Expectation and unrest among Cistercian lay brothers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

This paper seeks to reposition the scholarly debate over the rebelliousness of Cistercian lay brothers by assessing a broad array of narrative, legislative, and contractual documents. For Cistercian writers, lay brothers embodied monastic principles of simplicity and dutifulness. Authors also portrayed disobedient or ambitious conversi to illustrate the dangers of inflated pride. At the same time, however, Cistercian literature presents numerous conversi who do not fit the stereotypes dear to the moralists. Contractual and legal sources confirm that lay brothers were not only simple labourers or insubordinate underlings. They also had directorial functions in their monasteries and were sometimes charged with important political missions. These activities brought them enhanced social status as well as a sense of privilege. Lay brothers rebelled not, as some scholars assert, because they were unscrupulous, or, as others claim, because they were systematically oppressed. They resisted when the expectation of reward generated by their successful management of monastic affairs was frustrated by the directives of their superiors.