Abbacy

the rank, rights, privileges, or jurisdiction of an abbot.
the term of office of an abbot.
Historical Examples

The Four Masters tell us it was the monks of Drogheda who had expelled him from the abbacy for his own crime.
Mellifont Abbey, Co. Louth Anonymous

He had a grant of the abbacy of Holyrood in 1539, when only seven years of age.
The Works of John Knox, Volume 2 (of 6) John Knox

Falling into disgrace at court, he was banished to the abbacy of Bonport.
Charles Sumner; His Complete Works, Volume X (of 20) Charles Sumner

He obtained the abbacy of Crossraguell in Ayrshire, in the year 1549.
The Works of John Knox, Volume 2 (of 6) John Knox

Ingulphus was at that very time indebted directly to the Conqueror, his early patron, for his abbacy.
The History, Theory, and Practice of Illuminating M. Digby Wyatt

He refused the archbishopric of Naples and the abbacy of Monte Cassino.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 Various

The abbacy of St. Bernards historic monastery, where the monks once ate the leaves of the forest, is worth 400,000 a year.
Talleyrand Joseph McCabe

“Thou givest the abbacy to him above us all,” said Brenainn.
The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Anonymous

In 1521 he renewed his efforts to obtain the abbacy of St. Gratian in Arona, which had been refused him ten years earlier.
De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) Trans. by Francis Augustus MacNutt

When Malachy secured possession of the see he remained long enough in Armagh to establish himself in the abbacy.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s Life of St. Malachy of Armagh H. J. Lawlor

noun (pl) -cies
the office, term of office, or jurisdiction of an abbot or abbess