Montpellier 501Palermo. The king supported his foundation by the
incomes from the fortified mountains towns of Lato,
Calatrasi, and Corleone, overwhelmingly populated with
Muslims after the anti-Muslim pogroms of 1160–61.
FREDERICK II quelled rebellions there between 1222
and 1224, and these Muslims were deported to Lucera
in APULIA. The lands of this bishopric then had to be
repopulated.
Although the monastery of Monreale was no longer
connected with the ruling dynasty after the mid-13th
century, it remained one of the richest dioceses in south-
ern ITA LY. Built within a few years and completed in
1189, the church was framed by towers and fortifications,
entered by impressive doors, with a marvelous CLOISTER
with cosmatesque columns and sculpted capitals. A
palace was directly connected to the apse. The church
was built on the plan of a basilica reproducing aspects of
the royal Palatine chapel in Palermo. It had tall columns
and arches supporting a roof, with marble plaques and
MOSAICSin the BYZANTINEstyle. A costly endeavor, Mon-
reale was a church founded to be directly subject to the
will of a monarchy.
Further reading:Ernst Kitzinger, Mosaics of Monreale
(Palermo: S. F. Flaccovio, 1960); Wolfgang Krönig, The
Cathedral of Monreale and Norman Architecture in Sicily
(Palermo: S. F. Flaccovio, 1965); Roberto Salvini, The
Cloister of Monreale and Romanesque Sculpture in Sicily,
trans. Laura Valdes and Rose George (1962; reprint,
Palermo: S. F. Flaccovio, 1964).
Monte Cassino, Monastery of According to the
hagiographical account in GREGORY I THEGREAT’s Dia-
logues, Saint BENEDICT left Subiaco and settled in the
520s on this mountaintop between ROMEand NAPLES
once occupied by a pagan temple. He wrote his rule for
this monastery. The first establishment was destroyed by
the LOMBARDSin about 570. Around 718, at the request
of Pope Gregory II (r. 715–731), the monastery was
refounded by the duke of Benevento. In the eighth and
ninth centuries, the abbey received numerous properties
in southern ITA LY. The Carolingians imposed their rule on
the empire and granted the monastery properties in
Frankish Italy. The monastery remained subject only to
the pope.
In 883, Muslim raiders burned the monastery, which
was then abandoned again for more than half a century.
In 949, Abbot Baldwin, a disciple of Odo of Cluny
(ca. 879–942), restored the old abbey. Monte Cassino
then concentrated on building a compact lordship around
the monastery.
Monte Cassino’s golden age was the late 11th and
early 12th centuries as the mother church of the BENEDIC-
TINE ORDER. The abbey provided three popes, Stephen IX
(r. 1057–58), Victor III (r. 1087), and Gelasius II (r.
1118–19), as well as cardinals and bishops. Abbot
DESIDERIUStotally rebuilt the abbey, and Abbot Oderisius
(1087–1105) made it a great intellectual center with a
famous library and SCRIPTORIUM. In 1239, FREDERICKII
installed a garrison there. The abbots Bernard Ayglier
(1263–82) and Thomas (1285–88) were able to revive the
prosperity of the temporal properties. In 1322, JOHNXXII
elevated the monastery to a bishopric, but it was destroyed
by an earthquake in 1349. In 1369, Pope Urban V
(r. 1362–70) asked all Benedictine monasteries for contri-
butions to help rebuild Monte Cassino and invited monks
from all over Europe to move there. It has survived today.
See alsoCONSTANTINE THEAFRICAN.
Further reading:Herbert Bloch, Monte Cassino in the
Middle Ages,3 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer-
sity Press, 1981); H. E. J. Cowdrey, The Age of Abbot
Desiderius: Montecassino, the Papacy, and the Normans in
the Eleventh and Early Twelfth Centuries(Oxford: Claren-
don Press, 1983); G. A. Loud, Montecassino and Benevento
in the Middle Ages: Essays in South Italian Church History
(Aldershot: Ashgate/Variorum, 2000).Montefeltro, Federico da SeeFEDERICO DA
MONTEFELTRO.Montpellier The town of Montpellier appeared first in
an act of donation in 985, but it was probably not much
of an urban center then. By the late 11th century, it was a
town under the seigniorial family of Guilhem. In Decem-
ber 1090 he submitted to the bishop and became the lord
of Montpellier.
In the first half of the 12th century, a town wall was
built, followed in the late 12th and early 13th centuries
by another. In 1180 a certain Guy de Montpellier
founded the Hospitallers of the Holy Spirit. The Guilhem
family now had to govern with an urban class of lawyers,
notaries, and members of 72 guilds.
An Aragonese phase of Montpellier’s history began
with the marriage of Marie, daughter of Guilhem VIII,
to King Peter II (r. 1196–1213) of ARAGON. This pro-
duced a written constitution of the customs of Montpel-
lier. King JAMES I of Aragon, having weakened the
influence of the bishop of Maguelone, here established a
joint rule with the town that was mutually profitable.
The period ended in 1349 with the sale of Montpellier
for 120,000 crowns to the French king, Philip VI
(r. 1328–50). It had 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants in
about 1340 before the Black Death. Its merchants
worked all over the Mediterranean and at the Cham-
pagne FAIRS. It also possessed a university that was
famous for its law and medical schools.
By then the capital of the kingdom of Majorca, Mont-
pellier did not escape the demographic and economic
calamities of the 14th century. During the crisis and
despite the decline in its population, the town main-
tained considerable prosperity until the 16th century.