Wednesday, May 4, 2022 More about the Cistercians and the Middle Ages

I have struggled for two days to write this post, re-writing every line more than once. It feels like there is something important but complicated to say about these Cistercians, both modern and medieval, but trying to capture the importance of their story in an interesting but brief way is escaping me.

In essence, without the Cistercians, Cluniacs, and other reform monasteries of the Middle Ages, modern civilization might look quite different than it does today. These monasteries kept the histories of ancient civilizations like the Greeks and Romans by collecting and copying these for their libraries. They also created new systems of agriculture, developed new technologies (such as the hydraulic hammer at Fontenay) and expanded scientific understandings of ecology and nature. All this in a time when life in Europe was becoming more dangerous (think invading Normans) when competing armies created chaos for ordinary folks. There's a reason we call this time "The Dark Ages."

Our discoveries started in Fontenay, and today, we will continue learning about the Cistercian life at the Abbey of Citeaux. Our Belgian friend Paulette has a cousin who works at the Abbey Notre-Dame de Citeaux, the mother-house of all Cistercian monasteries. So today we are going to Citeaux to learn more about the culture and practices of the Cistercians. 

Paulette's cousin, Eric, is a lay person hired by the monks to manage the library for the monastery. He will meet us when we arrive, lead us to our tour of the monastery, and then meet us after. We'll have lunch at a local restaurant, and then go into the library at the abbey for a behind the scenes look at old manuscripts. 

It's good that we went to Fontenay on Monday because we saw an intact Cistercian monastery, but one that is now a museum. By contrast, Citeaux is once more a working monastery but its original buildings have been lost. So its buildings are a hodge-podge of old and modern. Today the 13 monks at Citeaux (who keep themselves separate from any public exposure) continue to live and work according to the strict rules laid out by St. Benedict so many centuries ago. 

The Abbey of Citeaux was founded in 1098 by Robert of Molesme (pronounced Molem) who arrived with 21 monks having left several monasteries because they didn't strictly follow the Benedictine rules of silence, prayer, manual labor, and seclusion from the world. The manual labor  of the monks would provide everything needed by the monks and allow them  to remain separate from the rest of the world. 

statue of Robert de Molesme

At the beginning life was very austere as the monks had to clear the land given to them by the Duke of Burgundy. It was swampy as well, requiring the building of small canals to channel the water away from the land. 

canal at Citeaux Abbey, dug by the monks in 12th century

By the end of the 12th century, the buildings were completed. The next few abbots saw the spread of the Cistercian order to more than 500 monasteries.  As the order and its properties grew, the need for additional workers was solved by inviting lay brothers - men who were religious, but not monks. They  lived separately from the monks and provided cost-free labor that allowed the Cistercian monks sufficient time for prayer, reading, and psalmody. It also provided a way for the abbeys to work without having to pay for services or to follow any of the feudal farming customs.

Gifts from donors (perhaps wishing to assure their place in heaven?) enlarged the lands managed by the monks, including some of what would become world-famous vineyards, like Clos Vougeot located about 10 miles from Citeaux. 

Clos Vougeot

The monks were learned men who studied science, nature, and agriculture. Some monks copied books in the scriptorium, all sorts of books - not just religious- and added them to their libraries. 

how the monks bound the parchment pages they created into books

a recreation of the scriptorium where a monk (mannequin) is copying a page onto parchment

Our tour was led by a delightful young lady working on a masters degree in medieval history. We toured the grounds only where the monks were not working, looking mostly at the remains of the oldest buildings. 

We learned that at the beginning, the Cistercians were able to maintain the same discipline and enthusiasm in all its chapters because once each year the abbots of all the monasteries came to Citeaux to discuss issues and make common rules. And the brothers at Citeaux visited each of the sister monasteries at least once each year. (Which seems like it would be hard as at one point there were over 700 sister monasteries.) 

Since very few old buildings exist, a bit of imagination was required to get a picture of what it must have looked like. 

Remains of the 13th century cloister with its 16th century addition of an upper floor library

Dan and Paulette in the only remaining side of the 13th century cloister. Scriptorium rooms are off on the right.

Here we are standing in the footprint of the second abbey church which exists no longer. 

The stone represents the outer walls of this small church

The abbey was almost totally destroyed first in the French Revolution and later when it was sold for a juvenile detention facility in 1845. However, monastic life was in decline long before the French Revolution. As the number of monasteries grew, abbey discipline broke down. Furthermore, abbeys no longer were allowed to elect their own abbots but rather they were appointed by the king to favored individuals. These abbots were no longer interested in vows of poverty and simplicity, but rather in building comfortable manors for themselves and making money from the abbey. During the French Revolution, the monks were forced to leave and their properties were seized as national property and later sold off to individuals. There were several owners after the French Revolution including one who turned the abbey into a juvenile detention facility. The property was returned to the Cistercian monks in 1898. In 1998, the monks celebrated the 900th anniversary of the founding of Citeaux Abbey. The current church was modernized for the occasion. 

the nave 

While the church is modern, it still maintains the Cisterian aesthetic, eschewing decoration as a distraction to the mind. 

outside of the new church

In two cars, with Eric giving directions, we zigzagged our way to our lunch destination, passing several villages and vineyards that had Cistercian connections in the past. We arrived at our restaurant, Au Clos Napoléon, where we were ushered to a table for 7 in a brightly lit back corner. Delicious food, a bottle of wine, and lively discussion defined our leisurely 2 hour lunch. 

Eric, Lynn, Dave

Dan & Paulette

The rain expected during the day fell only while we were at lunch. Back in the cars, Eric led us to Domaine Joliet for a wine tasting. 

Domaine Joliet

Just as we were entering the cave, hail began to fall, causing a group of bicyclists to hustle down the steps just after us. We found ourselves in the cave of the manor house. 

12th century cave of Domaine Joliet

Another link to the Cistercians, this manor and its cave were built by the monks of Citeaux in 1142. (They were forced to abandon this 5 hectare (12.35 acres) enclosed vineyard during the wars of religion in 1622. The Joliet family has owned this property since 1853.) 

We were greeted by Bénigne Joliet, the 7th generation owner of this property who shared the history of the domaine as we tasted his wines. They are known for their Premier Cru "Clos de Perriere" which we bought. 

Bénigne Joliet explaining his wines

The cave is as it was in the times of the Cistercians, arched vaults on huge round pillars. The cave is half-buried in the ground, keeping the temperature variation from winter to summer at only 10 degrees of difference. A demonstration of the scientific knowledge of the monks.  It serves today, as it did in the Middle Ages, as storage for aging the wine in oak casks. 

wine press

In a second room, a giant wine press remains in working condition even though it is over 800 years old. In 1959, M. Joliet's grandfather was the last to use this for pressing grapes. On France's historic register, this press is one of only 5 surviving models. (The other 4 are at Clos Vougeot.)

As we left the cave, the rain/hail had stopped and the sun shone brightly. It was time to return to Citeaux to look at the library that Eric manages. 

view from Domaine Joliet over the church at Fixey.

Eric has an office, a meeting room and rooms with shelves for all the collections of rare books. He explained that when an abbey or monastery closes, all their books are sent to Citeaux where he catalogs them and then puts them on the shelves. He pulled books off the shelves, showing us how they were bound. Books were stored on their sides, often with metal discs to keep other books from touching it. A metal clasp holds the pages together since parchment swells with humidity. We saw illuminated song books and small history books.

a psalmody from the Middle Ages

Eric showing the psalmody book closed, latched with the bumpers to protect it

medieval books

I asked Eric if he ever had a surprise when opening a newly arrived box from another monastery. He told of one day opening a box expecting books only to find a human skull. It took a lot of research, but in the end, it was determined that the skull belonged to a saint associated with a Cistercian monastery and had been removed during the French Revolution to save it and it made its way to a nunnery.....etc. Long story short: the skull was returned to a reliquary in the church. 

We could have listened forever, but it was after 6 pm already and we had to split up so Dave and I could pick up Ron and Chris in Dijon at 7:30. We headed off to Dijon while the others headed home to heat up the chile that Janis made yesterday for tonight's dinner.  

Busy day. My head is spinning with trying to fit all the new connections into the knowledge I have learned in the last few days. These men of God were also men of the world. They studied science, they developed technologies and improved agriculture. They built, they made tools, they captured knowledge, both old and new. All while closed away from other humans and the distractions of their lives. Up to now, I've had a very narrow vision of their lives. 

We're all going to sleep well tonight.