What was it really like to live as a monk in the Middle Ages? This article, originally written in 1929 by medieval historian Rose Graham, explores the routines, responsibilities, and religious practices at Cluny Abbey in the 11th century. Despite its age, it remains a detailed and valuable account of daily life in one of medieval Europe’s most influential monastic communities.
The little town of Cluny is charmingly situated on the River Grosne in a wide valley among the high limestone hills known as the Montagnes du Mâconnais et du Charolais, which are outliers of the northern chain of the Cévennes. The lower slopes of these wooded hills are covered with vineyards, and the fields and pastures of the valley are very fertile. Cluny is about twelve miles north-west of Mâcon, a town on the wide and navigable River Saône which flows into the Rhône at Lyons. Mâcon is on the Voie Agrippa, the great Roman road which led from Boulogne through Avallon and Autun to Lyons, and was followed by pilgrims from England and the north of France to Italy. Another road, often chosen to shorten the distance, branched off at Autun and passed over the mountains within a few miles of Cluny through Sainte-Cécile, Clermain, Brandon, Ouroux, Avenas to Belleville, where it joined the main road between Mâcon and Lyons.
Cluny was in the Duchy of Burgundy, which has been called the crossroads of Europe, since it lay between Northern and Southern France and was connected by trade routes with Germany, the Low Countries, and Spain.
The Creation of a Monastery at Cluny
In the charter by which William, Duke of Aquitaine, founded Cluny in 910, he set forth his ideal for the community:
With a full heart and mind the monks shall build an exceeding pleasant place, so far as they can and know how. We will also that in our time and those of our successors, works of mercy shall be shewn daily to the poor and needy, to travellers and pilgrims so far as the opportunity and ability of the place shall allow.
The first monks of Cluny had a struggle with poverty: the founder died in 918, and in 926 the church was still not finished. When Odo succeeded Abbot Berno in 927, he had not the money to pay for the other buildings of the monastery, and it was only through the generosity of friends in Aquitaine that he was able to continue the work. But the fame of the good lives of the monks of Cluny spread rapidly, and lands, property, and privileges of every kind were granted to the monastery. The charters of Cluny have been printed in the Collection de documents inédits sur l’histoire de France, and four large quarto volumes are filled with those granted before 1095; among the benefactors were popes, emperors, kings, dukes, counts, and even the smallest landowners, priests, and women of all ranks. New priories were founded when lands were granted at a long distance from Cluny, and a yearly pension was paid from them to the mother-house.
The Customs of Cluny
Odo, an Abbot of Cluny depicted in a medieval manuscript – BNF MS Latin 17716 fol. 23r
Early in the second half of the eleventh century, a monk named Bernard wrote a detailed account of the daily life of the monastery, which he called the ‘Customs of Cluny.’ The work was dedicated to Abbot Hugh, for, wrote Bernard, “whatever I have apprehended of the way of religion is rather of your gift than of my own industry.” It still contains the most complete and detailed account of the occurrences of everyday life in a great medieval monastery.
Cluny then possessed considerable estates within a radius of a few miles. These were divided into obediences or deaneries, and monks called deans were put in charge of them and lived there with another monk as a companion, and some servants, who were distinguished by their beards. The dean was entirely responsible for the cultivation of the fields and vineyards, and the care of the horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. When both harvest and vintage were over, the prior of Cluny came round and looked at the barn and the cellar, decided what should be kept, and ordered the rest to be sent to the monastery.
The dean paid over all money received for rents and dues at his obedience to the camerarius or chamberlain of Cluny, who handed him back a third for the expenses of agriculture and the maintenance of himself and his guests, for in the words of Bernard “if these were not received, it would be altogether inhuman.”
If women came and hospitality could not be denied them, the dean never sat at table with them. If the obedience lay within half a day’s ride of Cluny, the dean returned to the monastery every Saturday before Vespers to spend Sunday there. He ambled along and was forbidden to gallop, or even to run on foot, except when in peril of fire or of death. However great the heat, he was not allowed to take off his frock and ride only in his cowl. When on the road at the times for the services of the Hours, he dismounted, pulled his hood off his head, and said the service.
If deaneries were situated so far off that the corn and wine could not be carried to Cluny, they were sold, and the money was sent to the chamberlain. When the prior returned from his autumn round of visits to the deaneries, he told the keeper of the wine how much would be sent from each place. The vineyards at Cluny and close by were under the direct supervision of the keeper of the wine; he got money from the chamberlain to pay the wages of all the labourers hired for the vintage, for new hoops for the wine casks, and for other repairs. It was the duty of the sacrist to watch for the ripening of the first grapes and to bring some to the church to be blessed at Mass. These were afterwards distributed to the monks in the refectory or frater.
The keeper of the granary checked and stored the bushels of corn, barley, and beans sent in from the deaneries, according to the prior’s list.
Clothing at the Monastery
The chamberlain was the treasurer and also the chief buyer of the monastery, and whether he bought or sold, he gave a little more or took a little less in accordance with St. Benedict’s precept that monks should sell for less than others. He received all gifts of gold, silver, and animals. The cows he handed over to the cellarer, as the dairy was under his charge, and also any donations of ten shillings and under to provide special food for sick and delicate brothers. Gold and silver vessels, any cup suitable for a chalice, hangings, and vestments were all given to the sacrist. Friends of the monastery who had not lands or anything else to offer sometimes promised to pay five or ten shillings a year or more or less; the chamberlain set aside these sums for the repair of the pipes which brought the water into the lavatory or washing-place in the cloister.
The chamberlain provided all the clothes, shoes, and bedding of the monks. He bought cloth and fur, both of a cheap quality, and employed a number of tailors in a workshop in the monastery, making the new clothes which were given out at stated times in the year. Each monk had a new frock and a new cowl once a year, and a new sheepskin pelisse every three years, and shirts and drawers when he needed them. His whole wardrobe consisted of two frocks, two cowls, two shirts, two pairs of drawers, two pairs of day-shoes with straps, one pair of night-boots of felt for the winter, and another pair without felt for the summer nights, two pairs of gaiters, three pelisses—or instead of one of them, a sort of fur petticoat or kilt—a hood made of skins, five pairs of stockings, a linen girdle, a leather strap from which hung his knife in its sheath, a needle with cotton in a case. His bed was of hay which was renewed every summer, and he had a pillow, a coverlet, and apparently two blankets. The coverlet was of sheepskin, cat-skin, or hare-skin.
Medieval monks – British Library MS Royal 10 E IV f. 222v
Once or twice a day, according to the seasons, there was a short time when the monks were allowed to talk in the cloister, and then either the chamberlain or his junior was always present to hear if any of the monks, novices, or children needed anything. The monk who found that his cassock, shirt, or drawers were torn but worth mending, put them at dawn under one of the arches of the chapter-house, and the junior chamberlain carried them off to the tailors’ workshop and brought them back before Vespers. Shoes and stockings to be mended were put on the stone below the arch, and bed coverlets on the wall by the step of the dormitory or dorter. If a monk’s shoes wanted greasing he first washed them in a special trough, then got some grease from the chamberlain and went to the kitchen to rub it in, or, if he liked, the chamberlain had it done for him. When new drawers were given out, each monk wrote his name on them in ink, and the chamberlain took them back to the tailors’ shop to be marked in thread.
Every Tuesday, clothes to be washed were piled up in a chest in the cloister. The keeper of the granary admitted the washers when the monks were at morning Mass; and another monk was present to keep a record, either in writing or by tally, of the clothes taken away. These were brought back on Saturdays after the service of None, and he sat in the cloister watching to see that no monk was so careless as to take anything not marked with his own name. Clothes and everything else left about in the cloister were taken into the chapter-house and put behind the pulpit. At the daily morning meeting, after the words “Let us speak about our Order” were said, anyone who had lost anything got up to see if it was there; if he found it, he begged pardon and asked the prior for leave to take it: this was granted unless it was a monk who was in the habit of losing his clothes, and then he suffered some penalty for it.
Food at the Monastery
The cellarer was responsible for the food of the monastery, with the help of several monks who held office under him. The keeper of the granary sent his servants out to the woods with asses to bring back fuel for the kitchens and the bakers’ oven. The bakers too were his servants, and if they did not produce the full tale of loaves from each bushel, or if the bread was not good, it was his business to take them before the prior or cellarer to be beaten. The servants who suffered this penalty had a right to claim half a pound of bread and a cup of wine to be given them immediately. If the bread was burnt, the servants of the monk who laid the tables in the refectory or frater tucked napkins under their chins, held the loaves against their chests, and scraped them with their knives.
The usual allowance of bread for each monk was a pound a day, but if a monk had eaten it all at dinner, he was given another half-pound at supper. The wine was measured out for each monk, and poured into his drinking-cup, which was covered with a twig of box to keep out the flies, and a twig of vine dipped in glue was put in his place as a fly trap, and renewed every other day.
Dinner consisted of three courses: the first of dried beans, and the third of other vegetables which were supplied by the gardener; these were cooked in the monks’ kitchen by the monks who served in turns, six at a time. The second course was cooked by the servants in another kitchen; on Sundays and Thursdays fish was provided, on the other days either cheese or eggs, of which four or five were allowed for each monk. If by any chance this second course was not cooked by the right time, it was the cellarer’s duty to take away the hammer, so that the bell could not be sounded for dinner, and the keeper of the granary took it away if the bread was not ready.
On certain feast days instead of beans the monks had onions, little cakes and spiced wine. The cellarer had lands close to Cluny where he pastured his horses and set nets in the river. The monk who looked after the fishing had a privilege granted to no one else, for he was allowed to ride through the great gateway facing the church and so on to the kitchen with his fish, and he might go out of the monastery to set nets after vespers. If he had not enough fish, the cellarer might only buy it when it was at a reasonable price.
Cowsheds, pigsties, sheepfolds, and rams were under the cellarer’s charge, and he had a list of the livestock at each deanery. All cheeses and eggs offered to the monastery were given to him, unless the sacrist had some work in hand, and then he was allowed some to feed his servants. The candles used in the church and in the monastery were made in the sacristy.
Medical Care at the Monastery
If a monk was not well, the cellarer provided him with more delicate food in the refectory, but if he did not get better he was sent into the infirmary to try a meat diet for a time; so long as he was there he walked with a stick and went about with his hood over his head. The infirmary was close to the church of St. Mary to which invalid monks went for the services of the Hours, but if they could they walked to the great church for Mass. There were several rooms in the infirmary besides the kitchen and scullery, and it was under the charge of a monk called the infirmarius who had a cook and three other servants for the ordinary work. Whenever a monk was seriously ill another monk was sent into the infirmary to watch by him and wait on him.
The keeper of the infirmary drew his daily supplies from the cellarer and got money from the chamberlain to buy other things. In his own store he always kept candles, pepper and cumin, besides ginger and various roots, so that if anyone was ill and had a sudden attack of pain, he could give him a drink of spiced wine. Those who were well enough to be up had each his own little table and chair, and the keeper brought the dishes into the different rooms himself; if they wanted anything else they hit the tables with their knives, and when one of the servants came, they said “Bring me some salt or some mustard.”
The test of complete recovery was that a monk should at once be able to do his week’s service in the kitchen, and when he left the infirmary he begged for pardon in chapter, because he had not been able to keep the rule as he ought to have done.
Guests at the Monastery
According to the founder’s wish, works of mercy were shown daily to the poor and needy, to travellers and pilgrims. The great guest-house for those who came on horseback was 135 feet long and 30 feet wide; in it there was a lodging for men with forty beds, and a lodging with thirty beds for countesses and honourable women, and a common refectory. The monk who was keeper of the hostel had several servants including a cook, a porter and a groom, and when there were many guests, as at the greater festivals, the servants of the abbot, prior and chamberlain, and the tailors too, came to help at the hostel. Bishops, abbots, monks and priests dined with the monks, but the keeper provided for the lay folks in the refectory of the hostel, and fetched what he needed from the cellarer’s storehouse.
When there were many guests, the wine was not measured out to him, but he went to the cask and drew as much as he wanted. If the keeper of the wine saw him taking more than was necessary, he first warned him, and afterwards complained to the prior. If the guests wanted to see over the monastery, the hosteller sought permission from the prior to take them while the monks were at Mass. They had to remove their spurs and greaves, and were then shown the cloister, almonry, cellarer’s storehouse, kitchen, refectory, lodging of the novices, dormitory and infirmary.
When a bishop, a count or countess or some other rich person came, the sacrist provided the keeper of the hostel with two candles to set before them and a ball of wax to burn all night. He also had a ball of wax when six or seven monks slept in the hostel, which often happened when they came from the priories to make their profession at Cluny.
The monastery stables were under the charge of a monk called the connestabulus with one groom to look after the horses of the prior and other officers, and another provided by the abbot for his own horses. The stables were 280 feet long and 25 feet wide, and the monastery servants ate and slept in the upper storey. The connestabulus had barley and oats, and also a supply of horseshoes in his store, but if he ran short he got money from the chamberlain to buy what he needed. The guests’ horses were fed by him.
When the guests had begun to eat in the refectory of the hostel, the connestabulus came in and said cheerfully and modestly “Benedicite,” and after the reply “The Lord be with you” he said “All that is in our service I offer you, and I will serve you, and with abundance.” To all the guests he gave as many horseshoes as they wanted, but if there was any doubt he looked at the horses’ feet himself, especially when he was dealing with the guests’ servants. To those who lived near Cluny and passed by the monastery on a journey, he did not refuse one or two horseshoes. None were given to men who came in to Cluny to market, for no one who came to Cluny for markets, fairs or lawsuits was received at the guest-house.
There were other travellers who came on foot to Cluny, and yet they were not the poor, so they did not care to go to the almonry. If they were lodging in the town, and there were twelve or fifteen of them, the hosteller sent them bread, meat and wine; if they were a company of fifty or a hundred, so that it was no light thing to provide them altogether with necessaries, the keeper sent them a present of bread and wine.
Charitable Activities at the Monastery
All pilgrims who came on foot could get food at the almonry if they chose. For his charity and hospitality the almoner received a tenth of all tithes paid in money to the monastery, and a tenth of all money offered in the church. For every monk who was professed of the congregation of Cluny, wherever he died, the almoner drew a full allowance of food and wine for thirty days, and two extra portions in case for any reason the news of a death did not reach Cluny, and on each anniversary of the death of a monk of Cluny, a full allowance.
The almoner also had every day three portions which were first set on the high table in the monks’ refectory, in memory of Abbot Odilo (d. 1049), the Emperor Henry I and Ferdinand, King of Spain, his wife, and the other kings of Spain, and half what was left by the monks in the refectory of the beans and the second course of fish, eggs or cheese, and all the vegetables, apples and such-like things. For every pilgrim he received a pound of bread on the first day and half a pound on the second, and half a monk’s measure of wine each day. Nuns did not enter the court of the almonry, so he went to the gate to give them each a measure of wine and a pound of bread. The pilgrims ate together at the almonry, but if one of them had left a sick or tired wife at his lodging in the town, the almoner gave him an allowance for her. At the almoner’s request poor priests who came on foot from a distant land were invited to dine in the monks’ refectory.
A sculpture at the Abbey of Cluny – photo by Nicolas RIVOAL / Wikimedia Commons
Every day the keeper of the granary provided the almoner with twelve tarts or cakes each weighing three pounds, which he distributed among widows and orphans, the lame and the blind, old men and old women, and strangers. Once a week the almoner went all round the town to visit the poor who lay sick, and his servants accompanied him carrying baskets of bread and meat and vessels of wine. When he came to the house of a man who was ill, the women folk went out of it, and he visited him and consoled him as well as he could. He sent his servants in to visit the women who were ill. All the invalids were asked if they were in need of anything which he had not brought, and he then tried to get it and sent it to them by his servants.
There were eighteen poor men called prebendari or pensioners who lived in the almonry; the almoner drew special allowances of food and drink for them, and they also received new clothes and a pair of shoes once a year.
To help him in his duties the almoner had five servants. He sent out two daily with asses to bring fuel from the woods, and four at intervals to cut rushes, for it was his duty to see that the pavement of the church, the cloister and the monastery buildings was swept six times a year, and strewn with fresh rushes. His servants also cleaned the lavatory where the monks washed their hands, and cleared the water course which served as the great drain for sanitation, and made sluices in the summer to keep the water up to the right level.
It was the duty of other officials to find special charities. On Quinquagesima Sunday the chamberlain provided all the poor who chose to come with a meal of as much salt pork as they could eat; each deanery provided one salted hog, amounting perhaps to twelve, but the chamberlain bought the rest, and Ulric of Cluny, writing about 1085, testified that in the year just past 17,000 poor were counted and 250 hogs were divided among them, in the name of Christ.
On Maundy Thursday as many poor as there were monks were received in the guest hostel, and fed with two courses, beans and millet; after the monks had washed the feet of these poor in the cloister, they gave them each a drink of wine and two pennies. This particular charity was not indiscriminate, for the dean of Cluny carefully chose out men who were known to live good lives.
On the Feast of Pentecost, the sacrist provided a good meal of bread, meat and wine for as many poor as there were monks in the monastery and the infirmary. On Monday after the Feast of the Trinity, when the monks made special remembrance of all their dead, twelve poor men were fed with bread, meat, and wine, and all the poor who chose to come and ask for it received bread and wine.
Accounts of Travellers to Cluny
There are two interesting accounts of Cluny written by men who received hospitality during the rule of Abbot Hugh. In 1075 William de Warenne, who came from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror, set out with his wife Gundrada on a pilgrimage to Rome.
“We went to many monasteries,” he wrote, “in France and Burgundy to offer our prayers, and when we had come to Burgundy, we learnt that we could not safely travel through it on account of the war between the pope and the emperor, so we turned aside to the monastery of Cluny, a great and holy abbey in honour of St. Peter, and there we adored and besought St. Peter.
“And because we found holiness and religion and so great charity, and we were so honourably received by the good prior, and by all the holy convent who took us into their society and fraternity, we began to have love and devotion for that order and that house above all other houses which we had seen. But the lord Hugh, the holy abbot, was not at home. And because my wife and I had long before and then the more greatly desired, with the advice of the lord Lanfranc, the archbishop, to found a house of religion for our sins and for the safety of our souls, it seemed to us that for no order would we so willingly do this as for that of Cluny.
“Therefore we sent and requested the lord Hugh and all the holy congregation that they would grant us two, three, or four monks of that holy flock and we would give them the stone church which we had built (it was formerly of wood and dedicated from old time in honour of St. Pancras), and as a beginning as much land, animals, and other things as would support twelve monks. But the holy abbot at first was hard in hearkening to our petition on account of the long distance of that strange land and especially on account of the sea.”
After some delay, in 1077 Abbot Hugh sent three monks with their prior, Lanzo, to St. Pancras at Lewes.
A 15th-century painting depicting Peter Damiani – Wikimedia Commons
Another guest at Cluny was Peter Damiani, the cardinal-bishop of Ostia, well known as an ascetic monk and a stern reformer. The occasion of his visit in 1063 was the quarrel between the monastery and the Bishop of Mâcon. From the foundation the monastery had enjoyed the privilege of papal protection, and Gregory V (996–999) forbade any bishop to exercise any function within the monastery except by invitation. John XIX (1024–1033) forbade any bishop to put the monastery under an interdict or to excommunicate any of the monks wheresoever they might be. These bulls deprived the bishops of Mâcon of all jurisdiction over Cluny.
In 1063 Bishop Drogo came to Cluny with a band of armed knights, and “trampling the ancient liberty of the place under his proud foot, and holding the privileges of the Holy See to be nothing worth,” he put the parish church of St. Majolus, close to the monastery, under an interdict, and excommunicated many of the monks. Abbot Hugh set out for Rome, and made his complaint to the Pope in council. Peter Damiani, the cardinal-bishop of Ostia, offered his services as papal legate to right the abbot of Cluny.
After a most trying journey across the Alps in the great summer heat, Peter Damiani and his companions arrived at Cluny and were received with a procession and great devotion. He summoned a synodal council at Chalon-sur-Saône and Drogo, Bishop of Mâcon, came like a triumphant warrior, trusting in his learning and eloquence, and in the support of other bishops who were envious of the abbot of Cluny, and realized that if he prevailed over Drogo, none of them would be able to stand up against him. Peter Damiani opened the synod with a powerful sermon and then ordered the series of papal bulls granted to Cluny to be read. Both sides were heard, but the bishops were constrained to decree that the papal privileges of Cluny should be held inviolate.
Then Bishop Drogo swore this oath upon the book of the Gospels:
Hear, O lord Peter, bishop of Ostia, and all the holy synod, on that day when I came in my wrath to Cluny, I acted not in contempt or scorn of the Holy See, or of the lord Alexander, bishop of Rome, nor did I then clearly understand the tenor and sense of the privileges which have now been read in our ears, so help me God and these holy gospels.
Four priests of the cathedral church of Mâcon swore the same oath. The bishop prostrated himself on the pavement, confessed that he had sinned, and asked for pardon, and received a penance of fasting for seven days on bread and water. So peace was made between him and the abbot.
In letters written to the abbot and to the monks after his return to Rome, Peter Damiani praised the strict lives of the monks of Cluny. His companion, probably a monk named John, was enraptured during the stay of eight days in the monastery. He noted the monks’ strict observance of the rule of silence, their cheap clothing and bedding, wholly in accordance in his judgement with the Rule of St. Benedict. No matter how long the day, there was no interval, he said, in the round of services in the church: in fact, the monks were so worn out that when the time came for speaking in the cloister, they made much use of signs.
Whether or not this was the reason, there was a most elaborate language of signs in use at Cluny. The monk praised their care of the sick, their alms to the poor, their hospitality to all. He marvelled at the aisled church with its many altars, the relics of the saints and the costly treasures; the immense and beautiful cloister which seemed to invite monks to dwell there, the dormitory with three lights always burning, the refectory with its paintings, and the other stone buildings ranged around the cloister, the bounteous water supply.
The lands of the monks were sometimes raided by the lords of Branzion, Berzé and Bussières. Bernard wrote in the Customs:
If a robber is wasting the lands and property of the Church and the monks want to make their complaints to the people, they summon all the people to the great church on Sunday, and then morning Mass is sung at the Crucifix. After the gospel the priest says the Nicene Creed and one of the monks goes up into the pulpit and speaking for a short time concerning the divine precepts, he then makes known to them the tribulation, suggesting that they should offer alms and ask God to make the evil-doer to be at peace with them and turn evil to good.
He adds also some humble words of persuasion saying ‘You know that if our substance is taken from us, we cannot live; pray to God, therefore, brothers, and we will cry out to Him.’ While the choir said a response, all the bells were rung slowly, and then the monks said three special psalms for use in time of trouble.
The monks had lands and vineyards at Berzé which were quite at the mercy of the lord of the strong castle which dominated the road between Mâcon and Cluny. Walter de Berzé ferociously laid waste their lands and did much damage and destruction. After warnings and remonstrances he at last made an end of his evil deeds.
In 1050 he came to Cluny and in the chapter-house he renounced all his claims on the lands and serfs which the monastery held at Berzé, and had possessed in peace in the time of his father. He swore fealty to St. Peter on the holy relics in the presence of his two little sons, and he commended them to Abbot Hugh with the understanding that when they came to years of discretion, they should swear the same oath of fealty. At this reconciliation the monks gave Walter de Berzé three hundred shillings.
The Church at Cluny
The earlier church, afterwards called St. Pierre le Vieux, which filled Peter Damiani’s companion with wonder, became too small as both monks and pilgrims increased in numbers. In 1089 the foundation-stone was laid of the largest church in the world before the building of St. Peter’s at Rome. It was north of the older church which divided it from the cloister. In six years the choir was so far advanced that it was dedicated by Urban II, when he stayed at Cluny on his way to hold the council of Clermont, at which he preached the first crusade. The nave was longer in building, for part of it collapsed in 1125, and the church was finally dedicated by Innocent II in 1132. It had double aisles, double transepts and an ambulatory with radiating chapels, and a nave of sixteen bays. There were three towers at the crossing between the nave and the greater transept, another tower at the crossing of the choir and the eastern transept, and two towers at the western end of the narthex which was not finished until 1220. The total length of the church then was over 530 feet.
The consecration of Cluny III – Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Latin 17716 fol. 91r
After the Revolution, this church was almost entirely destroyed: it was sold to speculators who spent nearly as many years in pulling it down as the monks had taken in building it. Only the southern arm of the greater transept remains with the great octagonal tower, the ‘clocher de l’eau bénite,’ and the smaller ‘clocher de l’horloge.’ Yet Cluny is well worth a visit. From Mâcon, now an important junction on the main Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée line, a branch runs to Cluny and on to Paray-le-Monial.
The best way to approach Cluny is to get out at the wayside station of La Croix Blanche to visit Berzé-le-Châtel and Berzé-les-Moines. The castle of Berzé is splendidly situated on a very steep high hill, and is inhabited by a descendant of its mediaeval lords; the present building is mainly of the fifteenth century, though the great gateway and the outer wall and towers are of earlier date. On a lower hill is the ‘château des moines’ of Berzé-la-Ville, an eighteenth-century group of buildings on the land which the monks of Cluny owned in 1050 when they suffered from the raids of Walter de Berzé. In the Romanesque chapel which was built by Abbot Hugh about 1100 there are wonderful contemporary frescoes which were hidden under whitewash until they were discovered in 1887.
From Berzé it is pleasant to drive behind a good horse over the hills down into the valley, past banks covered with golden broom in May, and so to enter Cluny, like the popes, by the bridge across the Grosne, seeing as the most conspicuous tower in the town the ‘clocher de l’eau bénite.’ The Hôtel de Bourgogne covers part of the ground on which once stood an aisle of the nave. Though much has been wantonly destroyed, there is still much to interest the traveller in the fragment of the great church and the Chapelle de Bourbon, in the charming lodgings of the abbots—the one of Jean de Bourbon (1457–1485) now the Musée Ochier containing twelve of the magnificent capitals from the choir of the abbey church, the other of Jacques d’Amboise (1485–1510) now the Hôtel de Ville—the eighteenth-century buildings of the monastery, the walls and towers of various dates, the two fine parish churches, and stone houses of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
This article was originally part of the book English ecclesiastical studies; being some essays in research in medieval history. Click here to download a PDF version of this article, which includes footnotes. To learn more about the historian Rose Graham, please see her Wikipedia page.
What was it really like to live as a monk in the Middle Ages? This article, originally written in 1929 by medieval historian Rose Graham, explores the routines, responsibilities, and religious practices at Cluny Abbey in the 11th century. Despite its age, it remains a detailed and valuable account of daily life in one of medieval Europe’s most influential monastic communities.
The little town of Cluny is charmingly situated on the River Grosne in a wide valley among the high limestone hills known as the Montagnes du Mâconnais et du Charolais, which are outliers of the northern chain of the Cévennes. The lower slopes of these wooded hills are covered with vineyards, and the fields and pastures of the valley are very fertile. Cluny is about twelve miles north-west of Mâcon, a town on the wide and navigable River Saône which flows into the Rhône at Lyons. Mâcon is on the Voie Agrippa, the great Roman road which led from Boulogne through Avallon and Autun to Lyons, and was followed by pilgrims from England and the north of France to Italy. Another road, often chosen to shorten the distance, branched off at Autun and passed over the mountains within a few miles of Cluny through Sainte-Cécile, Clermain, Brandon, Ouroux, Avenas to Belleville, where it joined the main road between Mâcon and Lyons.
Cluny was in the Duchy of Burgundy, which has been called the crossroads of Europe, since it lay between Northern and Southern France and was connected by trade routes with Germany, the Low Countries, and Spain.
The Creation of a Monastery at Cluny
In the charter by which William, Duke of Aquitaine, founded Cluny in 910, he set forth his ideal for the community:
With a full heart and mind the monks shall build an exceeding pleasant place, so far as they can and know how. We will also that in our time and those of our successors, works of mercy shall be shewn daily to the poor and needy, to travellers and pilgrims so far as the opportunity and ability of the place shall allow.
The first monks of Cluny had a struggle with poverty: the founder died in 918, and in 926 the church was still not finished. When Odo succeeded Abbot Berno in 927, he had not the money to pay for the other buildings of the monastery, and it was only through the generosity of friends in Aquitaine that he was able to continue the work. But the fame of the good lives of the monks of Cluny spread rapidly, and lands, property, and privileges of every kind were granted to the monastery. The charters of Cluny have been printed in the Collection de documents inédits sur l’histoire de France, and four large quarto volumes are filled with those granted before 1095; among the benefactors were popes, emperors, kings, dukes, counts, and even the smallest landowners, priests, and women of all ranks. New priories were founded when lands were granted at a long distance from Cluny, and a yearly pension was paid from them to the mother-house.
The Customs of Cluny
Early in the second half of the eleventh century, a monk named Bernard wrote a detailed account of the daily life of the monastery, which he called the ‘Customs of Cluny.’ The work was dedicated to Abbot Hugh, for, wrote Bernard, “whatever I have apprehended of the way of religion is rather of your gift than of my own industry.” It still contains the most complete and detailed account of the occurrences of everyday life in a great medieval monastery.
Cluny then possessed considerable estates within a radius of a few miles. These were divided into obediences or deaneries, and monks called deans were put in charge of them and lived there with another monk as a companion, and some servants, who were distinguished by their beards. The dean was entirely responsible for the cultivation of the fields and vineyards, and the care of the horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. When both harvest and vintage were over, the prior of Cluny came round and looked at the barn and the cellar, decided what should be kept, and ordered the rest to be sent to the monastery.
The dean paid over all money received for rents and dues at his obedience to the camerarius or chamberlain of Cluny, who handed him back a third for the expenses of agriculture and the maintenance of himself and his guests, for in the words of Bernard “if these were not received, it would be altogether inhuman.”
If women came and hospitality could not be denied them, the dean never sat at table with them. If the obedience lay within half a day’s ride of Cluny, the dean returned to the monastery every Saturday before Vespers to spend Sunday there. He ambled along and was forbidden to gallop, or even to run on foot, except when in peril of fire or of death. However great the heat, he was not allowed to take off his frock and ride only in his cowl. When on the road at the times for the services of the Hours, he dismounted, pulled his hood off his head, and said the service.
If deaneries were situated so far off that the corn and wine could not be carried to Cluny, they were sold, and the money was sent to the chamberlain. When the prior returned from his autumn round of visits to the deaneries, he told the keeper of the wine how much would be sent from each place. The vineyards at Cluny and close by were under the direct supervision of the keeper of the wine; he got money from the chamberlain to pay the wages of all the labourers hired for the vintage, for new hoops for the wine casks, and for other repairs. It was the duty of the sacrist to watch for the ripening of the first grapes and to bring some to the church to be blessed at Mass. These were afterwards distributed to the monks in the refectory or frater.
The keeper of the granary checked and stored the bushels of corn, barley, and beans sent in from the deaneries, according to the prior’s list.
Clothing at the Monastery
The chamberlain was the treasurer and also the chief buyer of the monastery, and whether he bought or sold, he gave a little more or took a little less in accordance with St. Benedict’s precept that monks should sell for less than others. He received all gifts of gold, silver, and animals. The cows he handed over to the cellarer, as the dairy was under his charge, and also any donations of ten shillings and under to provide special food for sick and delicate brothers. Gold and silver vessels, any cup suitable for a chalice, hangings, and vestments were all given to the sacrist. Friends of the monastery who had not lands or anything else to offer sometimes promised to pay five or ten shillings a year or more or less; the chamberlain set aside these sums for the repair of the pipes which brought the water into the lavatory or washing-place in the cloister.
The chamberlain provided all the clothes, shoes, and bedding of the monks. He bought cloth and fur, both of a cheap quality, and employed a number of tailors in a workshop in the monastery, making the new clothes which were given out at stated times in the year. Each monk had a new frock and a new cowl once a year, and a new sheepskin pelisse every three years, and shirts and drawers when he needed them. His whole wardrobe consisted of two frocks, two cowls, two shirts, two pairs of drawers, two pairs of day-shoes with straps, one pair of night-boots of felt for the winter, and another pair without felt for the summer nights, two pairs of gaiters, three pelisses—or instead of one of them, a sort of fur petticoat or kilt—a hood made of skins, five pairs of stockings, a linen girdle, a leather strap from which hung his knife in its sheath, a needle with cotton in a case. His bed was of hay which was renewed every summer, and he had a pillow, a coverlet, and apparently two blankets. The coverlet was of sheepskin, cat-skin, or hare-skin.
Once or twice a day, according to the seasons, there was a short time when the monks were allowed to talk in the cloister, and then either the chamberlain or his junior was always present to hear if any of the monks, novices, or children needed anything. The monk who found that his cassock, shirt, or drawers were torn but worth mending, put them at dawn under one of the arches of the chapter-house, and the junior chamberlain carried them off to the tailors’ workshop and brought them back before Vespers. Shoes and stockings to be mended were put on the stone below the arch, and bed coverlets on the wall by the step of the dormitory or dorter. If a monk’s shoes wanted greasing he first washed them in a special trough, then got some grease from the chamberlain and went to the kitchen to rub it in, or, if he liked, the chamberlain had it done for him. When new drawers were given out, each monk wrote his name on them in ink, and the chamberlain took them back to the tailors’ shop to be marked in thread.
Every Tuesday, clothes to be washed were piled up in a chest in the cloister. The keeper of the granary admitted the washers when the monks were at morning Mass; and another monk was present to keep a record, either in writing or by tally, of the clothes taken away. These were brought back on Saturdays after the service of None, and he sat in the cloister watching to see that no monk was so careless as to take anything not marked with his own name. Clothes and everything else left about in the cloister were taken into the chapter-house and put behind the pulpit. At the daily morning meeting, after the words “Let us speak about our Order” were said, anyone who had lost anything got up to see if it was there; if he found it, he begged pardon and asked the prior for leave to take it: this was granted unless it was a monk who was in the habit of losing his clothes, and then he suffered some penalty for it.
Food at the Monastery
The cellarer was responsible for the food of the monastery, with the help of several monks who held office under him. The keeper of the granary sent his servants out to the woods with asses to bring back fuel for the kitchens and the bakers’ oven. The bakers too were his servants, and if they did not produce the full tale of loaves from each bushel, or if the bread was not good, it was his business to take them before the prior or cellarer to be beaten. The servants who suffered this penalty had a right to claim half a pound of bread and a cup of wine to be given them immediately. If the bread was burnt, the servants of the monk who laid the tables in the refectory or frater tucked napkins under their chins, held the loaves against their chests, and scraped them with their knives.
The usual allowance of bread for each monk was a pound a day, but if a monk had eaten it all at dinner, he was given another half-pound at supper. The wine was measured out for each monk, and poured into his drinking-cup, which was covered with a twig of box to keep out the flies, and a twig of vine dipped in glue was put in his place as a fly trap, and renewed every other day.
Dinner consisted of three courses: the first of dried beans, and the third of other vegetables which were supplied by the gardener; these were cooked in the monks’ kitchen by the monks who served in turns, six at a time. The second course was cooked by the servants in another kitchen; on Sundays and Thursdays fish was provided, on the other days either cheese or eggs, of which four or five were allowed for each monk. If by any chance this second course was not cooked by the right time, it was the cellarer’s duty to take away the hammer, so that the bell could not be sounded for dinner, and the keeper of the granary took it away if the bread was not ready.
On certain feast days instead of beans the monks had onions, little cakes and spiced wine. The cellarer had lands close to Cluny where he pastured his horses and set nets in the river. The monk who looked after the fishing had a privilege granted to no one else, for he was allowed to ride through the great gateway facing the church and so on to the kitchen with his fish, and he might go out of the monastery to set nets after vespers. If he had not enough fish, the cellarer might only buy it when it was at a reasonable price.
Cowsheds, pigsties, sheepfolds, and rams were under the cellarer’s charge, and he had a list of the livestock at each deanery. All cheeses and eggs offered to the monastery were given to him, unless the sacrist had some work in hand, and then he was allowed some to feed his servants. The candles used in the church and in the monastery were made in the sacristy.
Medical Care at the Monastery
If a monk was not well, the cellarer provided him with more delicate food in the refectory, but if he did not get better he was sent into the infirmary to try a meat diet for a time; so long as he was there he walked with a stick and went about with his hood over his head. The infirmary was close to the church of St. Mary to which invalid monks went for the services of the Hours, but if they could they walked to the great church for Mass. There were several rooms in the infirmary besides the kitchen and scullery, and it was under the charge of a monk called the infirmarius who had a cook and three other servants for the ordinary work. Whenever a monk was seriously ill another monk was sent into the infirmary to watch by him and wait on him.
The keeper of the infirmary drew his daily supplies from the cellarer and got money from the chamberlain to buy other things. In his own store he always kept candles, pepper and cumin, besides ginger and various roots, so that if anyone was ill and had a sudden attack of pain, he could give him a drink of spiced wine. Those who were well enough to be up had each his own little table and chair, and the keeper brought the dishes into the different rooms himself; if they wanted anything else they hit the tables with their knives, and when one of the servants came, they said “Bring me some salt or some mustard.”
The test of complete recovery was that a monk should at once be able to do his week’s service in the kitchen, and when he left the infirmary he begged for pardon in chapter, because he had not been able to keep the rule as he ought to have done.
Guests at the Monastery
According to the founder’s wish, works of mercy were shown daily to the poor and needy, to travellers and pilgrims. The great guest-house for those who came on horseback was 135 feet long and 30 feet wide; in it there was a lodging for men with forty beds, and a lodging with thirty beds for countesses and honourable women, and a common refectory. The monk who was keeper of the hostel had several servants including a cook, a porter and a groom, and when there were many guests, as at the greater festivals, the servants of the abbot, prior and chamberlain, and the tailors too, came to help at the hostel. Bishops, abbots, monks and priests dined with the monks, but the keeper provided for the lay folks in the refectory of the hostel, and fetched what he needed from the cellarer’s storehouse.
When there were many guests, the wine was not measured out to him, but he went to the cask and drew as much as he wanted. If the keeper of the wine saw him taking more than was necessary, he first warned him, and afterwards complained to the prior. If the guests wanted to see over the monastery, the hosteller sought permission from the prior to take them while the monks were at Mass. They had to remove their spurs and greaves, and were then shown the cloister, almonry, cellarer’s storehouse, kitchen, refectory, lodging of the novices, dormitory and infirmary.
When a bishop, a count or countess or some other rich person came, the sacrist provided the keeper of the hostel with two candles to set before them and a ball of wax to burn all night. He also had a ball of wax when six or seven monks slept in the hostel, which often happened when they came from the priories to make their profession at Cluny.
The monastery stables were under the charge of a monk called the connestabulus with one groom to look after the horses of the prior and other officers, and another provided by the abbot for his own horses. The stables were 280 feet long and 25 feet wide, and the monastery servants ate and slept in the upper storey. The connestabulus had barley and oats, and also a supply of horseshoes in his store, but if he ran short he got money from the chamberlain to buy what he needed. The guests’ horses were fed by him.
When the guests had begun to eat in the refectory of the hostel, the connestabulus came in and said cheerfully and modestly “Benedicite,” and after the reply “The Lord be with you” he said “All that is in our service I offer you, and I will serve you, and with abundance.” To all the guests he gave as many horseshoes as they wanted, but if there was any doubt he looked at the horses’ feet himself, especially when he was dealing with the guests’ servants. To those who lived near Cluny and passed by the monastery on a journey, he did not refuse one or two horseshoes. None were given to men who came in to Cluny to market, for no one who came to Cluny for markets, fairs or lawsuits was received at the guest-house.
There were other travellers who came on foot to Cluny, and yet they were not the poor, so they did not care to go to the almonry. If they were lodging in the town, and there were twelve or fifteen of them, the hosteller sent them bread, meat and wine; if they were a company of fifty or a hundred, so that it was no light thing to provide them altogether with necessaries, the keeper sent them a present of bread and wine.
Charitable Activities at the Monastery
All pilgrims who came on foot could get food at the almonry if they chose. For his charity and hospitality the almoner received a tenth of all tithes paid in money to the monastery, and a tenth of all money offered in the church. For every monk who was professed of the congregation of Cluny, wherever he died, the almoner drew a full allowance of food and wine for thirty days, and two extra portions in case for any reason the news of a death did not reach Cluny, and on each anniversary of the death of a monk of Cluny, a full allowance.
The almoner also had every day three portions which were first set on the high table in the monks’ refectory, in memory of Abbot Odilo (d. 1049), the Emperor Henry I and Ferdinand, King of Spain, his wife, and the other kings of Spain, and half what was left by the monks in the refectory of the beans and the second course of fish, eggs or cheese, and all the vegetables, apples and such-like things. For every pilgrim he received a pound of bread on the first day and half a pound on the second, and half a monk’s measure of wine each day. Nuns did not enter the court of the almonry, so he went to the gate to give them each a measure of wine and a pound of bread. The pilgrims ate together at the almonry, but if one of them had left a sick or tired wife at his lodging in the town, the almoner gave him an allowance for her. At the almoner’s request poor priests who came on foot from a distant land were invited to dine in the monks’ refectory.
Every day the keeper of the granary provided the almoner with twelve tarts or cakes each weighing three pounds, which he distributed among widows and orphans, the lame and the blind, old men and old women, and strangers. Once a week the almoner went all round the town to visit the poor who lay sick, and his servants accompanied him carrying baskets of bread and meat and vessels of wine. When he came to the house of a man who was ill, the women folk went out of it, and he visited him and consoled him as well as he could. He sent his servants in to visit the women who were ill. All the invalids were asked if they were in need of anything which he had not brought, and he then tried to get it and sent it to them by his servants.
There were eighteen poor men called prebendari or pensioners who lived in the almonry; the almoner drew special allowances of food and drink for them, and they also received new clothes and a pair of shoes once a year.
To help him in his duties the almoner had five servants. He sent out two daily with asses to bring fuel from the woods, and four at intervals to cut rushes, for it was his duty to see that the pavement of the church, the cloister and the monastery buildings was swept six times a year, and strewn with fresh rushes. His servants also cleaned the lavatory where the monks washed their hands, and cleared the water course which served as the great drain for sanitation, and made sluices in the summer to keep the water up to the right level.
It was the duty of other officials to find special charities. On Quinquagesima Sunday the chamberlain provided all the poor who chose to come with a meal of as much salt pork as they could eat; each deanery provided one salted hog, amounting perhaps to twelve, but the chamberlain bought the rest, and Ulric of Cluny, writing about 1085, testified that in the year just past 17,000 poor were counted and 250 hogs were divided among them, in the name of Christ.
On Maundy Thursday as many poor as there were monks were received in the guest hostel, and fed with two courses, beans and millet; after the monks had washed the feet of these poor in the cloister, they gave them each a drink of wine and two pennies. This particular charity was not indiscriminate, for the dean of Cluny carefully chose out men who were known to live good lives.
On the Feast of Pentecost, the sacrist provided a good meal of bread, meat and wine for as many poor as there were monks in the monastery and the infirmary. On Monday after the Feast of the Trinity, when the monks made special remembrance of all their dead, twelve poor men were fed with bread, meat, and wine, and all the poor who chose to come and ask for it received bread and wine.
Accounts of Travellers to Cluny
There are two interesting accounts of Cluny written by men who received hospitality during the rule of Abbot Hugh. In 1075 William de Warenne, who came from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror, set out with his wife Gundrada on a pilgrimage to Rome.
“We went to many monasteries,” he wrote, “in France and Burgundy to offer our prayers, and when we had come to Burgundy, we learnt that we could not safely travel through it on account of the war between the pope and the emperor, so we turned aside to the monastery of Cluny, a great and holy abbey in honour of St. Peter, and there we adored and besought St. Peter.
“And because we found holiness and religion and so great charity, and we were so honourably received by the good prior, and by all the holy convent who took us into their society and fraternity, we began to have love and devotion for that order and that house above all other houses which we had seen. But the lord Hugh, the holy abbot, was not at home. And because my wife and I had long before and then the more greatly desired, with the advice of the lord Lanfranc, the archbishop, to found a house of religion for our sins and for the safety of our souls, it seemed to us that for no order would we so willingly do this as for that of Cluny.
“Therefore we sent and requested the lord Hugh and all the holy congregation that they would grant us two, three, or four monks of that holy flock and we would give them the stone church which we had built (it was formerly of wood and dedicated from old time in honour of St. Pancras), and as a beginning as much land, animals, and other things as would support twelve monks. But the holy abbot at first was hard in hearkening to our petition on account of the long distance of that strange land and especially on account of the sea.”
After some delay, in 1077 Abbot Hugh sent three monks with their prior, Lanzo, to St. Pancras at Lewes.
Another guest at Cluny was Peter Damiani, the cardinal-bishop of Ostia, well known as an ascetic monk and a stern reformer. The occasion of his visit in 1063 was the quarrel between the monastery and the Bishop of Mâcon. From the foundation the monastery had enjoyed the privilege of papal protection, and Gregory V (996–999) forbade any bishop to exercise any function within the monastery except by invitation. John XIX (1024–1033) forbade any bishop to put the monastery under an interdict or to excommunicate any of the monks wheresoever they might be. These bulls deprived the bishops of Mâcon of all jurisdiction over Cluny.
In 1063 Bishop Drogo came to Cluny with a band of armed knights, and “trampling the ancient liberty of the place under his proud foot, and holding the privileges of the Holy See to be nothing worth,” he put the parish church of St. Majolus, close to the monastery, under an interdict, and excommunicated many of the monks. Abbot Hugh set out for Rome, and made his complaint to the Pope in council. Peter Damiani, the cardinal-bishop of Ostia, offered his services as papal legate to right the abbot of Cluny.
After a most trying journey across the Alps in the great summer heat, Peter Damiani and his companions arrived at Cluny and were received with a procession and great devotion. He summoned a synodal council at Chalon-sur-Saône and Drogo, Bishop of Mâcon, came like a triumphant warrior, trusting in his learning and eloquence, and in the support of other bishops who were envious of the abbot of Cluny, and realized that if he prevailed over Drogo, none of them would be able to stand up against him. Peter Damiani opened the synod with a powerful sermon and then ordered the series of papal bulls granted to Cluny to be read. Both sides were heard, but the bishops were constrained to decree that the papal privileges of Cluny should be held inviolate.
Then Bishop Drogo swore this oath upon the book of the Gospels:
Hear, O lord Peter, bishop of Ostia, and all the holy synod, on that day when I came in my wrath to Cluny, I acted not in contempt or scorn of the Holy See, or of the lord Alexander, bishop of Rome, nor did I then clearly understand the tenor and sense of the privileges which have now been read in our ears, so help me God and these holy gospels.
Four priests of the cathedral church of Mâcon swore the same oath. The bishop prostrated himself on the pavement, confessed that he had sinned, and asked for pardon, and received a penance of fasting for seven days on bread and water. So peace was made between him and the abbot.
In letters written to the abbot and to the monks after his return to Rome, Peter Damiani praised the strict lives of the monks of Cluny. His companion, probably a monk named John, was enraptured during the stay of eight days in the monastery. He noted the monks’ strict observance of the rule of silence, their cheap clothing and bedding, wholly in accordance in his judgement with the Rule of St. Benedict. No matter how long the day, there was no interval, he said, in the round of services in the church: in fact, the monks were so worn out that when the time came for speaking in the cloister, they made much use of signs.
Whether or not this was the reason, there was a most elaborate language of signs in use at Cluny. The monk praised their care of the sick, their alms to the poor, their hospitality to all. He marvelled at the aisled church with its many altars, the relics of the saints and the costly treasures; the immense and beautiful cloister which seemed to invite monks to dwell there, the dormitory with three lights always burning, the refectory with its paintings, and the other stone buildings ranged around the cloister, the bounteous water supply.
The lands of the monks were sometimes raided by the lords of Branzion, Berzé and Bussières. Bernard wrote in the Customs:
If a robber is wasting the lands and property of the Church and the monks want to make their complaints to the people, they summon all the people to the great church on Sunday, and then morning Mass is sung at the Crucifix. After the gospel the priest says the Nicene Creed and one of the monks goes up into the pulpit and speaking for a short time concerning the divine precepts, he then makes known to them the tribulation, suggesting that they should offer alms and ask God to make the evil-doer to be at peace with them and turn evil to good.
He adds also some humble words of persuasion saying ‘You know that if our substance is taken from us, we cannot live; pray to God, therefore, brothers, and we will cry out to Him.’ While the choir said a response, all the bells were rung slowly, and then the monks said three special psalms for use in time of trouble.
The monks had lands and vineyards at Berzé which were quite at the mercy of the lord of the strong castle which dominated the road between Mâcon and Cluny. Walter de Berzé ferociously laid waste their lands and did much damage and destruction. After warnings and remonstrances he at last made an end of his evil deeds.
In 1050 he came to Cluny and in the chapter-house he renounced all his claims on the lands and serfs which the monastery held at Berzé, and had possessed in peace in the time of his father. He swore fealty to St. Peter on the holy relics in the presence of his two little sons, and he commended them to Abbot Hugh with the understanding that when they came to years of discretion, they should swear the same oath of fealty. At this reconciliation the monks gave Walter de Berzé three hundred shillings.
The Church at Cluny
The earlier church, afterwards called St. Pierre le Vieux, which filled Peter Damiani’s companion with wonder, became too small as both monks and pilgrims increased in numbers. In 1089 the foundation-stone was laid of the largest church in the world before the building of St. Peter’s at Rome. It was north of the older church which divided it from the cloister. In six years the choir was so far advanced that it was dedicated by Urban II, when he stayed at Cluny on his way to hold the council of Clermont, at which he preached the first crusade. The nave was longer in building, for part of it collapsed in 1125, and the church was finally dedicated by Innocent II in 1132. It had double aisles, double transepts and an ambulatory with radiating chapels, and a nave of sixteen bays. There were three towers at the crossing between the nave and the greater transept, another tower at the crossing of the choir and the eastern transept, and two towers at the western end of the narthex which was not finished until 1220. The total length of the church then was over 530 feet.
After the Revolution, this church was almost entirely destroyed: it was sold to speculators who spent nearly as many years in pulling it down as the monks had taken in building it. Only the southern arm of the greater transept remains with the great octagonal tower, the ‘clocher de l’eau bénite,’ and the smaller ‘clocher de l’horloge.’ Yet Cluny is well worth a visit. From Mâcon, now an important junction on the main Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée line, a branch runs to Cluny and on to Paray-le-Monial.
The best way to approach Cluny is to get out at the wayside station of La Croix Blanche to visit Berzé-le-Châtel and Berzé-les-Moines. The castle of Berzé is splendidly situated on a very steep high hill, and is inhabited by a descendant of its mediaeval lords; the present building is mainly of the fifteenth century, though the great gateway and the outer wall and towers are of earlier date. On a lower hill is the ‘château des moines’ of Berzé-la-Ville, an eighteenth-century group of buildings on the land which the monks of Cluny owned in 1050 when they suffered from the raids of Walter de Berzé. In the Romanesque chapel which was built by Abbot Hugh about 1100 there are wonderful contemporary frescoes which were hidden under whitewash until they were discovered in 1887.
From Berzé it is pleasant to drive behind a good horse over the hills down into the valley, past banks covered with golden broom in May, and so to enter Cluny, like the popes, by the bridge across the Grosne, seeing as the most conspicuous tower in the town the ‘clocher de l’eau bénite.’ The Hôtel de Bourgogne covers part of the ground on which once stood an aisle of the nave. Though much has been wantonly destroyed, there is still much to interest the traveller in the fragment of the great church and the Chapelle de Bourbon, in the charming lodgings of the abbots—the one of Jean de Bourbon (1457–1485) now the Musée Ochier containing twelve of the magnificent capitals from the choir of the abbey church, the other of Jacques d’Amboise (1485–1510) now the Hôtel de Ville—the eighteenth-century buildings of the monastery, the walls and towers of various dates, the two fine parish churches, and stone houses of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
This article was originally part of the book English ecclesiastical studies; being some essays in research in medieval history. Click here to download a PDF version of this article, which includes footnotes. To learn more about the historian Rose Graham, please see her Wikipedia page.
Subscribe to Medievalverse
Related Posts