On 11th September 910, William I, Duke of
Aquitaine founded Cluny Abbey. He had gained power through inheritance and a
series of wars and his lands stretched from Austrasia to Toulouse (in France).
At the time most monasteries were privately owned, however he made the abbey
responsible only to the pope. This meant that his family couldn’t nominate
abbots and other officials.
William I nominated Berno as the first abbot of Cluny. Berno
had been a monk at St. Martin’s Abbey and was later sent to Baume Abbey to
reform it. He held Cluny Abbey to the Benedictine Rule. Although the rule would
become the main rule of monasteries during the middle ages, it was not intended
for monasteries in the modern sense of the word; it was intended to be a rule
for communities.
This was the first of the Cluniac Reforms. The reforms were
necessary because of widespread corruption in the Church. One of the most
common was called Simony, or paying to receive sacraments. The most common form
of this was to pay for a position within the church. Since a monastery required
land, it needed to be sanctioned by the local lord. The lord would demand
rights that interfered with religious duties. The lord might also want his
associates and family appointed to posts.
The Cluniac Reforms spread through France and into England,
Spain and Italy. In the end more than a thousand monasteries adopted the new
format. This enabled the monasteries to follow the Rule of Saint Benedict more
strictly.
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