Molesme Abbey

At about this time, he consented to repeated requests from a group of hermits to lead them in founding a new community of austerity of life.

They settled in 1075 on a piece of land on a hillside by the River Laigne, in the present Molesme, not far from what once was the site of the Gallo-Roman settlement of Vertillum.

Here the community lived in extreme poverty until a bishop visited them, and, seeing their need, sent them a supply of food and clothing.

[2] The increase in numbers and wealth however caused a temporary loss of rigour, in that many of the new monks were not keen to work in the fields, preferring to live on the alms given to them.

This dissatisfaction reached the point of open rebellion and Robert, therefore, left Molesme in 1098, accompanied by only the most fervent religious, and this time founded Cîteaux Abbey, which although it was initially intended as a Benedictine monastery, became the first and mother-house of the Cistercian Order.

They begged Pope Urban II to oblige Robert to return to them, which he did in 1099, and continued to govern them and to make Molesme a centre of strict Benedictine observance until his death in 1111.