The first case recorded of the partial exemption of an abbot from episcopal control is that of Faustus, abbot of Lerins, at the council of Arles, AD 456 ; but the exorbitant claims and exactions of bishops, to which this repugnance to episcopal control is to be traced, far more than to the arrogance of abbots, rendered it increasingly frequent, and, in the 6th century, the practice of exempting religious houses partly or altogether from episcopal control, and making them responsible to the pope alone, received an impulse from Pope Gregory the Great.

It was necessary that an abbot should be at least 25 years of age, of legitimate birth, a monk of the house, unless it furnished no suitable candidate, when a liberty was allowed of electing from another convent, well instructed himself, and able to instruct others, one also who had learned how to command by having practised obedience.

The abbot is chosen by the monks from among the fully professed monks.

The ceremony of such a blessing is similar in some aspects to the consecration of a bishop, with the new abbot being presented with the mitre, the ring, and the crosier as symbols of office and receiving the laying on of hands and blessing from the celebrant.

" This title hails back to England's separation from the See of Rome, when King Henry, as supreme head of the newly independent church, took over all of the monasteries, mainly for their possessions, except for St. Benet, which he spared because the abbot and his monks possessed no wealth, and lived like simple beggars, disposing the incumbent Bishop of Norwich and seating the abbot in his place, thus the dual title still held to this day.

He may have acted as suffragan, or subordinate bishop, to his predecessor Lyfing before formally assuming the bishopric, as from about 1043 Ealdred witnessed as an episcopus, or bishop, and a charter from 1045 or early 1046 names Sihtric as abbot of Tavistock.

Bede's first abbot was Benedict Biscop, and the names " Biscop " and " Beda " both appear in a king list of the kings of Lindsey from around 800, further suggesting that Bede came from a noble family.

Albinus, the abbot of the monastery in Canterbury, provided much information about the church in Kent, and with the assistance of Nothhelm, at that time a priest in London, obtained copies of Gregory the Great's correspondence from Rome relating to Augustine's mission.

Casimir brought her with him from Prague and convinced the abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Tyniec to marry them.

The chief theological opponents of iconoclasm were the monks Mansur ( John of Damascus ), who, living in Muslim territory as advisor to the Caliph of Damascus, was far enough away from the Byzantine emperor to evade retribution, and Theodore the Studite, abbot of the Stoudios monastery in Constantinople.

* John of Ford ( ca. 1140 – 1214 ), English religious leader who, from 1191 until his death, served as abbot of Dorset Cistercian monastery Forde Abbey ; ally of King John

Honorius had asked for permission from the abbot to allow him and his entourage permission to stay in the church of Santa Maria in Pallara, which was a traditional privilege belonging to the bishops of Ostia.

Aside from the Benedictines at Monte Cassino, Honorius was also determined to deal with the monks at Cluny Abbey under their ambitious and worldly abbot, Pons of Melgueil.

It is named after an abbot, Muiredach mac Domhnaill, who died in 923 and features biblical carvings of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

Appenzell declared itself ready to stand against the abbot, and in 1403 formed an alliance with the Canton of Schwyz, a member of the Old Swiss Confederation that had defeated the Austrians in the last century.

Appenzell declared itself ready to stand against the abbot, and in 1403 formed an alliance with the Canton of Schwyz, a member of the Old Swiss Confederation that had defeated the Austrians in the last century.

In 1405 the Appenzell estates of the abbot successfully rebelled and in 1411 they became allies of the Old Swiss Confederation.

Appenzell declared itself ready to stand against the abbot, and in 1403 formed an alliance with the Canton of Schwyz, a member of the Old Swiss Confederation that had defeated the Austrians in the last century.

Ælfric of Eynsham (; ) ( c. 955 – c. 1010 ) was an English abbot, as well as a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres.

The Leiden Willeram is the name given to a manuscript containing a Low Franconian version of the Old High German commentary on Song of Solomon by the German abbot Williram of Ebersberg ( ultimately by Isidore of Seville ).

639 ), was an early Irish saint and abbot of Lethglenn or Leithglenn, now Old Leighlin in Co. Carlow, who is supposed to have lived in the 6th and 7th centuries.

He later entered the monastery at Old Leighlin in Ireland where he became abbot and possibly bishop.

Saint Drostan ( d. early 7th century ), also Drustan, Dustan, and Throstan, was the founder and abbot of the monastery of Old Deer in Aberdeenshire.

Appenzell declared itself ready to stand against the abbot, and in 1403 formed an alliance with the Canton of Schwyz, a member of the Old Swiss Confederation that had defeated the Austrians in the last century.

The relationships between the figures on the pillars and the capitals of the columns show the relationships between the Old and New Testaments, a theme introduced in Paris by Suger, the abbot of Saint Denis.

One of Æthelwold's pupils, Wulfstan of Winchester, wrote a biography which seems to have played a major role in promoting his cult, and in about 1004 Ælfric, another disciple and abbot of Eynsham, abridged Wulfstan's work in Latin and Old English.

* An abbot president is the head of a congregation ( federation ) of abbeys within the Order of St. Benedict ( for instance, the English Congregation, The American Cassinese Congregation, etc.

* 1946 – Cuthbert Johnson, English liturgist and abbot

* Ælfric of Eynsham, English abbot

* Ælfric of Eynsham, English abbot

** Nicholas Throckmorton, English churchman, last abbot of Westminster ( d. 1571 )

For this vivid descriptive history of abbeys and bishoprics, dwelling upon the lives of the English prelates saints, notably the learned wonder-working Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, William travelled widely in England.

Abbas Benedictus ( died 1194 ), abbot of Peterborough, whose name is accidentally connected with the Gesta Henrici Regis Secundi and Gesta Regis Ricardi, among the most valuable of English 12th century chronicles, which are now attributed to Roger of Howden.

* Aelred of Rievaulx ( 1110 – 1167 ), English writer, saint and abbot of Rievaulx

We were received by the abbot, and a priest translated into English.

John Feckenham ( c. 1515 – October, 1584 ), also known as John Howman of Feckingham and later John de Feckenham or John Fecknam, was an English churchman, the last abbot of Westminster.

Richard of Wallingford, an English abbot of St Albans monastery is credited for reinventing epicyclic gearing for an astronomical clock in the 14th century.

Meanwhile, Innocent had changed his mind, and reinstalled Savaric as abbot, ordering some English clergy to judge the specifics of the case, and allot the revenues of the abbey between Savaric and the monks.

John Nepomucene Jaeger, the first Bohemian abbot in the United States, was urged to establish a monastic community to teach at parochial schools in Bohemian as well as English.

1119 – 46 ), Norman English abbot and scholar

Alcuin was indeed a famous 8th-century English abbot, but he would not have produced a translation in the English of the King James Bible, living as he did in the era of Anglo-Saxon and ecclesiastical Latin, so the provenance of the text was immediately suspect.

Aelred ( 1110 – 12 January 1167 ), also Aelred, Ælred, Æthelred, etc., was an English writer, abbot of Rievaulx ( from 1147 until his death ), and saint.

Botwulf of Thorney ( also called Botolph, Botulph or Botulf ; died around 680 ) was an English abbot and saint.

In 1299, the abbot of Kelso was the English appointee, Thomas de Durham ( 1299-1307 ), but the abbey defended its Scottish identity.

In 1394, Repyngdon was made abbot of the abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis at Leicester, and after the accession of Henry IV to the English throne in 1399 he became chaplain and confessor to this king, being described as clericus specialissimus domini regis Henrici.

Christian missionaries coming to Britain in the 6th century and 7th century brought with them Latin religious terms which entered the English language: abbot, altar, apostle, candle, clerk, mass, minister, monk, nun, pope, priest, school, shrive.