Cluniac Reforms

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The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform)

Auvergne, Poitou), into England (the English Benedictine Reform), and through much of Italy, northern Portugal and Spain.[2]

Background

In the early 10th century, Western monasticism, which had flourished several centuries earlier with St

Viking raids, widespread poverty and, especially, the dependence of abbeys on the local nobles who controlled all that belonged to the territories under their jurisdiction.[3]

The impetus for the reforms lay in abuses thought to be a result of secular interference in the monasteries and of the Church's tight integration with the

manorial systems. Since a Benedictine monastery required land, it needed the patronage of a local lord. However, the lord would often demand rights and assert prerogatives that interfered with the operation of the monastery.[4] Patrons normally retained a proprietary interest and expected to install their kinsmen as abbots. Local aristocrats often established churches, monasteries, and convents that they then considered as family property, taking revenues from them, and leaving the monks that remained subsisting in poverty.[5]

Some monasteries were established by feudal lords with the intention of retiring there at some point. The Benedictine Rule, in these monasteries, was modified to schedule matins at a time when it would not interrupt sleep and to expand the vegetarian diet. Monks in these houses wore richer, warmer clothing and were free to disregard the rules pertaining to fasting.[6]

The Cluny reform was an attempt to remedy these practices in the hope that a more independent abbot would better enforce the Rule of Saint Benedict.

Cluny Abbey

Main article: Cluny Abbey

William I, Duke of Aquitaine (875-918) had acquired a piece of land in Burgundy. In 910 he founded Cluny Abbey and asked Abbot Berno of Baume Abbey to preside. The Abbot of Cluny retained authority over the daughter houses his order founded. By the twelfth century, the Congregation of Cluny included more than a thousand monasteries.[7]

Berno had established St. Peter's monastery at Gigny and Baume Abbey on the rule as interpreted by Benedict of Aniane, who had sought to restore the primitive strictness of the monastic observance wherever it had been relaxed. The rule focused on prayer, silence, and solitude.[5]

Among the most notable supporters of the Cluniac reforms were

Church in the West to be more attentive to business and led the papacy to attempt to assert control over the Eastern Church.[8]

Result

During its height (c. 950–c.1130), the Cluniac movement was one of the largest religious forces in Europe.

altar vessels of gold, fine tapestries and fabrics, stained glass, and polyphonic choral music to fill the Romanesque churches.[7]

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075

Cistercian Order.[10]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-2-503-52359-0
    .
  2. ^ Kiefer, James E., "Early Abbots of Cluny", The Society of Archbishop Justus
  3. S2CID 225207718
    .
  4. ^ a b Nelson, Lynn Harry. "Cluny and Ecclesiastical Reform", Lectures in Medieval History, University of Kansas
  5. ^
    ISBN 9780472061723
  6. ^ Smith, Lucy Margaret. The early history of the monastery of Cluny, Oxford University Press，1920
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-394-31733-5
    .
  8. ^ a b "The Crusades". UWGB.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-09-10.
  9. ^ The Columbia Encyclopedia
  10. ^ Tobin, pp 29, 33, 36.

Further reading

External links

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