In Egypt, the first home of monasticism, the jurisdiction of the abbot, or archimandrite, was but loosely defined.

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.

The first undoubted instance is the bull by which Alexander II in 1063 granted the use of the mitre to Egelsinus, abbot of the monastery of St Augustine at Canterbury.

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.

:" For this city he ordained, as the first among our people, the abbot Hiltin, whom he wanted to call John.

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.

The first Shaolin Monastery abbot was Batuo ( also called Fotuo or Buddhabhadra, not to be confused with Bodhidharma ) a dhyana master who came to China from India in 464 to spread Buddhist teachings.

Though disputing the legality of his condemnation, Berengar agreed to go, first passing through Paris to obtain permission from King Henry I of France, as nominal abbot of St. Martin at Tours.

* Simeon, first Norman abbot of Ely Abbey

In Eastern Orthodoxy, a monk or a nun is given a saint's name by their bishop or abbot at the time of their tonsure as the new monk's or nun's first act of monastic obedience.

Cîteaux Abbey was founded in 1098 by a group of monks from Molesme Abbey, seeking to follow more closely the Rule of St. Benedict, under the leadership of Saint Robert of Molesme, who became the first abbot, Saint Alberic, the second abbot, and Saint Stephen Harding the third abbot, who wrote the Carta Caritatis, that described the organisation of the order.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a monk of Cîteaux Abbey, left it to found Clairvaux Abbey in 1115, of which he was the first abbot.

At its head was an abbot, the first incumbent being Geoffrey of Canterbury, former prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, the Kent monastery that probably supplied Dunfermline's first monks.

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.

The first abbot, in 1123, was Hugh of Amiens who became archbishop of Rouen and was buried in Rouen Cathedral.

The cathedral's first archbishop was Augustine of Canterbury, previously abbot of St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in Rome.

Much of the current layout and proportions of the structure date from the first Norman abbot, Paul of Caen ( 1077 – 1093 ).

He was abbot of Samye, one of Tibet's most important monasteries and the first Buddhist monastery established in the Himalaya, but spent most of his life travelling or in retreat.

The monastery was designed by the community's first abbot, Dom Paul Couvreur, and is a fine example of Cistercian architecture.

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.

In 998 he established a Benedictine abbey at Sherborne and became its first abbot.

But her prettiness was what he had noticed first, and all the other things had come afterward: cruelty, meanness, self-will.

There was an artificial lake just out of sight in the first stand of trees, fed by a half dozen springs that popped out of the ground above the hillside orchard.

The first part of the road was steep, but it leveled off after the second bend and curled gradually into the valley.

No one was behind it, but in the rear wall of the office I noticed, for the first time, a door which had been left partially open.

The herd was watered and then thrown onto a broad grass flat which was to be the first night's bedground.

Once again, Tom Horn was the first and most likely suspect, and he was brought in for questioning immediately.

For Matilda, it was the first she had known in many a night.

Even the knowledge that she was losing another boy, as a mother always does when a marriage is made, did not prevent her from having the first carefree, dreamless sleep that she had known since they dropped down the canyon and into Bear Valley, way, way back there when they were crossing those other mountains.

Stevens was grunting over the last empty pocket when Russ abruptly rose and lunged toward Carmer's hat, which had tumbled half-a-dozen feet away when he first fell.

The Indian's arm whipped sidewise -- there was a flash of amber and froth, the crash of the bottle shattering against the side of the first car.

It was her first smile.

At first, I thought he was out of his head, talking wildly like this.

Hell, I gave him the first decent job he ever had, six, seven -- how many years ago was it, Rob ''??

Miss Langford ( her first name was Evelyn ) was an attractive girl.

School began in August, the hottest part of the year, and for the first few days Miss Langford was very lenient with the children, letting them play a lot and the new ones sort of get acquainted with one another.

It was just as well that the ignorant Dandy enjoyed himself to the hilt that first evening, for the room was to become his prison cell.

`` Bastards '', he would say, `` all I did was put a beat to that Vivaldi stuff, and the first chair clobbered me ''!!

In 1961 the first important legislative victory of the Kennedy Administration came when the principle of national responsibility for local economic distress won out over a `` state's-responsibility '' proposal -- provision was made for payment for unemployment relief by nation-wide taxation rather than by a levy only on those states afflicted with manpower surplus.

The first systematic thinking about this Pandora's box within Pandora's boxes was done four years ago by Fred Ikle, a frail, meek-mannered Swiss-born sociologist.

The smell at first was more surprising than unpleasant.

His collaboration with Washington, begun when he was the general's aide during the Revolution, was resumed when he entered the first Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury.