Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Note on the Second Edition
- Note on the Third Edition
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Chapter I THE CLOISTER
- Chapter II THE EASTERN CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS
- Chapter III THE SOUTHERN CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS
- Chapter IV THE WESTERN CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS
- Chapter V THE ABBOT'S HOUSE
- Chapter VI THE INFIRMARY
- Chapter VII OUTBUILDINGS
- Chapter VIII THE CHURCH
- Chapter IX THE ORDERS
- Chapter X THE DISSOLUTION
- Plans
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate section
Chapter II - THE EASTERN CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Note on the Second Edition
- Note on the Third Edition
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Chapter I THE CLOISTER
- Chapter II THE EASTERN CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS
- Chapter III THE SOUTHERN CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS
- Chapter IV THE WESTERN CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS
- Chapter V THE ABBOT'S HOUSE
- Chapter VI THE INFIRMARY
- Chapter VII OUTBUILDINGS
- Chapter VIII THE CHURCH
- Chapter IX THE ORDERS
- Chapter X THE DISSOLUTION
- Plans
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
THE south transept of the church is the northeastern termination of the east walk of the cloister. Immediately south of it, in the normal Cistercian plan, is the library. In most other Orders the position is occupied by the slype, though this may be placed further south. The slype was a passage leading from the cloister to the cemetery. It was also the inner parlour, or talking place. At one time conversation was forbidden in the cloister, but Lanfranc allowed it at certain times and on certain days: at other times the monks had to obtain leave to go to the parlour. At St Augustine's, Canterbury, there was a restriction as to subjects of talk in the cloister:
Let no one dare to ask about the gossip of the world nor tell it, nor speak of trifles or frivolous subjects apt to cause laughter.
At Durham, just before the Dissolution, the parlour was also “a place for marchaunts to utter ther waires.” This reveals a sad declension from monastic fervour. Even if we suppose the merchants came to the parlour through the cemetery, and not through the private cloister, we wonder at their being allowed at all, when, according to the Rule, a monk had of his own “absolutely not anything: neither a book, nor tablets, nor a pen—nothing at all.” As early as the end of the twelfth century we find private property being owned by individual monks.
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- The Home of the MonkAn Account of English Monastic Life and Buildings in the Middle Ages, pp. 12 - 21Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010