Foundation Charter of Cluny: Source Analysis

The Foundation Charter of Cluny is a grant of authority written by Duke William I of Aquitaine and signed by Ingelberga and various other bishops and nobles. The charter was issued in the French city of Bourges and sanctioned by the Archbishop of Bourges. The Foundation Charter of Cluny was produced with the construction of the monastery of Cluny in 910 in Burgundy after Duke William donated a hunting lodge and the surrounding land to a monk of noble birth Mend Berno. Duke William constructed the charter in order to impose it on the monastery and the Cluniac monks allowing them freedom of control from other forces. The charter itself derived from the Rule of St. Benedict, which impacted monasticism greatly throughout the Middle Ages and was the base document for many later monasteries. The foundation Charter of Cluny was revolutionary in that it didn’t recognise the intervention of lay powers such as local landowners in the affairs of the monastery.

The Foundation Charter of Cluny outlines the rulings set by Duke William and established what would come to be known as the ‘cluniac reforms’. The charter focuses on spiritual salvation and is dedicated to honouring the Apostles Peter and Paul presenting them as the patrons of the monastery. It highlights the monastery’s freedom from lay authority and specifies the ownership of the monastery and that the abbot could not be subject to external influence. Duke William also stipulates that the monks and all their possessions come under the named abbot Berno. The Foundation Charter of Cluny was hugely influential affecting not only the original abbey of Cluny but also the several later establishments, which adhered to the charter set by Duke William I in 910. Duke William I focuses great...

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...le. This sovereignty emphasises an essential notion that differed the Cluniac rule to that of previous monasteries incorporating the Rule of St. Benedict with the alterations of Duke William I. The Cluniac monks became renowned for their prayers for the dead, which attracted more and more attention throughout the lay people gaining the monastery popularity and subsequently wealth. In the monasteries attempt at the monks living an isolated life with uncompromising respect for monastic purity, the attraction of lay people forced the monks to interact and become involved with temporal matters consequently contradicting entirely the Foundation Charter. The Cluniac Monastery attracted a lot of attention across the Kingdom of France and other European Kingdom’s, which greatly influenced the Foundation Charter’s expanding influence and therefore significance historically.