You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (September 2009) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the French article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Abbaye de Cîteaux]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Abbaye de Cîteaux}} to the talk page.
The abbey has about 35 monks.[2] The community produces a cheese branded under the abbey's name, as well as caramels and honey-based candies.
History
Cîteaux Abbey was founded on Saint Benedict's Day, 21 March 1098,[3] by a group of monks from Molesme Abbey seeking to follow more closely the Rule of St. Benedict. The Abbey was supported by Renaud, Vicomte de Beaune, and Odo I, Duke of Burgundy.[4] They were led by Saint Robert of Molesme,[5] who became the first abbot. The site was wooded and swampy, in a sparsely populated area. The toponym predates the abbey, but its origin is uncertain. Theories include a derivation from cis tertium [lapidem miliarium], "this side of the third (milestone)" of the Roman road connecting Langres and Chalons sur Saône,[6] or alternatively from cisternae "cisterns", which in Middle Latin could refer to stagnant pools of a swamp.[7]
In the year 1111, the monastery produced the illuminated manuscript now known as the Cîteaux Moralia in Job.[8]
The second abbot was Saint Alberic, and the third abbot Saint Stephen Harding, who wrote the Carta Caritatis that described the organisation of the order. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who would later be proclaimed Doctor of the Church, was a monk of Cîteaux Abbey and was sent in 1115 to found Clairvaux Abbey, of which he became the first abbot. Saint Bernard was influential in the exponential growth of the Cistercian Order that followed.
Cistercian monks depicted on the tomb of Philippe Pot
The great church of Cîteaux Abbey, begun in around 1140, was completed in 1193. The Dukes of Burgundy subsequently used it as their dynastic place of burial. Other dignitaries were buried in side chapels, perhaps most famously the magnificent tomb of Philippe Pot, a high Burgundian official who died in 1493.[9]
By the beginning of the 13th century the order had more than 500 houses and Cîteaux became an important center of Christianity. In 1244, King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) and his mother Blanche of Castile visited the abbey.
During the Hundred Years' War, the monastery was pillaged in 1360 (the monks sought refuge in Dijon), in 1365, 1434 and 1438. In 1380, the Earl of Buckingham stayed at L'Aumône Abbey, a daughter house of Cîteaux located in the forest of Marchenoir whilst his army was quartered in the surrounding Forest.[10]
The modern era
Since Cîteaux, the head of the order, had to meet extraordinary demands above and beyond those of other Cistercian abbeys, its campus was different. There had to be accommodations for the delegates of the annual chapter, their entourages and horses, but also for the ducal family. These obligations had an impact on the development of the abbey's infrastructure.[11]
To the north, the abbey's gatehouse opened onto a first courtyard, the so-called "lower courtyard," which was flanked by large buildings for guests and pilgrims. At its southern end there was a second gate, the upper floor of which was reserved for the accommodation of the Duchesses of Burgundy. It opened onto a large courtyard of honor, which in turn led to the residence of the Dukes of Burgundy. This courtyard also included buildings that were only used during the General Chapter.[11]
In the beginning of the 16th century, the abbey had a strong community of about 200 members. However, it suffered badly in the French Wars of Religion and slowly declined for the next century. in 1589, soldiers stormed and looted the abbey, reportedly carrying away "three hundred wagonloads of booty" and leaving the monastery in ruins. Cîteaux was left "practically abandoned for years," and it took until around 1610 for any sort of stable monastic life to be re-established there.[12]
In 1698, the abbey had 72 professed monks. In 1790, in the wake of the French Revolution, the monks were offered a pension if they agreed to return to civilian life. Fourteen of them, including Abbot Francois Trouvé, refused the offer, while twenty-nine took it. The abbey was seized and the property sold off by the government; what was left was looted by the local population. To calm the ensuing violence, a minor squad under the direction of Napoléon Bonaparte was called in.[13]Trappist monks resumed monastic life at the abbey in 1898,[14][15] and they continue to reside there.[16]
^Jens Rüffer: Die Zisterzienser und ihre Klöster. Leben und Bauen für Gott. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN978-3-534-18811-6, p. 10.
^Watkin Wynn Williams, Studies in St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 1927, p. 75. citing Du Cange "cisternae": Dicitur de loco humili et paludoso, ubi stagnat aqua.
^ abMartine Plouvier et Alain Saint-Denis: Pour une histoire monumentale de l’abbaye de Cîteaux (1908-1998). Cîteaux, commentarii cistercienses, Association Bourguignonne des Sociétés Savantes, 1998.
Plouvier, M. and Saint-Denis, A. (eds.), 1998: Pour une histoire monumentale de Cîteaux, 1098-1998 (Commentarii cistercienses. Studia et documenta, 8), Cîteaux.
