[2] The order was founded towards the end of the twelfth century by Viard (also styled Gui),[3] a lay brother of the Carthusian priory of Lugny, in the Diocese of Langres in Burgundy.

Odo (Eudes) III, Duke of Burgundy, in fulfilment of a vow made while on the Fourth Crusade,[4] immediately upon inheriting his estates built a church and monastery on the site of the hermitage.

The order was formally confirmed by Pope Innocent III, on 10 February 1205, in a rescript Protectio Apostolica,[6] preserved in the Register of Moray, in connection with the House of Pluscardyn.

The tomb of the Dukes of Burgundy, now removed to Dijon, was originally erected at Val-des-Choux; in bas-reliefs of a blind arcading of its base are the only representations of the monks of Val-de-Choux.

The monks supported themselves in part by salt-making in large stone tubs, for which manufacture they claimed exemption from the tax levied on salt works.

The proposal was agreed to, the change was authorized by a Papal Bull of Clement XIII in 1761, and Val-des-Choux was formally incorporated with Sept-Fons in March 1764, the parlement of Burgundy having ratified the arrangement.

Of the three Scottish houses of the order, Ardchattan, Beauly and Pluscarden, the first two became Cistercian priories, and the third a cell of the Benedictine Abbey of Dunfermline, a century before the dissolution of the monasteries in Scotland.