From Cistercian Europe, Architecture of Contemplation, Terryl N. Kinder, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002.
Excerpts chosen by Thomas Falmagne.

Who was the first Cistercian?

The obvious answer is Robert of Molesme, though there are those would prefer to give credits to Stephen Harding. Many would point to Bernard of Clairvaux, whose renown transcends the fact that he joined the Order fifteen years after its inception. Yet while he never knew the Cistercians, the thoughts and writings of Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) were to form much of the thinking and spirituality of a monastic order established nearly five centuries after his death.

To understand the essential principles of the Cistercian life, around which Cistercian architecture was developed, one must return briefly to the Fathers of the Desert and the Rule of Saint Benedict.

Western Monasticism and Saint Benedict

First and foremost, the Rule of Saint Benedict requires that aspirants to the monastic life have a true intention to forsake the ways of the world and follow in the footsteps of their Savior. It alos demands stability. Monks were supposed to live and die in their monastery and leave it only on important monastic business.

The heart of the monastic life is the performance of the Opus Dei, the "Work of God", which primarily involves the saying of the eight liturgical offices (seven in the course of the day and one at night) that measure the monastic day. Apart from these offices, a monk is to be either working, reading, eating or sleeping, for since "idleness is the enemy of the soul" Benedict thought to be imprudent to leave any space by which the Tempter might gleefully enter in.

Yet, despite its wisdom and humanity, the Rule did not truly come into its own for another two centuries. The catalysts in this matter were Charlemagne (ca. 742-814) and his son, Louis the Pious (778-840).

Cluny was funded in 909/910 near Mâcon in southern Burgundy, and its foundation marked the beginning of a renaissance in Western Monasticism.
Cluny represented a valiant, and remarkably successful, attempt to revivify the monastic life in accordance with the real spirit of the Rule of Saint Benedict.

There was, however, a problem. Despite its remarkable abbots, its manifest piety, its devotion to the Rule of Saint Benedict, its strict observance and high standards, and the example it provided for reform, Cluny was in some ways the very opposite of the desert ideal. Over the years it had benefited much from frequent and lavish donations; its church was monumental and magnificient; its liturgy was long and elaborate; and its powerful and respected abbots were deeply involved with the world outside the closter.

There is no doubt that they were many contemporary monks and abbots who where dissatisfied with the way things had developed, and the eleventh and twelfth centuries were marked by a number of movements that sought a stricter observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict or a return to the lost ideals of the desert.

Such were the centers at Camaldoli, Fonte Avelanna, and Vallombrosa; the foundation of Chartreuse by Bruno of Cologne; the Grandmontines, the Praemonstratensians, the Gilbertines, the Savigniacs, and so many others.

Molesme and the Foundation of Cîteaux

The abbey of Molesme in Burgundy was funded by Saint Robert in 1075 as part of this movement. The new abbey, founded on land given for the purpose by Hugh, lord of Maligny, proved remarkably successful. In fact, it proved too successful, for the obvious sincerity of its abbot and the discipline of its monks attracted large numbers of recruits and lavish donations, and by 1090 there was little to distinguish Molesme from any other wealthy Benedictine abbey of the time. This, as we might expect, was anathema to Robert, who left the abbey to join another group of hermits at Aux (Côte-d'Or). His flight caused great embarrassment to the monks of Molesme, and Robert was prevailed upon to return and he did so. Since compromise proved impossible, Robert and his followers wen to see Hugh of Die, archbishop of Lyon and proposed to him the establishment of a new foundation. The archbishop gave his blessing to the project, and early in 1098 Robert and twenty-one other monks left Molesme for a tract of land in the Saône valley, about sixteen miles south of Dijon.

The new foundation was first referred to simply as the "New Monastery" but by 1119 it had taken the name of the site on which it had been founded, Cîteaux.

Robert returned to Molesme in 1099. Meanwhile, back at the New Monastery of Cîteaux, the abbacy had passed to Alberic. At his death on January 1109. Alberic was succeeded by the Englishman Sephen Harding. Stephen was an erudite scholar, an able organizer and an experienced administrator. He had excellent relations with his noble neighbors.

With the foundation of the first four daughter-abbeys between 1113 and 1115, it was under Stephen's governance that what we can truly call an "Order" was established.

The foundation in 1113 of the first daughter abbey, La Ferté-sur-Grosne, was already under way when a young nobleman named Bernard arrived at Cîteaux from Fontaines-lès-Dijon.

A second daughter house, Pontigny, was founded in 1114 and its first abbot was Hugh of Mâcon, a friend of Bernard.
The abbey of Clairvaux, with the twenty-five-year-old Bernard as first abbot, and the abbey of Morimond were both founded in 1115. 

Every new daughter abbey had to be economically self-sufficient, yet each remained answerable to the abbey that founded it

The founding abbot was required to make a yearly visitation to ensure that his daughter abbey was running smoothly.

Unlike the Cluniacs, the structure of the order of Cîteaux resembled a tree. The main trunk was Cîteaux itself and from this main trunk grew four additional trunks : La ferté, Pontigny, Clairvaux and Morimond. Each subsequent foundation retained its connection to the monastery that had founded it.

(To be continued, the remaining text will be translated shortly)