t he earned himself by saying
masses for the dead was no longer allowed to be appropriated to him
for the purchase of books. Finally when the visitation came round in
1509, they delated him for spending too much time on writing, to the
neglect of the business of the monastery. But here they overreached
themselves. The Visitors called for his books, opened them and saw
that they were good--possibly they found their own names among the
ecclesiastical writers. The Prior was acquitted, and the mouths of his
enemies were stopped.

One cause of dissension in monasteries at this period was the
existence of an unreformed element among the monks; though in
Butzbach's time it had probably disappeared at Laach. Ever since the
Oriental practice of monasticism spread into the West, Christendom has
seen a continual series of endeavours towards better and purer ideals
of human life. Of all the monastic orders the Benedictine (520) was
the oldest and the most widely spread. But time had relaxed the
strictness of its observance; and indeed some of the younger orders,
such as the Cluniac (910) and the Cistercian (1098), had their origins
in efforts after a more godly life than what was then offered under
the Benedictine rule, the strictness of which they sought to restore.
In the fifteenth century reform of the monasteries was once more in
the air.[14] In 1422 a chapter of the Benedictine houses in the
provinces of Treves and Cologne met at Treves to discuss the question,
which had been raised again at the Council of Constance, and to
consider various schemes. The Abbot of St. Matthias' at Treves, John
Rode, learning of the stricter code practised in St. James' at Liege
since the thirteenth century, introduced it into his house; borrowing
four monks from St. James' to help him in the process. A few years
later John Dederoth of Minden, Abbot of Bursfeld near Goettingen, after
examining the new practice at Treves, decided to follow Rode's
example, and carried off four brethren from St. Matthias' to Bursfeld.
His influence led a number of neighbouring Benedictine houses to adopt
the new rule; and very soon a Bursfeld Union or Congregation was
formed of monasteries which had embraced what Butzbach calls 'our
reformation', with annual chapters and triennial visitations.

[14] At this point and again later about Chezal-Benoit I have
made much use of Dom Berliere's _Melanges d'histoire
benedictine_, 3^e serie, 1901.