Gilbert of Sempringham

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Gilbert of Sempringham (c.1083–1189). Founder of the Gilbertine Order of monks and nuns. While parish priest of his native Sempringham in Lincolnshire, he encouraged seven women of his congregation to form a community on the Cistercian model. Other foundations followed. When the Cistercians refused to accept communities of nuns under their aegis, Gilbert arranged for the direction of his nuns by priests following the Augustinian Rule, who together with the nuns, and the lay-brothers and lay-sisters, formed a double community, sharing their liturgical life. It was the only purely English medieval order.