Customer Reviews

Cluny: In Search of God's Lost Empire

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is well written and worth reading. As it explores the Cluny monastery, it covers a number of other subjects including politics, life styles, art, and of course religion. The prose is creative and accessible, and I especially liked the focus on architecture and art. The book really shines when the author rhapsodizes about tympanums, columns and sculptures found in the medieval churches. This book is even more valuable because so little of Cluny remains today, making this an essential read if you're interested in understanding more about medieval life and religion. My only quibble is that there aren't more images of churches, art etc. There are a few pencil drawings, but not nearly enough. I made up for it by googling the images as I read, and surprisingly many of them can be found online. In any case, it's only a small problem. I'd have given this book 4 1/2 stars rather than 5 because of it if the rating system would have allowed it.

The story is fascinating and worthy of a five star book. This isn't that book.

Why not?

One star off for factual errors. Even little things add up. For example, Mullins at one point calls Cluny an ally of the Vatican. Politically and religiously, that may be true--but the Holy See was run out of the Lateran Palace, not the Vatican, until the 14th century. A minor point, to be sure, but it's far from the only such lapse. And inattention to little details I know about makes me wonder how much I can trust details I don't know about.

One star off for lack of perspective. One need not be a medieval Catholic to write about Cluny. But it helps, considerably, to have thought more about the medieval era and its perspective than Mullins seems to have done. What we are given is the reflexive prejudices of the early 21st century, and only lip service to the idea that religious faith and love of God may have had as much--or more--to do with goings-on at Cluny than money, power, misogyny, and a "morbid fear of death." Every author brings his views to his books. A good author should at least make an attempt to understand his subject's views as well, and I didn't see much evidence of that here.

In other historical works I've occasionally found reference to "Cluny" and brief mention of its significance in medieval Europe. The abbey at Cluny played a dynamic role in the function of the church in Western Europe, and this book paints a clear, "readable" picture of that role. The author avoids rehashing material found abundantly in other works on medieval monastic life and focuses on the political and religious influence of this particular institution and its leaders. If this book has an obvious weakness it is its insufficient use of illustrations.

Very well written and fascinating story of what was the greatest church in the world before St. Peters and the order that ran it and much of Europe. It really fills in a definite blank spot in history as far as I am concerned. By "greatest" I mean largest and most important. Until tbe construction of St. Peters, Cluny played at least as major a role in Christendom as did Rome. As far as Europe is concerned, Cluny and its clergy were probably more influential among all but the ruling class.

Mullins shows his colors as more of an art and architecture writer than a historian. He also shows an amazing lack of respect for the faith and practices of the men of the Benedictine monastery of Cluny in France. The text is littered with rather antagonistic language regarding the Christianity and monasticism of Cluny, especially its celibacy, obedience, and supposed 'misogyny' - in essence, the reason for being of all that made Cluny what it was. It is hard to imagine a man with so little affection for the faith and life of the Cluniac monks writing a book on them that was published.

I was originally interested by Cluny through a reference in the 'Church in History' series (SVS Press) edited by Andrew Louth. Cluny was described as the mechanism whereby the Roman papacy 'learned' how to be a universal organization since Cluny's ability to administer its dependencies across most of Western Europe and into the Levant helped to turn the idea of a universal papacy with an active, immediate and local jurisdiction a reality. The lay investiture crisis between Pope and Holy Roman Emperor that Abbot Hugh of Cluny sought to defuse was also given, in Louth, as an example of clashing worldviews: Germanic (Frankish) law understood ownership as having to do with land alone - there was understanding of 'corporate personality' that would allow for a transnational, non-geographic organization such as the Church or a monastic Order to own and have authority over anything apart from the local landowner, lord or bishop.

Paradigmatic examples such as these that discuss Cluny as more than a romantic, medieval movement that left us some detritus of great art, but was itself little more than an example of the corrupt and backwards Roman Catholic church of the middle ages are lacking in "Cluny: In Search of God's Lost Empire". Mullins is more interested in poking condescending fun at the monks and their faith, reveling in his own knowledge of what remains of the tragic dismantling of the vast complex of Cluny itself, while only following the story of the abbey as a through line for the preceding.

While his prose is fluid and memorable, Mullins loses himself in architectural nomenclature that the average to above average reader will not be readily familiar. This could have easily been remedied by a series of well-noted photographs and diagrams (which may perhaps be present in the hardcover edition, but which are lacking in the paperback). The same can also be said of the now obscure locations mentioned in the book; this could have been helped by a better map both of Cluniac dependencies in Burgundy and the Maconnaise, France and abroad.

A better overview of the history of this influential religious Order should be available in English - or must soon be translated. Mullins should stick to writing books on peoples, movements and topics he has greater affection - and respect - for.

This book is a fascinating history of Cluny and its importance in the so called "Dark Ages". As others have commented it would have been significantly more useful with more pictures, but the Web has many photos and drawings on Google Images -- read it with access to a fast computer and make your own illustrations. There were 136,000 photographs and drawings this morning on Google, more than enough to get an excellent idea of the wonders that were Cluny.

Cluny was a Benedictine monastery in Burgundy, its church a massive structure of towers, roofs, walls, and windows 600 feet long and 100 feet high -- a wonder of the age. Its cathedral was the world's largest up until the completion of Rome's St. Peter's which was built just a little bit larger.

The monastery lost power and significance over the centuries until the French Revolution when the ruined city was auctioned off to a consortium that proceeded to sell it off, brick by brick until little remained. Nonetheless, this is still an interesting place to visit in Burgundy, and this book would be a useful resource before your trip.

This is a very interesting study of what was once a major religious center.

This book was a tremendous pleasure to read. Scholarship of this quality is seldom wed with writing this graceful. A beautiful reading experience. I would give this book ten stars if it were permitted.

Edward Mullins draws from a wide variety of sources and disciplines to give us an overview of Cluny, a Benedictine monastery in Burgundy, which in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries was one of the most influential and affluent institutions in Europe. For example, one of Cluny's abbots, Hugh, was close to both the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor and mediated power struggles between them. Mullins is especially strong in discussing the musical, artistic, and architectural significance of Cluny and the third abbey church (for five hundred years "the largest house of God in Christendom"). The book is well-written, although at times perhaps a tad over-written (example: "Whereas with Abbot Hugh the burdens of the world had always appeared a challenge to be welcomed, however heavy they might be, with Peter [the next great Abbot of Cluny] those burdens more often appeared to be a yoke, however light."). Reading CLUNY: IN SEARCH OF GOD'S LOST EMPIRE is a pleasant and informative way of traveling down one of the by-ways of history.

One minor gripe: the subtitle is inane, even more so than many instances of the far too prevalent, knee-jerk convention of employing colons in book titles.

Cluny was a major force in Europe during the so-called dark ages. It was at the height of its power at a time when Europe was a very dangerous place, seeped in mysticism and superstition. It was a time when the separation of church and state was an unknown concept. As such, Cluny became a major player in the theology, politics, and arts of the time.

Mullins does a wonderful job of delving into a time that is largely shrouded in mystery today, bringing the world of this period to life for the reader. Since Cluny and its abbots were major players in all aspects of life during the Dark Ages, this book touches on many of the aspects of life in that era. He also, very briefly, traces the demise of monasticism in the late Middle Ages and into the Reformation period.

For anyone interested in monasticism or church history during this period, I recommend this book.

The work of the residents of Cluny had a major influence in the pilgrimages of the middle ages, especially the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Campostela in the province of Galicia in Spain.

Edwin Mullins has also written an excellent book about the pilgrimage.

Anyone who wishes to imitate the pilgrims of the middle ages should consider making the pilgrimage to Santiago. Most of the religious buildings along the way show the massive influence of Cluny.

Don't just read about Cluny and the pilgrimage. Go see it and do it.
I am still on my pilgrimage and wear my scallop shell as a reminder.

Norma Williamson