Robert of Molesme
First abbot of Molesme in Burgundy. In 1098 he went with a company of twenty-one monks to Cîteaux to keep the Rule of Benedict more strictly and was ordered back to Molesme a short time later; his prior, Alberic, succeeded him at the New Monastery.
The Exordium Parvum calls Robert the first abbot of Molesme, in the diocese of Langres. In 1098 he and some of his monks told the papal legate that they had kept the Rule of Benedict “lukewarmly and negligently” at Molesme and wished to keep it strictly elsewhere. A company of twenty-one monks went to Cîteaux, where he received the abbot’s staff of the new house from the bishop of Chalon (Exordium Parvum 1–4).
The monks he had left appealed to Pope Urban II, and the legate, Hugh of Lyon, ordered Robert back to Molesme, with leave for any who wished to go with him. The legate’s decree speaks of his “usual inconstancy”. Robert gave up the staff, released the monks who stayed from their obedience to him, and returned; those who stayed elected the prior, Alberic, as their abbot (Exordium Parvum 5–9).
In the timeline
- 1098 to 1115, estimated dateThe Cistercians and Bernard of Clairvaux
In 1098 monks from Molesme found a “New Monastery” at Cîteaux to keep the Rule of Benedict to the letter, in poverty and by their own labour. Bernard joins with some thirty companions and becomes abbot of Clairvaux, and daughter houses multiply.
Primary sources
Exordium Parvum
- Exordium Parvum 1–4klastervyssibrod.cz
- Exordium Parvum 5–9klastervyssibrod.cz