Cluny Abbey

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• published: 14 May 2012
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History Founded in 910, the Abbey at Cluny was the center of a monastic reform movement that would spread throughout Europe. The abbey was built on a forested hunting preserve donated by William I the Pious, duke of Aquitaine and count of Auvergne. Unlike most monastic patrons, William relieved the monks of Cluny of all obligations to him except for their prayers for his soul. It was much more common for patrons to retain some proprietary interest in the abbey and they usually expected to install their relatives as abbots. Thus Cluny was able to avoid the secular entanglements that plagued many other monasteries. Cluny answered to the Pope alone, and would come to develop very close ties with the papacy. The Abbey of Cluny was founded by Benedictine monks who wished to observe closer adherence to the Benedictine rule. One distinction was their commitment to offer perpetual prayer, emphasizing liturgy and spiritual pursuits over labor and other monastic activities. At Cluny the liturgy was 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. Another uniqueness of Cluny was in its administration. Before Cluny, most monasteries were autonomous and associated with others only informally. But when new monasteries were founded in the Cluniac tradition, these were designated "priories," not abbeys, and were accordingly overseen by a prior who reported to the abbot of Cluny. The abbot of Cluny made regular visits to these priories and the priors met at Cluny once a year. This system worked well, and especially after the Pope decreed in 1016 that the privileges of Cluny also extended to subordinate houses, there was further incentive for Benedictine communities to join the Cluniac order. On September 30, 1088, construction began on the third abbey church at Cluny ("Cluny III"), the one that still stands in part today. Financed by kings, for centuries it was the largest church in Christendom. In 1095, five altars were consecrated by Pope Urban II, and in 1130, the abbey was dedicated by Pope Innocent II. Construction of the antechurch continued until 1190. 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. At its height of its influence in the 12th century, Cluny was at the head of a monastic "empire" of 10,000 monks. The abbots of Cluny were almost as powerful as popes, and four of them later became popes. In 1098, Pope Urban II (himself a Cluniac) declared that Cluny was the "light of the world." Cluny's great success was due in large part to its abbots. The Abbey of Cluny was guided by an orderly succession of able and educated abbots drawn from the highest aristocratic circles, two of whom were canonized: Odo of Cluny, the second abbot (died 942) and Hugh of Cluny (died 1109). Odilo, the fifth abbot (died 1049), was a third great leader. In the early 12th century, however, the order began to lose momentum under poor government. Cluny was subsequently revitalized under Abbot Peter the Venerable (d. 1156), who brought lax priories back into line and returned to stricter discipline. 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 soon, newer and more austere orders such as the Cistercians were generating the next wave of ecclesiastical reform. At the same time, the rise of English and French nationalism created a climate unfavorable to the existence of monasteries autocratically ruled by a leader residing in Burgundy. The Papal Schism of 1378 to 1409 further divided loyalties: France recognized the pope at Avignon and England that at Rome, interfering with the relations between Cluny and its dependent houses in England. Under the strain, some English houses, such as Lenton Priory, Nottingham, became officially English, weakening the Cluniac structure. By the time of the French Revolution, the monks of Cluny were so thoroughly identified with the Ancien Régime that the order was suppressed in France and the monastery at Cluny was partly demolished. The abbey was sold as national property and was used as a stone quarry. It was systematically dismantled until 1823. Sumith Jayantha Dias