He gave up his personal right of distributing the fiefs and honors which were the price of adherence, and thus lost for the Carolingians the free disposal of the immense territories they had gradually usurped; they retained the over-lordship, it is true, but this over-lordship, without usufruct and without choice of tenant, was but a barren possession.
The members live in community, and each pays his own expenses, having the usufruct of his private means - a startling innovation on the monastic vow of poverty.