We view leadership positions as highly valued and important positions and this is very true. Today, most of our leaders are elected because they want to take on leadership roles, regardless of the position they hold. They know that there will be people for them, others against them and others who are indifferent to their position. They realize that not every decision they make will satisfy everyone. Yet throughout their tenure, they remain strong no matter what happens, and they maintain their leadership strong until the day they die or are taken over. What about the abbots, what kind of men were they and why were they chosen? What made them so special? What does it mean to be an abbot? The dictionary definition of an abbot is a man who is responsible for all the monks in an abbey. Although this is a very simple definition, it does not give us the full sense of what abbots must do to serve their god and their people. We could compare them to a government official today. They are not the president or a private citizen, but they hold considerable power in which they can sometimes control the people and the president. The abbot before Father Samson was Father Hugh. He was said to be "a gentle and kind man, he was a good and pious monk, but lacked business skills." » [Jocelin de Brakelond. Chronicles of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. trans. Diana Greenway and Jane Sayers (Oxford University Press, 1989), 3.] He listened more to the advice of others than to his own intuition, which led him to be a poor leader. This didn't mean he was a bad abbot, but he simply didn't care about most of the responsibilities he had. Everyone did what they wanted in the middle of a piece of paper......so that the abbey could earn money which would be used for the abbey, the abbot, the land and the king. The abbot's response was to threaten Herbert and force him to destroy the mill he had built. Overall, Abbot Samson was a good abbot, respected by his pillars and by the people who followed under his reign. He was wise and knew how to maintain the lands he controlled very well. He was also able to pay most of the debts created during Abbot Hugh's tenure. Father Samson had created new buildings and appointed a new management of the land in order to keep the land maintained and peaceful. He listened to the king and the pope who were his superiors and there was never a serious problem while Abbot Samson was in office. Works Cited Jocelin de Brakelond. Chronicles of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. trans. Diana Greenway and Jane Sayers (Oxford University Press,1989)