Their Possessions, Capital, and Revenue.
Let us always keep in mind what they were, in order to comprehend what they are.

Great as their advantages may be, these are merely the remains of still greater advantages.

This or that bishop or abbot, this or that count or duke, whose successors make their bows at Versailles, was formerly the equals of the Carlovingians and the first Capets.

A Sire de Montlhery held King Philippe I in check.[1203] The abbey of St.Germain des Pres possessed 430,000 hectares of land (about 900,000 acres), almost the extent of an entire department.

We need not be surprised that they remained powerful, and, especially, rich; no stability is greater than that of an associative body.