A man called Robert built an abbey at Molesme, and it prospered, and that was the problem. Gifts came in. The buildings went up. The house grew comfortable in the way successful religious houses do, and in 1098 its founder walked out with about twenty monks and began again in a marsh nobody wanted — which is how the Cistercians started. Robert is not a name found in the Bible. It is Germanic, from elements meaning bright and fame —…

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