Cloister (2)
Cloister.
(Claustrum, all enclosure; Germ. Kreuz-gang.) We give additional details on this subject:
"It was known as the laurel court at Peterborough; the palm cout as connected with the ceremonial of Palm Sunday, at Wells; and the Sprice at Chester, a corruption of Paradise, as it was called at Chichester and Winchester, having been either filled with earth from the Holy Land, or, more probably, because it was tile Lord's garden, sown with the seeds of the resurrection 'harvest.' The enclosed portion of the forecourt of tile basilica was also called the paradise, and from the surrounding porticoes the cloister took its origin. Each alley of the quadrangle in a monastery was placed under the government of the obedientiary, or officer whose chequer or place of business adjoined it; it was considered to form part of the church. The usual arrangement was this: the refectory invariably on the side opposite or parallel to the minister; the dormitory on the east, or otherwise oil the west; sometimes the latter site was occupied by the guest-house, or the bedchamber of the convert or lax brothers; a large central space for air, light, and recreation was thus secured in the utmost privacy, while pus-sages communicated with all the principal buildings. The alleys were allotted to various uses that lying next the hall being forbidden to the brethren at most times. The western alley was occupied by the novices, and tile northern alley by the monks in times of study the eastern side was used at the maundy, and the usual Sabbatical, feet-washing. The abbot, or superior, sat next the east door of the cloister, near the entrance of the Church.
"In some monasteries, as Fountains, Beaulien, Jorevalle, Netley, Stoneleigh, Wroxhall, Kirkstall, and originally at St. Alhan's, there were only, it would seem, alleys of timber-work, which have long since perished. Other cloisters, such as Durham and Peterborough. were enriched with a superb series of stained glass and the fantraceried vaulting at Gloucester is a marvel of the most elaborate stone-work.
"At night four lanterns were lighted at the four angles of the cloister, and role in front of the chapter-house door. A procession was daily made through its entire circuit. In the 8th century abbots were frequently buried in the centre of the garth.
"Many secular cathedrals, as three in Wales, Lichfield, and York, and most collegiate churches, as Sonthwell, Ripon, and Manchester, were unprovided with cloisters. In many foreign minsters, as Maulbronn, Pay, Munster, Caen, Pontigny, Puy-en- Velay, Braga, Batalha, Siguenza, Leon, Toledo, Gerona, Huesea, Mayence, and Toulouse, the cloisters were on the north side, to secure shade in a hot climate, or rather, perhaps, for water-supply and drainage, as at Sherborne, Canterburv, Gloucester, Chester, Magdalen College (Oxford), Cartmel St. Mary Overye, St. David's, Tintern, Malmesbury, Milton Abbas, Moyne, Muckross, Adare, Kilmallock, and the Dominican churches of Paris, Agen, and Toulouse. In some other churches they occupied an abnormal position, on the north of the choir at Tarragona and Lincoln, and southward of it at Burgos, Rochester, and Chiehester; and at Leridn, Olite, New College (Oxford), and Brantome on file west of the church. At Hereford there was a chantry of Our Lady's Arhour, over the vestibule of the chapter-house; and chapels, in the centre of the sward at Winchester College, Illidehelm, and Old St. Paul's, ill which masses of requiem were Sung for the repose of the souls of persons buried in the garth. The cloisters of Verona, Pisa, and Subiaco, of Zurich, Batalha, Beauport, Fontenelle, and Caen are among the finest foreign examples. At Barnberg there are two cloisters, one on the north and another Oil the south; at Tarragona and Ratishon are two, on the north-east of the church; at Hildesheim the cloister is eastward of it. Sometimes the ordinary fourth alley of tile quadrangle is wanting, as at Wells, Toul, Canigo, and Hereford. At Evesham there were, and at Norwich there still exist, rooms over the cloisters. The infirmary in England had often its separate cloister, as at Gloucester, Westminster, and Canterbury; and in foreign monasteries tile subordinate cloister was allotted for the use of the copyists and communication with the lodgings of tile conventual officers. At St. Paul's there was a two-storied cloister, enclosing the chapter-house. There is another instance at San Juan in Toledo. The Carthusians built round their cloister cells or' solitaries, containing three rooms, in one of which missce siccce might be celebrated; the certosas at Florence and Pavia still preserve the arrangement, which, at tile foundation of monasteries, was a necessity, as we find the monks at Battle living at first ill little houses, and tit Stoneleigh the Cistercians occupying ' dwelling- places of tents,' while at Fountains the earliest brotherhood lodged under the yew-trees that grew upon the slopes. Marburg presents the remarkable type of two choirs, two rood-screens, two towel's at each cud, and two cloisters, due till the north and another on the south.
"The Eastern monasteries have usually a large central space, round which is a colonnade communicating with the houses of the inmates. In Ireland, Spain, Italy, and France the windows were unglazed, resembling open arcades."
