Editing Lay abbot (section)

{{Short description|Layman given the revenues of an abbey}}
[[File:King Hugh Capet.jpg|thumb|[[Hugh Capet]] was a lay abbot of 5 monasteries before he became a king]]
'''Lay [[abbot]]''' ({{langx|la|abbatocomes, abbas laicus, abbas miles}}, {{literal translation|"abbot-count, lay abbot, abbot-soldier"}}) is a name used to designate a [[layman]] on whom a king or someone in authority bestowed an [[abbey]] as a reward for services rendered; he had charge of the estate belonging to it, and was entitled to part of the income. The custom existed principally in the [[Frankish Empire]] from the eighth century until the ecclesiastical reforms of the eleventh.