At the same time the church became more tolerant of war in the defense of faith, espousing theories of the just war ; and liturgies were introduced which blessed a knight's sword, and a bath of chivalric purification. The first noted support for chivalric vocation, or the establishment of knightly class to ensure the sanctity and legitimacy of Christianity was written in 930 by Odo, abbot of Cluny in the Vita of St. Gerald of Aurillac, which argued that the sanctity of Christ and Christian doctrine can be demonstrated through the legitimate unsheathing of the “ sword against the enemy .” In the 11th century the concept of a " knight of Christ " ( miles Christi ) gained currency in France, Spain and Italy.

In 1074 Odo then granted by deed the remainder of the parish and also the right of the abbot to be " Chief Lord of the Fee ".

Odo was also the lay abbot of St. Martin of Tours.

Appointed by Odo ruler of several counties, including the county of Paris, and abbot in commendam of many abbeys, Robert also secured the office of Dux Francorum, a military dignity of high importance.

Their children were: Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy ( 1057 – 1093 ); Odo I, Duke of Burgundy ( 1058 – 1103 ); Robert, bishop of Langres ( 1059 – 1111 ); Helie, a nun ( b. 1061 ); Beatrice ( b. 1063 ), married Guy I, count of Vignory ; Reginald, abbot of St Pierre ( 1065 – 1092 ); Henry, Count of Portugal ( 1066 – 1112 ), who became a vassal of León and ruler of the county of Portugal in 1093-his son would be Afonso Henriques, first king of Portugal

Saint Odo of Cluny ( French: Odon ) ( c. 878 – 18 November 942 ) was the second abbot of Cluny.

Odo followed him to Cluny, bringing his library ; there he became abbot on Berno's death in 927.

Odo became the great reforming abbot of Cluny, which became the model of monasticism for over a century and transformed the role of piety in European daily life ( see Clunian Reforms ).

In 1072 he had presided over the great Kentish suit between the primate and Bishop Odo, and about the same time over those between the abbot of Ely and his despoilers, and between the Bishop of Worcester and the abbot of Ely, and there is some reason to think that he acted as a Domesday commissioner ( 1086 ), and was placed about the same time in charge of Northumberland.

Scholars now believe that this Life of Maurus is a forgery by the late-9th-century abbot of Glanfeuil, Odo.

An orderly succession of able and educated abbots, drawn from the highest aristocratic circles, led Cluny, and three were canonized: Saints Odo of Cluny, the second abbot ( died 942 ); Hugh of Cluny, the sixth abbot ( died 1109 ); and Odilo, the fifth abbot ( died 1049 ).

Upon returning home, the pilgrim hastened to inform the abbot of Cluny, who then set 2 November as a day of intercession on the part of his community for all the souls in Purgatory.

Albornoz had managed to submit only the former when he was being recalled in 1357, being replaced by Androin de la Roche, abbot of Cluny.

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.

The reformation sponsored by Cluny Abbey was supported by him, and he was a friend of its abbot, St. Odilo.

In 1083 the peace-loving abbot joined Hugh of Cluny in an attempt to reconcile pope and emperor, and his proceedings seem to have aroused some suspicion in Gregory's entourage.

** Peter the Venerable, Benedictine abbot of Cluny

Setting out shortly after Christmas, he met with abbot Hugh of Cluny at Besançon, where he was joined by the young monk Hildebrand, who afterwards became Pope Gregory VII ; arriving in pilgrim garb at Rome in the following February, he was received with much cordiality, and at his consecration assumed the name Leo IX.

Some of these were merely agricultural estates with a single foreign monk in residence to supervise things, others were rich foundations in their own right ( e. g. Lewes Priory which was a daughter of Cluny and answered to the abbot of that great French house ).

The Cluniac order is notable for being organised entirely on this obedientiary principle, with a single abbot at the Abbey of Cluny, and all other houses dependent priories.

* Pierre de Châlus ( died in February, 1352 ), abbot of Cluny.

Its litigious monastic community was prepared to defend its liberties and privileges against all comers: the bishops of Autun, who challenged its claims to exemption ; the counts of Nevers, who claimed jurisdiction in their court and rights of hospitality at Vézelay ; the abbey of Cluny, which had reformed its rule and sought to maintain control of the abbot within its hierarchy ; the townsmen of Vézelay, who demanded a modicum of communal self-government.

Henry IV requests mediation from Matilda of Tuscany and abbot Hugh of Cluny.

The translation was made at the behest of Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, and currently exists in the Bibliothèque de l ' Arsenal in Paris.

The structure was rebuilt by Jacques d ' Amboise, abbot in commendam of Cluny 1485-1510 ; it combines Gothic and Renaissance elements.

He then wrote to King Rudolph of France, as well as local bishops and counts, with instructions to restore to Cluny the property of which Guido, abbot of Gigny Abbey, had taken without permission, and to put the monastery under their protection.

It was typical for a career at Cluny Abbey to get one of the most prestigious positions as a cantor and to continue as a reforming abbot in another Abbey, which was subjected to this powerful and ambitious Abbey.

Hugh retired to a monastery, took vows as a monk and later became abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny.

About 909, he became a monk, priest, and then superior of the abbey school in Baume, whose abbot, Berno, was the founder and first abbot of Cluny Abbey in 910.

* Anastasius of Suppentonia – abbot ( died 570 )

* Arnaud Amalric, seventeenth abbot of Citeaux, died 1225

Desiderius, abbot of Monte Cassino was first chosen pope as Victor III when Gregory VII died in 1085, but after Victor's short reign, Otho was elected Pope Urban II by acclamation ( March 1088 ) at a small meeting of cardinals and other prelates held in Terracina in March 1088.

Around 716, when his abbot Wynberth of Nursling died, he was invited ( or expected ) to assume his position — it is possible that they were related, and the practice of hereditary right in early Anglo-Saxon would affirm this.

In 1468 the abbot, Ulrich Rösch, bought the county of Toggenburg from the representatives of its counts, after the family died out in 1436.

Dub won the battle, fought " upon the ridge of Crup ", in which Duchad, abbot of Dunkeld, sometimes supposed to be an ancestor of Crínán of Dunkeld, and Dubdon, the mormaer of Atholl, died.

* Arnulf of Leuven ( died 1250 ), medieval abbot

When Máeldub died, Aldhelm was appointed in 675, according to a charter of doubtful authenticity cited by William of Malmesbury, by Leuthere, Bishop of Winchester ( 671 – 676 ), to succeed to the direction of the monastery, of which he became the first abbot.

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.

He remained the abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery until he died while meditating in 1474 at the age of 84 ( 83 by Western reckoning ).

The first new abbot was Boniface Natter, who died at sea in 1906, when the SS Sirio was shipwrecked.

When the previous abbot of St Augustine's died in 1151, the prior, Silvester, paid the king for the right to administer the abbey and to hold a free election for a new abbot.

Regino Prumiensis ( also Reginon ; German Regino von Prüm, sometimes anglicized Regino of Prüm ; died 915 ) was a Benedictine abbot and medieval chronicler.

William de St-Calais ( also Calais or Carileph or Carilef ; died 1096 ) was a medieval Norman monk, abbot of the abbey of Saint-Vincent in Le Mans in Maine, who was nominated by King William I of England as Bishop of Durham in 1080.

* Anselm of Farfa ( died 883 ), abbot

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.

55 monks were arrested and many others were interrogated and tortured, including the abbot of Naksansa, who died from the abuses.

* Donald Campbell ( abbot ) ( died 1562 ), Scottish noble and churchman

The first new abbot was Boniface Natter, who died in a shipwreck in 1906.

As he arrived, he told the abbot, " I am come to leave my bones among you .” Wolsey died at the abbey on 29 November 1530 and was buried within the walls of the Abbey church, where today a monument stands on his supposed resting place.

On the site of a former nunnery at Chich, Richard de Belmeis of London, in the reign of Henry I founded a priory for canons of Saint Augustine, and dedicated it to Saint Osgyth ; his remains were buried in the chancel of the church in 1127: he bequeathed the church and tithes to the canons, who elected as their first abbot or prior William de Corbeil, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury ( died in 1136 ).

Chad (; died 2 March 672 ) was a prominent 7th century Anglo-Saxon churchman, who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People.