In the 14th century, though partly checked by the mendicant orders, a general degeneracy of monachism commenced, and the corruption, from which hardly a single order kept itself entirely free, became so over- whelming that towards the close of the Middle Ages the name monk was often used by writers as synony- mous with rudeness and ignorance. "The monks," says Hardwick, " gorged with the ecclesiastical en- dowments, lost the moral elevation they had shown throughout the early periods of the Church, and with it forfeited their hold on the affections of the people. Except the Order of Carthusians, none of them ad- hered to the letter of their institute. Their intellect- ual vigor at the same time underwent a corresponding deterioration, insomuch that few if any works of mer- it, either in the field of science or in that of theology-, proceeded in this age from the cloisters of the West" (Ch. Hist. M. A. p. 343; comp. Gieseler, Ecdes. Hist. iii, 85 sq., 286 sq.). The monks, like a swarm of lo- custs, covered all Europe, proclaiming everywhere the obedience due to the holy mother Church, the rever- ence due to the saints (and more especially to the Vir- gin Mary), tlie efficacy of relics, the torments of purga- toni', and the blessed advantages arising from indul- gences. Reformatory attempts were vainly made in every centurj^ Different new orders — as tlie Jesuits, Brigittines, Serritcs, Hieronymiles, and others — were founded ; but their influence was weak in comparison with that of their predecessors, and frequently, after an existence of fifty or one hundred years, they them- selves were as far astray from the primitive standard of rigid asceticism. " The progress of monasticism," says Cramp, "was distinguished for several centuries b)' unexampled prosperity and its ordinary' attendant, corruption. Replenished with wealth, which the igno- rant and superstitious people lavished upon them, thinking to gain favor with God thereby, the monks indulged in every kind of licentious excess, till they were as infamous for vice as their predecessors had been renowned for piety. Reformation was frequent- ly attempted, and many new orders arose, professing at first great zeal for purity, and adopting the strictest modes of discipline, verging sometimes to the extrem- ity of human endurance. But these also soon shared 'the general fate, and sank to the same low level of
shameless sensuality" (comp. Concil., Labbe et Cos- sart, ed. Mansi, tom. xviii, 270 ; Gieseler, Eccles. Hist. ii, 120). The councils of Constance (A.D. 1415) and Basle (A.D. 1431), in their endeavors to brace up mo- nastic discipline afresh, devised reformatory measures ; but the}' produced only transitory changes, and those onl)' in few places. As a whole, it was daily more ap- parent that monasticism was growing almost incorri- gible, and was ripening daily for the scythe. One of the strongest evidences of such a tendency was the formation of four spiritual associations to take the place of the monastic orders. Thus flourished, in spite of the indiscriminate denunciation of pope and priest and persecution bj' the Inquisition, the Bernards or Beguines, who must be regarded as an oftVhoot of mo- nasticism, though they exhibited a freer and less hie- rarchical spirit. They flourished mainly in Germany and the Netherlands ; but other groups, in which the Beguard influence was apparent, began to spread rap- idly throughout the West. They were religious broth- erhoods and sisterhoods, distinguished for their zeal in visiting the sick, or, as in the case of those to whom the name of Lollords (q. v.) was popularly given, for singing at funerals, and for otherwise assisting in the burial of the dead. This associational principle was further developed by the Brethren of the Free Spirit, a confraternity which owed their origin to Gerhard Groot (middle of the 14th century), and who for some time seemed to be preparing the waj' for an entirely new phase of monachism. In their reformatory labors ' they frequently came into collision with the highest Church authorities, especially the Inquisition, though this did not prevent their spread. Their numerous so- cieties were equalty distinguished for their mj-sticism and their usefulness. Some of the brethren were en- gaged in instruction, others employed themselves in various kinds of handicraft for their livelihood. One of their chief objects was always to advance the relig- ious education of the common people, and especially to raise up from them a pious clergy, so that they soon I became fruitful nurseries for monks. This activity, I and the respect in which the brethren were held by I the people, excited powerfullj' the envy of the men- dicants, but thej' gradually slackened their opposi- I tion when they found their own numbers increasing ' through the labors of these Fratres communis ritce. The most remarkable of the new orders established in this period was that of the Minimi. Their found- er, Francis of Paula, a small town in Calabria, after having lived for a short time in an unreibrmed Fran- ciscan convent, established himself as a hermit in the neighborhood of his native city, and from 1J57 gather- ed around him a society of those who shared his views. I The fame of his miraculous power soon extended his society, which was confirmed bj' Sixtus IV (1474), un- 1 der the name of the Eremitte s. Francisci, first in Ita- j h', and afterwards in France, where the superstitious Louis XI had summoned the founder of the order to ! his aid in the last extremity (1482) ; and at a later pe- 1 riod in Spain. The order, distinguished always from i the rest of the Franciscans by the observance of the I vita quadragesimalis, received afterwards a rule from its founder, and, to distinguish themselves from the Fratres Minores, and to go one step bej'ond them, as- sumed the name of " Ordo minimorum fratrum eremi- tarum Fratres Francisci de Paula." See Minims. The Reformation of the IGth centurj' maj' well be j called the Revolutionary period in the historj' of mon- achism. The deep decline which this institution had suffered during and immediately following the Cru- sades, a period in which, as we have seen, even the knights and barons subjected their profession of wai'- riors to the forms of monkish laws, had been, it is true, to a very great extent relieved by a period of spiritual activity, ushered in by the mendicants. At tiieir com- mencement thej' undoubtedh' contributed to the resto- ration of primitive simplicity, their avowed object, but