and deaconesses These orders had been of considerable importance in earlier centuries; but tended to be sidelined in cathedrals from the 4th century onwards. So long as adult baptism continued as a regular occurrence, female deacons would continue to be needed for that service; but otherwise the main factor maintaining these orders was a knock-on effect from the rule of continence applied to bishops, presbyters and deacons. When a man became ordained, and moved into the episcopium with the rest of the bishop's familia; then there would usually also be a requirement for support to their mothers, wives and daughters; and the orders of widows and virgins respectively continued largely for this purpose. Functions Notwithstanding wide differences over time in institutional structures and wider historical contexts; the key functions established for the first cathedrals have tended to remain as distinctive cathedral functions down the centuries; a regular cycle of choral prayer; providing a forum for civic leadership; a commitment to higher learning; and the promotion and dissemination of music. Rule of the clergy Early Middle Ages: religious communities The history of the body of clergy attached to the cathedral church is obscure, and in each case local considerations affected its development, however the main features were more or less common to all. Originally the bishop and cathedral clergy formed a kind of religious community, which, while not in the true sense a monastery, was nevertheless often called a monasterium, the word not having the restricted meaning that it afterwards acquired. In this lies the reason for the apparent anomaly that churches like York Minster and Lincoln Cathedral, which never had any monks attached to them, have inherited the name of minster or monastery. In these early communities the clergy often lived apart in their own dwellings, and were not infrequently married. In the 8th century Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz (743-766), compiled a code of rules for the clergy of the cathedral churches, which, though widely accepted in Germany and other parts of the continent, gained little acceptance in England. According to Chrodegang's rule, the cathedral clergy were to live under a common roof, occupy a common dormitory and submit to the authority of a special officer. The rule of Chrodegang was, in fact, a modification of the Benedictine rule. Gisa, a native of Lorraine, who was bishop of Wells from 1061 to 1088, introduced it into England, and imposed its