The Cistercian order was undoubtedly the most successful of all the great monastic experiments of the twelfth century. For fifteen years, from 1098 to 1113, Citeaux showed no signs of outshining other reformed houses which grew from a desire for a life of poverty and a more primitive monastic observance. In 1113, however, began the great years of expansion: the first daughter house of La Ferté (1113) was followed by Pontigny (1114), Clairvaux (1115), and Morimond (1115). By 1152 its family throughout Europe numbered around 340 abbeys. It was Clairvaux under perhaps the most famous of all Cistercians, St Bernard, which was to be the mainspring of expansion in Yorkshire. Although the chronology of the creation of a distinctive Cistercian identity through the statuta of the order remains a subject of debate, it is certain that by the time the Cistercians settled in Yorkshire the regulations for the process of foundation were well established. Before a site was occupied it had to be inspected to ensure that it was adequate, and that it was remote, ‘non in civitatibus, nec in castellis aut in villis, sed in locis a frequentia populi semotis’ (‘not in cities, nor in castles nor in vills, but in places far from those where people gather’). Official approval for a new house would be followed by the construction of certain rudimentary buildings, an oratory, refectory, dormitory, guest house, and gatehouse; and the provision of certain books. The buildings could then be occupied by twelve monks and an abbot. The endowments for a new house would be expected to conform to certain requirements and not include revenue from spiritualia (churches and tithes), vills, labour services, manorial revenues, and mills.