Ecclesiastical and Monastic Associations 39and, under the name of Sylvester, the first French pope) brought about
great progress in science and mathematics through his broad knowl-
edge, which contributed greatly to architecture's ability both to embel-
lish and to be lighter and bolder. Gerbert had studied architecture with
the Arabs of Spain in Cordoba and Grenada and brought what he had
learned to his own country, where he entrusted its teaching and prac-
tice to the ecclesiastical schools. Gerbert himself taught in Reims and
his knowledge spread rapidly.
Abbot de Fleury, Fulbert (founder of the theological school of
Chartres), and Beranger (creator of the schools of Tours and Angers)
continued Gerbert's work. Lanfranc, who moved to France from Pavia,
established a monastic school at the Bec Abbey in Normandy, which
became the seat of a renaissance in the sciences and the arts. An era of
excitement in the minds of people began at this time, which far from
being hostile to the arts, only gave added impetus to them, especially to
architecture. The reading of Aristotle's metaphysics, also brought back
from Spain by Gerbert, initiated Christians into the Pythagorean sym-
bolism of numbers. Thus the symbolism of numbers and dimensions in
churches dates from this time.
The Benedictine Order to which Romanesque art owes the greatest
debt is definitely that of Cluny. During the twelfth century the abbey of
Cluny was the center and regulator of civilization. Solely from an archi-
tectural standpoint, the Cluny monks carried their art as far as the East.
The churches they erected in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Holy Land
during the time of the First Crusade were Burgundian. In this land of
great relics and Byzantine art, France remained naively faithful to its
genius. Though the Knights Templar contributed most to the spread of
Eastern influences on an operational level, the Benedictines were sub-
ject to the influence of these regions, and the Romanesque style does
indeed have a Byzantine feel.
The statutes from the Cluny monastery are divided into two books.
The second volume contains the rules to be followed in founding and
constructing new abbeys. According to the legislator, among the com-
partments that the body of the abbey contains, there should be a house
45 feet long by 30 feet wide designated to be the dwelling of all those
who toil on behalf of the monks. There should be another building