Abstract
Secular clerics played a profoundly important but neglected role in the cultural developments of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance. Because of their performance of the liturgy, they contributed to the development of music and drama in the period. Their wealth and their responsibility to provide various religious and artistic works for their churches meant that they were important patrons of performers, illuminators, and artisans. Secular clerics can be found building large stone houses or paying for even larger monastic buildings and they may therefore have had a more substantial role in the building of parish churches, collegiate churches, and cathedrals than hitherto realized. As intellectuals, they also made contributions to the artistic endeavors of the period.