THE CISTERCIANS

During the fourteenth century a change occurred in the domestic life of the white monks which profoundly modified the character and activities of the Cistercians in England and Wales. This was the virtual disappearance of the converse who in the twelfth century had not only greatly outnumbered the choir monks in many abbeys, but had also been an essential factor in the Cistercian economy and the cause of its phenomenal success. It is scarcely too much to say that the perfecting of the converse-and-grange system had revolutionized both arable and pasture farming for the white monks, and when the conversi went or were no longer desired it was a sign that the influence of that revolution had passed.

Half a century ago this great change, like so much else, was attributed to the Black Death. The pestilence, so the argument ran, went far to eliminate the existing families of lay brothers, and in the decades which immediately followed the demand for labour and the rise in wages effectually prevented recruitment on a large scale. That many abbeys were hard hit is likely, and in one or two cases the actual figures of the losses are known, but it is clear from other evidence that the decrease of conversi had taken place very generally before 1350, while on the other hand rural conditions in the succeeding fifty years had not altered sufficiently to account for the virtual non-existence of the class throughout England.