stence.
_The Order of Cluniac Benedictines._--The Monastery of Cluny was founded
in 910 by William I. the Pious, count of Auvergne and duke of Guienne
(Aquitaine). The first abbot was Berno, who had under his rule two
monasteries in the neighbourhood. Before his death in 927 two or three
more came under his control, so that he bequeathed to his successor the
government of a little group of five or six houses, which became the
nucleus of the order of Cluny. Berno's successor was Odo: armed with
papal privileges he set to work to make Cluny the centre of a revival
and reform among the monasteries of France; he also journeyed to Italy,
and induced some of the great Benedictine houses, and among them St
Benedict's own monasteries of Subiaco and Monte Cassino, to receive the
reform and adopt the Cluny manner of life. The process of extension,
partly by founding new houses, partly by incorporating old ones, went on
under Odo's successors, so that by the middle of the 12th century Cluny
had become the centre and head of a great order embracing 314
monasteries--the number 2000, sometimes given, is an exaggeration--in
all parts of Europe, in France, Italy, the Empire, Lorraine, Spain,
England, Scotland, Poland, and even in the Holy Land. And the influence
of Cluny extended far beyond the actual order: many monasteries besides
Monte Cassino and Subiaco adopted its customs and manner of life without
subjecting themselves to its sway; and of these, many in turn became the
centres of reforms which extended Cluny ideas and influences over still
wider circles: Fleury and Hirsau may be mentioned as conspicuous
examples. The gradual stages in the growth of the Cluny sphere of
influence is exhibited in a map [VI. C.] in Heussi and Mulert's
_Handatlas zur Kirchengeschichte_, 1905.
When we turn to the inner life of Cluny, we find that the decrees of
Aix-la-Chapelle, which summed up the Carolingian movement for reform
(see BENEDICTINES), were taken as the basis of the observance. Field
work and manual labour were given up; and in compensation the tendency
initiated by Benedict of Aniane, to prolong and multiply the church
services far beyond the canonical office contemplated by St Benedict,
was carried to still greater extremes, so that the services came to
occupy nearly the whole day. The lessons at the night office became so
lengthy that, e.g., the Book of Genesis was read through in a week; and
the daily psalmody, between canonical of
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