Reform and the Church, 1073–1122

Abstract

William's idea of the return to the golden age recalls the words in which Peter Damian had described the reform of the papacy forty years before:' the golden age of the apostles is now restored'; 'the golden age of David is renewed'. To supporters of the reform papacy the golden age of the church was that ancient period in which the faithful had built and endowed churches and showered their wealth on the clergy. The Pauline idea of reform influenced the early medieval monastic conversion to religion and played a significant part in the monastic reform movements of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. The ideal of the regular canonical life for the secular clergy was championed by the principal figures of the papal reform movement. The Gregorian reform was an attempt to restore not only the spirituality and standards of conduct of that golden age but also the material conditions and even the physical appearance of the churches.

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