Western Civilization.p

Medieval Religion and Thought161

celibacy. The policy was first adopted by Leo IX, but

implementation was gradual because it left concubines

without support and because the laity was often suspi-

cious of priests who lacked a woman of their own (see

document 9.3).

The reformers were, in other words, triumphalists

who believed that their monastic ideals should domi-

nate the church and that the church should be the

dominant institution in a Christian society. The visible

symbols of that dominance were the great churches

constructed during the eleventh and twelfth centuries

in what has become known as the Romanesque style

(see illustration 9.1). Abandoning the basilica with its

DOCUMENT 9.3

The Cluniac Reformers

and Clerical Celibacy

The reforms of Pope Leo IX spread slowly in Western Chris-

tendom, and fifty years later, archbishops were still trying to

impose a celibate life on priests. The following document is an

account by Ordericus Vitalis in 1119 of how one French

archbishop tried to enforce Leo’s reforms.

Geoffrey, the archbishop, having returned to
Rouen from attending the church council at Reims,
held a synod of priests in the third week in No-
vember. Stirred up by the late papal decrees, he
dealt sharply and rigorously with the priests of his
diocese. Among other canons of the council which
he promulgated was that which interdicted them
from commerce with females of any description,
and against such transgressors he launched the ter-
rible sentence of excommunication. As the priests
shrunk from submitting to this grievous burden,
and in loud mutterings among themselves vented
their complaints of the struggle between the flesh
and the spirit to which they were subjected, the
archbishop ordered one Albert, a man of free
speech, who had used some offensive words, I
know not what, to be arrested on the spot, and he
was presently thrust into the common prison.
This prelate was a Breton and guilty of many
indiscretions, warm and obstinate in temper, and
severe in his aspect and manner, harsh in his cen-
sures, and withal, indiscreet and a great talker. The
other priests, witnessing this extraordinary pro-
ceeding, were utterly confounded; and when they
saw that, without being charged with any crime or
undergoing any legal examination, a priest was
dragged, like a thief, from a church to a dungeon,
they became so exceedingly terrified that they
knew not how to act, doubting whether they had
best defend themselves or take flight.
William of Malmesbury. Chronicle,trans. J. A. Giles. London:
Bohn, 1847. Reprinted in James Bruce Ross and Mary Martin
McLaughlin, eds. The Portable Medieval Reader,pp. 57–58.
New York: Viking, 1949.

Illustration 9.1

The Romanesque Church of the Abbey of St. Léger at

Merbach, Alsace.A typical Romanesque exterior has square

towers and round arches. The structure was built between 1134

and 1155.