very widespread as a result of the "Hirsau Reforms". These reforms particularly focused on discipline and obedience, tough punishments for infringements of the rules and continuous supervision of the monks. Parallel with these developments he found it necessary, in order to bring under some sort of control the great numbers of laymen flocking to Hirsau, to create the institution of the conversi in the German Benedictine monasteries. Before this there were certainly men-servants in the monasteries, but they lived outside the monastery, wore no specifically religious clothing and took no vows. "The monastic reforms he called for in his "Hirsau Reform" became the most influential reforms of the 11th and 12th centuries east of the Rhine river, and served as an example to other monasteries." Many monasteries, perhaps as many as 200, both newly founded and long established, embraced the Hirsau Reforms. New abbeys, settled by monks from Hirsau, included Zwiefalten, Blaubeuren, St. Peter im Schwarzwald and St. Georgen im Schwarzwald in Swabia, and Reinhardsbrunn in Thuringia. Already existing monasteries which accepted the reforms included Petershausen near Konstanz, Schaffhausen, Comburg, and St. Peter's in Erfurt. Finally, there were the priories such as Reichenbach in Baden-Württemberg, Schönrain in Franconia and Fischbachau in Bavaria. He also had a standard edition of the Vulgate made for all the monasteries of the reform. Political implications Support for the reforms came primarily from Swabia and Franconia, with a smaller following in Central and East Germany. The spread of the Hirsau Reforms was directly related to the reputation William had acquired through the ecclesio-political propaganda of the Investiture Controversy, as the main support of Pope Gregory's faction in Germany and in Swabia. He was on the side of the counter-kings Rudolf of Swabia (1077–1080) and Herman of Luxemburg, Count of Salm (1081–1088). Among other things, the tenacity of the Gregorian party in south-west Germany was due to him, quite apart from the reputation of Hirsau Abbey among ecclesiastical reformers. William died on 5 July 1091 and was buried in the abbey church. Legacy Besides composing the Constitutiones Hirsaugienses William of Hirsau was the author of the treatises "De astronomia", of which only the prologue is printed and "De musica". His life is recorded in the Vita Willihelmi abbatis Hirsaugiensis. William of Hirsau is commemorated by the Benedictines on 5 July. See also Hirsau Abbey Notes References Sources Vita Wilhelmi abbatis Hirsaugiensis, ed. Wilhelm Wattenbach, in: MGH