As the Middle Ages progressed the lords of France began to regulate and organise their raising of funds, rather than relying on the more traditional methods of extortion and pillage. This detailed study focuses on five large Benedictine monasteries in France and, drawing on their rich documentary archives, explores the ways in which abbots adapted their power by delegating tasks, and making subordinates accountable for their responsibilities. Tracing these developments from the 11th to 13th century and beyond, Berkhofer examines the reasons for the increasing need to control and regulate lands, fees and people, the ways in which they enforced and maintained this control, the use of administrative records and the rise of book-keeping. Berkhofer also explores the movement of these new methods into the secular world by the end of the 12th century.