One of the most celebrated reform monasteries was the convent of Cluny, or Clugny, in Burgundy, about fifteen miles from Lyons, which was founded by Duke William of Aquitaine in 910.  It was governed by a code based on the rule of St. Benedict.  The monastery began with twelve monks under Bruno, but became so illustrious that under Hugo there were ten thousand monks in the various convents under its rule.  It was made immediately subject to the pope,—­that is, exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop.  Some idea of its splendid equipment may be formed from the fact that it is said, that in 1245, after the council of Lyons, it entertained Innocent IV., two patriarchs, twelve cardinals, three archbishops, fifteen bishops, many abbots, St. Louis, King of France, several princes and princesses, each with a considerable retinue, yet the monks were not incommoded.  It gave to the church three popes,—­Gregory VII., Urban II. and Paschal II.

From his cell at Cluny, Hildebrand, who became the famous Gregory VII., looked out upon a world distracted by war and sunk in vice.  “In Hildebrand’s time, while he was studying those annals in Cluny,” says Thomas Starr King, “a boy pope, twelve years old, was master of the spiritual scepter, and was beginning to lead a life so shameful, foul and execrable that a subsequent pope said, ’he shuddered to describe it.’”

Connected with the monastery was the largest church in the world, surpassed only a little, in later years, by St. Peter’s at Rome.  Its construction was begun in 1089 by the abbot Hugo, and it was consecrated in 1131, under the administration of Peter the Venerable.  It boasted of twenty-five altars and many costly works of art.

So great was the fame and influence of this establishment that numerous convents in France and Italy placed themselves under its control, thus forming “The Congregation of Cluny.”

After the administration of Peter the Venerable (1122-1156), this illustrious house began to succumb to the intoxication of success, and it steadily declined in character and influence until its property was confiscated by the Constituent Assembly, in 1799, and the church sold for one hundred thousand francs.  It is now in ruin.

But in spite of every attempt at reform during the ninth and tenth centuries the decline of the continental monasteries continued.  Many persons of royal blood, accustomed to the license of palaces, entered the cloister and increased the disorders.  The monks naturally respected their blood and relaxed the discipline in their favor.  The result was costly robes, instead of the simple, monastic garb, riotous living, and a general indifference to spirituality.  Spurious monasteries sprang up with rich lay-abbots at their head, who made the office hereditary in their families.  Laymen were appointed to rich benefices simply that they might enjoy the revenues.  These lay-abbots even went so far as to live with their families in their monasteries, and rollicking midnight banquets were substituted for the asceticism demanded by the vows.  They traveled extensively attended by splendid retinues.  Some of the monks seemed intent on nothing but obtaining charters of privileges and exemptions from civil and military duties.