Abbey of Cluny

The abbey of Cluny (in Burgundy, current department of Saône-et-Loire) was founded in 909 or 910, by the duke of Aquitaine and count d' Auvergne Guillaume I {{er}}. Cluny is the symbol of the monastic revival in Occident; the abbey was a hearth of reformation of the rule bénédictine and a intellectual center of foreground to the traditional Middle Ages.

Foundation

Context: France at the beginning of Xe century

Towards 900, France is directed by the Carolingian dynasty; but under the pressure of the attacks Viking S and buckwheat be, the royal authority strongly weakened and the territorial princes and the Seigneur S took their independence in fact. The obliteration of the royal capacity is particularly marked in the south and the Mâconnais, where is the site of Cluny, the lords Châtelain S and Immuniste S dispute the capacity and choose the prelates. The Église is taken in the Feudal system and in the confrontation between monks and bishops about the Dîme S. the Regular clergy is particularly touched by the crisis: many monasteries are victims of the Scandinavian raids and the monopolization of the aristocrats. The crisis is also moral since the rule of holy Benoît is not complied with any more with the letter. Written at the 6th century, the rule bénédictine provided that the monks are directed by an abbot and that they share their time between the prayer and manual work. At the beginning of the 9th century, Benoît d' Aniane tries to diffuse it in all the monasteries of the Carolingian empire. But manual work is forsaken with the profit of the prayer. The laic ones name abbots who are faithful and consequently control the land fields of the regular establishments for them.

A Benedictine abbey independent of the secular capacity

The abbey was founded in this context, and on the model of that of Aurillac, by a Charte written with Bourges the September 11th 909 or 910, by the Count de Mâcon, Guillaume I {{er}}, duke of Aquitaine and count d' Auvergne, which places it under the immediate authority of the Pape. The count grants a villa located close to Mâcon Bernon, abbot of Balsam-the-Sirs and several monasteries in the area. It is the latter which chooses the site of Cluny and built the first conventual buildings with the assistance of twelve monks of Gigny and Balsam. The abbey will be recognized as chief of order by the pope Jean XI, under the abbatiat of Odon in 931.

Guillaume gives up in all his rights on Cluny and allows the abbot to be selected by the monks. He places the monastic community under the patronage of holy Pierre and Saint Paul; Cluny passes under the direct protection of the pope (Serge III) at the time. The count imposes finally the compliance with the rule bénédictine and waits until the monks request for his Safety:

I make this gift stipulating that a regular monastery will have to be built in Cluny, whose monks will live in community according to the rule of happy Benoît. That in this place an asylum of prayers is thus established where will accurately achieve the wishes and the speeches. That thus is sought and continued, with a major will and a total heat, the dialog with the sky. That prayers, requests and supplications are unceasingly addressed there to the Lord as well for me as for all those of which I previously evoked the memory.

Construction of the abbey

Cluny I

The Abbot Bernon, first abbot of Cluny, begins the construction of the Abbatiale Cluny I .

Cluny I will be finished under its successor Odon and will be dedicated before 927.

Cluny II

The monastic complex of Cluny II is known thanks to descriptions of the Liber Tramitis , usual of the years 1035-1040. The fourth abbot of Cluny (954 - 994), holy Maïeul, built Cluny II starting from 963, to replace the preceding building, become too narrow; the abbey church is devoted in 981. Cluny II is characterized by a complex Chevet with several Absidiole S and Galileo (before-nave), located at the west. The development of the bedside testifies to the development of the liturgy and the pilgrimages. with transept crossing (narrow) and central vessel (broad), a tower rose. Cluny II was used as model for other churches.

Cluny III

The whole of Cluny III is known by old plans.

The construction of Cluny III , begins in 1088 with the abbatiat from Pons de Melgueil to be completed in 1130. Its bedside is devoted by the pope Urbain II in 1095. The Abbatiale then becomes the largest religious building of the world (187 meters length) ever built until the rebuilding of the Saint-Pierre basilica of Rome in 1506. The nave was framed by four collateral and the vault rose with 33 meters above the ground. It sets up the library and the school. Under the abbatiat of Odilon (994-1049), Cluny becomes a lord and privilege of exemption granted by the pope Gregoire V in 998; it makes it possible the community clunisienne to be independent of the bishop of Mâcon. It is wide thereafter by Jean XIX in 1024. The abbatiat of Pons de Melgueil (1109-1122) is marked by internal crisis of the order clunisien, had with the competition of the eremitism and new orders (Cisterciens and Chartreux). The March 6th 1058, the Pape Etienne IX confirms the monetary privilege of Cluny. The Statut S of Hugues V of Cluny (1199-1207) organize a annual Chapitre general. The order clunisien is structured in a network of “provinces”. With its apogee, the Church of Cluny counts approximately 10.000 monks divided in 1200 establishments of the north of England in Spain, while passing by Italy and the Saint Worsens.

The success of Cluny, which essaima in all Latin Christendom, is due to its emancipation of the capacity seigneurial and episcopal, but also with the action of its abbots, who knew an exceptional longevity. Its geographical location was also favorable, with the hinge between South and Northern Europe, between kingdom of France and Empire.

The abbey grows rich quickly thanks to the gifts by the faithful ones. It was a place of pilgrimage (more than thousand Relique S was venerated there). Alphonse VI grants a annual Rente of 100.000 sums of money clunisiens about 1077. The other incomes of the abbey come from the seigneuriaux and banal rights which it takes and of the sums paid by the priories of his network.

Cluny, a major center of culture

The abbey constituted a intellectual and cultural hearth important Xe in XIIe century: it is Odon which gathered the first manuscripts of the library by bringing back books coming from Saint Martin's day de Tours. The works preserved at Cluny multiplied quickly thanks to the activity of the Scriptorium: one knows of it the number (570) thanks to the large catalog (XIe and XIIe centuries). The library preserved Carolingian works patristics and Masters, among whom Jean Scot Erigène. Under the abbatiat of Pierre the Worthy one, it was more important than that of the Mont Cassin, in Italy. One could find there texts Latin (Tite-Live, Ovide, Cicéron), but also of the books of medicine or music.

It is in Cluny that Raoul Glaber wrote most of its Histoires starting from 1031. The abbots are also authors: Odon of Cluny produces a Vie of Géraud d' Aurillac . The monks clunisiens wrote also hagiographic accounts . The chancellery of the abbey produced several Cartulaire S as well as the habits of the establishment. The Guide of the pilgrim undoubtedly wrote by Aymeri Picaud at the 12th century in Cluny.

Cluny was also a center of studies of first order. The Roman law remained alive by the study of fragments of legal texts dating from the reign of Justinien Ier. The theses neoplatonicians survived and nourished the reflection it on the organization of the company. The Chapiteau X of the Déambulatoire of abbey of Cluny III appear the Liberal arts, in other words the disciplines taught with the Middle Ages. Finally the abbey left the eminent characters such as the pope Urbain II.

Famous hosts

Remained in Cluny:

Urbain II
Gélase II
Eugene III
Abélard
Meeting of Innocent Louis IX and IV in 1245

Decline and destruction of the buildings

As from the 12th century, Cluny knows important financial problems, caused mainly by the construction of the third abbey one. Charity with the poor increases the expenditure. The radiation of the abbey weakens gradually in front of the rise of other religious orders (Cisterciens, then Mendiants at the 13th century). The bad management of the grounds, the reserve of the subsidiary companies to pay the annual taxable quota are as much of source of revenue in less. The establishment raises loans and ends up being involved in debt near its creditors, merchants of Cluny or Jews of Mâcon. The conflicts with the priories multiply and the authority of the pope becomes heavier. At the 14th century, the pope frequently names the abbots. The crises of the end of the Middle Ages and the wars of religion at the 14th century weaken a little more the abbey. The monks live in the luxury and are nothing any more but one about sixty in the middle of the 15th century. With the Legal settlement of 1516, the king chooses the abbot of Cluny.

The years following the French revolution were fatal with the whole of the monastic buildings and its church. The field of the abbey is sold in 1798 for 2,14 franc million. The abbey is used as stone quarry until in 1813 for the houses of the borough. The files are burned in 1793 and the church is delivered to plunderings.

Today, there remain only the buildings built under the Ancien Mode as well as a small portion of Cluny III . Only the Clocher southern of large the Transept still exists. It represents less than 10% of the surface of Cluny III which was the largest church of Christendom until the construction of Saint-Pierre of Rome, five centuries later. The abbey shelters since 1901 a center ENSAM forming Engineer S of the Art-and-Trades (Gadzarts, in student's slang). In 1928 the site is excavated and recognized by the American Archéologue Kenneth J. Conant and of the Medieval Academy off America .

Heraldic

Weapons of the abbey of Cluny : of mouths, with two gold keys in saltire, crossings of a sword out of stake, with blade of money, the gold handle at a peak .
the key and the sword refer respectively to saint Pierre and holy Paul to which the abbey is devoted; the keys in saltire would be a papal favor.

Photographs

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