When on 15 February 1145 Eugenius III became the first Cistercian pope, the dramatic rise in the desire for papal judgments and privileges across Europe was well under way. At the same time the Cistercian Order was continuing to expand exponentially. As pope Eugenius was actively involved as a judge and an arbiter, which is significant as papal privileges often arose from the context of legal disputes. This raises several questions about the relationship between high office and affiliation with a monastic congregation. Did Eugenius act to advance the privileges of his order? Did he undermine episcopal jurisdiction by weakening the authority of the local bishop over Cistercian houses? How uniform were Cistercian privileges in this period? In considering these three questions we will also discuss the possible influence of Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1115–53) and whether Eugenius's membership of the Cistercians can be discerned in the privileges he granted the Order.

Some thirty-five letters to Cistercian houses survive from the pontificate of Eugenius III: eleven for England, twenty for France, two for Spain, and one each for Italy and Germany. This relatively small survival can be explained by manuscript losses and the fact that the privileges granted by Eugenius were repeated by later popes, making it unnecessary to keep records of the earlier ones. Although this paper surveys the privileges to English and continental houses, evidence will generally be drawn from the English examples.