Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Cluny

 
Dictionary: Clu·ny   (klū'nē, klū-nē', klü-) pronunciation
Home > Library > Travel > Dictionary - Places

A town of east-central France north-northwest of Lyon. Its abbey, the center of an influential religious order, was founded in 910. Population: 4,540.

 

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Cluny
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Monastery founded in 910 by William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine. Established as a pious donation for the cure of the souls of the duke and his wife and family, the monastery at Cluny came to offer a more austere reading of the Benedictine Rule. It was dedicated to the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and in practice it came under the protection of the pope. William also established the independence of the monastery from all temporal rulers, religious or secular, and allowed the monks to elect the abbot. These liberties enabled the community to develop its emphasis on the liturgy and prayers for the dead, which inspired a reputation for holiness and attracted numerous benefactors. Cluniac monks were sent to reform monasteries throughout Europe and created a great web of related communities. Cluny's influence on the church in the 11th – 12th century has been widely recognized, and its abbots were greatly esteemed. Its predominance was eroded by the rise of the Cistercian order, and in the later Middle Ages the monastery declined. It was suppressed during the French Revolution and closed in 1790. Its Romanesque Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul (largely demolished in the 19th century) was the world's largest church until the erection of Saint Peter's Basilica.

For more information on Cluny, visit Britannica.com.

Architecture and Landscaping: Cluny
Top
Home > Library > Home & Garden > Architecture and Landscaping

By the early part of C12 the great Benedictine abbey of Cluny in Burgundy (destroyed) had the largest Romanesque church in Europe, with double aisles, double transepts with apsidal chapels, an ambulatory with radiating chapels, and a huge barrel-vaulted nave. This type of plan, devised to permit more altars to be placed in chapels, proved influential. The double transept is known as the Cluniac transept.

Bibliography

  • Conant (1979)
  • Eschapasse (1963)
  • J. Evans (1972)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)

French Literature Companion: Cluny
Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > French Literature Companion

Abbey founded in 909 by William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine, during the revival of Benedictine monasticism that marked the post-Viking period. Its foundation charter, which placed it under the protection of the Apostolic See, guaranteed it independence of secular and episcopal control. Under a series of outstanding abbots, monks from Cluny reformed many other monasteries and federated them to the mother house. Cluniacs devoted themselves to intercessory prayer, advocated penitential pilgrimages (the Cluniac pope Urban II launched the First Crusade), and were staunch supporters of the reforming papacy. Cluny's fortunes declined in the later 12th c.

[Jean Dunbabin]

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Cluny
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
Cluny (klū'nē, Fr. klünē'), former abbey, E France, in the present Saône-et-Loire dept., founded (910) by St. Berno, a Burgundian monk and reformer. Cluny was one of the chief religious and cultural centers of Europe. The third abbey church built on the site, Cluny III (11th cent.), was designed in the mature Romanesque style. As reconstructed by Kenneth J. Conant, Cluny III was a five-aisle basilica with double transepts and five radiating chapels around the apse. Towers marked the major and minor crossings of the nave, the major transept arms, and the western facade. When completed in the 12th cent., Cluny III was the largest church in the world. The abbey was mostly destroyed during the French Revolution.

Wikipedia: Cluny
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
This article is about the town and commune of Cluny. For the abbey of Cluny, see Cluny Abbey .
For other uses, see Cluny (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 46°26′07″N 4°39′36″E / 46.4352777778°N 4.66°E / 46.4352777778; 4.66

Commune of Cluny
Blason ville Cluny.svg
Cluny today.jpg
Location
Cluny is located in France
Cluny
Administration
Country France
Region Bourgogne
Department Saône-et-Loire
Arrondissement Mâcon
Canton Cluny
Mayor Robert Rolland
(2001–2008)
Statistics
Elevation 226–574 m (740–1,880 ft)
(avg. 248 m/810 ft)
Land area1 23.71 km2 (9.15 sq mi)
Population2 4,835  (2006)
 - Density 204 /km2 (530 /sq mi)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 71137/ 71250
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Cluny or Clugny is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. It is 20 km north west of Mâcon.

The town grew up around the Benedictine Cluny Abbey, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in A.D. 910. The height of Cluniac influence was from the second half of the 10th century through the early 12th.

The abbey was sacked by the Huguenots in 1562 and many of the valuable manuscripts were destroyed or removed.

Coat of arms in the 17th and 18th centuries

Contents

Geography

The river Grosne flows northward through the commune and crosses the town.

See also

References

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cluny


Stub icon This Saône-et-Loire geographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture and Landscaping. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Copyright © 1999, 2006 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
French Literature Companion. The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Copyright © 1995, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cluny".  Read more