The abbey today

The Abbey of Cluny (or Cluni, or Clugny) was founded on 2 September 909 by William I, Count of Auvergne, who installed Abbot Berno and placed the abbey under the immediate authority of Pope Sergius III. 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (736x809, 43 KB) Ostflügel und Turm der Abtei von Cluny (Frankreich) Uploaded to de: on November 9, 2004, by de:Benutzer:Marc Tobias Wenzel, licensed under GFDL File links The following pages link to this file: Abbey of Cluny ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (736x809, 43 KB) Ostflügel und Turm der Abtei von Cluny (Frankreich) Uploaded to de: on November 9, 2004, by de:Benutzer:Marc Tobias Wenzel, licensed under GFDL File links The following pages link to this file: Abbey of Cluny ... September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is for the year 909. ... William I of Aquitaine (d. ... This is a list of the various rulers of Auvergne. ... Berno or Bernon de Baume (ca 850 – 13 January 925) was first abbot of Cluny from its founding on 11 September 910 until he resigned in 925. ... Pope Sergius III, scion of Benedictus, of a noble Roman family, reigned in two intervals between 897 and April 14, 911, during a period of feudal violence and disorder in central Italy, where the Papacy was a pawn of warring aristocratic factions. ... Cluny nowadays The town of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day département of Saône-et-Loire in the région of France, near Mâcon. ... Saône-et-Loire is a French département, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies. ... Location Administration Capital Dijon Regional President François Patriat (PS) (since 2004) Départements Yonne Côte-dOr Nièvre Saône-et-Loire Arrondissements 15 Cantons 174 Communes 2,045 Statistics Land area1 31,582 km² Population (Ranked 16th)  - January 1, 2005 est. ... Mâcon is a commune of France, préfecture (capital) of the Saône-et-Loire département, in the Bourgogne région. ...

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. A sequence of highly competent abbots of Cluny were statesmen on an international stage. 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 longest lasting of the western Catholic monastic orders, the Benedictine Order traces its origins to the adoption of the monastic life by St. ... Benedict of Nursia left the comfort of the life of a student in Rome in about the year 500 A.D. to seek holiness. ...

The Hotel de Cluny in Paris, dates from around 1334, and was formerly the town house of the abbots of Cluny; it was made into a public museum in 1833 and apart from the name it no longer possesses anything originally connected with the abbey. The Musée de Cluny as viewed from the nearby park The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry The Musée de Cluny, officially known as Musée National du Moyen Âge, is a museum in Paris, France, at 6 Place Paul Painlevé, south of the Blvd St. ...

Coat of Arms of the Cluny Abbey: Gules two keys in saltire the wards upwards and outwards or overall a sword in pale argent

Image File history File links Blason_Abbaye_Cluny. ... Image File history File links Blason_Abbaye_Cluny. ...

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 A.D. 910. 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. 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 first female members came into the order during the eleventh century. William I of Aquitaine (d. ... The persons who held the title of Duke of Aquitaine (French: Duc dAquitaine}, which became part of France in 1449 but was an independent duchy before that date, with the years they held it, were: // Kings and Dukes of Aquitaine Edward III claimed the title of King of France... This is a list of the various rulers of Auvergne. ... A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. ... Events Foundation of the Benedictine monastery of Cluny Chinese Zhou dynasty monarch 懿王 yi4 wang2 is succeeded by 孝王 xiao4 wang2 Hashavarman I succeeds Yasovarman I as ruler of the Khmer empire Gabriel I of Alexandria becomes Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church Garcia I of Leon becomes... Coat of arms of the 2nd duchy of Burgundy and later of the French province of Burgundy Burgundy (French: Bourgogne) is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Celts (Gauls), Romans (Gallo-Romans), and various Germanic peoples , most importantly the Burgundians and the Franks. ... Abbots coat of arms The word abbot, meaning father, has been used as a Christian clerical title in various, mainly monastic, meanings. ...

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. 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. 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 522 KB) Clocher de leau bénite et clocher de lhorloge de labbaye de Cluny Abbey of Cluny AUTEUR TL LOCALISATION Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France DATE 16/07/2005 MATERIEL Fujifilm Finepix S5000 File links... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 522 KB) Clocher de leau bénite et clocher de lhorloge de labbaye de Cluny Abbey of Cluny AUTEUR TL LOCALISATION Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France DATE 16/07/2005 MATERIEL Fujifilm Finepix S5000 File links... The word leitourgia is derived from the two Greek words, leos and ergon. Leos, meaning the people of God and Ergon meaning the work. ... A priory is an ecclesiastical circumscription run by a prior. ... Benedict VIII, né Theophylactus (born in Rome, died April 9, 1024), pope (1012-1024), of the noble family of the counts of Tusculum (son of Gregory, Count of Tusculum, and Maria, and brother of John XIX), descended from Theophylact, Count of Tusculum like his predecessor Benedict VI, was opposed by...

Partly due to the order's opulence the Cluniac nunneries were not seen as being particularly cost-effective which may also 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 more feudal parts, in which each member did physical labor as well as offering prayer. 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. Cluny's agreement to offer perpetual prayer (laus perennis, literally "perpetual praise") meant that specialization went a step further at Cluny. The idea and function of a villa has evolved considerably since its invention towards the end of the Roman Republic. ... Generic plan of a mediaeval manor; open-field strip farming, some enclosures, triennial crop rotation, demesne and manse, common woodland, pasturage and meadow Manorialism or Seigneurialism is the organization of rural economy and society in medieval western and parts of central Europe, characterised by the vesting of legal and economic... Benedict of Aniane (aka Witiza; the Second Benedict) (c 747 - 11 February 821) is a saint born in France. ... Louis the Pious, contemporary depiction from 826 as a miles Christi (soldier of Christ), with a poem of Rabanus Maurus overlaid. ...

Cluny and the 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. 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. This article is about the famous building in Rome. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,500 km²  (580 sq mi...

Third abbey church, reconstruction

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. (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. For Cluny, the sum was simply the biggest annuity that the Order ever received from king or layman, and it was never surpassed. Henry I of England's annual grant of 100 marks of silver, not gold, from 1131 looks puny in comparison. 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). 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. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3808x2316, 1691 KB) Abbey of Cluny. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3808x2316, 1691 KB) Abbey of Cluny. ... Ferdinand I of Castile, known as El Magno or the Great, (d. ... Events June 18 - Battle of Civitate - 3000 horsemen of Norman Count Humphrey rout the troops of Pope Leo IX Good harvests in Europe Malcolm Canmore invades Scotland. ... Events December 28 - Westminster Abbey is consecrated. ... Events January 26 - Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor visits Pope Gregory VII as a penitent, asking him remove sentence of excommunication Robert Curthose instigates his first insurrection against his father, William the Conqueror Seljuk Turks capture Nicaea Süleyman I of Rüm becomes the leader of the Sultanate of... Events Granada captured by Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, King of the Almoravides Beginnings of troubadours in Provence Bejaia becomes the capital of the Algeria Births William of Malmsbury Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Saint Famianus Eliezer ben Nathan of Mainz Deaths Saint Malcoldia of Asti Saint Adalbero Categories: 1090 ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... An annuity (from Latin annus, a year), is an investment that provides a defined series of payments in the future in exchange for an up-front sum of money. ... The word mark (from an apparently non-Teutonic word found in all Teutonic and Romance languages, and Latinized as marca or marcus) originally expressed a measure of weight only for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and equivalent to 8 oz (ounces). ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ... Events May 9 - Tintern Abbey is founded. ... Events Battle of Naklo Battle of Hundsfeld Fulk of Jerusalem becomes count of Anjou Alfonso I of Aragon marries Urraca of Castile Crusaders capture Tripoli Anselm of Laon becomes chancellor of Laon Births July 25 - Afonso, first king of Portugal Deaths Alfonso VI of Castile Anselm of Canterbury, philosopher and... Events Battle of Naklo Battle of Hundsfeld Fulk of Jerusalem becomes count of Anjou Alfonso I of Aragon marries Urraca of Castile Crusaders capture Tripoli Anselm of Laon becomes chancellor of Laon Births July 25 - Afonso, first king of Portugal Deaths Alfonso VI of Castile Anselm of Canterbury, philosopher and... Events May 23 - Lothair of Saxony becomes Holy Roman Emperor on the death of Henry V. War ends between Toulouse and Provence. ... Peter the Venerable (about 1092 - December 25, 1156 in Cluny), also known as Peter of Montboissier, was born to Raingarde in Auvergne. ... Events Resolution of Investiture Controversy in the Concordat of Worms Pierre Abélard writes Sic et Non Births Ben Lancaster, Gradutate, Dynamite dancer. ... Events Prince Yuriy Dolgorukiy fortifies Moscow, regarded as the date of the founding of the city Establishment of the Carmelite Order Hogen Rebellion in Japan January 20 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi...

The Famous Library

The Cluny library was, for a long time, 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. Of those that were left, some were burned in 1790 by a rioting mob. Others still were stored away in the Cluny town hall. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, historically known as the French Calvinists. ...

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 new buildings of the library. ... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, with a tessellated glass roof by Buro Happold and Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room. ...

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. The best preserved Cluniac houses in England are Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk, and at Wenlock, Shropshire. It is thought that there were only three Cluniac Nunneries in England - one of them being Delapré Abbey at Northampton. Fleury can refer to: Abbo of Fleury (c. ... Dunstan (909–May 19, 988) was an Archbishop of Canterbury (961–988) who was later canonized as a saint. ... Statistics Population: 16,000 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TQ414101 Administration District: Lewes Shire county: East Sussex Region: South East England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: East Sussex Historic county: Sussex Services Police force: Sussex Police Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: South East Coast Post... Castle Acre Priory, in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk, is thought to have been founded in 1089 by William de Warenne the son the 1st. ... The spectacular ruins of Wenlock Priory in Much Wenlock, Shropshire (Grid reference SJ625001) are the remains of a 12th century church that belonged to the Cluniac monastery, refounded in 1079 and 1082, on the site of an earlier 7th century foundation, by Roger de Montgomery. ... Delapré Abbey - the south front Delapré Abbey, Northampton, was one of only two Cluniac nunneries built in England (the other being at Arthington in Yorkshire); the Cluniac order was a branch of the Benedictines and fell under the rule of the great abbey at Cluny in Burgundy. ... Northampton Guildhall, built 1861-4, E.W. Godwin, architect Northampton is a large market town and a local government district in central England on the River Nene, and the county town of Northamptonshire, in the English East Midlands region. ...

Until the reign of Henry VI all Cluniac houses in England were French, governed by French priors and directly controlled from Cluny. Henry's act raising the English priories to independent abbeys was a political gesture, a mark of England's national consciousness. Henry VI (December 6, 1421 – May 21, 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 (though with a Regent until 1437) and then from 1470 to 1471, and King of France from 1422 to 1453. ...

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. 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 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. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Henry III, from a miniature of 1040. ... Leo IX, born Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg (June 21, 1002 – April 19, 1054) was Pope from February 12, 1049 to his death. ...

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 Roman Catholic Church which applied spiritual sanctions in order to control and stop the violence of feudal society. ...

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. The current Pope is Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger), who was elected at the age of 78 on 19 April 2005. ... Pope Gregory VII (c. ... Pope Urban II (1042 – July 29, 1099), born Otho of Lagery (alternatively: Otto or Odo), was a Pope from 1088 to July 29, 1099. ... Paschal II, né Ranierius (born in Bleda, near Forlì, Romagna - d. ... Blessed Urban V, né Guillaume Grimoard (1310 – December 19, 1370), Pope from 1362 to 1370, was a native of Grizac in Languedoc (today part of the commune of Le Pont-de-Montvert, département of Lozère). ...

Cluny was guided by an orderly succession of able and educated abbots drawn from the highest aristocratic circles, two of whom were canonized: Saints 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, 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 ( 878 - 18 November 942), a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, was the second abbot of Cluny. ... Hugh of Cluny (1024 - 1109) was an Abbot of Cluny. ... Saint Odilo of Cluny was the fifth Benedictine Abbot of Cluny. ...

Cluny and the Gregorian reforms

A plan of the Abbey

Cluny was not known for its severity or asceticism, nor for embracing apostolic poverty, but the abbots of Cluny "had no objection to lay assistance. If a godly patron like William of Aquitaine founded a monastery, why should not a successor equally godly have something to say as to who should be the abbot?" (Bainton 33-34). 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. 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 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 (Green, link). 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (668x893, 112 KB) Plan de labbaye de Cluny. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (668x893, 112 KB) Plan de labbaye de Cluny. ... Cistercians (OCist) (Latin Cistercenses), otherwise Gimey or White Monks (from the colour of the habit, over which is worn a black Catholic order of monks. ... Eugène Delacroixs Liberty Leading the People, symbolizing French nationalism during the July Revolution. ... Historical map of the Western Schism. ... Lenton Priory was a Cluniac house founded by William Peverel in the early twelfth century. ... For other uses, see Nottingham (disambiguation). ... 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. Later it was sold and used as quarry until 1823 - today little more than one of the originally 8 towers remains of the whole monastery. The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a vital period in the history of France and Europe as a whole. ... Ancien Régime, a French term meaning Former Regime, but rendered in English as Old Rule, Old Order, or simply Old Regime, refers primarily to the aristocratic social and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. ...

Bainton, Roland H.. The Medieval Church. Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Company Inc., 1962.

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. 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. A priory is an ecclesiastical circumscription run by a prior. ...

• Delapré Abbey (Northampton) - Nunnery
• St Andrews Abbey Northampton
• Barnstable
• Arthington Priory - Nunnery
• Castle Acre Priory
• Wenlock
• Lewes (St Pancras) - the prior of St Pancras at Lewes usually held the position of vicar-general of the Abbot of Cluny for England and Scotland.
• Lenton Priory (Nottingham)
• Bermondsey
• Thetford
• Pontefract
• Montacute
• Reading - Independent Cluniac Abbey
• Faversham - Independent Cluniac Abbey
• Glastonbury Abbey - Independent Cluniac Abbey between 1120-1170 under Abbot Blois Bishop of Winchester

In England the Cluniac houses numbered thirty-five at the time of Henry VIII's dissolution. Delapré Abbey - the south front Delapré Abbey, Northampton, was one of only two Cluniac nunneries built in England (the other being at Arthington in Yorkshire); the Cluniac order was a branch of the Benedictines and fell under the rule of the great abbey at Cluny in Burgundy. ... Barnstable is a city located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts; it is the county seat of Barnstable County6. ... The Priory (or rather Nunnery) of Arthington, in the Yorkshire village of Arthington was established by Peter de Arthington; nothing remains of the Priory today. ... Castle Acre Priory, in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk, is thought to have been founded in 1089 by William de Warenne the son the 1st. ... Much Wenlock is a town in Shropshire, England. ... Statistics Population: 16,000 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TQ414101 Administration District: Lewes Shire county: East Sussex Region: South East England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: East Sussex Historic county: Sussex Services Police force: Sussex Police Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: South East Coast Post... Lenton Priory was a Cluniac house founded by William Peverel in the early twelfth century. ... Bermondsey is a place in the London Borough of Southwark. ... Map sources for Thetford at grid reference TL8783 Thetford is a town in the Breckland area of Norfolk, England. ... Pontefract Castle in its heyday Pontefract (from the Latin for Broken Bridge) is a town in the county of West Yorkshire, England, near the A1 (or Great North Road), the M62 motorway, and Castleford. ... Montacute is a small village in Somerset, England, two miles south of Yeovil. ... Reading Abbey Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in Reading, Berkshire, founded by Henry I in 1121 for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors. // History... Faversham is a town in Kent, England, in the district of Swale, roughly halfway between Sittingbourne and Canterbury. ... Glastonbury Abbey Glastonbury Abbey in Glastonbury, Somerset, England, now presents itself as traditionally the oldest above-ground Christian church in the World situated in the mystical land of Avalon by dating the founding of the community of monks at AD 63, the legendary visit of Joseph of Arimathea, who was... For the play, see Henry VIII (play). ...

At this time there were also three houses in Scotland at:

• Paisley Abbey,
• Renfrew and
• Crossraguel Abbey.

In 1056, the first Cluniac nunnery was founded at Marcigny and after this other convents followed inclusing those in the British Isles; the Cluniac nuns were always been greatly outnumbered by their male counterparts. Location Paisley Abbey is sited on the East bank of the river Cart in the center of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire. ... Renfrew (Rinn Friù in Scottish Gaelic) is a small town and former royal burgh in the Renfrewshire region of Scotland (see main article on the town of Renfrew, Scotland). ... Crossraguel Abbey is a ruin of a former abbey near the town of Maybole, South Ayrshire, Scotland. ... Marcigny is a French village, in Saône-et-Loire, region of Burgundy. ...

The Cluniac Prayer

"O God, by whose grace thy servants the Holy Abbots of Cluny, enkindled with the fire of thy love, became burning and shining lights in thy Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and may ever walk before thee as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever."

Further reading

• 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

• 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)
• Adrian Fletcher’s Paradoxplace – Cluny Page – Photos

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