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There remains the question of how the monks were recruited, and what rule they followed. It is a much more open problem, since the two interpretations of the life of Marcouf differ completely.
According to Life A, they would have been chosen from the people who accompanied Marcouf when he was preaching. Only men of good reputation whose characters were known to all would have been found worthy of forming a group to beg for the mercy of God, to pray for the peace of the Kingdom, and for the stability of the Holy Church. The founder's instructions are recalled on several occasions. The men who chose to live at Nantus must completely separate themselves from all the considerations of the earthly kingdom, and think only of the final objective, the heavenly Jerusalem, where they will one day dwell. On several occasions, and until his last breath, Marcouf exhorts than to be wary of the Enemy, the Devil, who waits for their slightest lapse - they must keep awake; they must be sober and vigilant, for their adversary, like a lion, prowls around them, seeking to drag them down to the depths.
All this exhortation is evidently traditional, corresponding above all to a personal sanctification with an accent on hardships and prayer, day and night. But it is much close to that which must have been received from St Antony and his successors (the hermits of Egypt) than it is to that which Benedict of Nursia passed on to his monks.
If closer parallels are needed, one must turn to Ireland to find the same preoccupations among the disciples of St Patrick and the predecessors and contemporaries of St Columbanus. The prayer of St Colcu (which had an astonishing success in the Irish monasteries and those founded on the Contenant) could serve as a model. Having solemnly invoked Jesus and the four evangelists, the great prophets, and the various orders of the Church, the suppliant asks at all costs to be saved from "the devils and all their snares, from the men of this world, from evil desires, transgressions, sins, and vices of this life and from perils not of this world." It is asceticism which is exhalted to the highest degree, as being the means by which man attains holiness and closeness with God.
Very different are the "religious" as shown to us by Life B. The monks chosen by Marcouf are numerous and are settled in a life completely following the rule of the community. They must be united to form a community with one spirit and one body. They must have everything in common, except sin. Idleness being more dangerous to a monk than viper's venom, they must use their time in prayer, reading, manual work - in equal measures. Marcouf's instructions use the actual words of the rule of St Benedict.
The abbey has become rich through the arrival of many people of standing, and the author of Life B explains what must be done with the new resources - a third for the poor, a third for the building of priories, and a third for the ransom of prisoners. This settled, flourishing community is a long way from that shown in Life A, where there are no longer sufficient resources to support the monks. Also, the last words of Marcouf, to ail who follow him, are to exhort them to follow faithfully the rule which they have accepted, and never to stray from it.
The contradiction of these two versions is more apparent than real. Rather than two competing versions, one must see here a development. The author of Life A preserves the first traditions of a master whose disciple he recognises himself to be, and whom seven times in his short narrative, he calls his Father or his "Patron". The community develops in poverty and hardship, prayer is its sole object. It is more a group of hermits than a true monastery. On the other hand, the author of Life B knows only a fully developed establishment - the "rich abbey" referred to by Wace - and this follows word for word the rule of St Benedict; it develops by receiving donations which it shares with the poor and with prisoners. The initial group has evolved, and more than 100 years lie between the two conceptions of the monastic life.