In those days nearly every great man was drawn into the Church, not alone because his services were needed, but also for the reason that in that field were the greatest opportunities for advancement. Otto III., therefore, made Gerbert Abbot of Gabbia, but he soon resigned the position (982). Nine years later he was
chosen Archbishop of Rheims (991).[426:1] In this new office he was kept very busy. He had a council pass an edict which was practically a declaration of independence.[426:2] He formed a confession of faith which was not considered orthodox.[426:3] His severe code of morals offended the looser clergy and aroused the jealousy of others. Consequently a party was organised against him composed of the clergy, Emperor, and Pope; and the papal legate held a court in Germany which deprived him of his episcopal functions.[426:4] Thus driven from office, he joined the court of Otto III. to cast his spell over that young idealist. In 996 he went with him down to Italy where he was soon elevated to the Archbishopric of Ravenna and invested with the insignia of his office by Gregory V. (998). Upon the death of Gregory V., in 999 Otto III. elevated him to that important office[426:5] as Sylvester II. He surrendered his heretical ideas and became the great forerunner of Hildebrand in attacking simony, in denouncing clerical abuses, in subjecting the higher clergy to his will, and in compelling obedience from the secular powers. To Stephen of Hungary he gave a king's crown and made him primate (1000).[426:6] He suggested the crusades and laboured with Otto III. for the realisation of the world Empire. After his death in 1003 he soon became the subject of all sort of wild legends.
Benedict VIII. (1012-1024) was elevated to the Papacy as a reform Pope by Henry II. and the German party, though he was not a German. He belonged
to the Clugniac reform party and was a brave, independent Pope who joined the Emperor in assailing simony and in sanctioning the celibacy of the clergy. Clement II. (1046-1047) was made Pope by Henry III. after deposing three rival Popes. He held a Roman synod which condemned simony for the future, forbade the practice by churchmen, made the penalty for disobedience excommunication, and endeavoured to eradicate the evil in Italy and Germany.[427:1]
The reform efforts of the Popes were supplemented by the reforming monastic orders. St. Nilus (910-1005), a Greek born in Calabria, after his wife's death in 940 entered the monastery of St. Mercurius, where he soon gained renown for his tortures, piety, and studies. Becoming disgusted with the monastic practices, he left the convent and wandered about as a hermit, taking St. Anthony as his model. His fame soon spread abroad so that when he made a pilgrimage to Rome he was greatly honoured there and even consulted by Gregory V. and Otto III. It was not long before he gained a large following of ascetics in Italy and with them founded several cloisters which were models of lofty zeal and piety.[427:2]
Another monk of this period imbued with the desire for reformation within the Church was St. Dunstan (924-988), the son of a West Saxon noble, educated in the monastic school of Glastonbury, and trained at court.[427:3] He early adopted the life of a monk, became a hermit, studied the Scriptures and made bells, and
was given to prayers and visions. Appointed Abbot of Glastonbury in 945, he began to reform the monastic life by restoring the early purity and simplicity. Becoming too much absorbed in the politics of his day and thereby coming under the displeasure of the king, he was banished to Flanders in 956 where he first learned of St. Benedict's rule. Two years later, however, he was recalled to England and soon appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Then he went to Rome to receive the pallium and, returning to his native land, put himself at the head of the reform party. He sought to replace the seculars by monks, to introduce the Benedictine rule, to enforce celibacy, to prevent concubinage, to require all priests to learn trades, and to forbid the clergy to hunt, hawk, play dice, get drunk, and scold.
The monastery of Clugny grew out of the urgent need of monastic reform. It was founded in 910 by Duke William of Aquitaine to honour Peter and Paul and was put under the immediate control and direction of the Pope.[428:1] Bruno (d. 927) was made the first abbot. He was a Burgundian who had already gained renown as a monastic leader. A modified St. Benedict's rule was introduced into the new monastery which absolutely forbade the possession of private property, prohibited the eating of quadrupeds, enforced a silence which resulted in the development of a sign language, required psalm singing and Bible reading, and demanded unquestioned obedience. Before Bruno's death six cloisters had been founded. Odo (927-941), a pupil and follower of Bruno, succeeded him.[428:2] He was a man of great energy and unusual spirituality, and
outlined the literary work of the order. From Pope John XI. he obtained the permit to unite more cloisters under his rule and to accept monks from unreformed monasteries. Before his death he had restored the ancient cloister life in countless monasteries over France and in Italy. Under succeeding abbots, Aymar (941-948), Majola (948-994), Odilo (994-1048), and Hugh (1048-1109), reforms were extended to German cloisters and to English monasteries; social and economic reformatory results were produced; the Truce of God was promulgated; and the reform spirit was spread throughout the Church, particularly in reference to simony, celibacy, and concubinage, and uncanonical marriage of the laity. At its height Clugny ruled over two thousand monasteries and produced such Popes as Hildebrand, Urban II., and Pascal II. After the thirteenth century the order began to decline and finally the French Revolution swept it out of existence.[429:1]
The Camaldolites grew out of an Italian reform movement independent of Clugny though no doubt related to it.[429:2] It came into existence at the end of the tenth century when the Clugniac movement had already reformed many of the Italian monasteries. The fundamental idea of this order was to reform the monastic evils of Italy by reviving the strictest form of ascetic life. The hermit, Simeon, St. Dominicus of Foligno, and St. Nilus were worthy, inspiring examples. Traditions of the Greek monastic fathers still lingered in southern Italy and in the Apennines land may have had some influence. St. Romould, born at