Around 910, William I, Duke of Aquitaine “The Pious” founded the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny with the “no strings” donation of his hunting preserve. The monastery would be free from any future obligations to him and his family or local authorities and subject only to the Pope. This freedom and the order’s strict adherence to Benedictine principles attracted bequests from all over Europe and the abbots of Cluny soon became the leaders of western monasticism. When the new abbey church was consecrated at the end of the 11th Century, Cluny became the largest church in the world until St. Peter’s Basilica was built 400 years later.
We took a break in Cluny for a visit to the Abbey on our way to Besançon. After lunch in the car we dutifully followed the brass “nailheads” from the parking lot to Tourist Information where we bought tickets—though maybe we shouldn’t have.. Although interesting and informative, the multi-media exhibit wasn’t worth the cost but it did give us a vision of what the Abbey Cathedral must have looked like at its zenith.
Like the Old Gray Mare, Cluny ain’t what she used to be. Over the centuries adherence to the austere Benedictine ways became lax, French nationalism didn’t favor monasteries and the Papal Schism, when there were two and sometimes three Popes, added to Cluny’s decline. The final stroke fell like a guillotine blade with the French Revolution. We had to use our imagination walking around the remains of the Abbey but the town and the still intact Church of Notre-Dame de Cluny were fine.
As we headed back to the car it looked as if we had wandered into Hogwarts. A group of student-engineers from Arts et Métiers school—many sporting long, garishly-painted robes—were on lunch break. One of the students told me that second-years were required to wear the robes. Only a freshman, he didn’t sound very enthusiastic about next year.
