Cluniac Reforms

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The Cluniac (Clunian) Reform was a composite series of changes within the Roman Catholic and Anglo-Saxon Church^[1], focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art and caring for the poor. It is named after the Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, where it started within the Benedictine order. The reform was largely carried out by Saint Odo and spread through France (Burgundy, Provence, Auvergne, Poitou), England and much of Italy and Spain.^[2]

The impetus for the reform was corruption within the Benedictine order, seen to be the result of secular interference in monasteries. Since a Benedictine monastery required land, a local feudal lord would be the patron of a newly started monastery. However, he would often demand the right to interfere in its business.^[3] The Cluny reform was an attempt to remedy this practice on the hope that a more independent abbot would have better success at enforcing the Rule of the order. William of Aquitaine formed the first Cluny monastery in 910 with the novel stipulation that the monastery would report directly to the pope rather than to a local lord. This meant essentially that the monastery would be independent, since the pope's authority was largely theoretical at that distance.

During its height (c. 950–c.1130) the Cluniac movement was one of the largest religious forces in Europe.^[4] Among the most notable reform supporters were Pope Urban II,^[5] Lambert of Hersfeld and Abbot Richard of Saint Vannes at Verdun. The Cluniacs were supporters of the Peace of God concept, as well as pilgrimages to the Holy Lands.^[6]

The revival of the Church was manifested in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by a flowering of popular piety, reflected in the building of magnificent cathedrals.

From the Abbey of Saint Maximin at Trier the Cluniac reform found its way into the German monasteries. However, it had no permanent success at the time there, because the monks, accustomed to a more independent and individual way of action, raised opposition. After 1038 the reform was no longer supported there legally.^[7] Suffering from an institutional defect, the burden of discipline rested too exclusively upon the abbot of Cluny,^[8] the movement diminished in the 12th century. The monastic reforming initiative was taken up by the Cistercians.