Jocelin Of Brakelond's Chronicles of the Abbey of Bury St. Edmonds

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We think of leadership positions as highly regarded and important positions and this is very true. Most of our leaders today are elected because they want to take on the leadership roles of whatever position they are filling. They know that there will be some people for them, some against, and some indifferent about their positon. They realize that not every decision they make will keep everyone happy. Yet, throughout their term in their position they stay strong no matter what has gone on and they continue their leadership strong until the day they die or are relived of their position. What about the abbots what kind of men where they and why were they chosen? What made them so special? What does it mean to be an Abbot?
The dictionary definition of an abbot is a man who is in charge of all the monks in a abbey. Although this is a very simple definition it does not fully give us the meaning of what abbots have to do in order to serve their god and people. We could compare them to a government official in todays time. They are not the president or a simple citizen, but they do hold a vast amount of power in which they can control the people and the president at times.
The abbot before abbot Samson was abbot Hugh. It was said that he was, “A gentle and kind man, he was good and devout monk, but lacked ability in business matters.”[ Jocelin Of Brakelond. Chronicles of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. trans. Diana Greenway and Jane Sayers (Oxford University Press,1989), 3.] He would listen to other peoples advice more than he would listen to his own intuition and that led him to be a poor leader. It was not to say that he was a bad abbot but he simply did not care about most responsibilities he had. Everyone did as they pleased b...

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...hat the abbey could make money for use for the abbey, the abbot, the land, and for the king. The abbots response was to threaten Herbert and force him to destroy the mill that he had built.
Overall abbot Samson was a good abbot who was respected by his piers and by the people that followed under his rule. He was wise and was very good at maintaining the land he controlled. He also was able to pay of most of the debts that were created under abbot Hugh’s term. Abbot Samson had created new buildings and had appointed new management for the land in order to keep the land maintained and at peace. He listened to the king and the pope who were his superiors and there was never a serious issue while abbot Samson was in term.

Works Cited

Jocelin Of Brakelond. Chronicles of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. trans. Diana Greenway and Jane Sayers (Oxford University Press,1989)

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