"From their arrival in England in 1128 to the end of the twelfth century, the Cistercians established fifty monasteries, including some of the largest and most famous abbeys in the country. The author traces the evolution of Cistercian architecture in England during the this period and explains it as a manifestation both of the order's spiritual aims and of the manifestation of Gothic architecture in France. He shows how the founding houses in France influenced Cistercian architecture in England and how the order's spiritual commitments to poverty and solitude isolated its building from English architectural tradition."--Publisher description.