THE MONASTIC REFORMATION OF THE TENTH, ELEVENTH, AND TWELFTH CENTURIES
42. The Foundation Charter of the Monastery of Cluny (910)
Throughout the earlier Middle Ages the Benedictine Rule [see p. 83]
was the code under which were governed practically all the monastic
establishments of western Europe. There was a natural tendency,
however, for the severe and exacting features of the Rule to be
softened considerably in actual practice. As one writer puts it, "the
excessive abstinence and many other of the mechanical observances of
the rule were soon found to have little real utility when simply
enforced by a rule, and not practiced willingly for the sake of
self-discipline." The obligation of manual labor, for example, was
frequently dispensed with in order that the monks might occupy
themselves with the studies for which the Benedictines have always
been famous. Too often such relaxation was but a pretext for the
indulgence of idleness or vice. The disrepute into which such
tendencies brought the monastics in the tenth and eleventh centuries
gave rise to numerous attempts to revive the primitive discipline, the
most notable of which was the so-called "Cluniac movement."
The monastery of Cluny, on the borders of Aquitaine and Burgundy, was
established under the terms of a charter issued by William the Pious,
duke of Aquitaine and count of Auvergne, September 11, 910. The
conditions of its foundation, set forth in the text of the charter
given below, were in many ways typical. The history of the monastery
was, however, quite exceptional. During the invasions and civil wars
of the latter half of the ninth century, many of the monasteries of
western Europe had fallen under the control of unscrupulous laymen who
used them mainly to satisfy their greed or ambition, and in
consequence by the time that Cluny was founded the standard of
monastic life and service had been seriously impaired. The monks had
grown worldly, education was neglected, and religious services had
become empty formalities. Powerful nobles used their positions of
advantage to influence, and often to dictate, the election of bishops
and abbots, and the men thus elected were likely enough to be unworthy
of their offices in both character and ability. The charter of the
Cluny monastery, however, expressly provided that the abbot should be
chosen by canonical election, i.e., by the monks, and without any sort
of outside interference. The life of the monastery was to be regulated
by the Benedictine Rule, though with rather less stress on manual
labor and rather more on religious services and literary employment.
Cluny, indeed, soon came to be one of the principal centers of
learning in western Europe, as well as perhaps the greatest
administrator of charity.
Another notable achievement of Cluny was the building up of the
so-called "Cluny Congregation." Hitherto it had been customary for
monasteries to be entirely independent of one another, even when
founded by monks sent out from a parent establishment. Cluny, however,
kept under the control of her own abbot all monasteries founded by her
agents and made the priors of these monasteries directly responsible
to him. Many outside abbeys were drawn into the new system, so that by
the middle of the twelfth century the Cluny congregation was comprised
of more than two thousand monasteries, all working harmoniously under
a single abbot-general. The majority of these were in France, but
there were many also in Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, and England. It
was the Cluny monks who gave the Pope his chief support in the
struggle to free the Church from lay investiture and simony and to
enforce the ideal of a celibate clergy. This movement for reform may
properly be said, indeed, to have originated with the Cluniacs and to
have been taken up only later by the popes, chiefly by Gregory VII. By
the end of the eleventh century Cluniac discipline had begun to grow
lax and conditions were gradually shaped for another wave of monastic
reform, which came with the establishment of the Carthusians (in 1084)
and of the Cistercians (in 1098).
Source--Text in Martin Bouquet, _Recueil des Historiens des
Gaules et de la France_ ["Collection of the Historians of Gaul
and of France"] (Paris, 1874), Vol. IX., pp. 709-711.
[Sidenote: Motives for Duke William's benefaction]
To all who think wisely it is evident that the providence of God
has made it possible for rich men, by using well their temporal
possessions, to be able to merit eternal rewards.... I, William,
count and duke, after diligent reflection, and desiring to provide
for my own safety while there is still time, have decided that it
is advisable, indeed absolutely necessary, that from the
possessions which God has given me I should give some portion for
the good of my soul. I do this, indeed, in order that I who have
thus increased in wealth may not at the last be accused of having
spent all in caring for my body, but rather may rejoice, when fate
at length shall snatch all things away, in having preserved
something for myself. I cannot do better than follow the precepts
of Christ and make His poor my friends. That my gift may be durable
and not transitory I will support at my own expense a congregation
of monks. And I hope that I shall receive the reward of the
righteous because I have received those whom I believe to be
righteous and who despise the world, although I myself am not able
to despise all things.[363]
[Sidenote: The land and other property ceded]
Therefore be it known to all who live in the unity of the faith and
who await the mercy of Christ, and to those who shall succeed them
and who shall continue to exist until the end of the world, that,
for the love of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, I hand over
from my own rule to the holy apostles, namely, Peter and Paul, the
possessions over which I hold sway--the town of Cluny, with the
court and demesne manor, and the church in honor of St. Mary, the
mother of God, and of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles,
together with all the things pertaining to it, the villas, the
chapels, the serfs of both sexes, the vines, the fields, the
meadows, the woods, the waters and their outlets, the mills, the
incomes and revenues, what is cultivated and what is not, all
without reserve. These things are situated in or about the county
of Macon[364], each one marked off by definite bounds. I give,
moreover, all these things to the aforesaid apostles--I, William,
and my wife Ingelberga--first for the love of God; then for the
soul of my lord King Odo, of my father and my mother; for myself
and my wife,--for the salvation, namely, of our souls and bodies;
and not least, for that of Ava, who left me these things in her
will; for the souls also of our brothers and sisters and nephews,
and of all our relatives of both sexes; for our faithful ones who
adhere to our service; for the advancement, also, and integrity of
the Catholic religion. Finally, since all of us Christians are held
together by one bond of love and faith, let this donation be for
all--for the orthodox, namely, of past, present, or future times.
[Sidenote: A monastery to be established.]
[Sidenote: Election of abbots to be "canonical"]
I give these things, moreover, with this understanding, that in
Cluny a monastery shall be constructed in honor of the holy
apostles Peter and Paul, and that there the monks shall congregate
and live according to the rule of St. Benedict, and that they shall
possess and make use of these same things for all time. In such
wise, however, that the venerable house of prayer which is there
shall be faithfully frequented with vows and supplications, and
that heavenly conversations shall be sought after with all desire
and with the deepest ardor; and also that there shall be diligently
directed to God prayers and exhortations, as well for me as for
all, according to the order in which mention has been made of them
above. And let the monks themselves, together with all aforesaid
possessions, be under the power and dominion of the abbot Berno,
who, as long as he shall live, shall preside over them regularly
according to his knowledge and ability.[365] But after his death,
those same monks shall have power and permission to elect any one
of their order whom they please as abbot and rector, following the
will of God and the rule promulgated by St. Benedict--in such wise
that neither by the intervention of our own or of any other power
may they be impeded from making a purely canonical election. Every
five years, moreover, the aforesaid monks shall pay to the church
of the apostles at Rome ten shillings to supply them with lights;
and they shall have the protection of those same apostles and the
defense of the Roman pontiff; and those monks may, with their whole
heart and soul, according to their ability and knowledge, build up
the aforesaid place.
[Sidenote: Works of charity enjoined]
We will, further, that in our times and in those of our successors,
according as the opportunities and possibilities of that place
shall allow, there shall daily, with the greatest zeal, be
performed works of mercy towards the poor, the needy, strangers,
and pilgrims.[366] It has pleased us also to insert in this
document that, from this day, those same monks there congregated
shall be subject neither to our yoke, nor to that of our relatives,
nor to the sway of the royal might, nor to that of any earthly
power. And, through God and all His saints, and by the awful day of
judgment, I warn and admonish that no one of the secular princes,
no count, no bishop, not even the pontiff of the aforesaid Roman
see, shall invade the property of these servants of God, or
alienate it, or diminish it, or exchange it, or give it as a
benefice to any one, or set up any prelate over them against their
will.[367]
43. The Early Career of St. Bernard and the Founding of Clairvaux
The most important individual who had part in the twelfth century
movement for monastic reform was unquestionably St. Bernard, of whom
indeed it has been said with reason that for a quarter of a century
there was no more influential man in Europe. Born in 1091, he came
upon the scene when times were ripe for great deeds and great careers,
whether with the crusading hosts in the East or in the vexed swirl of
secular and ecclesiastical affairs in the West. Particularly were the
times ripe for a great preacher and reformer--one who could avail
himself of the fresh zeal of the crusading period and turn a portion
of it to the regeneration of the corrupt and sluggish spiritual life
which in far too great a measure had crept in to replace the earlier
purity and devotion of the clergy. The need of reform was perhaps most
conspicuous in the monasteries, for many monastic establishments had
not been greatly affected by the Cluniac movement of the previous
century, and in many of those which had been touched temporarily the
purifying influences had about ceased to produce results. It was as a
monastic reformer that St. Bernard rendered greatest service to the
Church of his day, though he was far more than a mere zealot. He was,
says Professor Emerton, more than any other man, representative of the
spirit of the Middle Ages. "The monastery meant to him, not a place of
easy and luxurious retirement, where a man might keep himself pure
from earthly contact, nor even a home of learning, from which a man
might influence his world. It meant rather a place of pitiless
discipline, whereby the natural man should be reduced to the lowest
terms and thus the spiritual life be given its largest liberty. The
aim of Bernard was nothing less than the regeneration of society
through the presence in it of devoted men, bound together by a compact
organization, and holding up to the world the highest types of an
ideal which had already fixed itself in the imagination of the
age."[368]
The founding of Clairvaux by St. Bernard, in 1115, was not the
beginning of a new monastic order; the Cistercians, to whom the
establishment properly belonged, had originated at Citeaux seventeen
years before. But in later times St. Bernard was very properly
regarded as a second founder of the Cistercians, and the story of his
going forth from the parent house to establish the new one affords an
excellent illustration of the spirit which dominated the leaders in
monastic reform in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and of the
methods they employed to keep alive the lofty ideals of the old
Benedictine system; and, although individual monasteries were founded
under the most diverse circumstances, the story is of interest as
showing us the precise way in which one monastic house took its
origin. By the time of St. Bernard's death (1153) not fewer than a
hundred and fifty religious houses had been regenerated under his
inspiration.
We are fortunate in possessing a composite biography of the great
reformer which is practically contemporary. It is in five books, the
first of which was written by William, abbot of St. Thierry of Rheims;
the second by Arnold, abbot of Bonneval, near Chartres; and the third,
fourth, and fifth by Geoffrey, a monk of Clairvaux and a former
secretary of St. Bernard. William of St. Thierry (from whose portion
of the biography selection "a" below is taken) wrote about 1140,
Arnold and Geoffrey soon after Bernard's death in 1153.
Sources--(a) Guillaume de Saint-Thierry, _Bernardus
Claraevallensis_ [William of Saint Thierry, "Life of St.
Bernard"], Bk. I., Chaps. 1-4.
(b) The _Acta Sanctorum_. Translated in Edward L. Cutts,
_Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages_ (London, 1872), pp.
11-12.
[Sidenote: Bernard's parents]
(a)
Saint Bernard was born at Fontaines in Burgundy [near Dijon], at
the castle of his father. His parents were famed among the famous
of that age, most of all because of their piety. His father,
Tescelin, was a member of an ancient and knightly family, fearing
God and scrupulously just. Even when engaged in holy war he
plundered and destroyed no one; he contented himself with his
worldly possessions, of which he had an abundance, and used them in
all manner of good works. With both his counsel and his arms he
served temporal lords, but so as never to neglect to render to the
sovereign Lord that which was due Him. Bernard's mother, Alith, of
the castle Montbar, mindful of holy law, was submissive to her
husband and, with him, governed the household in the fear of God,
devoting herself to deeds of mercy and rearing her children in
strict discipline. She bore seven children, six boys and one girl,
not so much for the glory of her husband as for that of God; for
all the sons became monks and the daughter a nun....[369]
[Sidenote: His early characteristics]
As soon as Bernard was of sufficient age his mother intrusted his
education to the teachers in the church at Chatillon[370] and did
everything in her power to enable him to make rapid progress. The
young boy, abounding in pleasing qualities and endowed with natural
genius, fulfilled his mother's every expectation; for he advanced
in his study of letters at a speed beyond his age and that of other
children of the same age. But in secular matters he began already,
and very naturally, to humble himself in the interest of his future
perfection, for he exhibited the greatest simplicity, loved to be
in solitude, fled from people, was extraordinarily thoughtful,
submitted himself implicitly to his parents, had little desire to
converse, was devoted to God, and applied himself to his studies as
the means by which he should be able to learn of God through the
Scriptures....
[Sidenote: He decides to become a monk at Citeaux]
Determined that it would be best for him to abandon the world, he
began to inquire where his soul, under the yoke of Christ, would be
able to find the most complete and sure repose. The recent
establishment of the order of Citeaux[371] suggested itself to his
thought. The harvest was abundant, but the laborers were few, for
hardly any one had sought happiness by taking up residence there,
because of the excessive austerity of life and the poverty which
there prevailed, but which had no terrors for the soul truly
seeking God. Without hesitation or misgivings, he turned his steps
to that place, thinking that there he would be able to find
seclusion and, in the secret of the presence of God, escape the
importunities of men; wishing particularly there to gain a refuge
from the vain glory of the noble's life, and to win purity of soul,
and perhaps the name of saint.
[Sidenote: His struggle and his victory]
When his brothers, who loved him according to the flesh, discovered
that he intended to become a monk, they employed every means to
turn him to the pursuit of letters and to attach him to the secular
life by the love of worldly knowledge. Without doubt, as he has
himself declared, he was not a little moved by their arguments. But
the memory of his devout mother urged him importunately to take the
step. It often seemed to him that she appeared before him,
reproaching him and reminding him that she had not reared him for
frivolous things of that sort, and that she had brought him up in
quite another hope. Finally, one day when he was returning from the
siege of a chateau called Grancey, and was coming to his brothers,
who were with the duke of Burgundy, he began to be violently
tormented by these thoughts. Finding by the roadside a church, he
went in and there prayed, with flooded eyes, lifting his hands
toward Heaven and pouring out his heart like water before the Lord.
That day fixed his resolution irrevocably. From that hour, even as
the fire consumes the forests and the flame ravages the mountains,
seizing everything, devouring first that which is nearest but
advancing to objects farther removed, so did the fire which God had
kindled in the heart of his servant, desiring that it should
consume it, lay hold first of his brothers (of whom only the
youngest, incapable yet of becoming a monk, was left to console his
old father), then his parents, his companions, and his friends,
from whom no one had ever expected such a step....
[Sidenote: Bernard and his companions at Chatillon]
The number of those who decided to take upon themselves monastic
vows increased and, as one reads of the earliest sons of the
Church, "all the multitude of those who believed were of one mind
and one heart" [Acts v. 32]. They lived together and no one else
dared mingle with them. They had at Chatillon a house which they
possessed in common and in which they held meetings, dwelt
together, and held converse with one another. No one was so bold as
to enter it, unless he were a member of the congregation. If any
one entered there, seeing and hearing what was done and said (as
the Apostle declared of the Christians of Corinth), he was
convinced by their prophecies and, adoring the Lord and perceiving
that God was truly among them, he either joined himself to the
brotherhood or, going away, wept at his own plight and their happy
state....
[Sidenote: They enter Citeaux]
At that time, the young and feeble establishment at Citeaux, under
the venerable abbot Stephen,[372] began to be seriously weakened by
its paucity of numbers and to lose all hope of having successors to
perpetuate the heritage of holy poverty, for everybody revered the
life of these monks for its sanctity but held aloof from it because
of its austerity. But the monastery was suddenly visited and made
glad by the Lord in a happy and unhoped-for manner. In 1113,
fifteen years after the foundation of the monastery, the servant of
God, Bernard, then about twenty-three years of age, entered the
establishment under the abbot Stephen, with his companions to the
number of more than thirty, and submitted himself to the blessed
yoke of Christ. From that day God prospered the house, and that
vine of the Lord bore fruit, putting forth its branches from sea to
sea.
Such were the holy beginnings of the monastic life of that man of
God. It is impossible to any one who has not been imbued as he with
the spirit of God to recount the illustrious deeds of his career,
and his angelic conduct, during his life on earth. He entered the
monastery poor in spirit, still obscure and of no fame, with the
intention of there perishing in the heart and memory of men, and
hoping to be forgotten and ignored like a lost vessel. But God
ordered it otherwise, and prepared him as a chosen vessel, not only
to strengthen and extend the monastic order, but also to bear His
name before kings and peoples to the ends of the earth....
[Sidenote: Bernard prays for and obtains the ability to reap]
[Sidenote: His devotion and knowledge of the Scriptures]
At the time of harvest the brothers were occupied, with the fervor
and joy of the Holy Spirit, in reaping the grain. Since he
[Bernard] was not able to have part in the labor, they bade him sit
by them and take his ease. Greatly troubled, he had recourse to
prayer and, with much weeping, implored the Lord to grant him the
strength to become a reaper. The simplicity of his faith did not
deceive him, for that which he asked he obtained. Indeed from that
day he prided himself in being more skilful than the others at that
task; and he was the more given over to devotion during that labor
because he realized that the ability to perform it was a direct
gift from God. Refreshed by his employments of this kind, he
prayed, read, or meditated continuously. If an opportunity for
prayer in solitude offered itself, he seized it; but in any case,
whether by himself or with companions, he preserved a solitude in
his heart, and thus was everywhere alone. He read gladly, and
always with faith and thoughtfulness, the Holy Scriptures, saying
that they never seemed to him so clear as when read in the text
alone, and he declared his ability to discern their truth and
divine virtue much more readily in the source itself than in the
commentaries which were derived from it. Nevertheless, he read
humbly the saints and orthodox commentators and made no pretense of
rivaling their knowledge; but, submitting his to theirs, and
tracing it faithfully to its sources, he drank often at the
fountain whence they had drawn. It is thus that, full of the spirit
which has divinely inspired all Holy Scripture, he has served God
to this day, as the Apostle says, with so great confidence, and
such ability to instruct, convert, and sway. And when he preaches
the word of God, he renders so clear and agreeable that which he
takes from Scripture to insert in his discourse, and he has such
power to move men, that everybody, both those clever in worldly
matters and those who possess spiritual knowledge, marvel at the
eloquent words which fall from his lips.
[Sidenote: Site selected for the new monastery]
(b)
Twelve monks and their abbot, representing our Lord and His
apostles, were assembled in the church. Stephen placed a cross in
Bernard's hands, who solemnly, at the head of his small band,
walked forth from Citeaux.... Bernard struck away to the northward.
For a distance of nearly ninety miles he kept this course, passing
up by the source of the Seine, by Chatillon, of school-day
memories, until he arrived at La Ferte, about equally distant
between Troyes and Chaumont, in the diocese of Langres, and
situated on the river Aube.[373] About four miles beyond La Ferte
was a deep valley opening to the east. Thick umbrageous forests
gave it a character of gloom and wildness; but a gushing stream of
limpid water which ran through it was sufficient to redeem every
disadvantage.
[Sidenote: The first building constructed]
In June, 1115, Bernard took up his abode in the "Valley of
Wormwood," as it was called, and began to look for means of shelter
and sustenance against the approaching winter. The rude fabric
which he and his monks raised with their own hands was long
preserved by the pious veneration of the Cistercians. It consisted
of a building covered by a single roof, under which chapel,
dormitory, and refectory were all included. Neither stone nor wood
hid the bare earth, which served for a floor. Windows scarcely
wider than a man's head admitted a feeble light. In this room the
monks took their frugal meals of herbs and water. Immediately above
the refectory was the sleeping apartment. It was reached by a
ladder, and was, in truth, a sort of loft. Here were the monks'
beds, which were peculiar. They were made in the form of boxes, or
bins, of wooden planks, long and wide enough for a man to lie down
in. A small space, hewn out with an axe, allowed room for the
sleeper to get in or out. The inside was strewn with chaff, or
dried leaves, which, with the woodwork, seem to have been the only
covering permitted....
[Sidenote: Hardships encountered]
The monks had thus got a house over their heads; but they had very
little else. They had left Citeaux in June. Their journey had
probably occupied them a fortnight; their clearing, preparations,
and building, perhaps two months; and thus they were near September
when this portion of their labor was accomplished. Autumn and
winter were approaching, and they had no store laid by. Their food
during the summer had been a compound of leaves intermixed with
coarse grain. Beech-nuts and roots were to be their main support
during the winter. And now to the privations of insufficient food
was added the wearing out of their shoes and clothes. Their
necessities grew with the severity of the season, until at last
even salt failed them; and presently Bernard heard murmurs. He
argued and exhorted; he spoke to them of the fear and love of God,
and strove to rouse their drooping spirits by dwelling on the hopes
of eternal life and Divine recompense. Their sufferings made them
deaf and indifferent to their abbot's words. They would not remain
in this valley of bitterness; they would return to Citeaux.
Bernard, seeing they had lost their trust in God, reproved them no
more; but himself sought in earnest prayer for release from their
difficulties. Presently a voice from heaven said, "Arise, Bernard,
thy prayer is granted thee." Upon which the monks said, "What didst
thou ask of the Lord?" "Wait, and ye shall see, ye of little
faith," was the reply; and presently came a stranger who gave the
abbot ten livres.
44. A Description of Clairvaux
The following is an interesting description of the abbey of Clairvaux,
written by William of St. Thierry, the friend and biographer of
Bernard. After giving an account of the external appearance and
surroundings of the monastery, the writer goes on to portray the daily
life and devotion of the monks who resided in it. In reading the
description it should be borne in mind that Clairvaux was a new
establishment, founded expressly to further the work of monastic
reform, and that therefore at the time when William of St. Thierry
knew it, it exhibited a state of piety and industry considerably above
that to be found in the average abbey of the day.
Source--Guillaume de Saint-Thierry, _Bernardus Claraevallensis_
[William of Saint Thierry, "Life of St. Bernard"], Bk. I.,
Chap. 7. Translated in Edward L. Cutts, _Scenes and Characters
of the Middle Ages_ (London, 1872), pp. 12-14.
[Sidenote: The solitude of Clairvaux]
At the first glance as you entered Clairvaux by descending the hill
you could see that it was a temple of God; and the still, silent
valley bespoke, in the modest simplicity of its buildings, the
unfeigned humility of Christ's poor. Moreover, in this valley full
of men, where no one was permitted to be idle, where one and all
were occupied with their allotted tasks, a silence deep as that of
night prevailed. The sounds of labor, or the chants of the brethren
in the choral service, were the only exceptions. The orderliness of
this silence, and the report that went forth concerning it, struck
such a reverence even into secular persons that they dreaded
breaking it,--I will not say by idle or wicked conversation, but
even by proper remarks. The solitude, also, of the place--between
dense forests in a narrow gorge of neighboring hills--in a certain
sense recalled the cave of our father St. Benedict,[374] so that
while they strove to imitate his life, they also had some
similarity to him in their habitation and loneliness....
[Sidenote: Marvelous works accomplished there]
Although the monastery is situated in a valley, it has its
foundations on the holy hills, whose gates the Lord loveth more
than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of it,
because the glorious and wonderful God therein worketh great
marvels. There the insane recover their reason, and although their
outward man is worn away, inwardly they are born again. There the
proud are humbled, the rich are made poor, and the poor have the
Gospel preached to them, and the darkness of sinners is changed
into light. A large multitude of blessed poor from the ends of the
earth have there assembled, yet have they one heart and one mind;
justly, therefore, do all who dwell there rejoice with no empty
joy. They have the certain hope of perennial joy, of their
ascension heavenward already commenced. In Clairvaux, they have
found Jacob's ladder, with angels upon it; some descending, who so
provide for their bodies that they faint not on the way; others
ascending, who so rule their souls that their bodies hereafter may
be glorified with them.
[Sidenote: The piety of the monks]
For my part, the more attentively I watch them day by day, the more
do I believe that they are perfect followers of Christ in all
things. When they pray and speak to God in spirit and in truth, by
their friendly and quiet speech to Him, as well as by their
humbleness of demeanor, they are plainly seen to be God's
companions and friends. When, on the other hand, they openly praise
God with psalms, how pure and fervent are their minds, is shown by
their posture of body in holy fear and reverence, while by their
careful pronunciation and modulation of the psalms, is shown how
sweet to their lips are the words of God--sweeter than honey to
their mouths. As I watch them, therefore, singing without fatigue
from before midnight to the dawn of day, with only a brief
interval, they appear a little less than the angels, but much more
than men....
[Sidenote: Their manual labor]
As regards their manual labor, so patiently and placidly, with such
quiet countenances, in such sweet and holy order, do they perform
all things, that although they exercise themselves at many works,
they never seem moved or burdened in anything, whatever the labor
may be. Whence it is manifest that that Holy Spirit worketh in them
who disposeth of all things with sweetness, in whom they are
refreshed, so that they rest even in their toil. Many of them, I
hear, are bishops and earls, and many illustrious through their
birth or knowledge; but now, by God's grace, all distinction of
persons being dead among them, the greater any one thought himself
in the world, the more in this flock does he regard himself as less
than the least. I see them in the garden with hoes, in the meadows
with forks or rakes, in the fields with scythes, in the forest with
axes. To judge from their outward appearance, their tools, their
bad and disordered clothes, they appear a race of fools, without
speech or sense. But a true thought in my mind tells me that their
life in Christ is hidden in the heavens. Among them I see Godfrey
of Peronne, Raynald of Picardy, William of St. Omer, Walter of
Lisle, all of whom I knew formerly in the old man, whereof I now
see no trace, by God's favor. I knew them proud and puffed up; I
see them walking humbly under the merciful hand of God.
FOOTNOTES:
[363] In other words, it is Duke William's hope that, though not
himself willing to be restricted to the life of a monk, he may secure
substantially an equivalent reward by patronizing men who _are_ thus
willing.
[364] Macon, the seat of the diocese in which Cluny was situated, was
on the Saone, a short distance to the southeast.
[365] Berno served as abbot of Cluny from 910 until 927.
[366] That the charitable side of the monastery's work was well
attended to is indicated by the fact that in a single year, late in
the eleventh century, seventeen thousand poor were given assistance by
the monks.
[367] The remainder of the charter consists of a series of
imprecations of disaster and punishment upon all who at any time and
in any way should undertake to interfere with the vested rights just
granted. These imprecations were strictly typical of the mediaeval
spirit-so much so that many of them came to be mere formulae, employed
to give documents due solemnity, but without any especially direful
designs on the part of the writer who used them.
[368] Emerton, _Mediaeval Europe_, p. 458.
[369] Bernard was the third son.
[370] About sixty miles southeast of Troyes.
[371] Citeaux (established by Odo, duke of Burgundy, in 1098) was near
Dijon in Burgundy.
[372] Stephen Harding, an Englishman, succeeded Alberic as abbot of
Citeaux in 1113.
[373] Chatillon was about twelve miles south of La Ferte. The latter
was fifty miles southeast of Troyes and only half as far from
Chaumont, despite the author's statement that, it lay midway between
the two places. The Aube is an important tributary of the upper Seine.
[374] The famous founder of the monastery of Monte Cassino and the
compiler of the Benedictine Rule [see p. 83].