§ 12. One of the many off-shoots of the Benedictine order was a congregation of monks and lay brothers founded in 1114 in the diocese of Chartres. The name of Thiron (_Tiro_) was given to the abbey from the _tirones_ or apprentices whom the founder united there, to pursue their trades in the service of God. Closely akin to this was the abbey of Savigny in the diocese of Avranches, founded in 1112, which between that date and 1147 planted some thirteen houses in England and Wales. When the order of Savigny was merged about 1147 in that of Cîteaux, its monasteries were said to belong to the Tironensian order. This, however, was not because of any definite affiliation to Thiron, but on account of similarity of observances between the two congregations. English Tironensian houses, such as Humberston abbey in Lincolnshire, became identical with the ordinary Benedictine monasteries, although a nominal distinction was recognised. Important remains of a Tironensian house exist at Caldey, a priory of St Dogmaels, on an island near Tenby. Such Savigniac houses as Buildwas and Furness became famous as Cistercian monasteries. Neither of these congregations possessed the organising capacity which the founders of the Cistercian order brought to their work. The same may be said of the Grandimontine order, founded in 1046 at Grandmont in the diocese of Limoges, which during the twelfth century founded three small priories in England.
§ 13. The Cistercian order took its name from the abbey of Cîteaux in Burgundy, which was founded in 1098 by Robert, abbot of the Benedictine house of Molesme. His monks aimed at a literal observance of the rule of St Benedict on the most austere lines. Meat was banished from their meals: their buildings followed simple laws of construction and were free from ornament. The real founders of the order were Stephen Harding, an Englishman, who became abbot of Cîteaux in 1109, and his disciple St Bernard, who in 1115 became abbot of the first daughter house, Clairvaux. Largely owing to the energy of St Bernard, the order spread with extraordinary rapidity. When Waverley abbey, its first English house, was founded in 1128, it possessed more than thirty houses. In 1152 an order forbade the foundation of new abbeys; there were then fifty houses in England and Wales out of 339. In spite of this prohibition, the number in the thirteenth century exceeded 600. In all, the houses of the order in England and Wales numbered 75, some of which possessed cells.