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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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