Cistercian Abbeys: History And Architecture, Henri Gaud And Jean-Francois Leroux-Dhuys

Cistercian Abbeys: History and Architecture

Photography by Henri Gaud

Text by Jean-Francois Leroux-Dhuys
c. 1998 for the English edition

One of my most treasured books; a coffee-table book.

If anyone wonders from whence the great cathedrals sprang, look no further than the Cistercian abbeys. These were built "several decades" before the great catherdrals were built.

I was fortunate to have visited the ruins of several abbeys in England between 1986 and 1989 and then again between 2002 and 2004.

History:

• 1000 AD: true fear that the world would end at the end of the millenium
• 1050 AD: the fear that the world would end dissipated; Christian West came into its own; feudalism was establishing itself on the ruins of the Carolingian era; strengthened by the Gregorian reform that was to prove to be the most characteristic feature of the eleventh century, the Church demanded independence and purity, encouraging the development of the monastic orders
• broad brush
• Benedictine Robert of Molesme, in his search for ever greater perfection after a number of previous experiments, founded the new monastery of Citeaux in 1098
• his successors Alberic and, in particular, Stephen Harding created, the conditions necessary for the development of the Cistercian Order
• this was a rigorous Order that demanded renunciation of the world and an asceticism that attracted the chivalrous nobility; for these men, this was an adventure comparable to setting out on a Crusade
• under Bernard of Clairvaux: until the 1150s, the White Monks set up a network of communities over the entire face of Europe, created in the image of the heavenly Jerusalem;
• this initial stimulus lasted for a century
• 12th century: the high point of medieval monasticism
• founding Rule of St Benedict; their role in economic growth contributed to the development of towns in the 13th century
• the "Desert Fathers" (early Christian hermits) were replaced by new Orders, Dominicans and Fransciscans, whose growth coincided with that of the towns

Part I

Nine Centuries Ago

Introduction

• Molesme: 1075 -- marks the beginning of the Cistercian adventure
• Citeaux: 1098
• western civilization had reached a low point; moral chaos
• Christianity drew the "red line" beyond which civilization would not fall
• for two centuries, 1050 - 1250, Christianity experienced a period of expansion; Cistercians played a major role

Chapter 1: The Origins of Christianity

• Constantine the Great, 272 - 337: converted at age 40; created the unexpected alliance between Christianity and the Roman Empire; Council of Nicaea, 325 -- the Trinity
• first Roman emperor to stop Christian persecutions; legalized Christianity along with other religions and cults
• established an eastern capital at Byzantium
• first to third centuries: a specifically Christian monasticism developed
• as religious peace became established, the first monks appeared; when religious persecution came to an end, martyrdom was no longer the sole route to sainthood
• most interesting: "official recognition of Christianity had brought about a relaxation in morality. New witnesses were needed and these were the monks, who offered their lives of self-mortification to God 
• Pax Romana: assimilated Celtic culture and the new Christian religion; this became the inheritance received by the West afer the Roman and Byzantine empires went their separate ways
• walled towns::cathedral enclosures; these cathedrals prefigured the enclosed space of the monasteries
• invaders occupied Rome (476) but people remained Roman and Christian (for the most part)
• Benedict of Nursia (northeast of Rome) founds the abbey of Mont Cassino (529); draws up "the Rule"
• Charlemagne takes control of the Empire and the Church: 817; without equal on earth
• Benedict of Aniane ("the second Benedictine") brings together all monasteries under the one Benedictine Rule (also, 817); 
• 910: foundation of the Benedictine Order

Chapter II: Christianity in the Late Eleventh Century

• 1000: western Europe depression; superstitious about fin de siecle, end of the world
• 1050: things began to settle down
• Otto, 962: reestablished the Germanic Holy Roman Empire -- but only possible with help of bishops (why bishops are next to king/queen in chess)
• from wiki: chess reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century; by the year 1000 it had spread across Europe; originally "an elephant", the modern bishop first appeared shortly after 1200 in Courier chess; the term "bishop" did not enter into the English language until the 16th century; Icelandic 12th-century Lewis Chessmen portray the bishop as an unambiguously ecclesiastical figure
• bellatores (warriors); laboratores (workers); and, oratores (men of prayer)
• the situation of monasticism (page 19): fascinated feudal lords
• from 910, due to the directives of Benedict of Aniane, the spirit of Cluny (central-east France Saone-et-Loire), the Cluniac Order revived; biggest church in the world at the time; controlled 1200 priories across Europe (theoretically) but growing more autonomous
• a return to the spirit of the hermit, the Desert Fathers (page 20)

Chapter III: From Molesme to Citeaux, 1075 - 1119

• Molesme: 1075 - 1090; directly north of Cluny, southeast of Paris, southwest of Luxembourg
• founder of Molesme: Robert
• reverted to becoming a hermit; gathered his friends, founded a new abbey at Molesme
• Benedictine monastery for 15 years; rigorous asceticism; monks rediscovered the virtue of manual work
• Molesme became wealthy through feudal donations; mother abbey of a Benedictine congregation of 35 priories; an identity crisis
• Citeaux (1090 - 1098)
• Alberic and Stephen Harding: at Molesme; wanted things even more strict
• they leave Molesme and found an abbey at Citeaux; in the same general region of eastern France
• feud between Robert (Molseme) and Alberic (New Monastery, Citeaux)
• Alberic's goal: make the New Monastery an exemplary Benedictine abbey, with strict observance of the Benedictine Rule
• first mention of the "Cistercian monks who came from Molesme" -- Cistercium is the Latinname of Citeaux, near Dijon in France
• 1100: the pope places the New Monastery under personal protection; the new monastery much stricter than Robert's Molesme
• Odo 1, the duke of Burgundy (who will feature in the Normandy invasion of England) donated land to the Cistercians
• Stephen Harding and the Carta Caritatis (1109 - 1119); two important events marked the beginning of the abbacy of Stephen Harding: a) okay to accept donations and farmlands; and, b) shaped the spiritual and political future of the Cistercian world through the arrival of a novice, 1113 -- Bernard of Fontaine; Bernard's group invigorated the new Cistercian order
• Harding, all of a sudden, had a huge population to manage, and was concerned about the Bernard "clan"
• the first four daughters: La Ferte; Pontigny; Clairvaux (assigned to Bernard), and Morimond
• Stephen Harding: to ensure a return to strict rule of Benedict -- the Carta Caritatis -- the Charter of Divine Love
• December 23, 1119 -- the Charter given to the Pope who accepted it and the term "New Monastery" no longer used; new name, the Order of Citeaux has been born -- the Cistercians -- very strict Benedictines
• the constitution, page 28: set rules for monasteries; a model of organization
• federal (central) vs state (independence)
• what was ahead of its time was the Order's supra-nationality
• the widespread renown of Bernard of Clairvaux of major importance -- the Bernard "clan"
• copying books -- illuminated manuscripts -- of major importance

Chapter IV: Bernard of Clairvaux, 1120 - 1153 

• 1119, Carta Caritatis -- ten monasteries; by the time Bernard of Clairvaux died in 1153, some thirty years later, it embraced 351 abbeys of which half were outside France and 169 attached to Clairvaux alone
• Cistercians: their political power was immense; principally through Bernard of Clairvaux; he even eclipsed the mother-ship, the abbot of Citreaux
• Bernard:
• personal charisma
• defense of the poor
• the cult of the Virgin Mary: took a page out of the troubadours' book; placed love at the heart of his mystical theology; sublimated it into devotion to the Virgin, queen of Heaven
• the schism of Anacletus, between 1130 and 1137 mobilized Bernard of Clairvaux
• kings and princes gave the abbot of Clairvaux the task of naming the legitimate pope
• Bernard chose Innocent II over Anacletus II
• Second Crusade: 1146 - 1151

Chapter V: Monastic Architecture According to Bernard of Clairvaux

• in truth, Cistercian architecture owes everything to him
• St Bernard canonized 1174; took a long time; occurred one year later than canonization of Thomas a Becket in 1173
• amazing expansion of the Cistercian Order expressed itself in the appearance of hundreds of building sites
• the Order's first great building campaing was opened by Bernard of Clairvaux, in 1135; Clairvaux II; even Citeaux had to wait until 1140 -- forty years after its foundation, before work started on its abbey church
• the Ur-Cistercian churches: Fontenay in Burgundy; Poblet in Catalonia; Maulbronn in Germany; and, Fountains in England
• Cistercian builders: 750 abbeys, and much more
• the difference between asceticism and poverty (page 39)
• the Cistercian architecture (page 39)
• no sculptures; no paintings except on crosses, which must be of wood

And this is where I will end. This is an incredible book. This takes me only through page 39 and there are almost 400 pages in this book.