The best approximation of the monastery's date of foundation can be obtained from a document issued by the Arpadian royal chancellery in 1223. This document states that the territory on which the monastery was built – delimited by the Olt River at the north side and its tributaries the Arpaș River at the east, the Cârțișoara River at the west and the Făgăraș Mountains) at the south – was awarded by magister Gocelinus, for the blessing of his soul, through the Transylvanian voivod Benedict ("pro remedio animae nostre per fidelem ac dilectum nostrum Benedictum tunc temporis vaivodam assignari facientes"). It is known that Benedict was Voivode of Transylvania between 1202–1206 and 1208–1209. This means that the founding date must fall between 1202 and 1209. An additional document, the General Chapter of the Cistercian Order from 1206, further narrows the date of founding. This document mentions the presence of a Cistercian monk from Transylvania, most probably from Cârța ("abbas ultra Sylvas in Hungaria, filius abbatis de Egris"), at the Cîteaux Abbey, in Burgundy, the main abbey of the Cistercian order.