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93-456: The term tylwyth teg is first attested in a poem attributed to the 14th-century Dafydd ap Gwilym , in which the principal character gets perilously but comically lost while going to visit his girlfriend: " Hudol gwan yn ehedeg, / hir barthlwyth y Tylwyth Teg " ("(The) weak enchantment (now) flees, / (the) long burden of the Tylwyth Teg (departs) into the mist"). In later sources

186-515: A different context. Like Dafydd, Glyn used cywydd meter and referenced himself in his poetry; however, in Glyn’s “Moliant i Syr Rhisiart Gethin ap Rhys Gethin o Fuellt, capten Mantes yn Ffrainc,” one can see other influences in Welsh literary culture. The poem praises an English lord in the same manner of classic heroes such as Arthur. God is also mentioned as an omnipotent protector. Glyn’s poem demonstrates

279-630: A disaster not only for the Cistercians. Some historians believe that the suppression of the English monasteries may have stamped out an industrial revolution. The reformed Congregation of the Feuillants spread widely in France and Italy in the 16th century. The French congregation of Sept-Fontaines (1654) also deserves mention. In 1663 Jean de Rancé reformed La Trappe (see Trappists ). In

372-554: A distraction from piety, and the builders of the Cistercian monasteries had to adopt a style that observed the numerous rules inspired by his austere aesthetics. However, the order itself was receptive to the technical improvements of Gothic principles of construction and played an important role in its spread across Europe. Cistercian architecture embodied the ideals of the order, and was in theory at least utilitarian and without ornamentation. The same "rational, integrated scheme"

465-519: A favorable outlook if you take Wales in the time of Dafydd. The Welsh had become predominantly subservient to the English after the Edwardian conquests. Bartlett might argue that the cultural developments that came in the period of peace after the conquests is evidence for this principle of assimilation. Some contend still that cultures developed as a product of their internal audiences. In the case of Dafydd, Helen Fulton argues that his poetry reflected

558-407: A former Cluniac monk, ordered him to return. The remaining monks of Cîteaux elected Alberic as their abbot, under whose leadership the abbey would find its grounding. Robert had been the idealist of the order, and Alberic was their builder. Upon assuming the role of abbot, Alberic moved the site of the fledgling community near a brook a short distance away from the original site. Alberic discontinued

651-604: A future Abbot of Clairvaux (to be appointed in 1243), Stephen was one of the outstanding figures in 13th-century Cistercian history, having founded the College of St. Bernard in Paris in 1244. He found his life threatened as a result of the Irish visitations: his representatives were attacked and his party harassed, while the three key houses of Mellifont, Suir and Maigue had been fortified by monks to hold out against him. However, with

744-534: A gift worth celebrating. Dafydd’s poetry also differs from the conventions of other love poetry in its use of sexual metaphor. Some of Dafydd’s poetry, such as “A Poem in Praise of the Penis” display explicit connection to sexual desire. Yet, Dafydd was also well adept at keeping his metaphors subtle. In “The Lady Goldsmith,” Dafydd praises his devotion to a woman who creates attire out of her hair and nature’s bristle. In

837-731: A large number of men from knightly families, and when King Alfonso VII began looking for a military order to defend the Calatrava , which had been recovered from the Moors a decade before, the Cistercian Abbot Raymond of Fitero offered his help. Lay brothers were to be employed as "soldiers of the Cross" to defend Calatrava. The initial successes of the new order in the Spanish Reconquista were convincing, and

930-410: A more popular expression of Welsh culture because there was less of a united interest on warfare and defense. It is believed that about one hundred and seventy of his poems have survived, though many others have been attributed to him over the centuries. His main themes were love and nature. The influence of wider European ideas of courtly love , as exemplified in the troubadour poetry of Provençal ,

1023-456: A much more traditional approach of gallantry and chivalry popular in continental European literature. Glyn also demonstrates the principle of assimilation in the sense that the English are viewed as equals or interchangeable with the Welsh. Despite taking influence from a previous Welsh figure in Dafydd, Glyn also demonstrates the effect outside influences had in shaping Welsh literary culture. It

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1116-591: A new era when he entered the monastery in the early 1110s with 30 companions. By the end of the 12th century, the order had spread throughout most of Europe. The keynote of Cistercian life was a return to literal observance of the Benedictine Rule. The reform-minded monks tried to live monastic life as they thought it had been in Benedict 's time; at various points they went beyond it in austerity. They returned to manual labour, especially agricultural work in

1209-522: A personal wonderment at nature; Dafydd's poetry on the latter subject in particular is largely without precedent in Welsh or European literature in terms of its depth and complexity. His popularity during his own historic period is testified by the fact that so many of his poems were selected for preservation in texts, despite a relatively short career compared to some of his contemporaries. Many of his poems are addressed to women, but particularly to two of them, Morfudd and Dyddgu. His best-known works include

1302-508: A plot of marshland just south of Dijon called Cîteaux ( Latin: "Cistercium". Cisteaux means reeds in Old French ), given to them expressly for the purpose of founding their Novum Monasterium . During the first year, the monks set about constructing malodging areas and farming the lands of Cîteaux, making use of a nearby chapel for Mass . In Robert's absence from Molesme, however, the abbey had gone into decline, and Pope Urban II ,

1395-862: A simpler lifestyle began in 17th-century France at La Trappe Abbey , and became known as the Trappists . They were eventually consolidated in 1892 into a new order called the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance , abbreviated as OCSO. The Cistercians who remained within the Order of Cistercians are called the Cistercians of the Common Observance (OCist). In 1098, a Benedictine abbot , Robert of Molesme , left Molesme Abbey in Burgundy with around 20 supporters, who felt that

1488-690: A tract of wild, afforested land known as a refuge for robbers, forty miles east of Troyes , to the order. Bernard, 25 years old at the time, led twelve other monks there, and they founded the Abbey of Clairvaux . The abbey soon attracted zealous young men. At this point, Cîteaux had four daughter houses: Pontigny , Morimond , La Ferté and Clairvaux. In the 1130s and 1140s, the Cistercians expanded into "an order of immense size" by incorporating independent religious communities. The most foundations made by any Cistercian monastery came from Clairvaux. Rein Abbey

1581-523: Is fair to say Dafydd was important in establishing certain customs that would become popular among Welsh literary culture. Although literary culture was very prevalent in the identities of Medieval cultures, it often gets overlooked in larger debates about the spread of culture. By looking at Dafydd ap Gwilym, literary culture appears as just as an important part of Welsh cultural identity as resistance to occupation was. Cistercians The Cistercians ( / s ɪ ˈ s t ɜːr ʃ ən z / ), officially

1674-544: Is full of his own feelings and experiences, and he is a key figure in this transition from a primarily social poetic tradition into one in which the poet's own vision and art is given precedence. Dafydd’s poetry was also unique in its expressions of religion and nature. In “Praise of Summer,” Dafydd praises both the divine and the changing of summer as connected and benevolent. Reference to the divine in prior and contemporary literature usually depicted strong themes of judgement and virtue. With Dafydd’s poetry, we see these forces as

1767-577: Is regarded as one of the leading Welsh poets and amongst the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages . Dafydd’s poetry also offers a unique window into the transcultural movement of cultural practices and preservation of culture in the face of occupation. Dafydd also helps answer questions that linger over the spread of culture. Even though it has been given less attention, cultural development in Wales differed slightly than in other parts of Europe during

1860-595: Is seen as a significant influence on Dafydd's poetry. Courtly love was not a unique theme of Dafydd’s poetry. While courtly love is primarily associated with the literature of mainland Europe, its elements can be found in works across the British Isles. Elements of courtly love have been noted in Welsh literature well before the Dafydd’s active days, suggesting that courtly love grew as a culturally connected phenomena across European literature. Dafydd’s poetry reflected

1953-453: The Bendith y Mamau (the mothers blessing, a Southern Welsh name for fair folk), they ride horses in fairy rades (processions) and visit houses where bowls of milk are customarily put out for them. A changeling story tells of a woman whose three-year-old son was stolen by the fairies and who was given a threefold instruction by a " cunning man " (magician) on how to get him back. She removed

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2046-601: The tylwyth teg are described as fair-haired and covet golden-haired human children whom they kidnap, leaving changelings (or crimbilion , sing. crimbil ) in their place. They dance and make fairy rings and they live underground or underwater. They bestow riches on those they favour but these gifts vanish if they are spoken of, and fairy maidens may become the wives of human men. These fairy wives are however still bound by traditional taboos. They must be careful to avoid touching iron or they will vanish back to their realm never to be seen by their husbands again. As

2139-462: The Black Monks . Cistercian influence more than kept pace with the material expansion. St. Bernard had become mentor to popes and kings, and in 1145, King Louis VII 's brother, Henry of France , entered Clairvaux. That same year, Bernard saw one of his monks elected pope as Pope Eugene III . Eugene was an Italian of humble background, who had first been drawn to monasticism at Clairvaux by

2232-584: The Cluniac communities had abandoned the rigours and simplicity of the Rule of St. Benedict . Chief among Robert's followers included Alberic , a former hermit from the nearby forest of Colan, and Stephen Harding , a young monk from England. Stephen had experienced the monastic traditions of the Camaldolese and Vallombrosians before joining Molesme Abbey. On 21 March 1098, Robert's small group acquired

2325-506: The Cârța Monastery . By the end of the 13th century, the Cistercian houses numbered 500. In this period, the monks performed pastoral tasks in and outside of the monastery and began preaching and teaching, even though their movement originally forbade schools and parishes. At the order's height in the 15th century, it would have nearly 750 houses. It often happened that the number of lay brothers became excessive and out of proportion to

2418-614: The Order of Cistercians ( Latin : (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis , abbreviated as OCist or SOCist ), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict , as well as the contributions of the highly-influential Bernard of Clairvaux , known as the Latin Rule . They are also known as Bernardines , after Saint Bernard, or as White Monks , in reference to

2511-565: The Zbraslav abbey (Latin: Aula Regia , "Royal Hall"), founded in 1292 by the King of Bohemia and Poland , Wenceslas II . The order also played the main role in the early Gothic art of Bohemia; one of the outstanding pieces of Cistercian architecture is the Alt-neu Shul , Prague. The first abbey in the present day Romania was founded on 1179, at Igris (Egres) , and the second on 1204,

2604-546: The transepts for private prayer, and an aisled nave that was divided roughly in the middle by a screen to separate the monks from the lay brothers. The building projects of the Church in the High Middle Ages showed that the era encourage colossal architecture, with vast amounts of stone being quarried; the same was true of the Cistercian projects. Foigny Abbey was 98 metres (322 ft) long, and Vaucelles Abbey

2697-437: The 17th century another great effort at a general reform was made, promoted by the pope and the king of France; the general chapter elected Richelieu to be (commendatory) abbot of Cîteaux, thinking he would protect them from the threatened reform. In this they were disappointed, for he threw himself wholly on the side of reform. A formidable battle ensued, making it clear that Italian and Central European abbeys did not want to go

2790-589: The 18th–19th centuries. The first Cistercian abbey in Bohemia was founded in Sedlec near Kutná Hora in 1142. In the late 13th century and early 14th century, the Cistercian order played an essential role in the politics and diplomacy of the late Přemyslid and early Luxembourg state, as reflected in the Chronicon Aulae Regiae . This chronicle was written by Otto and Peter of Zittau , abbots of

2883-587: The Anglo-Norman invasion gives a rather gloomy impression. Absenteeism among Irish abbots at the General Chapter became a persistent and much criticised problem in the 13th century, and escalated into the conspiratio Mellifontis , a "rebellion" by the abbeys of the Mellifont filiation. Visitors were appointed to reform Mellifont on account of the multa enormia that had arisen there, but in 1217

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2976-515: The Cistercian white mantle with the scarlet cross fleurdelisée . Calatrava was not subject to Cîteaux, but to Fitero's mother-house, the Abbey of Morimond in Burgundy. By the end of the 13th century, the knights had become a major autonomous power within the Castilian state, subject only to Morimond and the pope. They had abundant resources of men and wealth, lands and castles scattered along

3069-702: The Cistercians and founded a new order, named the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. The Cistercians that remained within the original order thus came to be known as the "Common Observance". Cistercian architecture has made an important contribution to European civilisation. Cistercian foundations were primarily constructed in Romanesque and Gothic architecture during the Middle Ages; although later abbeys were also constructed in Renaissance and Baroque . St. Bernard saw church decoration as

3162-464: The Elbe. They developed grants of territories of 180,000 acres where they would drain land, build monasteries and plan villages. Many towns near Berlin owe their origins to this order, including Heiligengrabe and Chorin ; its Chorin Abbey was the first brick-built monastery in the area. By this time, however, "the Cistercian order as a whole had experienced a gradual decline and its central organisation

3255-534: The English improved the standing of the Cistercian Order in Ireland with nine foundations: Dunbrody Abbey , Inch Abbey , Grey Abbey , Comber Abbey , Duiske Abbey , Abington, Abbeylara and Tracton . This last abbey was founded in 1225 from Whitland Abbey in Wales, and at least in its earliest years, its monks were Welsh-speaking . By this time, another ten abbeys had been founded by Irishmen since

3348-436: The English kingdom fell to William I’s Norman conquest, Welsh holdings that were already contested by the English fell to Norman power. Immediately, William I placed William fitz Osbern in charge of managing the defense of the holdings. Quickly, Norman and trusted Anglo-Saxon nobility were put into centers of control within Welsh lands. The Norman Invasions began a long period where the preservation of Welsh culture coincided with

3441-808: The Irish-establishment of Abbeyknockmoy in County Galway was founded by King of Connacht , Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair , who died a Cistercian monk and was buried there in 1224. By 1152, there were 54 Cistercian monasteries in England, few of which had been founded directly from the Continent. Overall, there were 333 Cistercian abbeys in Europe, so many that a halt was put to this expansion. Nearly half of these houses had been founded, directly or indirectly, from Clairvaux, so great

3534-545: The Rhineland. On one occasion the abbot of La Trinité at Vendôme loaned a monk named John to the Bishop of Le Mans , Hildebert de Lavardin , for the building of a cathedral; after the project was completed, John refused to return to his monastery. However, the monks did not construct their edifices alone. As early as 1133, St. Bernard was hiring workers to help the monks erect new buildings at Clairvaux. An illustration from

3627-484: The Rule of St. Benedict and never required a vow of silence . In the year of 1113, a charismatic young Burgundinian nobleman named Bernard arrived at Cîteaux with 35 of his relatives and friends to join the monastery. As Bernard's fame grew, the Cistercian movement grew with it. A supremely eloquent, strong-willed mystic, Bernard was to become the most admired churchman of his age. In 1115, Count Hugh of Champagne gave

3720-513: The Talley Abbey Churchyard: On Saturday 15 September 1984 a memorial stone was unveiled by a Prifardd to mark the site in the churchyard at Talley where a deeply-rooted tradition asserts that the poet Dafydd ap Gwilym lies buried. For many centuries the rival claims of Talley and Ystrad Fflur have been debated as the burialplace of Wales’ foremost poet. While it may be difficult to trace the exact years Dafydd

3813-571: The Welsh stock-rearing economy. In Yorkshire , Rievaulx Abbey was founded from Clairvaux in 1131, on a small, isolated property donated by Walter Espec , with the support of Thurstan , Archbishop of York . By 1143, three hundred monks had entered Rievaulx, including the famous St Ælred . It was from Rievaulx that a foundation was made at Melrose , which became the earliest Cistercian monastery in Scotland . Located in Roxburghshire , it

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3906-415: The Welsh. While some of these similarities are directly attributed to warfare, there is also an apparent spread of cultural traditions peacefully. The argument is taken further by Carol Llyod Wood, who demonstrates how intermarriage and architectural similarity amongst various regions also support an idea of passive cultural diffusion. Although, when looking at architecture from after the Edwardian conquests,

3999-538: The abbot refused their admission and had lay brothers bar the abbey gates. There was also trouble at Jerpoint, and alarmingly, the abbots of Baltinglass, Killenny, Kilbeggan and Bective supported the actions of the "revolt". In 1228, the General Chapter sent the Abbot of Stanley in Wiltshire , Stephen of Lexington , on a well-documented visitation to reform the Irish houses. A graduate of both Oxford and Paris , and

4092-512: The arrangement was approved by the General Chapter at Cîteaux and successive popes; the Knights of Calatrava were given a definitive rule in 1187, modeled upon the Cistercian rule for lay brothers, which included the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience ; specific rules of silence; abstinence on four days a week; the recitation of a fixed number of Pater Nosters daily; to sleep in their armour ; and to wear, as their full dress,

4185-425: The assimilation and domination present by the Edwardian conquests. Yet, Dafydd also displays poetic structure that would become part of the Welsh literary identity. Scratching the surface of Dafydd’s poetry reveals that culture was defined and controlled by many aspects, and not just one major force. When looking at a successor of Dafydd, Guto’r Glyn, one is able see to how these forces that control culture interact in

4278-495: The borders of Castile, and feudal lordship over thousands of peasants and vassals. On more than one occasion, the Order of Calatrava brought to the field a force of 1200 to 2000 knights – considerable in medieval terms. Over time, as the Reconquista neared completion, the canonical bond between Calatrava and Morimond relaxed more and more, and the knights of the order became virtually secularized, finally undergoing dissolution in

4371-481: The colour of their cowl , as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines. The term Cistercian derives from Cistercium, the Latin name for the locale of Cîteaux, near Dijon in eastern France. It was here that a group of Benedictine monks from the monastery of Molesme founded Cîteaux Abbey in 1098. The first three abbots were Robert of Molesme , Alberic of Cîteaux and Stephen Harding . Bernard helped launch

4464-445: The end they prospered. Already by 1152, Fountains had many offshoots, including Newminster Abbey (1137) and Meaux Abbey (1151). In the spring of 1140, Saint Malachy , the archbishop of Armagh, visited Clairvaux, becoming a personal friend of Abbot Bernard and an admirer of Cistercian life. He left four of his companions to be trained as Cistercians, and returned to Ireland to introduce Cistercian monasticism there. Mellifont Abbey

4557-418: The fields. The Cistercians made major contributions to culture and technology: Cistercian architecture has been recognized as a notable form of medieval architecture , and the Cistercians were the main force of technological diffusion in fields such as agriculture and hydraulic engineering . Over the centuries, education and scholarship came to dominate the life of many monasteries. A reform movement seeking

4650-579: The following poems: The lyrics to the Lied 'Der Traum' in Ludwig van Beethoven 's 1810 collection 26 Welsh Songs are a German translation and adaption of a dream-vision poem supposedly by Dafydd, though not to be found among his works or in his apocrypha. The development of culture has been a topic of discussion for many years. As Robert Bartlett argues, European cultures formed in a homogeneous nature, primarily through conquest and settlement. This view has

4743-423: The full observance of the Cistercian way of life, safeguard monastic properties, initiate a regime of benign paternalism to train a new generation of religious, isolate trouble-makers and institute an effective visitation system." The arrangement lasted almost half a century, and in 1274, the filiation of Mellifont was reconstituted. In Germany the Cistercians were instrumental in the spread of Christianity east of

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4836-431: The future course of western monachism . From one point of view, it may be regarded as a compromise between the primitive Benedictine system, in which each abbey was autonomous and isolated, and the centralization of Cluny . The Cistercians maintained the independence of individual houses: each abbey had its own abbot, elected by its own monks, and its own property and finances administered without outside interference. On

4929-649: The guild of professional poets in medieval Wales, and yet the poetic tradition had been strong in his family for generations. According to R. Geraint Gruffydd he died in 1350, a possible victim of the Black Death . Tradition says that he was buried within the precinct of the Cistercian Strata Florida Abbey , Ceredigion . This burial location is disputed by supporters of the Talley Abbey theory who contend that burial took place in

5022-440: The help of his assistants, the core of obedient Irish monks and the aid of both English and Irish secular powers, he was able to envisage the reconstruction of the Cistercian province in Ireland. Stephen dissolved the Mellifont filiation altogether, and subjected 15 monasteries to houses outside Ireland. In breadth and depth, his instructions constituted a radical reform programme: "They were intended to put an end to abuses, restore

5115-405: The individuality of his own personal as well as Welsh cultural expression through his unique expression of common literary practices, as well as his individual voice in his poetry. One aspect that differed from conventional poetry in Dafydd’s works was the use of himself as the subject. Traditional contemporary poetry traditionally kept the poet far removed from the scene. Dafydd's work, in contrast,

5208-410: The initiative passed to the mendicant orders , in Ireland, Wales and elsewhere. Relaxations were gradually introduced into Cistercian life with regard to diet and simplicity of life. Also, they began accepting the traditional sources of income that monks in comparable orders used: like rents, tolls, and benefices. The agricultural operations were blessed by success. Wealth and splendour characterized

5301-529: The invasion, bringing the total number of Cistercian houses in Ireland to 31. This was almost half the number of those in England, but it was about thrice the number in each of Scotland and Wales. Most of these monasteries enjoyed either noble, episcopal or royal patronage. In 1269, the Archbishop of Cashel joined the order and established a Cistercian house at the foot of the Rock of Cashel in 1272. Similarly,

5394-459: The magnetism of Bernard. At the time of his election, he was Abbot of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio outside Rome. A considerable reinforcement to the Order was the merger of the Savigniac houses with the Cistercians, at the insistence of Eugene III . Thirteen English abbeys, of which the most famous were Furness Abbey and Jervaulx Abbey , thus adopted the Cistercian formula. In Dublin ,

5487-401: The monasteries, so that by 1300, the standard of living in most abbeys was comparable, if not higher, than the standards middling nobles enjoyed. Two important papal bulls tried to introduce reforms: Clement IV's Parvus fons and Benedict XII's Fulgens sicut stella matutina . The General Chapter continued to battle against abuses. In Ireland, the information on the Cistercian Order after

5580-505: The narratives of the polarized views tend to be amplified. Architecture tended to reflect the cultures of either the Welsh or English based on the level of authority of either group in the region. Dafydd’s poetry reflects the multiple avenues in which cultural exchange manifested in Medieval Europe. Dafydd had clear influences by traditions of foreign origin that became used often in his poetry. Some of Dafydd’s poetry also reflects

5673-531: The need for military defense. In the following decades, the Norman advance grew slow, as the Welsh had time to plan defenses unlike their English counterparts. As the campaigns drew on, marcher lordships were established on the border of Wales to help facilitate a defense against any counter-incursions. Due to the relative freedom granted to marcher lords, local marcher lords would often compete over territory. The lack of pressure exercised on Welsh authorities during

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5766-443: The newly acquired Welsh territories saw a large expansion of English influence. The English made large investments into Welsh infrastructure and instituted new laws that would align more similarly to English law. This period of Welsh history saw Welsh culture physically dominated by English occupation; however, the peace brought under English rule allowed for Welsh culture to manifest in more artistic means. Poetry, like Dafydd’s, became

5859-468: The order accepted developed land and relocated the serfs elsewhere. The outlines of the Cistercian reform were adumbrated by Alberic, but it received its final form in the Carta caritatis ( Charter of Charity ), which was the defining guide on how the reform was to be lived. This document governed the relations between the various houses of the Cistercian order, and exercised a great influence also upon

5952-772: The original vertical descent of authority produced "a system of centralized national control" much closer to that of the Premonstratensians or mendicants . The first Cistercian house to be established in Britain, a monastery at Waverley Abbey , Surrey, was founded by William Gifford, Bishop of Winchester in 1128. It was founded with 12 monks and an abbot from L'Aumône Abbey , in the South of France. By 1187 there were 70 monks and 120 lay brothers in residence. Thirteen Cistercian monasteries, all in remote locations, were founded in Wales between 1131 and 1226. The first of these

6045-466: The other hand, all the abbeys were subjected to the General Chapter , the constitutional body which exercised vigilance over the order. Made up of all the abbots, the General Chapter met annually in mid-September at Cîteaux . Attendance was compulsory, with the abbot of Cîteaux presiding. He was to enforce conformity to Cîteaux in all details of monastic observance, liturgy, and customs. Cîteaux

6138-465: The period of marcher lordships allowed Welsh cultural authority to strengthen in regions not controlled by the Normans or English. In 1277, after multiple attempts to gain more local authority by the Welsh, Edward I began his conquests of the Welsh territories to firmly plant control in English hands. Within 5 years of the conquest’s start, most of Wales was under English control. Under English control,

6231-407: The poem, the woman crafts a belt for Dafydd. In this poem, the metaphor of sexual desire is drawn from the proximity of the woman’s hair to Dafydd’s waist. The belt itself stands as the sexual connection between this woman and Dafydd. In contrast, traditional courtly love literature tended to shy away from praising sexual desire in favor of patience and virtuous romance. He was an innovative poet who

6324-486: The resources of the monasteries, there being sometimes as many as 200, or even 300, in a single abbey. On the other hand, in some countries, the system of lay brothers in course of time worked itself out; thus in England by the close of the 14th century it had shrunk to relatively small proportions, and in the 15th century the regimen of the English Cistercian houses tended to approximate more and more to that of

6417-440: The rivalry with the famous Benedictine abbey of Cluny, where wealth and excess were said to have set in. Harding acquired land for the abbey to develop to ensure its survival and ethic. As to grants of land, the order would normally accept only undeveloped land, which the monks then developed by their own labour. For this they developed over time a very large component of uneducated lay brothers known as conversi . In some cases,

6510-421: The same time. R. Geraint Gruffydd suggests c. 1315- c. 1350 as the poet's dates; others place him a little later from c. 1320-40 c. 1370-80. Later tradition has it that Dafydd was born at Brogynin, Penrhyn-coch (at the time Llanbadarn Fawr parish), Ceredigion . His father, Gwilym Gam, and mother, Ardudfyl, were both from noble families. As one of noble birth it seems Dafydd did not belong to

6603-674: The scene of violence and destabilization following Martin Luther 's efforts to gain independence from the Vatican. Many abbeys lost scores of monks, as these left religious life in order to marry. Monastic property was confiscated by nobles who saw an opportunity to proift from the chaos. During the English Reformation , Henry VIII 's Dissolution of the Monasteries saw the confiscation of evey single monastery in that country,

6696-494: The strength of the order which derived from this uniformity declined. Wars, amon them the Hundred Years' War , and a lack of leadership did damage. Many of the monasteries were controlled by dynasties who appointed their relatives to leadership positions, and pocketed the abbeys' profits. The system of placing abbeys in commendam was widespread and led to the spiritual and material decline of many abbeys. Germany became

6789-467: The top from a raw egg and began stirring the contents, and as the changeling watched her do this certain comments he made established his otherworldly identity. She then went to a crossroads at midnight during the full moon and observed a fairy raid in order to confirm that her son was with them. Lastly she obtained a black hen and without plucking it she roasted it over a wood fire until every feather dropped off. The changeling then disappeared and her son

6882-481: The two Savigniac houses of Erenagh and St Mary's became Cistercian. It was in the latter case that medieval Dublin acquired a Cistercian monastery in the very unusual suburban location of Oxmantown , with its own private harbour called The Pill. For a hundred years, until the first quarter of the 13th century, the Cistercians supplanted Cluny as the most powerful order and the chief religious influence in western Europe. But then in turn their influence began to wane, as

6975-487: The use of Benedictine black garments in the abbey and clothed the monks in white habits of undyed wool. Alberic forged an alliance with the Dukes of Burgundy , working out a deal with Duke Odo I of Burgundy concerning the donation of a vineyard ( Meursault ) as well as materials for building the abbey church, which was consecrated on 16 November 1106 by the Bishop of Chalon sur Saône . On 26 January 1108, Alberic died and

7068-424: The values admired by Welsh audiences and reflected values of the culture’s uniqueness. In this context, Welsh culture is formed outside of outside influences of other cultures. Others place their arguments somewhere on a spectrum of these two extremes. Andrew Breeze has noted that from even the earliest evidence of Welsh literature, there are many similarities between works of cultures from close and far proximity to

7161-534: The way of the Trappists. Civic politics also played a role in the conflict. The Protestant Reformation , the ecclesiastical policy of Emperor Joseph II , the French Revolution , and the revolutions of the 18th century almost wholly destroyed the Cistercians. But some survived, and from the beginning of the last half of the 19th century there was a considerable recovery. In 1892, the Trappists left

7254-430: The world. In 1133, Heiligenkreuz Abbey was founded near Vienna by Morimond monks; it is (as of 2024) the largest men's abbey in Europe. The order entrusted the oversight of the English, Welsh and (intermittently) Irish abbeys to two or more abbots-commissary, thereby abrogating the famous Cistercian system of filiation: not the mother abbeys, but the abbots-commisary had full powers of visitation. This variation on

7347-483: Was Tintern Abbey , which was sited in a remote river valley, and depended largely on its agricultural and pastoral activities for survival. Other abbeys, such as at Neath , Strata Florida , Conwy and Valle Crucis became among the most hallowed names in the history of religion in medieval Wales. Their austere discipline seemed to echo the ideals of the Celtic saints , and the emphasis on pastoral farming fit well into

7440-454: Was 132 metres (433 ft) long. Monastic buildings came to be constructed entirely of stone, right down to the most humble of buildings. In the 12th and 13th centuries, even Cistercian barns consisted had stone exteriors. The Cistercians acquired a reputation as masters in administering ecclesial construction projects. St. Bernard's own brother, Achard , is known to have supervised the construction of many abbeys, such as Himmerod Abbey in

7533-411: Was St Bernard's influence and prestige. He later came popularly to be regarded as the founder of the Cistercians, who have often been called Bernardines. Bernard died in 1153, one month after his pupil Eugene III. In 1153, the first King of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques (Afonso, I), founded Alcobaça Monastery . The original church was replaced by the present construction from 1178. The abbey's church

7626-460: Was active, it is clear he wrote after the Edwardian conquests of Wales. Despite living under English authority, Dafydd’s poetry presents ways in which Welsh culture continued to distinguish itself and prevail. Some of Dafydd’s poetry outright reflects rejection of the standards of English authority, like in one poem where he draws attention to the state of housing after English subjugation of Wales. The first recorded observation that Dafydd ap Gwilym

7719-404: Was always to be the model to which all the other houses had to conform. Cistercian monks and nuns have a reputation of cultivating solitude and silence; the great monastics have explained silence as "the language of liberation, enlightenment, or union with God." Some observers deduced, incorrectly, that Cistercians take a vow of silence. Watching over one's tongue is, however, a general theme in

7812-503: Was built in 1136 by King David I of Scotland , and completed in less than ten years. Another important offshoot of Rievaulx was Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire . Fountains Abbey was founded in 1132 by discontented Benedictine monks from St. Mary's Abbey, York , who desired a return to the austere Rule of St Benedict. After many struggles and great hardships, St Bernard agreed to send a monk from Clairvaux to instruct them, and in

7905-515: Was buried in Talley was made in the sixteenth century. Talley is located about 30 miles from Strata Florida (Welsh: Ystrad Fflur). While Dafydd’s work displays the role literature played in forming Welsh culture in the early 14th century, artistic expression of culture was not as prevalent in the centuries prior. A large majority of cultural expression was demonstrated militarily, as the Welsh suffered many incursions by Norman and English invaders. As

7998-597: Was consecrated in 1223. Two further building phases followed in order to complete the nave, leading to the final consecration of the medieval church building in 1252. As a consequence of the wars between the Christians and Moors on the Iberian Peninsula , the Cistercians established a military branch of the order in Castile in 1157: the Order of Calatrava . Membership of the Cistercian Order had included

8091-911: Was founded in County Louth in 1142 and from it daughter houses of Bective Abbey in County Meath (1147), Inislounaght Abbey in County Tipperary (1147–1148), Baltinglass in County Wicklow (1148), Monasteranenagh in County Limerick (1148), Kilbeggan in County Westmeath (1150) and Boyle Abbey in County Roscommon (1161). Following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the 1170s,

8184-575: Was founded in 1129 from Ebrach Abbey in Bavaria, which had been founded from Morimond Abbey in France. In 1129 Margrave Leopold the Strong of Styria granted the Bavarian monks an area of land just north of what is today the provincial capital Graz , where they founded Rein Abbey . At the time, it was the 38th Cistercian monastery founded; as of 2024, it is the oldest surviving Cistercian house in

8277-512: Was noticeably weakened." In 1335, the French cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, was elected and consecrated Pope Benedict XII . He was devoted to reducing the culture of nepotism at the Vatican. He promulgated a series of regulations to restore the spirit of reform in the Cistercian Order. By the 15th century, however, the Cistercians had fallen on dark days. The General Chapter lost virtually all its power to enforce its decrees, and

8370-567: Was responsible for popularising the metre known as the " cywydd " and first to use it for praise. Dafydd also has been credited for popularizing the meter form known as “cynghanedd.” The continued use of cynghanedd and cywydd by Welsh poets after Dafydd’s active years is a testament to the effect Dafydd had on shaping Welsh literary culture. Dafydd’s poetry provided a framework for which Welsh literary culture could grow its own unique traditions. Although Dafydd wrote comparatively conventional praise poetry, he also wrote love poetry and poetry expressing

8463-1103: Was returned to her. According to the folklorist Wirt Sikes the Tylwyth Teg may be divided into five general types: the Ellyllon ( elves ), the Coblynau (fairies of the mines), the Bwbachod (household fairies similar to brownies ), the Gwragedd Annwn (female fairies of the lakes and streams) and the Gwyllion (mountain fairies more akin to hags ). The ellyllon (singular ellyll ) inhabit groves and valleys and are similar to English elves. Their food consists of toadstools and fairy butter (a type of fungus) and they wear digitalis bell flowers as gloves. They are ruled by Queen Mab and bring prosperity to those they favour. Dafydd ap Gwilym Dafydd ap Gwilym ( c. 1315/1320 – c. 1350/1370)

8556-669: Was succeeded by Stephen Harding, the man responsible for carrying the order into its crucial phase. Harding framed the original version of the Cistercian constitution, soon to be called the Carta Caritatis ( Charter of Charity ). Although it was revised on several occasions to meet contemporary needs, from the outset it emphasised a simple life of work, love, prayer and self-denial. The Cistercians soon came to distinguish themselves from Benedictines by wearing white or grey tunics instead of black; white habits are common for reform movements. Much of Cistercian reform took place against

8649-410: Was used across Europe to meet the largely homogeneous needs of the order. Various buildings, including the chapter-house to the east and the dormitories above, were grouped around a cloister , and were sometimes linked to the transept of the church itself by a night stair. Usually Cistercian churches were cruciform, with a short presbytery to meet the liturgical needs of the brethren, small chapels in

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