The feudalization of the abbot and his household had, as we have noted, very serious consequences in monastic history, and was invariably accompanied, to a greater or less degree, by a profound change in relationships between abbot and community which on the continent culminated in the virtual extinction of the abbatial office in favour of commendatory placeholders. Even where, as in England, matters did not come to such a pass, the abbot became an autocrat rather than a father: he was in office for life; he disposed without any control of a large revenue and a numerous household; and even where the finances of the convent were concerned, a domineering or unscrupulous abbot did not in fact need to fear any effective opposition.

When, therefore, the papal Curia under Innocent III and his immediate successors turned its attention to the reform of the old orders, it was concerned to put a check on the abbot's power of ruining a house unhindered. Legates of the period laid down or confirmed regulations limiting the abbot's establishment and putting all revenues, even those of the abbot's chamber, under the control cf treasurers, from whom the abbot's chaplains were to draw funds as need arose, and to whom the abbot himself must give account. In addition, all leases and grants, even when the Abbot's lands were concerned, were to be submitted to the community, one of whom, chosen from and by his brethren, was to keep the abbot's seal.

Innocent III in his personal directions went a stage further, and endeavoured to bring the abbot back into the common life of the monastery, and Gregory IX carried this attempt over into his decretals.