he abbey of Cluny was founded by William I of Aquitaine, also known as William the Pious. The abbey is located in the south of France in the area called Burgundy. It's founding abbot was a man called Berno, who used the strict Benedict Rule to base the rules of the new abbey upon. The abbey was granted independence from secular and episcopal control, placing it directly under papal authority allowing Cluny to focus on monastic ideals without interference from feudal lords or bishops. Monks at Cluny devoted most of their time to daily prayers fostering a culture of prayer and scholarship and discouraging manual labour in favor of intellectual and spiritual pursuits, distinguishing it from other Benedictine monasteries. During the twelfth century Cluny became a vast monastic network with hundreds of affiliated monasteries across Europe, but faced criticism for its wealth and lavish liturgical practices, which some saw as excessive. The rise of new monastic orders, such as the Cistercians (founded by Bernard of Clairvaux), who emphasized simplicity and manual labor, led to Cluny's relative decline.