The cistercian order

Les moines de Lérins par Jérôme Kelagopian

The cistercian order was founded in 1098 by Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk. Let's look back together at the history of this order, which was one of the most powerful in the medieval West...

The dominant role of the Christian religion in medieval society

In the Middle Ages,Europe underwent an extraordinary expansion. After the centuries troubled by the great invasions, the 11th and 12th centuries marked a period of stability. Progress was made in agricultural techniques, trade developed and the population grew.

The Christian religion played a dominant role in the society of the time. In the 11th century, " the world shook off its antiquity and clothed itself in a white mantle of churches", to quote the famous expression of the monk chronicler Raoul Glaber in his Historiarum sui Temporis.

New religious orders were created: Carthusians, Cistercians, etc.

Monasteries played a major role in the creation of this white coat.

Abbaye de Cîteaux (vue aérienne) — Abbaye de Cîteaux (vue extérieure)
©GJ - Abbaye de Cîteaux

A return to humility, poverty and balance, between work and prayer

Robert de Molesme's wish was to return to the primitive rule of Saint Benedict, whose main characteristics were respect for humility, poverty and a balance between manual work and prayer.

The great Benedictine abbey of the time was Cluny, founded in 909. But by the end of the 11th century, the abbey was the scene of many excesses characterised by excessive wealth that ran counter to the principles of the Benedictine rule. The monks spent most of their time in liturgy and despised manual labour.

This period also marked the beginning of the construction of a huge new abbey church, Cluny III. Imagine that only the church of St Peter's in Rome, in the 16th century, would surpass it in size!

Abbaye de Cluny, église abbatiale, vue extérieure de la chapelle Saint-Étienne, bras sud du grand transept de Cluny III
© Patrick Tournebœuf - Tendance floue / Centre des monuments nationaux

The first Cistercian abbey: Notre-Dame de Cîteaux

Accompanied by around twenty monks, Robert left Molesme to found the first cistercian abbey: Notre Dame de Cîteaux, 20 km south of Dijon. The name of this new abbey probably comes from cistel (reed, marshy place in Old French).

It was with Bernard de Clairvaux, who entered Cîteaux in 1112, that the Order really took off. By 1113, the abbey had produced four daughters: La Ferté (1113), Pontigny (1114), Clairvaux (1115) and Morimond (1115). These foundations were successful and continued to spread.

Abbaye de Cîteaux en fleurs
©Abbaye de Cîteaux

Le Thoronet Abbey, the Cistercian ideal

By the 13th century, the Order had more than 700 abbeys throughout Europe, including 180 in France. In keeping with the Cistercian ideal, they were built in isolated locations, far from the hustle and bustle of towns and close to water. The abbey of Le Thoronet is a perfect example.

As they also devoted themselves to material tasks such as agriculture, the cistercians were to participate in the economic revolution that began in the Middle Ages: land clearance, creation of agricultural equipment, metallurgical activities, mills, salt marshes, etc.

Abbaye du Thoronet, vue sur le chevet
©Nathalie Perrot / Centre des monuments nationaux

The decline of the Cistercian order

From the 13th century onwards, however, the order declined. With the increase in trade and commerce, the development of towns and the birth of a new society with the urban reality, the cstercians (but more widely all the other monastic orders) were gradually pushed aside in favour of the mendicant orders (Franciscans, Dominicans...).

By placing poverty at the forefront of the Christian virtues and asking their members to beg, the mendicant orders were to distinguish themselves from the cistercians, whose accumulation of wealth (tithes, seigneurial rights, property investments) began to divert them from the original mission set out by their founders.

Suppressed during the French Revolution, the order was to be reborn in the 19th century. Today, there are four hundred abbeys throughout the world. They belong to the two cistercian obediences, the strict observance (the Trappists) and the common observance.

Has this insight into the world of the cistercians inspired you to explore Le Thoronet Abbey in greater depth? Then one of our themed tours is sure to satisfy your desire to learn more!