Library › Latin: History › Exordium Cisterciensis Coenobii
This narrative of the foundation of Cîteaux, known as the Exordium parvum, is traditionally attributed to Stephen Harding, third abbot of Cîteaux (d. 1134). It opens in the voice of the first founders, who wish to tell their successors how canonically, by what authority, by whom and when their monastery and way of life began, so that they may love the place and its observance of the Rule and pray for those who bore the burden of the day and the heat. It then relates how in 1098 Robert, first abbot of Molesme, came with some of his monks to Hugh, papal legate and archbishop of Lyon, promising to order their life under the Rule of Saint Benedict, and how they left Molesme for Cîteaux.
The work is built around documents, which it quotes in full: Hugh’s letter, letters of Pope Urban II on Robert’s return to Molesme, and, as in the middle passage, petitions for papal confirmation of the new monastery’s peace and stability. It is the principal early source for Cistercian origins, though written partly to justify the founders’ departure from Molesme, and its date and layers of composition remain debated.
About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 166, Parisiis 1854), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.