This paper aims to generally present the figure of the convert within the Cistercian Order and its evolution throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. The issue of conversion allows us to address a series of topics of great relevance to studying the Cistercian Order, such as the relationship between the Cistercians and other forms of monastic life; the recruitment of lay people and the geographical, social and cultural provenance of these groups; the interactions between monks and converts and the internal balances of a given monastic community; the progressive adaptation and transformation of Cistercian structures and the consequences for their normative and literary production. The historiography research results of recent decades have notably modified the image of these converts, which allows us to again question the history and organisation of the ‘white monks’ in the medieval centuries and thus opening new paths of future study.

About the author:
Francesco Renzi holds a PhD in history from the “Alma Mater Studiorum” University of Bologna. He worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Leiden-Institute of History and at the University of Oporto (CITCEM-FCT Grant Holder). Since March 2019, he has worked as a researcher at the Catholic University of Portugal (CEHR). His main research interest approaches the history of the Catholic Church in Italy and in the Iberian Peninsula between the 11th and 13th centuries.