Gilbert of Sempringham was a 12th-century English priest and philosopher who established the Gilbertine Order, the only medieval religious order of English origin. Born in Sempringham to an Anglo-Norman lord, he studied theology in France before returning to serve as a clerk and priest in Lincolnshire. He is best known for creating a unique community of canons regular, nuns, and lay brothers and sisters, a structure that departed from the standard canonical practices of his time.