The monastery of Cluny was founded in 909 by Count William of Aquitaine.  William intended it to be an institution devoted to reform of the Church.  William dictated that the abbot be freely elected by the monks of Cluny, not by the his successors or the bishop.  He stipulated that the pope would be the protector of the monastery.   Cluny was the main reform movement in French-- speaking lands; Gorzé in German-speaking lands to the East.  Click on Cluny for a reconstruction of the monastery.