There is little doubt that the monastic ideal exercised a powerful influence on the communities in which monasteries were found.
             It has been estimated that there were around 340 religious houses and about 15,000 men and women in religious orders in the last quarter of the twelfth century in England and Wales. Rievaulx and the other surviving Yorkshire abbeys are testimony to the major building work then under way in that part of the European community. Abbots such as Ailred became influential 52figures in the church (Coleman, 1993). Italian abbots were automatic members of kings' councils, simply because of their station, their influence, and their service.
             Though not the first monastery founded to serve Christian beliefs, and not even the first founded by St. Benedict, Monte Cassino was founded in 529 by Saint Benedict of Nursia on the site of an Apollonian temple, northwest of Naples, and was to become the best known. Monte Cassino became the home of the Benedictine Order and was for many centuries the leading monastery in western Europe. It was destroyed by Lombardsin 590, by Saracens in 884, and by earthquake in 1349, and was rebuilt each time. The present buildings are in the style of the 16th and 17th centuries.
             Judged by the standards of the time, the Benedictine rule imposed no great amount of austerity or asceticism. It required the provision of adequate food, clothing, and shelter for the monks. Depending on the season of the year and the festival celebrated, the monks each day devoted a period of four to eight hours to celebrating the Divine Office and one period of seven or eight hours to sleep; the remainder of the day was divided about equally between work (usually agricultural) and religious reading and study. The abbot was given full patriarchal authority over the community, but was himself subject to the rule and was required to consult the members of the community on imp
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