Cluny’s last great abbot was Peter the Venerable (r. 1122–56), who gave sanctuary to
Abélard and engaged in debates with Bernard of Clairvaux concerning Cluniac and
Benedictine observance.
Ravaged by the Wars of Religion and progressively demolished for its stone between
1798 and 1812, almost nothing of Cluny III survives save the south tower of the main
transept and a later side chapel built by Cardinal de Bourbon in the Burgundian Gothic
style (1456). One can, however, gain a sense of this once magnificent Romanesque
basilica through smaller-scale churches apparently close in style, such as Paray-le-Monial
and the cathedral at Autun.
Nina Rowe
[See also: AUTUN; BRUNO; CLUNIAC ORDER; CONSTRUCTION
TECHNIQUES; HUGUES DE CLUNY; ODILO; ODO; PARAY-LE-MONIAL; PETER
THE VENERABLE; SOUVIGNY]
Conant, Kenneth John. Cluny: les églises et la maison du chef d’ordre. Mâcon: Protat, 1968.
Current Studies on Cluny. Special issue of Gesta 27.1/2 (1988).
Magnien, Émile. Cluny, l’abbaye, la ville, la région: guide historique et touristique. Mâcon:
Combier, 1957.
Virey, Jean. L’abbaye de Cluny. Paris: Laurens, 1950.
COATS OF ARMS
. See ARMS, HERALDIC
CODEX CALIXTINUS
. See LIBER SANCTI JACOBI
CŒUR, JACQUES
(ca. 1395–1456). The most important businessman of medieval France, Jacques Cœur
was born into a wealthy family in Bourges. By 1430, he was established as a financier,
merchant, and master of France’s Levantine trade, and he soon became a favorite of
Charles VII. Royal argentier after 1438 and ennobled after 1441, he reorganized Valois
coinage and finances and served as royal commissioner in financial and commercial
negotiations. His vast financial, commercial, and industrial empire eventually made him
the wealthiest man in Europe. During this period, he built a house in Bourges that
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