 (2010): 903–912.
  1097.  
  1098. DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2010.00709.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1099.  
  1100. Explains origins, function, and spread of early Cistercian collections of exempla (1160–1225). Argues that exempla, from oral and written sources, were used for entertainment, moral instruction, and community building through the shaping of common memories, and that the assembled collections created an image of an idealized Cistercian Order.
  1101.  
  1102. Find this resource:
  1103.  
  1104.  
  1105. Mula, Stefano. “Geography and the Early Cistercian Exempla Collections.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 46.1 (2011): 27–43.
  1106.  
  1107. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1108.  
  1109. Study of early collections of Cistercian exempla and their role inside and outside the Order. Concludes that during the period of expansion, collections helped to create a Cistercian internal history. As the Order’s needs changed, collections were not supplemented but circulated in received form, providing narrative sources for Cistercian identity.
  1110.  
  1111. Find this resource:
  1112.  
  1113.  
  1114. Newman, Martha. “Making Cistercian Exempla, or, the Problem of the Monk Who Wouldn’t Talk.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 46.1 (2011): 45–66.
  1115.  
  1116. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1117.  
  1118. Explores the oral transmission of exempla and the role of authors in retelling stories in texts, especially in cases when the protagonist or eyewitness refused to transmit the story, leading writers to create a story around the protagonist to make it a good exemplum while also asserting veracity of the story.
  1119.  
  1120. Find this resource:
  1121.  
  1122.  
  1123. Waddell, Chrysogonus. “The Exegetical Challenge of Early Cistercian Hagiography.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 21.3 (1986): 195–212.
  1124.  
  1125. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1126.  
  1127. Through an analysis of Cistercian saints’ lives, this article points out the difficulty of deriving historical insight from works written as moral documents rather than historical, painting an icon of the saint rather than taking a photograph. Useful in citing specific lives while exploring conceptual issues.
  1128.  
  1129. Find this resource:
  1130.  
  1131.  
  1132. Learning and Libraries
  1133. The early Cistercians put great stock on learning from the past and writing in the present, hence their creation of large and wide-ranging libraries. Newman 2005 argues through an investigation of early Cîteaux manuscripts that Cistercian institutions were shaped through a shared practice of textual interpretation. Lawrence 1986 examines Cistercian libraries and manuscripts, as well as the monastic time allotted for reading. Rouse 1976 describes tools developed in Cistercian houses for reading and study, such as indices and manuscript foliation. Bell 1992–1994 reveals the breadth of Cistercian libraries in England and the number of Cistercian authors in medieval library catalogues of both Cistercian and non-Cistercian houses, and Bell 2013 provides data about numbers, sources, and kinds of books in Cistercian libraries into the 16th century. Elder 2013 looks not at libraries but at writers, giving a bibliographical overview of the best-known early Cistercian authors. Finally, Bell 1989 presents manuscript and archeological evidence of the attitude toward and use of medicine among Cistercians.
  1134.  
  1135. Bell, David N. “The English Cistercians and the Practice of Medicine.” Cîteaux 40 (1989): 139–174.
  1136.  
  1137. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1138.  
  1139. A rare study of Cistercian attitudes toward and access to medical treatment, citing 12th-century Cistercian writers, showing evidence of monastic infirmarians and monastic employment of lay physicians. Presents medical knowledge from Cistercian manuscripts and library catalogues, remains of infirmaries, and lay hospitals and hospices associated with the Order.
  1140.  
  1141. Find this resource:
  1142.  
  1143.  
  1144. Bell, David N. An Index of Authors and Works in Cistercian Libraries in Great Britain. 2 vols. Cistercian Studies 130, 132. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1992–1994.
  1145.  
  1146. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1147.  
  1148. A two-volume project with an index of several hundred manuscripts and printed books from Cistercian houses in England. Volume 1 includes lists arranged alphabetically and by subject, location, and incipit. Volume 2 contains an alphabetical list of Cistercian authors found in medieval library catalogues and another alphabetically arranged by location.
  1149.  
  1150. Find this resource:
  1151.  
  1152.  
  1153. Bell, David N. What Nuns Read: Books and Libraries in Medieval English Nunneries. Cistercian Studies 158. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995.
  1154.  
  1155. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1156.  
  1157. Lists all manuscripts and printed books, with contents, found in medieval English women’s monasteries, with comprehensive indices of all the works and the names found in ownership inscriptions. Useful discussion of costs of books and means of acquisition, and a survey of the learning and literacy of late medieval nuns.
  1158.  
  1159. Find this resource:
  1160.  
  1161.  
  1162. Bell, David N. “Libraries and Scriptoria.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 140–150. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  1163.  
  1164. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1165.  
  1166. A report on Cistercian libraries and reading through the 16th century. Practical information about numbers, kinds, and sources of books, the problem of shortage of storage space, the changing numbers of books acquired over time, and monastic reactions to the establishment of the College of Saint Bernard in Paris.
  1167.  
  1168. Find this resource:
  1169.  
  1170.  
  1171. Elder, E. Rozanne. “Early Cistercian Writers.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 199–217. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  1172.  
  1173. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1174.  
  1175. Of 332 Cistercian writers in the Dictionnaire des auteurs cisterciens from the 12th and 13th centuries, this chapter gives a biographical and bibliographical overview of the best known of those available in English. A helpful introduction for students, and valuable for scholars wishing to expand their familiarity with Cistercian writing.
  1176.  
  1177. Find this resource:
  1178.  
  1179.  
  1180. Lawrence, Anne. “English Cistercian Manuscripts of the Twelfth Century.” In Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles. Edited by Christopher Norton and David Park, 284–298. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  1181.  
  1182. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1183.  
  1184. A study of the selection, maintenance, and supervision of English Cistercian libraries, and of manuscript creation. Examines the copying and keeping of manuscripts, and time allotted for reading; detailed manuscript descriptions, distinguished by monastery. Records the skill and restraint with which 12th-century Cistercian manuscripts were made.
  1185.  
  1186. Find this resource:
  1187.  
  1188.  
  1189. Newman, Martha G. “Text and Authority in the Formation of the Cistercian Order: Re-assessing the Early Cistercian Reform.” In Reforming the Church before Modernity: Patterns, Problems, and Approaches. Edited by Christopher M. Bellitto and Louis I. Hamilton, 173–198. Abingdon, UK: Ashgate, 2005.
  1190.  
  1191. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1192.  
  1193. Rejects the usual distinction between early Cistercian spirituality and legislation through examination of Cîteaux manuscripts, especially Gregory the Great’s lavishly illuminated Moralia on Job. Suggests that spiritual writings were linked to institutional development through an interpretive practice that shaped the Order with shared culture and textual understanding.
  1194.  
  1195. Find this resource:
  1196.  
  1197.  
  1198. Rouse, Richard. “Cistercian Aids to Study in the Thirteenth Century.” In Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, II. Edited by John R. Sommerfeldt, 123–134. Cistercian Studies 24. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1976.
  1199.  
  1200. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1201.  
  1202. Argues that the rapid development of aids for searching patristic texts, usually attributed to the schools and the mendicants, emerged between 1170 and 1250 among Cistercians, used for scriptural exegesis and sermon composition. Provides detailed evidence from Cistercian monasteries for the creation of indexes and manuscript foliation.
  1203.  
  1204. Find this resource:
  1205.  
  1206.  
  1207. Agriculture and Economy
  1208. A great deal of scholarship has been done on the economic aspects of Cistercian life, from agricultural practices to donations. Berman 2013 explores early Cistercian pastoralism and agriculture and the way land acquisition was linked to the recruitment of conversi and conversae as well as noting the economic value of monks and nuns’ engaging in agricultural labor. Bouchard 1993 reveals early Cistercian economic practices either banned by the early statutes or long thought to have originated with later generations. Several scholars have shown that such practices benefited not only the monasteries but also their neighbors and national interests. Bouchard 1991 shows the active economic exchanges between Cistercians and their neighbors in 12th-century Burgundy, and McCrank 1976 focuses on the contributions of Spanish Cistercians to European agriculture and specifically the economic value of the grange system in assisting 13th-century Spanish acquisition and development of lands previously owned by Muslims. Several scholars have looked at the economics of donations, studying benefactors to English monasteries. Burton 1986 examines the circumstances of English monastic founders, considering factors influencing founders’ choice of an order, a motherhouse, and a site. Wardrop 1987 surveys the benefactors of England’s Fountains Abbey and considers the spiritual benefits obtained from their gifts, and Jamroziak 2005 examines the 12th-century Rievaulx cartulary to understand interactions between the monastery and the world, with particular attention to the cartulary’s organization around benefactors and their family and tenurial relationships. Economic issues within the Order have also drawn interest. King 1985 provides extensive data about internal finances, considering for example taxation to monasteries to support the annual General Chapters and the difficulties encountered in collecting the required amounts.
  1209.  
  1210. Berman, Constance Hoffman. “Agriculture and Economies.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 112–124. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  1211.  
  1212. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1213.  
  1214. This treatment of early Cistercian economic practices considers the combination of pastoralism and agriculture, operation of mills, land acquisition linked to recruitment of conversi/ae, and grange development. Notes the economic value of monks and nuns’ manual labor and of the incorporation of previously established monasteries, with established patrons and land.
  1215.  
  1216. Find this resource:
  1217.  
  1218.  
  1219. Bouchard, Constance Brittain. Holy Entrepreneurs: Cistercians, Knights, and Economic Exchange in Twelfth-Century Burgundy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
  1220.  
  1221. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1222.  
  1223. A close examination of Burgundian Cistercian archives showing 12th-century economic exchanges between Cistercians and their secular (mostly aristocratic) neighbors, revealing the Order’s active participation in economic development of the period. Rebuts assumptions that Cistercian spirituality ruled out economic expertise and success; demonstrates that the laity considered Cistercians extremely holy.
  1224.  
  1225. Find this resource:
  1226.  
  1227.  
  1228. Bouchard, Constance Brittain. “Twelfth-Century Burgundy: The Great Unknown?” In Studiosorum Speculum: Studies in Honor of Louis J. Lekai, O.Cist. Edited by Francis R. Swietek and John R. Sommerfeldt, 33–51. Cistercian Studies Series 141. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1993.
  1229.  
  1230. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1231.  
  1232. Using previously ignored records, this study reveals early Cistercian economic activities either explicitly forbidden by the Order’s early statutes or thought by scholars to have come about only in later generations, such as accepting dependent peasants as gifts, receiving cultivated land, and taking property in pawn.
  1233.  
  1234. Find this resource:
  1235.  
  1236.  
  1237. Burton, Janet. “The Foundation of the British Cistercian Houses.” In Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles. Edited by Christopher Norton and David Park, 24–39. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  1238.  
  1239. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1240.  
  1241. A detailed study of founders of English Cistercian monasteries, noting variety of circumstances but some commonalities in patronage decisions. Identifies particularly English factors that influenced the choice of sites, e.g., desire to lay claim to threatened estates and to provide evidence of patrons’ elevation.
  1242.  
  1243. Find this resource:
  1244.  
  1245.  
  1246. Jamroziak, Emilia. Rievaulx Abbey and Its Social Context, 1132–1300: Memory, Locality, and Networks. Medieval Church Studies 8. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2005.
  1247.  
  1248. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1249.  
  1250. This important study of the late-12th-century Rievaulx cartulary examines its structure and content to understand interactions between the monastery and the world, paying particular attention to benefactors and secular neighbors as well as religious institutions. Calls attention to personal relationships such as friendships among abbots and support from prelates.
  1251.  
  1252. Find this resource:
  1253.  
  1254.  
  1255. King, Peter. Finances of the Cistercian Order in the Fourteenth Century. Cistercian Studies Series 85. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1985.
  1256.  
  1257. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1258.  
  1259. This thorough examination of the financial records surviving from the destruction of Cistercian abbeys in the French Revolution considers endowments, financial payments from communities to Cîteaux, organization of the collections, and expenses of the annual General Chapters. Fascinating insights into day-to-day details of the Order’s economic relationships.
  1260.  
  1261. Find this resource:
  1262.  
  1263.  
  1264. McCrank, Lawrence J. “The Economic Administration of a Monastic Domain by the Cistercians of Poblet, 1150–1276.” In Studies in Medieval Cistercian History, II. Edited by John R. Sommerfeldt, 135–165. Cistercian Studies 24. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1976.
  1265.  
  1266. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1267.  
  1268. A rare study of the economy of Spanish Cistercians. Surveys contributions of the Order to European agriculture before exploring Poblet’s particular contributions, shown in surviving charters. Argues that Poblet’s well-managed grange system produced surplus capital able to support Spanish acquisition and redevelopment of land previously held by Muslims.
  1269.  
  1270. Find this resource:
  1271.  
  1272.  
  1273. Wardrop, Joan. Fountains Abbey and Its Benefactors 1132–1300. Cistercian Studies 91. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1987.
  1274.  
  1275. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1276.  
  1277. Relying on manuscript sources (e.g., charters and registers), this study of the development of the Fountains estates devotes two chapters to the property and three to benefactors among magnates, knightly families, and peasants. Concludes by examining the spiritual benefits of patronage. Appendix lists granges. Includes glossary, extensive bibliography, and index.
  1278.  
  1279. Find this resource:
  1280.  
  1281.  
  1282. Architecture
  1283. Cistercian architecture, widely recognized as embodying Cistercian life and spiritual aims, has attracted much scholarly attention, often in large books with extensive commentary and beautiful pictures. Fergusson and Harrison 1999 is a particularly substantive example, containing historical documents, a reconstruction of the English monastery of Rievaulx, and many plates. Robinson 2006 is a similarly appealing book, expanding the subject to Cistercian abbeys in Wales into the mid-16th century, with a wealth of historical and archeological detail. Sternberg 2013 focuses on the social function of Cistercian architecture; similarly, Cassidy-Welch 2001 discusses the use and significance of important places in the Cistercian monastery. While many students of Cistercian architecture focus on the iconic monastery churches, others examine less striking structures that had equal significance to their communities. France 1998 reports on the monastic west range of Danish Cistercian houses, which housed the dormitory of the conversi and the cellars or storerooms, noting what they reveal about monastic rise and decline. Jansen 1998 studies the function and form of the generally overlooked monastic dormitory, and Grüger 1984, using surviving structures as well as old maps and archeological investigations, examines the Cistercian fountain house in Central Europe, essential for supplying water for all functions from hygiene to cooking to liturgy. Coomans 2013 integrates all these discussions in his investigation of the way through simplicity of design and structure medieval Cistercian architecture represents Cistercian ideals and urges its recognition as a valuable material source for understanding monastic life.
  1284.  
  1285. Cassidy-Welch, Megan. Monastic Spaces and Their Meanings: Thirteenth-Century English Cistercian Monasteries. Medieval Church Studies 1. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2001.
  1286.  
  1287. DOI: 10.1484/M.MCS-EB.5.112231Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1288.  
  1289. Examines locations in medieval Cistercian monastery assigned to various aspects of the life, moving inward from the outer wall to the cloister, church, chapter house, infirmary, laybrothers’ area, and cemetery. Considers cultural production and meanings of space, conveying ideas of both enclosure and freedom. Forty-five images of landscape and spaces.
  1290.  
  1291. Find this resource:
  1292.  
  1293.  
  1294. Coomans, Thomas. “Cistercian Architecture or Architecture of the Cistercians?” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 151–169. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  1295.  
  1296. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1297.  
  1298. Inquires into the identity of medieval Cistercian architecture across Europe, identifying the 12th-century normative forma Ordinis with simplicity of design and structure, framing a simplified liturgy. Notes value of buildings as a material source for monastic life; recommends research into architecture of women’s monasteries and more consideration of post-medieval monasteries.
  1299.  
  1300. Find this resource:
  1301.  
  1302.  
  1303. Fergusson, Peter, and Stuart Harrison. Rievaulx Abbey: Community, Architecture, Memory. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1999.
  1304.  
  1305. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1306.  
  1307. An exhaustive reconstruction of the history and architecture of Rievaulx, with comparative charts and photos, offering significant insights into medieval monastic life. Detailed discussion supported by plates, charts, floor plans, and analysis of the site, stonework, and quarries. Includes documents from the 1538–1539 monastic suppression. Extensive notes, bibliography, and index.
  1308.  
  1309. Find this resource:
  1310.  
  1311.  
  1312. France, James. “The Cellarer’s Domain: Evidence from Denmark.” In Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture. Vol. 5. Edited by Meredith Parsons Lillich, 1–39. Cistercian Studies Series 167. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1998.
  1313.  
  1314. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1315.  
  1316. This article examines Danish structures in monastic west ranges, assigned to conversi and the cellarer, who was responsible for supervising the conversi and for the monastic economy. Remains of these structures reflect patterns of initial vigor, a period of decline, then resurgence before sharp decline during the Reformation. Many plates.
  1317.  
  1318. Find this resource:
  1319.  
  1320.  
  1321. Grüger, Heinrich. “Cistercian Fountain Houses in Central Europe.” In Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture. Vol. 2. Edited by Meredith Parsons Lillich, 201–222. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1984.
  1322.  
  1323. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1324.  
  1325. Examines construction of central European Cistercian fountain houses, which supplied water for hygiene, cooking, and liturgical purposes. Examines the few surviving instances, old maps, and archeological investigations; categorizes fountain houses by ground plan and lists them by dates of origin. Useful introduction to Cistercian plumbing methods.
  1326.  
  1327. Find this resource:
  1328.  
  1329.  
  1330. Jansen, Virginia. “Architecture and Community in Medieval Monastic Dormitories.” In Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture. Vol. 5. Edited by Meredith Parsons Lillich, 59–94. Cistercian Studies 167. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1998.
  1331.  
  1332. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1333.  
  1334. Although dormitories are the largest space in many abbeys (usually other than the church) and many survive, they receive little scholarly attention. Jansen investigates the function of the dormitory as non-ecclesiastical space central to the community in function, the monastery in form, and the simple life in ideal.
  1335.  
  1336. Find this resource:
  1337.  
  1338.  
  1339. Robinson, David M. The Cistercians in Wales: Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540. London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 2006.
  1340.  
  1341. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1342.  
  1343. A thorough overview, with many photographs, maps, and floor plans, and extensive notes, bibliography, and index. Chapters on Cistercian settlement, abbey churches, and monastic buildings, and a catalogue of Cistercian monasteries in Wales and on the English-Wales border, combining history and archeology. Valuable for understanding Cistercian settlement and building.
  1344.  
  1345. Find this resource:
  1346.  
  1347.  
  1348. Sternberg, Maximilian. Cistercian Architecture and Medieval Society. Studies in Intellectual History 221. Studies on Art, Art History, and Intellectual History 5. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic, 2013.
  1349.  
  1350. DOI: 10.1163/9789004251816Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1351.  
  1352. Rather than focusing on aesthetics or technical aspects of Cistercian architecture, this study examines its complex social function and the ways it helped the Order negotiate its spheres of social relationships. Includes ninety-six b/w images and floor plans of abbeys plus an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
  1353.  
  1354. Find this resource:
  1355.  
  1356.  
  1357. Art
  1358. Early Cistercian statutes on artistic expression are clear about the priority of simplicity and rejection of curiositas; scholarship on the Order’s aesthetic generally recognizes the way those principles determine the resulting art, though with change over time. Several people have examined the statutes and explained their theological and spiritual force: Norton 1986 gives a helpful table of Cistercian artistic and architectural legislation, quoting the statutes and identifying sources, and Rudolph 1987 examines the earliest statutes on art, explaining them not as expressing hostility toward art, as earlier scholars had thought, but as aiming toward simplicity. Lillich 1993 gives a specific example of Cistercian artistic simplicity in windows whose grisaille and blankglazing reflected an understanding of the presence or absence of light as an image of the spiritual life. Reilly 2013, however, notes that despite the mid-12th-century regulations, Cistercians lived within lush artistic diversity. Camille 1987 explicates five late-13th-century manuscript illuminations of the Song of Songs as reflecting later Cistercian affective devotion to the humanity of Christ rather than the austerity that had dominated art before the 1153 death of Bernard of Clairvaux. France 1998 indicates Cistercian openness to art in his presentation of images of Cistercian people in a variety of media, reaching into the 16th century. Lillich 1982–2006 offers a broad range of scholarship on Cistercian art, from matters specific to general.
  1359.  
  1360. Camille, Michael. “‘Him whom you have ardently desired you may see’: Cistercian Exegesis and the Prefatory Pictures in a French Apocalypse.” In Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture. Vol. 3. Edited by Meredith Parsons Lillich, 137–160. Cistercian Studies Series 89. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1987.
  1361.  
  1362. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1363.  
  1364. Analysis of five images from a now-dispersed late-13th-century Apocalypse manuscript reflecting a traditional 12th-century allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs, enhanced with 13th-century emotional content, making a bridge between 12th-century thought and 13th-century devotion. Seventeen b/w images included in figures section at end of volume (unpaginated).
  1365.  
  1366. Find this resource:
  1367.  
  1368.  
  1369. France, James. The Cistercians in Medieval Art. Cistercian Studies 170. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1998.
  1370.  
  1371. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1372.  
  1373. A thorough study of Cistercian images in manuscripts, statuary, stained glass, and wall paintings. Moves forward from the Order’s Benedictine roots and establishment. Artwork organized thematically by community, abbots, laybrothers, Opus Dei, manual labor, and Lectio Divina; 174 plates, 17 color. A brief glossary, extensive bibliography, and index.
  1374.  
  1375. Find this resource:
  1376.  
  1377.  
  1378. Lillich, Meredith Parsons, ed. Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture. 6 vols. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1982–2006.
  1379.  
  1380. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1381.  
  1382. A series containing valuable studies on a variety of topics and a variety of media in Cistercian art and architecture, ranging from tiles to decorative elements. Examinations of small details appear alongside consideration of larger artistic patterns. A good place to get an introduction to scholarly questions in the area.
  1383.  
  1384. Find this resource:
  1385.  
  1386.  
  1387. Lillich, Meredith Parsons. “Recent Scholarship Concerning Cistercian Windows.” In Studiosorum Speculum: Studies in Honor of Louis J. Lekai, O.Cist. Edited by Francis Swietek and John R. Sommerfeldt, 233–262. Cistercian Studies 141. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1993.
  1388.  
  1389. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1390.  
  1391. Argues that Cistercian windows with grisaille and blankglazing reveal not monastic poverty but aesthetic values interpreting the presence or absence of light as an image of the spiritual life and rejecting curiositas, which might be encouraged by colored glass. Notes the popularity of vegetal imagery in Cistercian grisaille. Ten plates.
  1392.  
  1393. Find this resource:
  1394.  
  1395.  
  1396. Norton, Christopher. “Table of Cistercian Legislation on Art and Architecture.” In Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles. Edited by Christopher Norton and David Park, 315–393. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  1397.  
  1398. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1399.  
  1400. Extremely useful table of Cistercian legislative texts concerning artistic and architectural matters arranged chronologically from 1098 by category: Foundations, Buildings; Sculpture, Painting; Window Glass, Pavements, Tombstones; Manuscripts; Liturgical Vestments and Vessels, Bells; and Costume, Personal Possessions. Statutes or regulations identified by source and quoted in Latin. Introductory comments discuss sources.
  1401.  
  1402. Find this resource:
  1403.  
  1404.  
  1405. Reilly, Diane J. “Art.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Cistercian Order. Edited by Mette Birkedal Bruun, 125–139. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  1406.  
  1407. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1408.  
  1409. Argues that despite mid-12th-century artistic legislation, Cistercians inhabited “a visually lush environment,” adhering to local models and receiving artwork by non-Cistercian artists, leading to artistic diversity rather than a uniform Cistercian style. Plates show stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, a tile floor, and Saint Bernard’s seal.
  1410.  
  1411. Find this resource:
  1412.  
  1413.  
  1414. Rudolph, Conrad. “The ‘Principal Founders’ and the Early Artistic Legislation of Cîteaux.” In Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture. Vol. 3. Edited by Meredith Parsons Lillich, 1–45. Cistercian Studies 89. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1987.
  1415.  
  1416. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1417.  
  1418. The essential examination of the early Cistercian statutes governing aesthetics in monasteries and manuscripts, interpreting them not as hostile to artistic expression (as Bernard of Clairvaux seemed to be) but as aspiring toward simplicity. This early ideal gave way later, after Bernard’s death, to a less austere aesthetics. Detailed endnotes.
  1419.  
  1420. Find this resource:
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