This chapter examines how Abbo, the well-connected abbot of Fleury (Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire) in the Orléanais, sought out papal protection in the mid-990s. As the terms of the bull he solicited from Gregory V reveal, he was out to remove the monastery almost entirely from established networks of patronage and association. Saint-Benoît would henceforth be an exempt house, answering only to Rome and the pope. This was a dramatic decision, and it was not one Abbo took lightly. It was occasioned by his difficulties with the local bishop of Orléans, Arnulf. Arnulf was also a close associate of the king, Hugh Capet, and as such posed a double threat. Just as Anno had found immunity the best means of fending off the local count of Worms, so papal exemption offered Abbo the ideal solution to his problems with Arnulf. Indeed, it was to evade interference from the bishop of Orléans that the monks of Fleury would resort to forgery in later years. The result was a set of false papal privileges, intended to remove Saint-Benoît from the control of the local diocesan bishop. To understand how and why, the chapter turns from national to local affairs, appreciating the delicate balance of secular and ecclesiastical power within the Orléanais.
Malmquist Productivity Index by Extended VIKOR Method Using Interval Numbers
