Cistercian Order

Timeline

1. 1098–1115Cîteaux · BurgundyIn 1098 Robert of Molesme founded the Cistercian Order at Cîteaux in Burgundy, advocating a return to strict Benedictine discipline, discarding superfluous decoration and lengthy rituals, and achieving self-sufficiency through agriculture and handicrafts.
2. c. 1121–1130Western European countries · the whole worldIn the 1120s St. Bernard sent monks out from Clairvaux, founding dozens of new Cistercian monasteries in France, Germany, the Low Countries, and Iberia, as the order grew from a small reform group into a pan-European network.
3. c. 1140–1300Europe · EuropeIn the 12th and 13th centuries Cistercian monasteries were renowned for their austere Gothic style, playing an important role in agricultural colonization, the wool trade, and the transmission of learning, influencing later reform movements such as the Carthusians.