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24 virgin.) So despotic did the tyranny become in the West, that in the time of Charlemagne it was necessary to restrain abbots by legal enactments from mutilating their monks, and putting out their eyes; while the rule of St Columba ordained 100 lashes as the punishment for very slight offences. An abbot also had the power of excommunicating refractory nuns, which he might use if desired by their abbess.

The abbot was treated with the utmost submission and reverence by the brethren of his house. When he appeared either in church or chapter all present rose and bowed. His letters were received kneeling, like those of the Pope and the king. If he gave a command, the monk receiving it was also to kneel. No monk might sit in his presence, or leave it without his permission. The highest place was naturally assigned to him, both in church and at table. In the East he was commanded to eat with the other monks. In the West the rule of St Benedict appointed him a separate table, at which he might entertain guests and strangers. This permission opening the door to luxurious living, the Council of Aix, A.D. 817, decreed that the abbot should dine in the refectory, and be content with the ordinary fare of the monks, unless he had to entertain a guest. These ordinances proved, however, generally ineffectual to secure strictness of diet, and contemporaneous literature abounds with satirical remarks and complaints concerning the inordinate extravagance of the tables of the abbots. When the abbot condescended to dine in the refectory, his chaplains waited upon him with the dishes, a servant, if necessary, assisting them. At St Alban's the abbot took the lord's seat, in the centre of the high table, and was served on silver plate, and sumptuously entertained noblemen, ambassadors, and strangers of quality. When abbots dined in their own private hall, the rule of St Benedict charged them to invite their monks to their table, provided there was room, on which occasions the guests were to abstain from quarrels, slanderous talk, and idle gossipping. The complaint, however, was sometimes made (as by Matt. Paris of Wulsig, the third abbot of St Alban's), that they invited ladies of rank to dine with them instead of their monks. The ordinary attire of the abbot was according to rule to be the same as that of the monks. But by the 10th century the rule was commonly set aside, and we find frequent complaints of abbots dressing in silk, and adopting great sumptuousness of attire. Nay, they sometimes laid aside the monastic habit altogether, and assumed a secular dress. This was a necessary consequence of their following the chase, which was quite usual, and indeed at that time only natural. With the increase of wealth and power, abbots had lost much of their special religious character, and become great lords, chiefly distinguished from lay lords by celibacy. Thus we hear of abbots going out to sport, with their men carrying bows and arrows; keeping horses, dogs, and huntsmen; and special mention is made of an abbot of Leicester, cir. 1360, who was the most skilled of all the nobility in hare-hunting. In magnificence of equipage and retinue the abbots vied with the first nobles of the realm. They rode on mules with gilded bridles, rich saddles and housings, carrying hawks on their wrist, attended by an immense train of attendants. The bells of the churches were rung as they passed. They associated on equal terms with laymen of the highest distinction, and shared all their pleasures and pursuits. This rank and power was, however, often used most beneficially. For instance, we read of Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, judicially murdered by Henry VIII., that his house was a kind of well-ordered court, where as many as 300 sons of noblemen and gentlemen, who had been sent to him for virtuous education, had been brought up, besides others of a meaner rank, whom he fitted for the universities. His table, attendance, and officers were an honour to the nation. He would entertain as many as 500 persons of rank at one time, besides relieving the poor of the vicinity twice a-week. He had his country houses and fisheries, and when he travelled to attend Parliament his retinue amounted to upwards of 100 persons. The abbots of Clugny and Vendome were, by virtue of their office, cardinals of the Romish Church.

In process of time the title abbot was improperly transferred to clerics who had no connection with the monastic system, as to the principal of a body of parochial clergy; and under the Carlovingians to the chief chaplain of the king, Abbas Curiœ, or military chaplain of the emperor, Abbas Castrensis. It even came to be adopted by purely secular officials. Thus the chief magistrate of the republic at Genoa was called Abbas Populi. Ducange, in his Glossary, also gives us Abbas Campanilis, Clocherii, Palatii, Scholaris, &c.

Lay abbots, so called, had their origin in the system of commendation, in the 8th century. By this, to meet any great necessity of the state, such as an inroad of the Saracens, the revenues of monasteries were temporarily commended, i.e., handed over to some layman, a noble, or even the king himself, who for the time became titular abbot. Enough was reserved to maintain the monastic brotherhood, and when the occasion passed away the revenues were to be restored to their rightful owners. The estates, however, had a habit of lingering in lay hands, so that in the 9th and 10th centuries most of the sovereigns and nobles among the Franks and Burgundians were titular abbots of some great monastery, the revenues of which they applied to their own purposes. These lay- abbots were styled Abbacomites or Abbates Milites. Hugh Capet, before his elevation to the throne, as an Abbacomes held the abbeys of St Denis and St Germain in commendam. Bishop Hatto, of Mentz, A.D. 891-912, is said to have held 12 abbeys in commendam at once. In England, as we see from the Acts of the Council of Cloveshoe, in the 8th century, monasteries were often invaded and occupied by laymen. This occurred sometimes from the monastery having voluntarily placed itself under the protection of a powerful layman, who, from its protector, became its oppressor. Sometimes there were two lines of abbots, one of laymen enjoying the lion's share of the revenues, another of clerics fulfilling the proper duties of an abbot on a small fraction of the income. The gross abuse of lay commendation which had sprung up during the corruption of the monastic system passed away with its reformation in the 10th century, either voluntarily or by compulsion. The like abuse prevailed in the East at a later period. John, Patriarch of Antioch, at the beginning of the 12th century, informs us that in his time most monasteries had been handed over to laymen, beneficiarii, for life, or for part of their lives, by the emperors.

In conventual cathedrals, where the bishop occupied the place of the abbot, the functions usually devolving on the superior of the monastery were performed by a prior. In other convents the prior was the second officer next to the abbot, representing him in his absence, and fulfilling his duties. The superiors of the cells, or small monastic establishments dependent on the larger monasteries, were also called priors. They were appointed by the abbots, and held office at their pleasure.

Authorities: Bingham, Origines; Ducange, Glossary; Herzog, Realwörterbuch; Robertson, ''Ch. Hist.; Martene, De Antiq. Monast. Ritibus, Montalembert, Monks of the West''