He was the only medieval Englishman to found a conventual order, mainly because the Cîteaux Abbey declined his request to assist him in organising a group of nuns living with lay brothers and sisters.

Unusually for that period, his father actively prevented his son from becoming a knight, instead sending him to France, probably the University of Paris but possibly under Anselm of Laon, to study theology.

[5] "Gilbert was a lover of truth and justice, chastity and sobriety, and a diligent cultivator of the other virtues: wherefore he was revered and praised by all and obtained their favour and regard.

In 1131 he founded the Gilbertine Order, and with the help of Alexander constructed at Sempringham a dwelling and cloister for nuns, at the north of the church of St Andrew.

[7] The only religious order of English origin founded during the Middle Ages, it thrived until the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry VIII.

[9] According to the order of Hubert Walter, the bishops of England celebrated his feast, and his name was added to the wall of the church of the Four Crowned Martyrs.