Exploring Medieval Monasteries, part 14

Hello, in the last video we looked at the monastic church. This time I'm going to take a look at the cloister and its associated buildings. The cloister is perhaps the definitive monastic building. The name comes from the Latin claustrum, literally an enclosed space. They're familiar to us as a rectangular court attached to the monastic church, surrounded by a range of buildings into which the cloister aisles give access. The concept of a cloister was introduced by the St Galplan, which we saw in part six. It becomes the norm in England and Wales in the mid-10th century. Part of the reforms that are instigated by Dunstan and agreed at the great council of Winchester in 973, called to ensure that monastic practice was consistent across the country, and written up in the Regularis Concordia, which we mentioned in part seven. It specifies provision of a cloister, a common refectory, a common dormitory, and a room set aside for daily meetings, a chapter house. Unsurprisingly, the first cloister in the now familiar style was at Glastonbury, where Dunstan was the abbot. And it doesn't change significantly over the centuries. Usually connected to the south side of the church. This will vary according to the requirements of the site. Drainage will depend on the way the land slopes, etc. So the site requirements will dictate it, but usually on the south side. Very occasionally on the north side of the church. Tinton Abbey is an example. Except for the Carthusians, who live more solitary lives in their individual cells, there is remarkably little difference in the design of the monasteries and their cloisters between the different orders. And that standardisation is really useful, because if you visited a medieval monastery, you would very soon be able to find your way around. Useful to us as well, because when we visit these sites today, often in ruins, once we have an idea of that plan in our minds, we can quickly orient ourselves and begin to understand the site. And the same facilities are provided at all the monasteries. Even the modest ones, they might be smaller, less elaborate, but they will have the same facilities as the wealthier abbeys. A few survive in a very well-preserved state, at Gloucester, for example, and the cloisters here we use as a location in the Harry Potter movies, at Norwich, and again at Durham. But they are relatively fragile structures, and if these buildings are allowed to get into disrepair, then they are amongst the first to collapse. They have the appearance of simply being aisles which link the different buildings and rooms that lead off them, and they do serve that purpose. But they are also the monks' living room, especially the alley beside the church. This is where the monks would read, study, copy manuscripts, and meditate, either on integral stone benches, as at Gloucester, or on wooden carrels, small individual desks. Chapter house and dormitory, invariably on the East Range, and the East Range was also commonplace for books to be kept, either in a purpose-built library or in wall cupboards. But the alley would be kept clear for processional use, and the East Alley was also used for burials. In front of the chapter house was a favourite spot with patrons, until we get to the 13th century, when they begin to want to be buried in the church. And after the church, chapter house is the most important building. It's where the community met every day, a kind of team meeting. They would hear a chapter read from the rule of St Benedict. This is how the chapter house gets its name. They would remember and commemorate saints, former brethren, and patrons, deal with any problems of discipline, make announcements, agree business matters. So it's their boardroom as well. Typically, it would be vaulted with benches around the walls for the monks and with a place for the abbot in the centre of the East Wall. And traditionally, in front of that spot is where abbots would be buried. At 19, abbots were sardined into this spot at Fountains by 1346, and then they too begin to be buried in the church. Dormitory on the first floor of the East Range, with easy access via night stairs into the church choir for the night service. Daystairs give access to the cloister alley. The dormitories would all originally be open plan, with beds along the walls and then chest down the centre where changes of habit could be kept. Many remain like this through to the dissolution. Others show a greater move to privacy from the mid 13th century onwards, with wooden petitions being introduced. And over time, some of these turn into two-room chambers, so sort of a bed and a study for the monks. And the abbots too want their privacy move out into private houses. An early 16th century visitor to Durham describes this. A fair large house called The Daughter, this is the dormitory, where all the monks and novices did lie. Every monk having a little chamber of wainscot, very close by themselves, and their windows towards the cloister. Every window serving one chamber, and in every one of these windows, a desk to support the books. The refectory, the kitchen, the lavatory, the washing facilities, normally in the south range. These are the buildings that need drainage. The ritual washing facility, the lava, was frequently architecturally very decorative. It's a way of emphasising the spiritual importance of ritual cleansing. This is Southwick Priory, an Augustinian priory in Hampshire, and the lava here was only discovered in 1985. It had been bricked up when the priory became a private house after the dissolution. It's in a poor state today, but we can see a drawing of what it originally would have looked like. Purbeck marble, seven canted niches, they're very elaborate, and would have had a pewter trough below. It may have started life as a reridos, the backdrop to an altar, perhaps from a royal chapel, because it was a gift from a patron of Southwick Priory, King John. The west range was where the guesthouse and the lay brother's accommodation was situated. This is where the monks and the outside world meet. Now because the cloister model came from southern Europe, where the climate was slightly warmer, the majority of cloister arcades were open. They must have been pretty cold and cheerless for much of the year. From the 14th century onwards, the wealthier monasteries begin to glaze their cloisters. The open area at the centre of the cloister might have a well, sometimes called the cloister garth or cloister garden. The plants that are grown in monastic gardens we can identify from contemporary herbals. Next time I'm going to have a look at those plants and their medicinal uses. If you've enjoyed this video, hit the like and subscribe buttons, and click on the notification bell to be informed when the next video is released. Or you can subscribe by clicking on the rose window over my shoulder.