The administration of the Cistercian Order was
original and highly efficient. All of the abbeys were federally
arranged, with the abbot of
Cîteaux
presiding as the figurehead of an extensive network of houses.
Each abbey was to a certain extent autonomous, but uniformity
and unity
were controlled through two mechanisms. The
General
Chapter of abbots met annually at Cîteaux to discuss
disciplinary problems and issue new legislation, and each abbey
was visited once
a year by representatives of its mother-house. The Cistercians
were the first Order with a written constitution the
Carta
Caritatis (the Charter of Charity) and the first
fully to legislate for the
lay-brothers.
The organisation of the Cistercian Order was
forward-thinking and had a profound impact on the administration
of other religious orders, such as the
Gilbertines and Premonstratensians,
who both adopted their system of an annual meeting of heads of houses
and a yearly visitation of the abbeys; the Carthusians
held a general chapter from 1141, the Cluniacs
from 1200. At the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 the Cistercians
administrative procedures received the papal seal of approval and
were presented as the model for the black monks and canons, who
had no such arrangement. Innocent III decreed that all religious
orders should thenceforth hold a general chapter of all heads of
houses every three years, and that two Cistercian abbots should
be appointed to offer guidance during the initial stages.