ABSTRACT
Whereas traditional histories of religious orders have generally been written in terms of cycles of development - rise, decline and reform - the aim of this book has been to get away from the narrative approach and to focus instead on the structures of the Cistercian movement in the middle ages, both as a trans-European order centred on its General Chapter, and as a congeries of individual houses with very diverse experiences. How far can one draw general conclusions from the experiences of one abbey, region or country? How relevant were developments at the centre and in the trans-European networks to those at a local level? Is it even worth attempting to encapsulate the history of the medieval Cistercian order over several centuries in one simple thesis or one interpretational model? It seems, in fact, that there are a number of central features and themes that characterise the Cistercian experience, both at the level of individual communities and at the centre, and it is these that this book considers to constitute the essence of the history of the Cistercian movement in the middle ages.
