The Cluniac Benedictine Order saw rapid expansion in Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries. Supported by the papacy, the nobility and the Holy Roman Empire, Cluny became the home of spiritual, intellectual and artistic life in Western Europe. By the 12th century, the Order comprised more than 1,500 monasteries within a tight organisational structure.
The mother abbey in Cluny was the centre of the Christian world for several centuries.
Cluny in Europe
