Cluny: In Search of God's Lost Empire

by Edwin Mullins

Overview

A monastery like no other, this is Cluny’s story from humble beginnings in the early Middle Ages, through centuries of immense wealth and sacred glory, to its decline, destroyed by the French Revolution. Much of Cluny’s enduring legacy lies in great cultural innovations sponsored by the abbey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933346175
Publisher:	BlueBridge
Publication date:	09/01/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.32(w) x 8.08(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Edwin Mullins is an Oxford-educated writer, journalist, and filmmaker who has published numerous books on architecture and the visual arts.

Editorial Reviews

During the Middle Ages, the abbey at Cluny, in southern France, towered over every other church in Christendom, both physically and spiritually. An architectural marvel, the abbey also served as the headquarters for a steadily growing monastic movement directed by the Rule of Benedict of Nursia. By the end of the 12th century, however, the abbey's fortunes had begun to decline, thanks to external challenges to the authority of the church and internal conflicts about Cluny's mismanagement of financial resources. By turns prosaic and lively, this loving paean to Cluny by Mullins, a former art correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, traces the abbey's history from its inception in 910 to its ultimate destruction in the late 18th century. In particular, Mullins provides an intimate portrait of Hugh the Great, whose administrative and political skills as well as his theological sensibilities fostered the dramatic rise of Cluny. At his death, close to 1,500 Cluniac monasteries and 10,000 monks could be found scattered throughout England, France, Spain and Germany. During Hugh's tenure, Cluny provided money and spiritual support for the First Crusade. By the time Peter the Venerable succeeded Hugh, the abbey had begun its decline because of divisiveness among the monks and financial losses. Mullins's affection and admiration for Cluny provide a glimpse into a mostly forgotten medieval abbey. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

"Mullins...can write about Art...from a bedrock of scholarship and insight, but in a language available to the layperson."  —The Financial Times

"Mullins vividly portrays Cluny's meteoric rise, unbelievable wealth, and brilliant abbots, confidants of emperors, kings, and popes."  —Adrian House, author, Francis of Assisi

"Expertly reconstruct[s] the magnificent building and its history. The beautifully detailed narrative [is] a splendid achievement."  —Ross King, author, Brunelleschi's Dome

"Mullins's Cluny is, in every way, a remarkable achievement."  —Phyllis Tickle, author, The Divine Hours

"A valuable addition to a new generation of works clearing the cobwebs from our view of the medieval centuries."  —Stephen O'Shea, author, The Perfect Heresy

"A labor of love, dense with recondite information lovingly chronicled and written in a lucid, aphoristic style."  —The Independent

Awarded First Place in the 2007 Catholic Press Awards for the category Best Book by a Small Publisher

From the Publisher