A Time of Great Confusion. Second-Generation Cluniac Reformers and Resistance to Monastic Centralization in the County of Flanders (c. 1125-1145)

Abstract

The present article argues that the years between circa 1125 and 1145 witnessed an attempt on behalf of ecclesiastical leaders from the archbishopric of Reims to homogenize and reorganize reformed Benedictine monasticism on a regional basis. Second-generation reformers controversially devised methods of supervision rooted in a Cluniac understanding of internal life but formally inspired by the Cistercian model of monastic organization. Central to the development of this new model of reformed monasticism was the leadership of Alvisus, abbot of Anchin and subsequently bishop of Arras. His interventions led to the creation of some form of regional supervision but failed to organize the Benedictine monasteries in the archbishopric of Reims into a well-structured, hierarchical network. A significant factor in convincing the reformers of the necessity of compromise was the fact that their objectives repeatedly clashed with the political interests of various ecclesiastical and secular leaders.