Lay abbot

Lay abbot (Latin: abbatocomes, abbas laicus, abbas miles, lit. '"abbot-count, lay abbot, abbot-soldier"') is a name used to designate a layman on whom a king or someone in authority bestowed an abbey as a reward for services rendered; he had charge of the estate belonging to it, and was entitled to part of the income. The custom existed principally in the Frankish Empire from the eighth century until the ecclesiastical reforms of the eleventh.