The most successful and popular congregation of monastic reformers in the twelfth-century West was the Cistercian Order, founded at around the same time as the First Crusade. Although at first, under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux, the Cistercians were reluctant to found daughter-houses in the Crusader States, after his death in 1153 a few Cistercian monasteries were formed, and functioned in the same way as the Order’s daughter-houses in the West. Characteristics of Cistercian spirituality were austerity and adherence to a strict observance of the Rule of Benedict, and in pursuit of these aims Cistercians usually occupied remote areas. In contrast to canons regular and more traditional Benedictine houses, Cistercians showed less interest in the shrines of the Holy Land, taking their spiritual inspiration instead from wilderness and remoteness. Nevertheless, they also amassed landed estates and became part of the socio-political framework of the Crusader States.