Their  annalists  indeed  in  later  days  groaned
under  the  exactions  to  which  the  land  was
subjected  by  the  insatiable  cupidity  of
the  Roman  court,  when  its  agents  were
quartered  on  their  churches  and  enormous
tributes  levied,  but  they  could  not  venture
to  renounce  the  aid  of  so  powerful  a  protector,
with  whose  help  bishops  and  even  kings
might  be  at  times  defied.  It  was  their  pride
to  gather  in  their  archives  the  series  of  papal
Bulls  which  had  been  granted  to  their  prayers :
the  ancient  charters — forgeries  sometimes —
which  were  prized  as  the  evidences  of  privileges
and  exemptions  bestowed  on  the  whole  order,
or  on  its  members,  which  defined  their  rights
and  secured  them  from  episcopal  control.
The  general  government  of  a  monastery
depended  on  the  abbot,  who  had  been  elected
by  the  monks  after  the  royal  licence  had  been
gained,  and  had  received  confirmation  from
the  bishop  or  Pope,  his  special  deputies  being
the  prior  and  sub-prior  appointed  by  him.
