VII. The drooping sciences found an emi-such of the Europeans as were ambitious of nent and illustrious patron, toward the conclu-making any considerable progress in physic, sion of this century, in the learned Gerbert, a arithmetic, geometry, or philosophy, enter native of France, who, upon his elevation to tained the most eager and impatient desire of the pontificate, assumed the title of Sylvester receiving instruction either from the academi II. The genius of this famous pontiff was ex-cal lessons, or from the writings of the Arabian tensive and sublime, embracing all the branches philosophers, who had founded schools in seof literature; but its more peculiar bent was veral parts of Spain and Italy. Hence it was, turned toward mathematical studies. Mecha- that the most celebrated productions of these nics, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and doctors were translated into Latin; their tenets every other kind of knowledge that had the and systems were adopted with zeal in the least affinity to these important sciences, were European schools; and numbers went over to cultivated by this restorer of learning with the Spain and Italy to receive instruction from the most ardent zeal, and not without success, as mouths of these famous teachers, which were his writings abundantly testify; nor did he stop supposed to utter nothing but the deepest myshere, but employed every method that was teries of wisdom and knowledge. However proper to encourage and animate others to the excessive this veneration for the learned Ara culture of the liberal arts and sciences. The bians may have been, it must be owned, tha effects of this noble zeal were visible in Ger- all the knowledge, whether of physic, astro many, France, and Italy, both in this and in nomy, philosophy, or mathematics, which the following century; as by the writings, ex-flourished in Europe from the tenth century, ample, and exhortations of Gerbert, many were incited to the study of physic, mathematics, and philosophy, and in general to the pursuit of science in all its branches. If, indeed, we compare this learned pontiff with the mathematicians of modern times, his merit, in that point of view, will almost totally disappear under such a disadvantageous comparison; for his geometry, though it be easy and perspicuous, is merely elementary and superficial. Yet, such as it was, it was marvellous in an age of barbarism and darkness, and surpassed the apprehension of those pygmy philosophers, whose eyes, under the auspicious direction of Gerbert, were just beginning to open upon the light. Hence it was, that the geometrical figures, described by this mathematical pontiff, were regarded by the monks as magical operations, and the pontiff himself was treated as a magician and a disciple of Satan.† VIII. It was not however to the fecundity of his genius alone, that Gerbert was indebted for the knowledge with which he now began to enlighten the European provinces; he had derived a part of his erudition, particularly in physic, mathematics, and philosophy, from the writings and instructions of the Arabians, who were settled in Spain. Thither he had repaired in pursuit of knowledge, and had spent some time in the seminaries of learning at Cordova and Seville, with a view of hearing the Arabian doctors; and it was, perhaps, by his example, that the Europeans were directed and engaged to have recourse to this source of instruction in after times; for it is undeniably certain, that from the time of Gerbert, "alterum alteri dignitate præferre." Here we see p'ainly the seeds of discord sown, and the foundation laid for that knotty dispute which puzzled the metaphysical brains of the Latin doctors in aftertimes. Gunzo was not adventurous enough to attempt a solution of this intricate question, which he leaves undecided; others were less modest, without being more successful. *This work was published by Pezius, in his Thesaurus Anecdotorum, tom. iii. part ii. p. 7. See the Hist. Liter. de la France, tom. vi, P. 558.-Du Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. i. p. 314, was originally derived from them: and that the Spanish Saracens, in a more particular manner, may be looked upon as the fathers of European philosophy. CHAPTER II. Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the Church, and its Form of Government during this Century. I. To those who consider the primitive dig nity and the solemn nature of the ministerial character, the corruptions of the clergy must appear deplorable beyond all expression. These corruptions had risen to the most enor mous height in that dismal period of the church which we have now before us. Both in the eastern and western provinces, the clergy were, for the most part, a most worthless set of men, shamefully illiterate and stu pid, ignorant more especially in religious matters, equally enslaved to sensuality and superstition, and capable of the most abominable and flagitious deeds. This dismal degeneracy of the sacred order, according to the most credible accounts, principally arose from the scandalous examples of those who ought to have presented models of good conduct,namely, the pretended chiefs and rulers of the universal church, who indulged themselves in the commission of odious crimes, and abandoned themselves to the lawless impulse of the most licentious passions without reluctance or remorse; who confounded, in short, all difference between just and unjust acts, to satisfy their impious ambition; and whose spiritual empire was such a diversified scene of iniquity and violence, as never was exhibited under any of those temporal tyrants, who have been the scourges of mankind. We may form some notion of the Grecian patriarchs from the sin gle example of Theophylact, who, according to the testimonies of the most respectable writers, made the most impious traffic of ecclesiastical promotions, and expressed no sort of care about any thing but his dogs and horses.* Degenerate, however, and licentiou This exemplary prelate, who sold every ec clesiastical benefice as soon as it became vacant as these patriarchs might be, they were, in || ano.* He did not, however, long enjoy his glory; general, less profligate and indecent than the Roman pontiffs. II. The history of the popes, who lived in this century, is a history of so many monsters, and not of men, and exhibits a horrible series of the most flagitious, tremendous, and complicated crimes, as all writers, even those of the Romish communior unanimously confess. The source of these disorders must be sought principally in the calamities that fell upon the greatest part of Europe, and which afflicted Italy in a particular manner, after the extinction of the race of Charlemagne. On the death of Benedict IV., in 903, Leo V. was raised to the pontificate, which he enjoyed no longer than forty days, being dethroned by Christopher, and cast into prison. Christopher, in his turn, was deprived of the pontifical dignity in the following year by Sergius III., a Roman presbyter, seconded by the protection and influence of Adalbert, a most powerful Tuscan prince, who had a supreme and unlimited direction in all the affairs that were transacted at Rome. Anastasius III., and Lando, who, on the death of Sergius, in 911, were raised successively to the papal dignity, enjoyed it but for a short time, and did nothing that could contribute to render their names illustrious. III. After the death of Lando, which happened 914, Alberic,* marquis or count of Tuscany, whose opulence was prodigious, and whose authority in Rome was despotic and unlimited, obtained the pontificate for John X., archbishop of Ravenna, in compliance with the solicitation of Theodora, his mother-in-law, whose lewdness was the principle that interested her in this promotion. This infamous election will not surprise such as know that the laws of Rome were at this time absolutely silent; that the dictates of justice and equity were overpowered and suspended; and that all things were carried on in that great city by interest or corruption, by violence or fraud. John X., though in other respects a scandalous example of iniquity and lewdness in the papal chair, acquired a certain degree of reputation by his glorious campaign against the Saracens, whom he drove from the settlement which they had made upon the banks of the Gariglihad in his stable above 2000 hunting horses, which he fed with pig-nuts, pistachios, dates, dried grapes, and figs steeped in the most exquisite wines, to all which he added the richest perfumes. On Holy Thursday, as he was celebrating high-mass, his groom brought him the joyful news that one of his favourite mares had foaled; upon which he threw down the liturgy, left the church, and ran in raptures to the stable, where having expressed his joy at hat grand event, he returned to the altar to Ansh the divine service, which he had left interrupted during his absence. See Fleury, Hist. Eccles. livre lv. * It was Albert or Adalbert, of whom Dr. Mosheim here speaks. Alberic was grandson to the lder Theodora, by her daughter Marozia, who was married to Albert. See Spanheim, Eccles. Hist. Secul. x. p. 1432.-Fleury, Hist. eccles. livre 54. The latter historian is of opinion, that it was the younger Theodora, the sister of Marozia, who, from an amorous principle, raised John to the pontificate. Theodora, mistress of Rome, procured the evation of John, that she might continue the licentious commerce in which she had lived with that carnal ecclesiastic for many years before. for the enmity of Marozia, daughter of Theodora and wife of Alberic, proved fatal to him; for this inhuman female, having espoused Wido, or Guy, marquis of Tuscany, after the death of her first consort, engaged him to seize the wanton pontiff, who was her mother's lover, and to put him to death in the prison where he lay confined. This licentious pontiff was succceded by Leo VI., who sat but seven months in the apostolic chair, which was filled after him by Stephen VII. The death of the latter, which happened in 931, presented to the ambition of Marozia an object worthy of its grasp; and accordingly she raised to the papal dignity John XI., who was the fruit of her lawless amours with one of the pretended successors of St. Peter, Sergius III., whose adulterous commerce with that infamous woman gave an infallible guide to the Romish church.f IV. John XI., who was placed at the head of the church by the credit and influence of his mother, was pulled down from this summit of spiritual grandeur, in 933, by Alberic his half-brother, who had conceived the utmost aversion against him. His mother Marozia had, after the death of Wido, entered anew into the bonds of matrimony with Hugo, king of Italy, who, having offended his step-son Alberic, felt severely the weight of his resentment, which vented its fury upon the whole family; for Alberic drove out of Rome not only Hugo, but also Marozia and her son the pontiff, and confined them in prison, where the latter ended his days in 936. The four pontiffs, who, in their turns, succeeded John XI., and filled the papal chair until the year 956, were Leo VII., Stephen VIII., Marinus II., and Agapet, whose characters were much better than that of their predecessor, and whose government, at least, was not attended with those tumults and revolutions that had so often shaken the pontifical throne, and banished from Rome the inestimable blessings of peace and concord. On the death of Agapet, which happened in 956; Alberic II., who to the dignity of Roman consul joined a degree of authority and opulence which nothing could resist, raised to the pontificate his son Octovian, who was yet in the early bloom of youth, and destitute, besides, of every quality that was requisite for discharging the duties of that high and important office. This unworthy pontiff assumed the name of John XII., and thus introduced the custom that has since been adopted by all his successors in the see of In the original we have Montem Garilianum, which is, undoubtedly, a mistake, as the Garigliano is a river in the kingdom of Naples, and not a mountain. †The character and conduct of Marozia are aeknowledged to have been most infamous by the general testimony both of ancient and modern historians, who affirm, with one voice, that Jolm XI. was the fruit of her carnal commerce with Sergius III. Eccard alone (in his Origines Guelphicæ, toin. i. lib iii.) has ventured to clear her from this reproach, and to assert, that Sergius, before his elevation to the pontificate, was her lawful and first husband. The attempt, however, is highly extravagant, if not imprudent, to pretend to acquit, without the least testimony or proof of her innocence, a woman who is known to have been entirely destitute of every principle of virtue. Rome, of assuming another name upon the acquisition of the pontificate. mans. calm possession of which he ended his days in 972. His successor Benedict VI. was not so V. The fate of John XII, was as unhappy happy. Thrown into prison by Crescentius, his promotion had been scandalous. Una- son of the famous Theodora, in consequence ble to bear the oppressive yoke of Berenger of the hatred which the Romans had conceived II., king of Italy, he sent ambassadors, in 960, both against his person and government, he to Otho the Great, urging him to march into was loaded with all sorts of ignominy, and Italy at the head of a powerful army, to deli- was strangled in 974, in the apartment where ver the church and the people from the tyran- he lay confined. Unfortunately for him, Otho ny under which they groaned. To these en- the Great, whose power ad severity had kept treaties the perplexed pontiff added a solemn the Romans in awe, died in 973; and with him promise, that, if the German monarch would expired that order and discipline which he had come to his assistance, he would array him restored in Rome by salutary laws executed with the purple and the other ensigns of sove- with impartiality and vigor. That event reignty, and proclaim him emperor of the Ro- changed the aspect of affairs. Licentiousness Otho received this ambassy with plea- and disorder, seditions and assassinations, resure, marched into Italy at the head of a large sumed their former sway, and diffused their body of troops, and was accordingly saluted horrors through that miserable city. After the by John with the promised title. The pontiff, death of Benedict, the papal chair was filled however, soon perceiving that he had acted by France, who assumed the name of Boniface with too much precipitation, repented of the VII., but enjoyed his dignity only for a short step he had taken; and, though he had sworn time; for scarcely a month had passed after allegiance to the emperor, as his lawful sove- his promotion, when he was deposed from his reign, in the most solemn manner, he broke office, expelled from the city, and succeeded his oath, and joined with Adalbert, the son of by Donus II.,* who is known by no other cirBerenger, against Otho. This revolt was not cumstance than his name. Upon his death, left unpunished. The emperor returned to which happened in 975, Benedict VII. was Rome in 963; called a council, before which created pontiff; and, during the space of nine he accused and convicted the pope of many years, ruled the church without much opposicrimes; and, after having degraded him in the tion, and ended his days in peace. This pecumost ignominious manner from his high office, liar happiness, without doubt, principally rehe appointed Leo VIII. to fill his place. On sulted from the opulence and credit of the faOtho's departure from Rome, John returned mily to which he belonged; for he was nearly to that city, and in a council, which he assem-related to the famous Alberic, whose power, bled in 964, condemned the pontiff whom the or rather despotism, had been unlimited i emperor had elected, and soon after died in a Rome. miserable and violent manner. After his death the Romans chose Benedict V., bishop of Rome, in opposition to Leo; but the emperor annulled this election, restored Leo to the papal chair, and carried Benedict to Hamburg, where he died in exile.* VII. His successor John XIV., who from the bishopric of Pavia was raised to the ponti ficate, derived no support from his birth, which was obscure; nor did he continue to enjoy the protection of Otho III., to whom he owed his promotion. Unsupported as he thus was, caVI. The prelates who governed the see of lamities fell upon him with fury, and misery Rome from Leo VIII., who died in 956, to concluded his transitory grandeur; for BoniGerbert, or Sylvester II., who was raised to face VII., who had usurped the papal throne the pontificate toward the conclusion of this in 974, and in a little time after had been bancentury, were more happy in their administra-ished from Rome, returned from Constantinotion, as well as more decent in their conduct,||ple (whither he had fled for refuge,) seized the than their infamous predecessors; yet none of them acted in so exemplary a manner as to deserve the applause that is due to eminent virtue. John XIII., who was raised to the pontificate in 965, by the authority of Otho the Great, was driven out of Rome in the beginning of his administration; but in the following year, on the emperor's return to Italy, he was restored to his high dignity, in the *In the account I have here given of the pontiff's of this century, I have consulted Muratori's Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, as also Baronius, Peter de Marca, Sigonius de Regno Italiæ (with the learned annotations of Ant. Saxius,) the same Muratori in his Annales Italiæ, Pagi, and other writers, all of whom had access to the fountain-head, and to several ancient manuscripts, not yet published. The narrations I have here given, are certainly true upon the whole. It must, however, be confessed, that many parts of the papal history lie yet in great obscurity, and, therefore, require farther illustration; nor will I deny that a spirit of partiality has been extremely detrimental to the history of the pontifis, by corrupting it, and rendering it uncertain in a multitude of places. unhappy pontiff, threw him into prison, and afterwards put him to death. Thus Boniface resumed the government of the church; but his reign was also transitory; for he died about six months after his restoration. He was succeeded by John XV., whom some writers call John XVI., because, as they allege, there was another John, who ruled the church during a period of four months, and whom they conse quently call John XV. Leaving it to the reader's choice to call that John of whom we speak, the XVth or the XVIth of that name, Some writers place Donus II. before Bene dict VI. See the Tabulæ Synopticæ Hist. Eccles by the learned Pfaff Fleury says, eleven months. Among these authors, is the learned Pfaff. but the Roman Catholic writers, whom Dr. Mosheim follows with good reason, do not reckon, among the number of the pontiffs, that John who governed the church of Rome, during the space of four months after the death of Boniface VII., because he was never duly invested, by consecration with the papa dignity we shall only observe that he possessed the papal dignity from the year 985 to 996; that Ins administration was as happy as the troubled state of the Roman affairs would permit; and that the tranquillity he enjoyed was not so much the effect of his wisdom and prudence, as of his being a Roman by birth, and a descendant from noble and illustrious ancestors. It is certain, at least, that his successor Gregory V., who was a German, and who was elected pontiff by the order of Otho III. in 996, met with a quite different treatment; for Crescens, the Roman consul, drove him out of the city, and conferred his dignity upon John XVI., formerly known by the name of Philagathus. This revolution was not, however, permanent in its effects; for Otho III., alarmed by these disturbances at Rome, marched into Italy in 998, at the head of a powerful army; and, imprisoning the new pontiff, whom the soldiers, in the first moment of their fury, had maimed and abused in a most barbarous manner, he re-instated Gregory in his former honors. It was on the death of the latter pontiff, which happened soon after his restoration, that the same emperor raised to the papal dignity his preceptor and friend, the famous and learned Gerbert or Sylvester II., whose pronotion was attended with the universal approbation of the Roman people.* risdiction and rights of kings and emperors. Their ambitious attempts were seconded and vindicated by the scandalous adulation of certain mercenary prelates, who exalted the dignity and prerogatives of, what they called, the apostolic see, in the most pompous and extravagant terms. Several learned writers have observed, that in this century certain bishops maintained publicly that the popes were not only bishops of Rome, but of the whole world, an assertion which hitherto none had ventured to make; and that even among the French clergy it had been affirmed by some, that the authority of the bishops, though divine in its origin, was conveyed to them by St. Peter, the prince of the apostles.‡ IX. The adventurous ambition of the bishops of Rome, who left no means unemployed to extend their jurisdiction, exhibited an example which the inferior prelates followed with the most zealous and indefatigable emulation. Several bishops and abbots had begun, even from the time that the descendants of Charlemagne sat on the imperial throne, to enlarge their prerogatives, and had actually obtained, for their tenants and their possessions, an immunity from the jurisdiction of the counts and other magistrates, as also from taxes and imposts of all kinds. But in this century they carried their pretensions still VIII. Amidst these frequent commotions, farther; aimed at the civil jurisdiction over the and even amidst the repeated enormities and cities and territories in which they exercised a flagitious crimes of those who gave themselves spiritual dominion, and even aspired to the cut for Christ's vicegerents upon earth, the honors and authority of dukes, marquises, and power and authority of the Roman pontiffs counts of the empire. Among the principal gradually and imperceptibly increased; such circumstances that animated their zeal in the were the effects of that ignorance and super- pursuit of these dignities, we may reckon the stition which reigned without control in these perpetual and bitter contests concerning jurismiserable times. Otho the Great had indeed diction and other matters, that reigned between published a solemn edict, prohibiting the elec- the dukes and counts, who were governors of tion of any pontiff without the previous know- cities, and the bishops and abbots, who were ledge and consent of the emperor; which de- their spiritual rulers. The latter, therefore, cree, as all writers unanimously agree, remain- seizing the opportunity that was offered to ed in force from the time of its publication to them by the superstition of the times, used the conclusion of this century. It is also to be every method that might be effectual to obtain observed, that the same emperor (and likewise that high rank, which had hitherto stood in his son and grandson, who succeeded him in the way of their ambition; and the emperors the empire) maintained, without interruption, and kings to whom they addressed their prethe right of supremacy over the city of Rome, sumptuous requests, generally granted them, its territory, and its pontiff, as may be clearly either from a desire of pacifying the contenproved by a multitude of examples. It is, tions and quarrels that arose between civil and moreover, equally certain that the German, military magistrates, or from a devout reveFrench, and Italian bishops, who were not ig-rence for the sacred order, or with a view to norant of the nature of their privileges and the extent of their jurisdiction, were, during this whole century, perpetually upon their guard against every eventual attempt of the pope for the exclusive assumption of a legislative authority in the church. But, notwithstanding all this, the bishops of Rome found the means of augmenting their influence, and partly by open violence, partly by secret and fraudulent stratagems, encroached, not only upon the privileges of the bishops, but also upon the ju *The history of the pontiffs of this period is not only extremely barren of interesting events, but also or scure, and uncertain in many respects. In the accounts I have here given of them, I have followed principally Lud. Ant. Muratori's Annales Italiæ, and the Conatus Chronologico-Historicus de Romanis Pontificibus, which the learned Pap brochius prefixed to his Acta Sanctorum Mensis Maii. augment their own authority, and to confirm their dominion by the good services of the bishops, whose influence was very great over the minds of the people. Such were the different motives that engaged princes to enlarge the authority and jurisdiction of the clergy; and hence we see from this century downwards so many bishops and abbots invested with characters, employments, and titles so foreign to their spiritual offices and functions, and clothed with the honors of dukes, marquises, counts, and viscounts.§ *Several examples of these usurpations may be found in the Histoire du Droit Eccles. Francois, tom. i. p. 217, edit. in 8 vo. Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. vi. p 98. 1 The same work, p. 136. The learned Louis Thomassin, in his book, de Disciplina Ecclesiæ veteri et nova, tom. iii lib. i X. Beside the reproach of the grossest igno-mit, endeavoured to remedy this disorder; nor rance, which the Latin clergy in this century were his attempts totally unsuccessful. This so justly deserved,* they were also chargeable, zealous ecclesiastic being created, in 927, ab in a heinous degree, with two other odious bot of Clugni, in the province of Burgundy, vices, even concubinage and simony, which the on the death of Berno, not only obliged the greatest part of the writers of these unhappy monks to live in a rigorous observance of times acknowledge and deplore. As to the their rules, but also added to their discipline a former of these vices, it was practised too new set of ceremonies, which, notwithstanding openly to admit any doubt. The priests, and the air of sanctity that attended them, were, what is still more surprising, even the sancti- in reality, insignificant and trifling, and yet, at monious monks, fell victims to the triumphant the same time, severe and burthensome.* This charms of the sex, and to the imperious domi- new rule of discipline covered its author with nion of their carnal lusts; and, entering into glory, and, in a short time, was adopted in all the bonds of wedlock or concubinage, squan- the European convents: for the greatest part dered away in a most luxurious manner, with of the ancient monasteries, which had been their wives and mistresses, the revenues of the founded in France, Germany, Italy, Britain, church. The other vice reigned with an equal and Spain, received the rule of the monks of degree of impudence and licentiousness. Elec- Clugni, to which also the convents, newly estions of bishops and abbots were no longer ad- tablished, were subjected by their founders, justed by the laws of the church; but kings and thus it was, that the Order of Clugni, atand princes, or their ministers and favourites, tained that high degree of eminence and aueither conferred these ecclesiastical dignities thority, opulence and dignity, which it exhiupon their friends and creatures, or sold them, bited to the Christian world in the following without shame, to the highest bidder. Hence century.t it happened, that the most stupid and flagitious wretches were frequently advanced to the most important stations in the church; and that, upon several occasions, even soldiers, civil magistrates, and counts, were by a strange metamorphosis converted into bishops and abbots. Gregory VII. endeavoured, in the following century, to put a stop to these two growing evils. XI. While the monastic orders, among the Greeks and Orientals, still maintained an external appearance of religion and decency, the Latin monks, toward the commencement of this century, had so entirely lost sight of all subordination and discipline, that the greatest part of them knew not even by name the rule of St. Benedict, which they were obliged to observe. A noble Frank, whose name was Odo, a man as learned and pious as the ignorance and superstition of the times would percap. xxviii., has collected a multitude of examples to prove that the titles and prerogatives of dukes and counts were conferred upon certain prelates so early as the ninth century; and some bishops trace even as far back as the eighth century the beginning of that princely dominion which they now enjoy. But notwithstanding all this, if I do not grossly err, there cannot be produced any evident and indisputable example of this princely dominion, previous to the tenth century. *Ratherius, speaking of the clergy of Verona in his Itinerarium, which is published in the Spicile. gium of M. d'Acheri, tom. i. p. 381, says, that he found many among them who could not even repeat the Apostles' Creed. His words are, "Sciscitatus de "fide illorum, inveni plurimos neque ipsum sapere "Symbolum, qui fuisse creditur Apostolorum." That this custom was introduced toward the commencement of this century is manifest, from the testimony of Ordericus Vitalis and other writers, and also from a letter of Mantio, bishop of Chalons in Champagne, published by Mabillon, in his Analecta veterum. As to the charge brought against the Italian monks, of their spending the treasures of the church upon their wives or mistresses, see Hugo's narrative de Monasterii Farfensis destructione, in Muratori's Antiq. Ital. medii ævi, tom. vi. p. 278. Many infamous and striking examples and proofs of simoniacal practice may be found in the work entitled Gallia Christiana, tom. i. p. 23, 37; om. ii. p. 173, 179. Add to this Abbonis Apologetieum, published at the end of the Codex Canon. Pithæi, p. 398, as also Mabillon's Annal. Benedict. tom. v. XII. The more eminent Greek writers of this century are easily numbered; among them we find Simeon, high treasurer of Constanti nople, who, from his giving a new and more elegant style to the Lives of the Saints, which had been originally composed in a gross and barbarous language, was distinguished by the title of Metaphrast, or Translator. He did not, however, content himself with digesting, polishing, and embellishing the saintly chronicle, but went so far as to augment it with a * See Mabillon, Annal. Benedict. tom. iii. p. 386, 25. See also the Acta Sanctor. Bened. Sæc. v. p. 66, and Præf. ad Acta Sanct. Ord. Benedict. Sæc. v. p. in which he speaks largely of Berno, the first abbot of Clugni, who laid the foundations of that order, and of Odo (p. 122,) who gave it a new degree of perfection. The learned Helyot, in his Histoire des Ordres Religieuses, tom. v. p. 184, has given a complete and elegant history of the order of Clugni; and the subsequent state of that famous monastery is described by Martenne, in his Voyage Liter. de deux Benedict. part i. p. 227. The majority of ecclesiastical historians do not appear to have perceived the true meaning and force of the word order in its application to the Cistertian monks, those of Clugni, and other convents. They imagine that this term signifies a new monastic institution, as if the Order of Clugni imported a new sect of monks never before heard of. But this is ap parently a great error, into which they fall by con founding the ancient meaning of that term with the sense in which it is used in modern times. The word order, when employed by the writers of the tenth century, signified no more at first than a cer tain form or rule of monastic discipline; but, from this primitive signification, another (a secondary one) was gradually derived: so that by the same word is also understood, an association or confede racy of several monasteries, subjected to the same rule of discipline under the jurisdiction and inspec tion of one common chief. Hence we conclude, that the Order of Clugni was not a new sect of monks, such as were the Carthusian, Dominican, and Fran ciscan Orders; but signified, only, first, that new institution, or rule of discipline, which Odo had pre. scribed to the Benedictine monks, who were settled at Clugni, and, afterwards, that prodigious multi tude of monasteries throughout Europe, which re ceived the rule established at Clugni, and were formed by association into a sort of community, of which the abbot of Clugni was the chief. See Leo Allatius, de Simeonum Scriptis, p. 24.-Jo. Bollandus, Præf. ad Acta Sanctorum Antwer sect. iii. p. 6. |