The Abbey of Cluny (or Cluni, or Clugny, pronunciation IPA: [klyˈni]) is an abbey in France. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.
It was founded in 910 by William I, Count of Auvergne, who installed Abbot Berno and placed the abbey under the immediate authority of Pope Sergius III. William I (died July 6, 918) called the Pious, was the Count of Auvergne from 886 and Duke of Aquitaine from 893 succeeding the This is a list of the various rulers of Auvergne. History In the 7th century Auvergne was disputed between the Franks and Aquitanians Sergius III was a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in two intervals (between 897 and April 14, 911) The Abbey and its constellation of dependencies soon came to exemplify the kind of religious life that was at the heart of 11th-century piety. The town of Cluny, in the modern-day department of Saône-et-Loire in the region of Bourgogne, in east-central France, near Mâcon, grew round the former abbey, founded in a forested hunting reserve. The town and commune of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day département of Saône-et-Loire in the région Saône-et-Loire ( Sona-et-Lêre in Arpitan language is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire Bourgogne ( English: Burgundy is one of the 26 regions of France. Mâcon is a commune of France, préfecture (capital of the Saône-et-Loire département, in the Bourgogne
The Benedictine order was a keystone to the stability that European society achieved in the 11th century, and partly owing to the stricter adherence to a reformed Benedictine rule, Cluny became the acknowledged leader of western monasticism from the later 10th century. This article concerns Roman Catholic Order of Saint Benedict see also Benedictine Confederation and Benedictine. A sequence of highly competent abbots of Cluny were statesmen on an international stage. The Abbot of Cluny was the head of the powerful monastery of Cluny Abbey in medieval France. The monastery of Cluny itself became the grandest, most prestigious and best endowed monastic institution in Europe. The height of Cluniac influence was from the second half of the 10th century through the early 12th. The Abbey was sacked and mostly destroyed in 1790 by a mob of revolutionaries. Only a small part of the original remains.
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The Hotel de Cluny in Paris dates from around 1334, and was formerly the town house of the abbots of Cluny. The Musée de Cluny, officially known as Musée National du Moyen Âge, is a Museum in Paris, France. It was made into a public museum in 1833, but apart from the name it no longer possesses anything originally connected with the abbey.
Founding
William I of Aquitaine "the Pious", duke of Aquitaine and count of Auvergne, founded the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, the fatherhouse of the Congregation of Cluny, on a modest scale in 910. William I (died July 6, 918) called the Pious, was the Count of Auvergne from 886 and Duke of Aquitaine from 893 succeeding the The Duke of Aquitaine ( French: Duc d'Aquitaine) ruled the historical region of Aquitaine under the supremacy of the Frankish and later the This is a list of the various rulers of Auvergne. History In the 7th century Auvergne was disputed between the Franks and Aquitanians Benedictine refers to the Spirituality and Consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in Events By Place Africa The caliphate of Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah (of the Fatimid dynasty is established after he enters the In donating his hunting preserve in the forests of Burgundy, William gave Cluny the remarkable privilege of releasing the house from all future obligation to him and his family other than prayer. Burgundy (Bourgogne Burgund is a region historically situated in modern-day France and Switzerland, inhabited in turn by Celts ( Gauls) Contemporary patrons normally retained a proprietary interest and expected to install their kinsmen as abbots. William appears to have made this arrangement with Berno, the first abbot, in order to free the new monastery from such secular entanglements. The word abbot, meaning Father, is a title given to the head of a Monastery in various traditions including Christianity. The first female members came into the order during the eleventh century.
Organization
The monastery of Cluny differed in three ways from other Benedictine houses and confederations: in its organizational structure, in the prohibition on holding land by feudal service and in its execution of the liturgy as its main form of work. A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group according to their particular traditions While most Benedictine monasteries remained autonomous and associated with each other only informally, Cluny created a large, federated order in which the administrators of subsidiary houses served as deputies of the abbot of Cluny and answered to him. The Cluniac houses, being directly under the supervision of the abbot of Cluny, the autocrat of the Order, were styled priories, not abbeys. A priory is a House of men or women under religious vows headed by a Prior or prioress The priors, or chiefs of priories, met at Cluny once a year to deal with administrative issues and to make reports. Other Benedictine houses, even of earlier formation, came to regard Cluny as their guide. When in 1016 Pope Benedict VIII decreed that the privileges of Cluny also extended to subordinate houses, there was further incentive for Benedictine communities to insinuate themselves in the Cluniac order. Benedict VIII (born in Rome, died April 9, 1024) born Theophylactus, Pope from 1012 to 1024 of the noble family of the
Partly due to the order's opulence the Cluniac nunneries were not seen as being particularly cost-effective, which may also be reflected in the order's apparent lack of interest in founding many new houses for women.
The customs of Cluny also represented a shift from the earlier ideal of a Benedictine monastery as an agriculturally self-sufficient unit similar to the contemporary villa that survived in the more Romanized parts of Europe and the manor of the more feudal parts, in which each member did physical labor as well as offering prayer. A villa was originally an Upper-class Country house, though since its origins in Roman times the idea and function of a villa has evolved considerably This article is about the medieval system "Manors" redirects here St Benedict of Aniane, the "second Benedict", had acknowledged that the Black Monks no longer truly supported themselves simply with their physical labor, in the monastic constitutions he had drawn up in 817 to govern all the Carolingian monasteries, at the urging of Louis the Pious. Benedict of Aniane (also called Witiza; the Second Benedict) (c Louis the Pious (778 &ndash 20 June 840) also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781 and co-Emperor Cluny's agreement to offer perpetual prayer (laus perennis, literally "perpetual praise") meant that specialization in roles went a step further at Cluny. The practice of perpetual prayer (Latin laus perennis) was inaugurated by the Archimandrite Alexander (died about 430 the founder of the monastic Acoemetae Cluny became perhaps the wealthiest monastic house of the Western World and this allowed the House to hire managers and workers instead of the brothers themselves doing any work. Such wealth allowed the Brothers to spend their hours in almost constant prayer thus elevating their position into a profession. Despite the vows of poverty of the brothers the Abbey in Cluny was able to afford huge candlelabras of solid silver and gold goblets encrusted with precious gems for use on the altars. Instead of the broth and porridge which was the traditional monastic fare the brothers ate very well, enjoying roasted chickens (a luxury in France then) and wines from their vineyards and cheeses that their employees made. The brothers wore the finest linen habits and fine silk vestments were worn at Mass. Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religions especially the Latin Rite and other Roman Catholics Many of the items proving the wealth of the Cluny Abbey are today on display at the Musée Cluny in Paris. The Musée de Cluny, officially known as Musée National du Moyen Âge, is a Museum in Paris, France.
Cluniac Houses in Britain
All of the English Cluniac Houses which were larger than cells were known as Priories, symbolising their subordinance to Cluny itself. All of the English Cluniac Houses which were larger than cells were known as Priories, symbolising their subordinance to the Abbey of Cluny itself A priory is a House of men or women under religious vows headed by a Prior or prioress The coming of the eleventh century saw the spread of Cluny's influence into the British Isles. As the head of their order was the Abbot at Cluny, all English Cluniacs were bound to cross to France to Cluny to consult or be consulted unless the Abbot chose to come to England; this he did five times in the 13th century, and only twice in the 14th.
Arts
At Cluny the central art was the liturgy itself, extensive and beautiful in inspiring surroundings, reflecting the new personally-felt wave of piety of the 11th century; monastic intercession appeared indispensable to achieving a state of grace, and lay rulers competed to be remembered in Cluny's endless prayers, inspiring the endowments in land and benefices that made other arts possible.
The fast-growing community at Cluny demanded buildings on a large scale. The examples set at Cluny profoundly affected architectural practice in Western Europe from the tenth through the twelfth centuries. The three successive churches are conventionally called Cluny I, II and III; in building the third and final church at Cluny, the monastery constructed the largest building in Europe before the rebuilding of St. Peter's in Rome in the 16th century. The Basilica of Saint Peter (Basilica Sancti Petri officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 The construction of Cluny II, ca. 955-981, begun after the destructive Hungarian raids of 953 led the tendency for Burgundian churches to be stone- vaulted.
The building campaign was financed by the annual census established by Ferdinand I of Leon, ruler of a united León-Castile, some time between 1053 and 1065. Ferdinand I, called the Great (in his time El Magno) (1017&ndash León, 1065 son of Sancho III of Navarre and Mayor of Castile (It was re-established by Alfonso VI in 1077 and confirmed in 1090. ) The sum was fixed at 1,000 golden aurei by Ferdinand, and doubled by Alfonso VI in 1090. Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 For Cluny, the sum was simply the biggest annuity that the Order ever received from king or layman, and it was never surpassed. An annuity contract is a Financial product typically offered by a Financial institution, that may accumulate value and take a current value and pay it out over Henry I of England's annual grant of 100 marks of silver, not gold, from 1131 looks puny in comparison. This article is about the archaic weight of measure/currency For other uses of mark, see the disambiguation page Mark. Silver (ˈsɪlvɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol " Ag " (argentum from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos gen The Alfonsine census enabled Abbot Hugh (died 1109) to undertake the huge third abbey church. When payments in the Islamic gold coin extorted by León-Castile later lapsed, it was a major factor in bringing about the financial crisis that crippled the Cluniacs during the abbacies of Pons (1109 – 1125) [1] and Peter the Venerable (1122 – 1156). Peter the Venerable (about 1092 – December 25, 1156 in Cluny, France) also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of At Cluny, the import of gold publicized the new-found riches of the Spanish Christians and drew central Spain for the first time into the larger European orbit.
The library
The Cluny library was, arguably, one of the richest and most important in France and indeed Europe. It was a storehouse of a large number of very valuable manuscripts. The sacking of the abbey by the Huguenots in 1562 led to many of these items' destruction or dispersal. The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France (or French Calvinists) from the sixteenth to the eighteenth Of those that were left, some were burned in 1790 by a rioting mob. Others still were stored away in the Cluny town hall.
Many of these volumes, along with others that fell into private hands, have been recovered by the French Government and are now to be found at the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. At the British Museum there are also some sixty or so charters originating from Cluny. The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London.
Cluny's influence
In the fragmented and localized Europe of the 10th and 11th century, the Cluniac network extended its reforming influence far. Free of lay and episcopal interference, responsible only to the papacy, which was in a state of weakness and disorder with rival popes supported by competing noble gangs, Cluniac spirit was felt revitalizing the Norman church, reorganizing the royal French monastery at Fleury and inspiring St Dunstan in England, though there were no official English Cluniac priories until that of Lewes, founded by the Anglo-Norman Earl of Warren, at Lewes, c 1077. Dunstan (c909&ndash 19 May 988) was an Abbot of Glastonbury, a Bishop of Worcester, a Bishop of London, and an Lewes (ˈluːɨs Lewis) is the County town of East Sussex, England and gives its name to the Local government district in which it The best preserved Cluniac houses in England are Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk, and at Wenlock, Shropshire. Castle Acre Priory, in the Village of Castle Acre, Norfolk, England, is thought to have been founded in 1089 by William de Warenne Much Wenlock Priory is a ruined 12th century church located in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, at. It is thought that there were only three Cluniac Nunneries in England - one of them being Delapré Abbey at Northampton. Delapré Abbey (The Abbey of the meadow or more properly the Abbey of St Mary de Pratis, Northampton, was one of only two Cluniac nunneries built in This article is about Northampton in England for other places of the same name see Northampton (disambiguation Northampton ( is a large Market
Until the reign of Henry VI all Cluniac houses in England were French, governed by French priors and directly controlled from Cluny. Henry VI (6 December 1421 &ndash 21 May 1471 was King of England 1422–1461 (though with a Regent until 1437 and then 1470–1471 and a claimant to the kingdom Henry's act raising the English priories to independent abbeys was a political gesture, a mark of England's national consciousness.
The early Cluniac establishments had offered refuges from a disordered world, but by the late 11th century Cluniac piety permeated society. This is the period that achieved the final Christianization of the heartland of Europe.
Well-born and educated Cluniac priors worked eagerly with local royal and aristocratic patrons of their houses, filled responsible positions in their chanceries and found themselves appointed to bishoprics. Cluny spread the custom of veneration of the king as patron and support of the Church, and in turn the spiritual outlook and conduct of 11th century kings underwent a change. In England Edward the Confessor was later canonized. King Edward the Confessor (c 1003 &ndash 5 January 1066 son of Ethelred the Unready, was the penultimate Anglo-Saxon King of England and the last In Germany, the penetration of Cluniac ideals was effected in concert with Henry III of the Salian dynasty, who had married a daughter of the duke of Aquitaine. Henry III ( 29 October 1017 &ndash 5 October 1056) called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty Henry was infused with a sense of his sacramental role as delegate of Christ in the temporal sphere, which gave him a spiritual and intellectual grounding for his control over the German church, culminating in the pontificate of his kinsman, Pope Leo IX. Pope
The new pious outlook of lay leaders enabled the enforcement of the Truce of God movement to curb aristocratic violence. The Peace and Truce of God was a Medieval European movement of the Catholic Church that applied spiritual sanctions in order to limit the violence of Private war
Within his order, the Abbot of Cluny was free to assign any monk to any house, creating a fluid structure around a central authority that was to become a feature of the royal chanceries of England and of France, and of the bureaucracy of the great independent dukes, such as Burgundy. Cluny's highly centralized hierarchy was also a natural training ground for Catholic prelates: four monks of Cluny became popes: Gregory VII, Urban II, Paschal II and Urban V. History See also History of the Papacy Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, who Jesus named as the "shepherd" and Pope Pope Paschal II, born Ranierius, (died January 21, 1118) was Pope from August 13, 1099 until his death Blessed
Cluny was guided by an orderly succession of able and educated abbots drawn from the highest aristocratic circles, three of whom were canonized: Saints Odo of Cluny, the second abbot (died 942), Hugh of Cluny, the sixth abbot (died 1109), and Odilo, the fifth abbot (died 1049), who continued the work of reforming other monasteries, but he also encouraged tighter control of the far-flung priories by the Abbot of Cluny. Saint Odo of Cluny (c 878 – 18 November 942) a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church, was the second Abbot of Cluny. Hugh of Cluny ( May 13 1024 - April 28 1109) was an Abbot of Cluny. Saint Odilo of Cluny was the fifth Benedictine Abbot of Cluny.
Cluny and the Gregorian reforms
Cluny was not known for its severity or asceticism, but the abbots of Cluny supported the revival of the papacy and the reforms of Pope Gregory VII. The Gregorian Reform was a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050&ndash1080 which dealt with the Pope The Cluniac establishment found itself closely identified with the Papacy, rich and dignified and worldly. In the early 12th century, the order lost momentum under poor government. It was subsequently revitalized under Abbot Peter the Venerable (died 1156), who brought lax priories back into line and returned to stricter discipline. Peter the Venerable (about 1092 – December 25, 1156 in Cluny, France) also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of Cluny reached its last days of power and influence under Peter, as its monks became bishops, legates, and cardinals throughout France and the Holy Roman Empire. But by the time Peter died, newer and more austere orders such as the Cistercians were generating the next wave of ecclesiastical reform. Outside monastic structures, the rise of English and French nationalism created a climate unfavourable to the existence of monasteries autocratically ruled by a head residing in Burgundy. The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation The Papal Schism of 1378 to 1409 further divided loyalties: France recognizing a pope at Avignon and England one at Rome, interfered with the relations between Cluny and its dependent houses. The Great Schism of Western Christianity or Papal Schism (also known as the Western Schism) was a split within the Roman Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417 Under the strain, some English houses, such as Lenton Priory, Nottingham, were naturalized (Lenton in 1392) and no longer regarded as alien priories, weakening the Cluniac structure. Lenton Priory was a Cluniac house founded by William Peverel in the early twelfth century Nottingham ( is a city in the Ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England. Lenton is an area of the City of Nottingham in the County of Nottinghamshire, England.
By the time of the French Revolution the monks were so thoroughly identified with the Ancien Régime that the order was suppressed in France in 1790 and the monastery at Cluny almost totally demolished in 1810. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an Ancien Régime ( pronounced: /ɑ̃sjɛ̃ ʁeʒim/ refers primarily to the aristocratic social and political system established in Later it was sold and used as a quarry until 1823. Today little more than one of the original 8 towers remains of the whole monastery.
Modern excavations of the Abbey began in 1927 under the direction of Kenneth John Conant, American architectural historian of Harvard University, and continued (although not continuously) until 1950. Kenneth John Conant (1894 - 1984 was an American architectural historian specializing in medieval architecture
See also
References
- Bainton, Roland H. The Bible of Souvigny was written at the end of the 12th century in France. . The Medieval Church. Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Company Inc. ,
1962.
- Conant, Kenneth J. (1968). Cluny. Les églises et la maison du chef d'Ordre.
- Cowdrey, H. E. J. (1970). The Cluniacs and the Gregorian Reform.
- Evans, Joan (1968). Monastic Life at Cluny 910-1157. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Lawrence, C. H. (1984). Medieval Monasticism.
- Mullins, Edwin (2006) In Search of Cluny: God's Lost Empire.
- Rosenwein, Barbara H. (1982). Rhinoceros Bound: Cluny in the 10th Century.
External links
- (Universität Münster: Institut für Frühmittelalterforschung) Cluny. (in English) Scholarly portal to many aspects of Cluny.
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Congregation of Cluny
- Christopher Golden, "Cluniac Order"
- Societas Christiana Encyclopedia: The Cluniac movement
- Herbert Green, "Lenton Priory": a Cluniac house in Nottingham, England
- Charter of the Abbey of Cluny
- Large archive of photographs of the abbey
- The History of Romanesque Cluny Clarified by Excavations and Comparisons, by K.J. Conant (pdf)
- Paradoxplace – Cluny Page – Photos
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