and later the Carolingians, succeeded in withdrawing Farfa from obedience to the Bishops of Rieti, and in securing many immunities and privileges for the monastery. If we may credit the Chronicon Farfense, with the exception of the Abbey of Nonatola, Farfa was at this period the most important monastery in Italy both from the point of view of worldly riches and ecclesiastical dignity. In 898, the abbey was sacked by Saracens who then burned it. Between 930 and 936, Farfa was rebuilt by Abbot Ratfredus, who was afterwards poisoned by two wicked monks, Campo and Hildebrand, who divided the wealth of the abbey between them, and ruled over it until Alberic I of Spoleto, Prince of the Romans, called in Odo of Cluny to reform Farfa and other monasteries in the Duchy of Rome. Campo was exiled, and a holy monk with the Merovingian name of Dagibert took his place. At the end of five years, he also died by poison — and the moral condition of Farfa was once more deplorable. The monks robbed the altars of their ornaments, and led lives of unbridled vice. Owing to the protection of the Emperor Otho, the abbot John III, who had been consecrated circa 967 by the pope, succeeded in re-establishing a semblance of order. But the great reformer of Farfa was Hugues (998-1010). His nomination as abbot was not secured without simony — but the success of his government palliates the vice of his election. At this instance, abbots Odilo of Cluny and William of Dijon, visited Farfa, and re-established there the love of piety and of study. The Consuetudines Farfenses drawn up about 1010 under the supervision of Guido, successor to Hugues of Farfa, bear witness to the care with which Hugues organized the monastic life at Farfa. Under the title Destructio Monasterii, Hugues himself wrote a history of the sad period previous to his rule; and again under the title Diminutio Monasterii, and Querimonium, he related the temporal difficulties that encompassed Farfa owing to the ambition of petty Roman lords. These works are very important for the historian of the period. One of Hugue's successors, Berard I, abbot from 1049 to 1089, made the abbey a great seat of intellectual activity. The monk Gregory of Catino (b. 1060) arranged the archives. To substantiate Farfa's claims and the rights of its monks, he edited the Regesto di Farfa, or