ABSTRACT
Robert Fawtier the Frisian continued his ancestors' policy of fostering church reform when it was politically advantageous. After Baldwin IV had made himself supreme advocate of the Flemish churches, there were few problems with local advocates. Robert showed no interest in promoting monastic asceticism; he made donations, limited advocates' rights and installed abbots. The period of Baldwin IX saw the beginning of a new development in count-noble relations: international politics played a considerable role. Flemish nobles had done military service in England by the eleventh century. The Flemish church had considerably less influence over temporal affairs than even in neighbouring principalities of the Low Countries. Flemish literature at this point was strongly influenced by French models; courtly epics were virtually literal translations from the French. The eremetical movement was also important in Flanders. Many of the early hermits were laymen, such as Gerlach of Houtem, a knight who had a conversion and undertook a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem.
