ABBOT. 



What avaricious barons liad extorted from single 

 convents in the 8th century, the weakness of the 

 Carlovingians accorded to their partisans, as a re- 

 ward of fidelity and military merit, since the kings 

 possessed the right of patronage over all abbeys es- 

 tablished on their crown lands or family estates, and 

 generally over all which derived their origin from 

 the royal bounty. Thus, in the 10th century, a 

 number of the most considerable convents in the 

 territory of the Roman church had lay abbots, or 

 abbot-counts, who appropriated to their own use the 

 income of these institutions. In cloisters fallen to 

 such worldly masters, the spiritual supervision was 

 discharged by inferior abbots, deans, or priors. To 

 the princes and princesses of the royal family, ab- 

 beys were presented, to defray the expenses of their 

 - tables : the richest were retained by the kings them- 

 selves ; thus Hugh Capet was abbot of St Denis, 

 near Paris, and of St Martin, at Tours. Nunne- 

 ries were sometimes assigned to men, and monas- 

 teries to distinguished females. But this abuse, 

 which had crept even into the Byzantine empire, 

 rarely survived the laymen who had received the 

 gifts. These were called commendatory abbots, be- 

 cause the form of the presentation was a recommen- 

 dation of the convent to their protection. The zeal, 

 which, in the beginning of the JLOth century, urged 

 a reform in monastic discipline, gradually succeeded 

 in abolishing such donatives to the laity j and mili- 

 tary abbots were now more rarely seen discharging, 

 in person, the duties of a soldier, though the convents 

 under royal patronage were for a long time retain- 

 ed, to reward the services of the crown vassals in 

 war, by contributions of money and peasants. The 

 superiors of the military clergy bore, in the camp, 

 the name of field abbots, as the name of abbot was, 

 in the middle ages, frequently used to denote not 

 only magistrates (as abbas populi, the prater at 

 Genoa) and secular ecclesiastical dignitaries, but 

 also the chiefs of religious and jovial fraternities, 

 e. g. abbas cornardorum, stultorum, the abbot of mis- 

 rule. In consequence of the reform commenced at 

 Cluny, there arose new monasteries without abbots, 

 over which the abbot of the convent of reformed 

 Benedictines, at this place, appointed priors or pro- 

 abbates, or even co-ablates, who remained depen- 

 dent on him. Besides the Benedictines, only the 

 grey monks of Vallombrosa, the Cistercians, Ber- 

 nardines, Feuillans, Trappists, Grandmontani, Prse- 

 monstratenses, and some bodies of regular choristers, 

 denominate their superiors abbots. In the other or- 

 ders, the' titles majores, ministri, priors, or rectors, 

 were in use. Besides the female branches of the 

 above orders, the nuns of Fontevraud and the 

 female secular choristers have abbesses. These have 

 always remained under the jurisdiction of their dio- 

 cesan bishops. The abbots of many other convents, 

 on the contrary, shook off the authority of the bish- 

 ops, and acknowledged no master but the pope. 

 The mitred abbots enjoyed the right, frequently 

 conferred on the Benedictines in the middle ages by 

 the papal legate, of adopting the episcopal title and 

 insignia. Only a few, however, possessed the epis- 

 copal power with dioceses of their own, of whom 

 there was not one in France. Before the period of 

 secularization, there were in Germany, but in Ger- 

 many only, princely abbots and princely abbesses. 

 These al>I>eys were secularized in 1803, and became 

 principalities. By rule, the choice of abbots apper- 

 tains to the chapters of their convents. In the in- 

 dependent abbeys, this is followed by the papal con- 

 firmation ; in the dependent, by the episcopal ; 

 yet, for a long time, many abbeys in Italy have been 

 conferred by the pope, and, in France, by the king, 

 notwithstanding the concordat of 1516. The secu- 



lar clergy, who enjoy these benefices without ob- 

 serving the rules of the order, are termed secular 

 abbots ; on the other hand, their vicars in the con- 

 vents themselves, like all abbots of the monkish or- 

 der, are called regular abbots. Younger sons of dis- 

 tinguished families have often entered the ranks of 

 the secular clergy, in order to become secular ab- 

 bots, and to receive the income of an abbey, without 

 being restricted by monastic rules. As such ex- 

 pectants were called in France abbes, this became a 

 general appellation for young secular clergy who 

 were out of office. (See Abbe.) Since the revolu- 

 tion, which changed the abbeys into national proper- 

 ty, and took from those expectants the object cf 

 their exertions, this class has diminished in trance ; 

 but it is yet numerous in Italy, where young scholars 

 are called abbots, merely from having undergone the 

 tonsure, though not in orders. Napoleon led a 

 whole army of Italian abbots to Corsica, where they 

 lived on reduced incomes, till the restoration scat- 

 tered them again over Italy. At the time of the re 

 formation, several abbeys and convents were retain- 

 ed for the benefit of the clergy and the support of 

 unmarried females. Some protestant clergymen, 

 therefore, still bear the title of abbot, with whicli 

 dignity the right of sitting in the diet of the states 

 is united ; as, for example, in the Wurtemberg as- 

 sembly. There are also Protestant ladies who are 

 called abbesses. In lower Saxony, this dignity was 

 indeed abolished, at the time of the confiscation of 

 the cloisters, &c., under the French Westphalian 

 government ; but in some countries, e. g. hi the king- 

 dom of Hanover, it has been restored. In the Greek 

 church, the superiors of a convent are called higume- 

 ni, mandooR, and the abbots general, archimandrites. 

 ABBOT, Charles, from 1802 to 1817 speaker of the 

 house of commons ; was born in 1755, and studied at 

 Westminster. His father was Dr Abbot, minister 

 of All Saints' church, at Colchester. Impelled by 

 the desire of distinction,. .he devoted himself to the 

 study of the law, though possessed of a considerable 

 fortune. His object, however, was not professional 

 reputation, though he had an extensive practice in 

 the court of chancery. On account of a Latin poem 

 which he wrote on the empress of Russia, Catherine 

 II., the Russian ambassador in London presented 

 him, in the name of the empress, with a gold medal. 

 He wrote some treatises on legal subjects, and was 

 chosen in 1790, 1796, and 1802, into the house of 

 commons. As a member of parliament he exerted 

 himself to introduce better order into the printing and 

 distribution of the acts of parliament ; and endeavour- 

 ed, though in vain, to effect a reform in the phraseo- 

 logy of the statutes, which should make them more 

 perspicuous. In 1795, he supported Pitt's famous 

 Riot Act, and always attached himself to the minis- 

 terial party. In 1796, he proposed, as chairmanof th 

 committee of finance, an amendment in the promul- 

 gation of the laws, which was accepted. In 1799, 

 he supported the imposition of the income tax. In 

 1800, he proposed to impose upon the collectors of 

 the public revenues the interest of the sums uncol- 

 lected, in order to prevent deficits in their returns ; 

 and voted to continue the Mutiny Bill till 1807. 

 He was successively first secretary of state in Ire- 

 land, and lord commissioner of the treasury; was 

 made privy councillor, and in 1802 speaker of the 

 house of commons. This post is fatiguing, but 

 lucrative, on account of the large fees Tor the en- 

 rolment of private bills which pass the house. 

 These bills are referred to a committee, whose re- 

 ports are almost always accepted, unless they pro- 

 pose an innovation on some established usage. The 

 speaker is very watchful to prevent the occurrence 

 of any thing informal in the wording of the bills, 



