What Is The Connection Between An Abbey, An Abbess And An Abbot?

An abbey is a large building or development, often the size of a small village that housed monks from various orders. Most abbeys belonged to monks of the Benedictine order or to orders of the Canons Regular. Abbeys are bigger and more important than priories, which also formed homes for monks, but not necessarily richer. One of the most economically successful monastic establishments was the cathedral priory of Durham.

An Abbott was the superior, most senior monk in the abbey of one of the Benedictine orders and of orders of the Canons Regular. He was usually elected to his post by the other monks in the abbey and he had great power, once he was abbot. The head of the Benedictine order has been called the Abbot Primate since the late 1800s, although this term was not in use in the heyday of the monasteries before their dissolution in the 1500s.

An Abbess was a much less powerful female counterpart of the abbot – she was responsible for the nuns in Benedictine orders.

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