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Westminster.

York.

health, a stream of water running through it from end to end. A second smaller dormitory runs from east to west for the accommodation of the conventual officers, who were bound to sleep in the dormitory. Close to the refectory, but outside the cloisters, are the domestic offices connected with it; to the north, the kitchen, 47 feet square, surmounted by a lofty pyramidal roof, and the kitchen court; to the west, the butteries, pantries, &c. The infirmary had a small kitchen of its own. Opposite the refectory door in the cloister are two lavatories, an invariable adjunct to a monastic dining-hall, at which the monks washed before and after taking food.

The buildings devoted to hospitality were divided into three groups. The prior's group "entered at the south-east angle of the green court, placed near the most sacred part of the cathedral, as befitting the distinguished ecclesiastics or nobility who were assigned to him." The cellarer's buildings, were near the west end of the nave, in which ordinary visitors of the middle class were hospitably entertained. The inferior pilgrims and paupers were relegated to the north hall or almonry, just within the gate, as far as possible from the other two.

Westminster Abbey is another example of a great Benedictine abbey, identical in its general arrangements, so far as they can be traced, with those described above. The cloister and monastic buildings lie to the south side of the church. Parallel to the nave, on the south side of the cloister, was the refectory, with its lavatory at the door. On the eastern side we find the remains of the dormitory, raised on a vaulted substructure, and communicating with the south transept. The chapter-house opens out of the same alley of the cloister. The small cloister lies to the south-east of the larger cloister, and still farther to the east we have the remains of the infirmary, with the table hall, the refectory of those who were able to leave their chambers. abbot's house formed a small court-yard at the west entrance, close to the inner gateway. Considerable portions of this remain, including the abbot's parlour, celebrated as "the Jerusalem Chamber," his hall, now used for the Westminster King's scholars, and the kitchen and butteries beyond.

The

St Mary's Abbey, York, of which the ground-plan is annexed, exhibits the usual Benedictine arrangements. The precincts are surrounded by a strong fortified wall on three sides, the river Ouse being sufficient protection on the fourth side. The entrance was by a strong gateway (U) to the north. Close to the entrance was a chapel, where is now the church of St Olaf (W), in which the new comers paid their devotions immediately on their arrival. Near the gate to the south was the guest's-hall or hospitium (T). The buildings are completely ruined, but enough remains to enable us to identify the grand cruciform church (A), the cloister-court with the chapter-house (B), the refectory (1), the kitchen-court with its offices (K, O, O), and the other principal apartments. The infirmary has perished completely.

Some Benedictine houses display exceptional arrangements, dependent upon local circumstances, e.g., the dormitory of Worcester runs from east to west, from the west walk of the cloister, and that of Durham is built over the west, instead of as usual, over the east walk; but, as a general rule, the arrangements deduced from the examples described may be regarded as invariable.

The history of Monasticism is one of alternate periods of decay and revival. With growth in popular esteem came increase in material wealth, leading to luxury and worldliness. The first religious ardour cooled, the strictness of the rule was relaxed, until by the 10th century the decay of discipline was so complete in France that the monks are said to have been frequently unacquainted with

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The reformation of these prevalent abuses generally took the form of the establishment of new monastic orders, with new and more stringent rules, requiring a modification of the architectural arrangements. One of the earliest of these reformed orders was the Cluniac. This order took Clugn its name from the little village of Clugny, 12 miles N.W, of Macon, near which, about A.D. 909, a reformed Benedictine abbey was founded by William, Duke of Auvergne, under Berno, abbot of Beaume. He was succeeded by Odo, who is often regarded as the founder of the order. The fame of Clugny spread far and wide. Its rigid rule was adopted by a vast number of the old Benedictine abbeys, who placed themselves in affiliation to the mother society, while new foundations sprang up in large numbers, all owing allegiance to the "archabbot," established at Clugny. By the end of the 12th century the number of monasteries affiliated to Clugny in the various countries of Western Europe amounted to 2000. The monastic establishment of Clugny was one of the most extensive and magnificent in France. We may form some idea of its enormous dimensions from the fact recorded, that when, A.D. 1245, Pope Innocent IV., accompanied by twelve

cardinals, a patriarch, three archbishops, the two generals | (M), also remaining, is a detached puuding of immense
of the Carthusians and Cistercians, the king (St Louis),
and three of his sons, the queen mother, Baldwin, Count
of Flanders and Emperor of Constantinople, the Duke of
Burgundy, and six lords, visited the abbey, the whole
party, with their attendants, were lodged within the
monastery without disarranging the monks, 400 in num-
ber. Nearly the whole of the abbey buildings, including
the magnificent church, were swept away at the close of the
last century. When the annexed ground-plan was taken,
shortly before its destruction, nearly all the monastery, with
the exception of the church, had been rebuilt. The church,
the ground-plan of which bears a remarkable resemblance
to that of Lincoln Cathedral, was of vast dimensions. It
was 656 feet by 130 feet wide. The nave was 102 feet,
and the aisles 60 feet high. The nave (G) had double

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vaulted aisles on either side. Like Lincoln, it had an eastern as well as a western transept, each furnished with apsidal chapels to the east. The western transept was 213 feet long, and the eastern 123 feet. The choir terminated in a semicircular apse (F), surrounded by five chapels, also semicircular. The western entrance was approached by an ante-church, or narthex (B), itself an aisled church of no mean dimensions, flanked by two towers, rising from a stately flight of steps bearing a large stone cross. To the south of the church lay the cloister-court (H), of immense size, placed much further to the west than is usually the case. On the south side of the cloister stood the refectory (P), an immense building, 100 feet long and 60 feet wide, accommodating six longitudinal and three transverse rows of tables. It was adorned with the portraits of the chief benefactors of the abbey, and with Scriptural subjects. The end wall displayed the Last Judgment. We are unhappily unable to identify any other of the principal buildings (N). The abbot's residence (K), still partly standing, adjoined the entrancegate. The guest-house (L) was close by. The bakehouse

size. The first English house of the Cluniac order was that English
of Lewes, founded by the Earl of Warren, cir. A.D. 1077. Cluniac.
Of this only a few fragments of the domestic buildings exist.
The best preserved Cluniac houses in England are Castle
Acre, Norfolk, and Wenlock, in Shropshire. Ground-plans
of both are given in Britton's Architectural Antiquities.
They show several departures from the Benedictine arrange-
ment. In each the prior's house is remarkably perfect.
All Cluniac houses in England were French colonies, go-
verned by priors of that nation. They did not secure their
independence nor become "abbeys" till the reign of Henry
VI. The Cluniac revival, with all its brilliancy, was but
short lived. The celebrity of this, as of other orders,
worked its moral ruin. With their growth in wealth and
dignity the Cluniac foundations became as worldly in life
and as relaxed in discipline as their predecessors, and a
fresh reform was needed. The next great monastic re-
vival, the Cistercian, arising in the last years of the 11th
century, had a wider diffusion, and a longer and more
honourable existence. Owing its real origin, as a distinct
foundation of reformed Benedictines, in the year 1098,
to a countryman of our own, Stephen Harding (a native of
Dorsetshire, educated in the monastery of Sherborne), and
deriving its name from Citeaux (Cistercium), a desolate
and almost inaccessible forest solitude, on the borders of
Champagne and Burgundy, the rapid growth and wide
celebrity of the order is undoubtedly to be attributed to
the enthusiastic piety of St Bernard, abbot of the first of
the monastic colonies, subsequently sent forth in such quick
succession by the first Cistercian houses, the far-famed
abbey of Clairvaux (de Clara Valle), A.D. 1116.

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The rigid self-abnegation, which was the ruling principle Cistercian. of this reformed congregation of the Benedictine order, extended itself to the churches and other buildings erected by them. The characteristic of the Cistercian abbeys was the extremest simplicity and a studied plainness. Only one tower a central one-was permitted, and that was to be very low. Unnecessary pinnacles and turrets were prohibited. The triforium was omitted. The windows were to be plain and undivided, and it was forbidden to decorate them with stained glass. All needless ornament was proscribed. The crosses must be of wood; the candlesticks of iron. renunciation of the world was to be evidenced in all that met the eye. The same spirit manifested itself in the choice of the sites of their monasteries. The more dismal, the more savage, the more hopeless a spot appeared, the more did it please their rigid mood. But they came not merely as ascetics, but as improvers. The Cistercian monasteries are, as a rule, found placed in deep wellwatered valleys. They always stand on the border of a stream; not rarely, as at Fountains, the buildings extend over it. These valleys, now so rich and productive, wore a very different aspect when the brethren first chose them as the place of their retirement. Wide swamps, deep morasses, tangled thickets, wild impassable forests, were their prevailing features. The "Bright Valley," Clara Vallis of St Bernard, was known as the "Valley of Wormwood," infamous as a den of robbers. "It was a savage dreary solitude, so utterly barren that at first Bernard and his companions were reduced to live on beech leaves." (Milman's Lat. Christ. vol. iii. p. 335.)

All Cistercian monasteries, unless the circumstances of the locality forbade it, were arranged according to one plan. The general arrangement and distribution of the various buildings, which went to make up one of these vast establishments, may be gathered from that of St Bernard's own Abbey of Clairvaux, which is here given.

It will be observed that the abbey precincts are surrounded by a strong wall, furnished at intervals with watch

Clairvaux.

Clairvaux. towers and other defensive works.

The wall is nearly encircled by a stream of water, artificially diverted from the small rivulets which flow through the precincts, furnishing the establishment with an abundant supply in every part, for the irrigation of the gardens and orchards, the sanitary requirements of the brotherhood, and for the use of the offices and workshops. The precincts are divided across the centre by a wall, running from N. to S., into an outer and inner ward, the former containing the menial, the latter the monastic buildings. The precincts are entered by a gateway (P), at the extreme western extremity, giving admission to the lower ward. Here the barns, granaries, stables, shambles, workshops, and workmen's lodgings were placed, without any regard to sym

large fish-ponds, an indispensable adjunct to any ecclesiastical foundation, on the formation of which the monks lavished extreme care and pains, and which often remain as almost the only visible traces of these vast establishments, were placed outside the abbey walls.

The Plan No. 2 furnishes the ichnography of the distinctly monastic buildings on a larger scale. The usually unvarying arrangement of the Cistercian houses allows us to accept this as a type of the monasteries of this order. The church (A) is the chief feature. It consists of a vast nave of eleven bays, entered by a narthex, with a transept and short apsidal choir. (It may be remarked that the eastern limb in all unaltered Cistercian churches is remarkably short, and usually square.) To the east of each limb of

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Ad

metry, convenience being the only consideration. vancing eastwards, we have before us the wall separating the outer and inner ward, and the gatehouse (D) affording communication between the two. On passing through the gateway, the outer court of the inner ward was entered, with the western façade of the monastic church in front. Immediately on the right of entrance was the abbot's house (G), in close proximity to the guest-house (F). On the other side of the court were the stables, for the accommodation of the horses of the guests and their attendants (H). The church occupied a central position. To the south were the great cloister (A), surrounded by the chief monastic buildings, and further to the east the smaller cloister, opening out of which were the infirmary, novices' lodgings, and quarters for the aged monks. Still further to the east, divided from the monastic buildings by a wall, were the vegetable gardens and orchards, and tank for fish.

The

R

A

Clairvaux, No. 2 (Cistercian), Monastic Buildings.

A. Church.

B. Cloister.

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K. Infirmary.

L. Lodgings of Novices.
M. Old Guest-House.
N. Old Abbot's Lodgings.
O. Cloister of Supernu-
merary Monks.

P. Abbot's Hall.
Q. Cell of St Bernard.
R. Stables.

S. Cellars and Storehouses.

T. Water-course.
U. Saw-mill and Oil-mill.
V. Currier's Workshops.
X. Sacristy.

Y. Little Library

Z. Undercroft of Dormitory.

the transept are two square chapels, divided according to Cistercian rule by solid walls. Nine radiating chapels, similarly divided, surround the apse. The stalls of the monks, forming the ritual choir, occupy the four eastern bays of the nave. There was a second range of stalls in the extreme western bays of the nave for the fratres conversi, or lay brothers. To the south of the church, so as to secure as much sun as possible, the cloister was invariably placed, except when local reasons forbade it. Round the cloister (B) were ranged the buildings connected with the monks' daily life. The chapter-house (C) always opened out of the east walk of the cloister in a line with the

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airva south transept. In Cistercian houses this was quadrangular, and was divided by pillars and arches into two or three aisles. Between it and the transept we find the sacristy (X), and a small book room (Y), armariolum, where the brothers deposited the volumes borrowed from the library. On the other side of the chapter-house, to the south, is a passage (D) communicating with the courts and buildings beyond. This was sometimes known as the parlour, colloquii locus, the monks having the privilege of conversation here. Here also, when discipline became relaxed, traders, who had the liberty of admission, were allowed to display their goods. Beyond this we often find the calefactorium or day-room-an apartment warmed by flues beneath the pavement, where the brethren, halffrozen during the night offices, betook themselves after the conclusion of lauds, to gain a little warmth, grease their sandals, and get themselves ready for the work of the day. In the plan before us this apartment (E) opens from the south cloister walk, adjoining the refectory. The place usually assigned to it is occupied by the vaulted substructure of the dormitory (Z). The dormitory, as a rule, was placed on the east side of the cloister, running over the calefactory and chapter-house, and joined the south transept, where a flight of steps admitted the brethren into the church for nocturnal services. Opening out of the dormitory was always the necessarium, planned with the greatest regard to health and cleanliness, a water-course Invariably running from end to end. The refectory opens out of the south cloister at (G). The position of the refectory is usually a marked point of difference between Benedictine and Cistercian abbeys. In the former, as at Canterbury, the refectory ran east and west parallel to the nave of the church, on the side of the cloister furthest removed from it. In the Cistercian monasteries, to keep the noise and sound of dinner still further away from the sacred building, the refectory was built north and south, at right angles to the axis of the church. It was often divided, sometimes into two, sometimes, as here, into three aisles. Outside the refectory door, in the cloister, was the lavatory, where the monks washed their hands at dinner time. The buildings belonging to the material life of the monks lay near the refectory, as far as possible from the church, to the S.W. With a distinct entrance from the outer court was the kitchen court (F), with its buttery, scullery, and larder, and the important adjunct of a stream of running water. Further to the west, projecting beyond the line of the west front of the church, were vast vaulted apartments (SS), serving as cellars and storehouses, above which was the dormitory of the conversi. Detached from these, and separated entirely from the monastic buildings, were various workshops, which convenience required to be banished to the outer precincts, a saw-mill and oil-mill (UU) turned by water, and a currier's shop (V), where the sandals and leathern girdles of the monks were made and repaired.

the whole establishment should be constantly over those who stood the most in need of his watchful care,-those who were training for the monastic life, and those who had worn themselves out in its duties,-was a fourth cloister (O), with annexed buildings, devoted to the aged and infirm members of the establishment. The cemetery, the last resting-place of the brethren, lay to the north side of the nave of the church (H).

It will be seen that the arrangement of a Cistercian monastery was in accordance with a clearly-defined system, and admirably adapted to its purpose.

The base court nearest to the outer wall contained the buildings belonging to the functions of the body as agriculturalists and employers of labour. Advancing into the inner court, the buildings devoted to hospitality are found close to the entrance; while those connected with the supply of the material wants of the brethren, the kitchen, cellars, &c.,-form a court of themselves outside the cloister, and quite detached from the church. The church refectory, dormitory, and other buildings belonging to the professional life of the brethren, surround the great cloister. The small cloister beyond, with its scribes' cells, library, hall for disputations, &c., is the centre of the literary life of the community. The requirements of sickness and old age are carefully provided for in the infirmary cloister, and that for the aged and infirm members of the establishment. The same group contains the garters of the novices.

This stereotyped arrangement is further illustrated by Citeaux. the accompanying bird's eye view of the mother establish

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Returning to the cloister, a vaulted passage admitted to the small cloister (I), opening from the north side of which were eight small cells, assigned to the scribes employed in copying works for the library, which was placed in the upper story, accessible by a turret staircase. To the south of the small cloister a long hall will be noticed. This was a lecture-hall, or rather a hall for the religious disputations customary among the Cistercians. From this cloister opened the infirmary (K), with its hall, chapel, cells, blood-letting house, and other dependencies. At the eastern verge of the vast group of buildings we find the novices lodgings (L), with a third cloister near the novices' quarters and the original guest-house (M). Detached from the great mass of the monastic edifices was the original abbot's house (N), with its dining-hall (P). Closely adjoining to this, so that the eye of the father of ment of Citeaux. A cross (A), planted on the high road.

A. Cross.
B. Gate-House.
C. Almonry.
D. Chapel.

E. Inner Gate-Houзe.
F. Stable.

G. Dormitory of Lay Brethren.

Bird's eye View of Citeaux.

H. Abbot's House.

I. Kitchen.

K. Refectory.

L. Staircase to Dormitory.

M. Dormitory.

N. Church.

P. Library.

R. Infirmary.

S. Door to the Church. for the Lay Brothers.

T. Base Court.

V. Great Cloister.
W. Small Cloister.
X. Boundary Wall

Citeaux.

England.

directs travellers to the gate of the monastery, reached by | an avenue of trees. On one side of the gate-house (B) is a long building (C), probably the almonry, with a dormitory above for the lower class of guests. On the other side is a chapel (D). As soon as the porter heard a stranger knock at the gate, he rose, saying, Deo gratias, the opportunity for the exercise of hospitality being regarded as a cause for thankfulness. On opening the door he welcomed the new arrival with a blessing-Benedicite. He fell on his knees before him, and then went to inform the abbot. However important the abbot's occupations might be, he at once hastened to receive him whom heaven had sent. He also threw himself at his guest's feet, and conducted him to the chapel (D) purposely built close to the gate. After a short prayer, the abbot committed the guest to the care of the brother hospitaller, whose duty it was to provide for his wants, and conduct the beast on which he might be riding to the stable (F), built adjacent to the inner gate-house (E). This inner gate conducted into the base court (T), round which were placed the barns, stables, cow-sheds, &c. On the eastern side stood the dormitory of the lay brothers, fratres conversi (G), detached from the cloister, with cellars and storehouses below. At (H), also outside the monastic buildings proper, was the abbot's house, and annexed to it the guest-house. these buildings there was a separate door of entrance into the church (S). The large cloister, with its surrounding arcades, is seen at V. On the south end projects the refectory (K), with its kitchen at (I), accessible from the base court. The long gabled building on the east side of the cloister contained on the ground floor the chapterhouse and calefactory, with the monks' dormitory above (M), communicating with the south transept of the church. At (L) was the staircase to the dormitory. The small cloister is at (W), where were the carols or cells of the scribes, with the library (P) over, reached by a turret staircase. At (R) we see a portion of the infirmary. The whole precinct is surrounded by a strong buttressed wall (XXX), pierced with arches, through which streams of water are introduced. It will be noticed that the choir of the church is short, and has a square end instead of the usual apse. The tower, in accordance with the Cistercian rule, is very lew. The windows throughout accord with the studied simplicity of the order.

For

The English Cistercian houses, of which there are such extensive and beautiful remains at Fountains, Rievaulx, Kirkstall, Tintern, Netley, &c., were mainly arranged after the same plan, with slight local variations. As an example, we give the ground-plan of Kirkstall Abbey, which is one of the best preserved and least altered. The church here Kirkstall. is of the Cistercian type, with a short chancel of two squares, and transepts with three eastward chapels to each, divided by solid walls (2 2 2). The whole is of the most studied plainness. The windows are unornamented, and the nave has no triforium. The cloister to the south (4) occupies the whole length of the nave. On the east side stands the two-aisled chapter house (5), between which and the south transept is a small sacristy (3), and on the other side two small apartments, one of which was probably the parlour (6). Beyond this stretches southward the calefactory or day-room of the monks (14). Above this whole range of building runs the monks' dormitory, opening by stairs into the south transept of the church. At the other end were the necessaries. On the south side of the cloister we have the remains of the old refectory (11), running, as in Benedictine houses, from east to west, and the new refectory (12), which, with the increase of the inmates of the house, superseded it, stretching, as is usual in Cistercian houses, from north to south. Adjacent to this apartment are the remains of the kitchen, pantry, and

buttery. The arches of the lavatory are to be seen near the refectory entrance. The western side of the cloister is, as usual, occupied by vaulted cellars, supporting on the upper story the dormitory of the lay brothers (8). Extending from the south-east angle of the main group of buildings are the walls and foundations of a secondary group of considerable extent. These have been identified either with the hospitium or with the abbot's house, but they occupy the position in which the infirmary is more usually found. The hall was a very spacious apartment, measuring 83 feet in length by 48 feet 9 inches in breadth

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The fish-ponds

and was divided by two rows of columns.
lay between the monastery and the river to the south. The
abbey mill was situated about 80 yards to the north-west.
The mill-pool may be distinctly traced, together with the
gowt or mill stream.

Fountains Abbey, first founded A.D. 1132, deserves Fountains special notice, as one of the largest and best preserved Cistercian houses in England. But the earlier buildings received considerable additions and alterations in the later period of the order, causing deviations from the strict Cistercian type. The church stands a short distance to the north of the river Skell, the buildings of the abbey stretching down to and even across the stream. We have the cloister (H) to the south, with the three-aisled chapterhouse (I) and calefactory (L) opening from its eastern walk, and the refectory (S), with the kitchen (Q) and buttery (T) attached, at right angles to its southern walk. Parallel with the western walk is an immense vaulted substructure (U), incorrectly styled the cloisters, serving as cellars and store-rooms, and supporting the dormitory of the conversi above. This building extended across the river. At its

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