When the young squire Bernard de Fontaine, the later Cistercian abbot Bernard de Clairvaux, entered monastic life at Citeaux, he was not alone. At the time and later all members of his knightly family from the Duchy of Burgundy, rather than pursuing dynastic or political ambitions, embraced monastic life. Their story illustrates the importance of
lay monks (
monachi laici), men who entered religious communities as adults without clerical education or fluency in Latin, yet went on to hold positions of influence in monastic estates.
