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Cîteaux

Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, Burgundy, FranceWestern EuropeAlso: Citeaux, Cistercium, New Monastery

The abbey south of Dijon founded in 1098 by monks from Molesme and first called the New Monastery. It became the mother house of the Cistercian order, to which it gave its name.

Cîteaux lies in the plain of the Saône, south of Dijon. The Exordium Parvum describes the site in 1098 as a place in the diocese of Chalon so overgrown with wood and thorn that people seldom came there, and says that the monks thought it the better suited to their purpose for that reason (Exordium Parvum 3). The early documents call the house the New Monastery. The Charter of Charity requires every abbot of the order to come there once a year (Carta Caritatis 7).

What happened here

  1. 1098 to 1115, estimated date
    The 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

First half of the twelfth century; date debated · Latin

The Charter of Charity

Twelfth century, in several stages; date debated · Latin

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