Religious and intellectual institutions underwent significant changes throughout the middle ages. In some cases, advances were made, and in others, there was a major decline. Through all of these times, the people of the middle ages learned what didn’t work, what did, and how to progress once they found what did work. The true form of monasticism in the western Christian church was founded by Saint Benedict of Nursia. He wrote the famous "Benedict’s Rule" between 520-530. The fundamentals of the rule was that each day was divided into a series of activities with an emphasis on prayer and manual labor. The monks would