The Medieval Monastery

An illustrated look at life in abbeys and priories, and within the monastic orders, in the middle ages. Monasteries are among the most intriguing and enduring symbols of Britain's medieval heritage. Simultaneously places of prayer and spirituality, power and charity, learning and invention, they survive today as haunting ruins, great houses and as some of our most important cathedrals and churches. This book examines the growth of monasticism and the different orders of monks; the architecture and administration of monasteries; the daily life of monks and nuns; the art of monasteries and their libraries; their role in caring for the poor and sick; their power and wealth; their decline and suppression; and their ruin and rescue. With beautiful photographs, it illustrates some of Britain's finest surviving monastic buildings such as the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral and the awe-inspiring ruins of Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire.

Blending innovative art historical analysis with archaeology, epigraphy, history, liturgy, theology, and landscape and memory studies, The Medieval Monastery of Saint Elijah: A History in Paint and Stone is the first comprehensive interdisciplinary study of a deeply intelligent yet understudied male Benedictine convent near Rome. The only monastery known to have been dedicated to the prophet Elijah in the Latin West, it was rebuilt c.1122-26 with papal patronage. Today, the monastery is represented by its church of Sant'Elia, a stone basilica endowed with its original Cosmati marble pavement and liturgical furnishings, early and high medieval sculptures and inscriptions, and vibrant wall paintings that include unique depictions of the prophet Elijah and the twelve tribes of Israel as warriors, an apse program with a distinctly elite Roman origin, and an important narrative cycle of the Apocalypse. An outlying chapel marks the site of a theophany that sanctified the landscape and gave the monastery its raison d'etre. The Medieval Monastery of Saint Elijah makes significant contributions to current art historical debates concerning communal identity and the construction of social memory, artistic creativity and processes, the multisensory and exegetical capacities of works of visual art, intersections of topography and sanctity, and the effects of medievalism on our understanding of the Middle Ages.

Take an incredible tour through a medieval monastery and discover what happened within its cloistered walls. This is a full-colour illustrated guide to all aspects of medieval monasteries, their construction, the lives of the monks and nuns who lived in them, and the various monastic orders and the disciplines they followed. Superb cutaway illustrations and pinpoint enlargements accompany the text. Informative captions, maps, a complete glossary and an index enhance the book's educational value.

An illustrated look at life in abbeys and priories, and within the monastic orders, in the middle ages. Monasteries are among the most intriguing and enduring symbols of Britain's medieval heritage. Simultaneously places of prayer and spirituality, power and charity, learning and invention, they survive today as haunting ruins, great houses and as some of our most important cathedrals and churches. This book examines the growth of monasticism and the different orders of monks; the architecture and administration of monasteries; the daily life of monks and nuns; the art of monasteries and their libraries; their role in caring for the poor and sick; their power and wealth; their decline and suppression; and their ruin and rescue. With beautiful photographs, it illustrates some of Britain's finest surviving monastic buildings such as the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral and the awe-inspiring ruins of Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire.

This book discusses monastic life from 500 A.D. to 1400 A.D., describing the expanding roles of monks in agriculture, education, the arts, and eventually economic affairs.

Life in a Monastery sheds light on some of the mystery surrounding the lives of medieval monks and nuns. Children will discover why people entered the monastery, the vows they took, and how they filled their days and nights in isolation from the outside world.

A study of life inside medieval monasteries that explores monastic spirituality, daily routines, contact with the outside world, and the historical impact of these foundational institutions on the Western world. How did the Western monastic tradition begin? What was monastic life typically like for a monk or nun? How was the institution of the monastery formative to Western culture from antiquity through the Middle Ages? This book covers the entire span of monastic history in the late-ancient and medieval periods and provides an in-depth look at several monasteries across Europe. Each chapter introduces the reader to the surviving evidence for the houses studied, such as its monastic rules, plans, records of visitation, chronicles, and biographical accounts; and aims to give an "insider" view—not only of monks' and nuns' daily activities, but what these dedicated individuals' values, ambitions, and aspirations might have been.