Gilbert of Sempringham
c. 1085 AD — c. 1189 AD
Gilbert of Sempringham founded the only monastic order of English origin, living to approximately 104 years old — long enough to see his twenty-six convents flourish across England. A Norman lord's son sent to study theology in France rather than bear arms, he built a double monastery at Sempringham that united nuns, canons, lay brothers, and sisters under a single rule — a structure no English founder had attempted before.