§ 62. MONASTICISM AND THE PAPACY. 829
of Fulda claimed precedence over the great archbishop of Cologne. Beginning with John XVIII. (1004-1009) the abbots were not seldom vested with the insignia of the episcopal office. The English abbots of St. Albans, Bardney, Westminster, and the heads of other English abbeys were mitred.1 They were great personages ; they sat in oecumenical councils ; the bells were rung as they passed ; they engaged in the hunt, had their horses and armed reti nues, and entertained on an elaborate scale. The abbot of St. Albans ate from a silver plate, and even ladies of rank were invited to share the pleasures of repasts at English abbeys.
Thus, by wealth and organization and by papal favor, the monastic orders were in a position to overshadow the epis copate. Backed by the pope they bade defiance to bishops, and in turn they enabled the papacy most effectually to exercise lordship over the episcopate.
In the struggle with the heretical sects the orders were the uncompromising champions of orthodoxy, and rendered the most effective assistance to the popes in carrying out their policy of repression. In the Inquisition they were the chief agents which the papacy had. They preached crusades against the Albigenses and were prominent in the ranks of the crusaders. In the work of bloody destruction, they were often in the lead, as was Arnold of Citeaux. Everywhere from Germany to Spain the leading Inquisitors were monks.
Again, in the relentless struggle of the papacy with princes and kings, they were always to be relied upon. Here they did valiant service for the papacy, as notably in the struggle against the emperor, Frederick II., when they sowed sedition and organized revolt in Germany and other parts of his empire.
1 So also were the abbots of Bury St. Edmunds, St. Augustine at Canter bury, Croyland, Peterborough, Evesham, Glastonbury, and Gloucester ; but the abbot of Glastonbury had the precedence, till Adrian IV. gave it to the abbot of St. Albans.
330 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
Once more, as agents to fill the papal treasury, they did efficient and welcome service to the Holy See. In this interest they were active all over Europe. The pages of English chroniclers are filled with protests against them on the score of their exactions from the people.1 The pope treated the orders well, and in turn was well served by them. They received high favors, and they had the rare grace of showing gratitude.
The orders of this period may be grouped in five main families : the family which followed the Benedictine rule, the family which followed the so-called Augustinian rule, the Car melites, the hermit orders of which the Carthusians were the chief, and the original mendicant orders,2 the Franciscans and Dominicans.
§ 63. The Monks of Cluny.
LITERATURE. — See lit. vol. IV. pp. 367 and 861; MABILLON: Ann. ord. 8. Bened., III.-V., Paris, 1706-1708; Statute Cluniacensia, Migne, 189, 1028-47. — BERNARD ET BRUEL: Kecueil des chartes de Vabbaye de Cluni, to 1300, 6 vols. Paris, 1876-93 ; Consuetudines monasticce, vol. I. ; Consuet. Farfenses, ed. by ALBERS, Stuttgart, 1900. The consuetudines are statutes and customs which convents adopted supple mentary to the Rules of their orders. These of Farfa, a convent in Italy, were taken down from Odilo of Cluny and enforced at Farfa.
THE Lives OF ST. BERNARD. — C. A. WILKENS : Petrus der Ehrwurdige, Leipzig, 1857, 277 pp. — M. KERKER : Wilhelm der Selige, Abt zu Hirschau, Tubingen, 1863. — WITTEN : Der Selige Wilhelm, Abt von Hirschau, Bonn, 1890. — CIIAMPLY : Hist, de Fabbaye de Cluny, Macon, 1866. — L'HUILLIER : Vie de Hugo, Solesmes, 1887. — K. SACKUR: Die Cluniacenser bis zur Mitte des llten Jahrhunderts, 2 vols. Halle, 1892- 94. — H. KUTTER : Wilhelm von St. Thierry, ein Eepresentant der mittelalterlichen Frb'mmigkeit, Giessen, 1898. — MAITLAND: The Dark Ages, 1890, pp. 350-491. — HAUCK, vol. III. — Art. Hirschau,in Herzog, VIII. 138 sqq.
1 M. Paris and other English chroniclers are continually damning these Mendicant tax gatherers for their extortion. They were raising money for the pope in England as early as 1234.
2 Hurter, Innocent III., IV. 238. Gasquet gives an elaborate list of the monastic houses of England, pp. 251-318, and an account of the religious orders represented in England, together with instructive engravings, 211 sqq. According to Gasquet's list there were more than fifteen hundred conventual houses in England alone.