3.2
Rievaulx and the Order of St Benedict
Figure 3.2.1 Basic layout of Rievaulx Abbey: A: church; B: cloister; C: refectory; D: chapter house
Source: After a published plan by English Heritage
Rievaulx abbey was a Cistercian foundation in Yorkshire dating from around 1150–1200 and reduced to a ruin at the dissolution.1 Enough remains though to exemplify a type that developed over a thousand years and later gave rise to the university and the hospital. The famous, accidentally preserved plan of the monastery of St Gall, dating from around 800, confirms in detail that the spatial arrangements had largely been determined by that period, but, of the earlier monasteries, including Benedict’s own of around 500, we know little.2 Rievaulx’s plan (Figure 3.2.1) develops around the cloister, a perfect square, architecturally celebrated, which is at once garden, space of contemplation and circulation (on cloister, see also Chapter 1.2). It is a clear evocation of the central principle, for around it all peripheral elements accrue. It is no accident that the cloister’s main hierarchically important axes, to east and south, are given to the chapter house as political centre and the refectory as social centre, chapter house taking precedence by sharing the church’s eastward orientation. The church, lying to the north of the cloister, is a clear exemplification of the linear principle, progressing from profane west door, via screens and steps, to the choir and holy altar, site of precious relics, with, beyond, the rising sun and risen Christ. The monks in the choir are separated from the nave and laity and split between the sides, so that they can sing antiphonally. St Benedict repeatedly refers to the antiphon in his correct order of observances, but, in his account, they happen in the oratory, the monks’ chapel, from which the monastic church developed. The sleeping quarters of the monks take the east wing of the cloister at first-floor level, stairs descending to its south-east corner, from which they could process to the church for the given hours of worship.
The Rule of St Benedict
The following extracts from Abbott Parry’s translation are presented in the given order of the chapters.3 They are chosen for revealing something of the assumed space of the monastery. We read, for example, of the oratory, where they pray, and which is the site of admission to the order, but is to be used for nothing else; of the dorter, where they sleep in single beds; of the library for books distributed in Lent; of the refectory, where they eat in strict silence; and of the kitchen, where the food is prepared. All these spaces appear in due order in relation to the regulated activities they serve. A need to assemble the whole community in making decisions is also stated, though not assigned a named room. The boundaries of the community are indicated by the range of places a monk might be found, by the treatment of guests, by the need for a wise doorman, and by punishment of wrongdoers, first by excommunication from prayer and meals, and ultimately by exclusion from the community.
Of political decisions
Whenever anything important has to be done in the monastery the Abbott must assemble the whole community and explain what is under consideration. When he had heard the counsel of the brethren, he should give it consideration and then take what seems to him the best course. The reason why we say that all should be called to council is this: it is often to a younger brother that the Lord reveals the best course.
(Parry 1990, Ch. III, p. 15)
Of the monk’s demeanour and territory
The twelfth step of humility is not only that a monk should be humble of heart, but also that in his appearance his humility should be apparent to those who see him. That is to say: whether he is at the work of God, in the oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road, in the field or anywhere else, whether sitting, walking or standing, he should always have his head bowed, his eyes fixed on the ground, and should at every moment be considering his guilt for his sins and thinking that he is even now being presented for the dread judgement.
(Parry 1990, Ch. VII, p. 29)