Theories include a derivation from cis tertium [lapidem miliarium], "this side of the third (milestone)" of the Roman road connecting Langres and Chalons sur Saône,[6] or alternatively from cisternae "cisterns", which in Middle Latin could refer to stagnant pools of a swamp.Other dignitaries were buried in side chapels, perhaps most famously the magnificent tomb of Philippe Pot, a high Burgundian official who died in 1493.[10] Since Cîteaux, the head of the order, had to meet extraordinary demands above and beyond those of other Cistercian abbeys, its campus was different.in 1589, soldiers stormed and looted the abbey, reportedly carrying away "three hundred wagonloads of booty" and leaving the monastery in ruins.Cîteaux was left "practically abandoned for years," and it took until around 1610 for any sort of stable monastic life to be re-established there.In 1790, in the wake of the French Revolution, the monks were offered a pension if they agreed to return to civilian life.
Cistercian monks depicted on the tomb of Philippe Pot