A monastic movement within Catholicism that emphasized strict religious discipline, simplicity, and agricultural work, founded by monks at Cîteaux in France.
From Cîteaux (Cistercium in Latin), a monastery in Burgundy, France, where the order was established in 1098. The suffix '-ism' denotes a religious or philosophical system of beliefs and practices.
Cistercian monks were medieval environmental engineers who drained swamps and built mills—they transformed the European landscape while taking vows of silence, and their distinctive white robes made them instantly recognizable.
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