ABSTRACT
Citeaux, and the order that sprang from it, was the outcome o f the same resdess search for a simpler and more secluded form of ascetical life that found expression in other new orders in the eleventh century. Like simi lar movements, it began as a reaction against the corporate wealth, worldly involvements and surfeited liturgical ritualism o f the Carolingian mon astic tradition. The founders o f Citeaux set out to create a monastery in which the pristine observance o f the Benedictine Rule would be restored. As they conceived it, poverty and isolation from the world were integral features o f this observance. They drew, in fact, upon a stock o f ideas that were current in the monastic circles o f their time. But the order that evolved out o f their efforts eclipsed all its rivals in the vigour o f its growth, the number o f its recruits and the brilliance o f its reputation.
