The Cistercians

Monastic Orders · Updated August 15, 2026

Overview

The Cistercian order only survived its first decades because a 21-year-old nobleman named Bernard arrived with 30 companions in a single group, transforming a failing monastery into the most powerful reform movement in medieval Christianity. The year was 1112, and the place was a remote clearing in the marshlands of Burgundy near Dijon. A small group of monks had been struggling there for over a decade, trying to live out a radical vision of poverty and manual labor that rejected the wealth and comfort creeping into contemporary monasteries. Without Bernard, they would have vanished into the muddy soil of eastern France.

The trouble had started in 1098, when a monk named Robert of Molesme led a rebellion against his own abbey. He and a handful of followers believed the Benedictines had grown soft, abandoning the strict rules laid down by Saint Benedict centuries earlier. They established a new monastery called Cteaux to return to bare-bones Monasticism. The papacy ordered Robert back to his old post, leaving his successors Alberic and Stephen Harding to keep the fragile project alive. They wore undyed white wool instead of traditional black robes, earning them the nickname White Monks. They farmed the land with their own hands and rejected ornamentation. The austerity attracted few recruits, and the monastery was dying. Then Bernard walked through the gates. The young aristocrat brought with him thirty relatives and friends, a massive injection of manpower and aristocratic prestige that instantly secured the colony's future. Within three years, Bernard founded a daughter house at Clairvaux and became its abbot. He rewrote the order's governing constitution, advised popes, and preached the Second Crusade across Europe. His influence grew so vast that the order took on his name, becoming known in many regions as the Bernardines.

By 1200, Cistercian monasteries had spread across most of Europe through a tightly organized network of daughter houses. Each new foundation answered to its mother abbey through a system of annual inspections, a unified chain of command rare in the medieval church. The order drained swamps, cleared forests, and bred sheep on an industrial scale, turning remote wilderness into productive agricultural estates. Today, the Cistercian order still operates, with monasteries on every inhabited continent maintaining the rhythm of prayer and manual labor established nine centuries ago.

The Cistercian order only survived its first decades because a 21-year-old nobleman named Bernard arrived with 30 companions in a single group, transforming a failing monastery into the most powerful reform movement in medieval Christianity.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0

Key facts

Cîteaux Abbey was founded in 1098 by Benedictine monks from Molesme who wanted stricter observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict.: The founders were dissatisfied with what they saw as lax practices at Molesme and sought a return to literal Benedictine observance near Dijon in eastern France.
The first three abbots of Cîteaux were Robert of Molesme, Alberic of Cîteaux, and Stephen Harding, each shaping the order's early direction.: Robert was recalled to Molesme by papal order, leaving Alberic and then Harding to establish the order's structures and charter of charity.
Bernard of Clairvaux entered Cîteaux in 1112 or 1113 with approximately 30 companions, injecting the young community with crucial manpower and aristocratic prestige.: Bernard's entry is widely credited with saving the struggling monastery, which had seen few vocations since its founding.
Cistercians were called White Monks because they wore undyed white or grey cowls, distinguishing them from Benedictines who wore black.: The undyed wool was a deliberate choice reflecting the order's commitment to simplicity and rejection of monastic luxury.
The order's influence extended so far under Bernard that he became the Latin Rule's key contributor and the order's namesake, giving them the alternate name Bernardines.: Bernard of Clairvaux became one of the most influential churchmen of the 12th century, advising popes and preaching the Second Crusade.
By the end of the 12th century, Cistercian houses had spread across most of Europe through a system of daughter houses and filiations.: The order's organizational model tied each new foundation to its mother abbey through annual visitation, creating a unified network rare in medieval monasticism.

Context

The Cistercians emerged as a reform movement within Benedictine monasticism, seeking a return to the literal observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict with emphasis on manual agricultural labor and austerity. Founded at Cîteaux in 1098, the order nearly failed before Bernard of Clairvaux's dramatic entry revitalized it. Within a century, Cistercian monasteries had spread across Europe, making it one of the most influential religious orders of the Middle Ages.