LAYOUT
On the northern side of the Church of the Plan, in a
position corresponding exactly to that of the Sacristy and
Vestry, there is a double-storied structure of like design,
which contains "below, the seats for the scribes, and above,
the library" (infra sedes scribentiū, supra bibliotheca). From
a purely functional point of view the location of these two
important cultural facilities is ideal. Their situation at the
northeast corner of the church, in the shadow cast by
transept and choir, protected the scribes from the glare of
the sun as it travelled through the southern and western
portion of its trajectory and allowed them to work in the
more diffused light made available by their east and north
exposure.
The Scriptorium is accessible by a door from the northern
transept arm of the Church. The Library is reached from the
presbytery by a stairway or passage designated the "upper
entrance into the Library above the crypt" (introitus in
bibliothecā sup criptā superius). This implies that there was
another lower entrance, not shown on the Plan, presumably
an internal stair connecting Library and Scriptorium
directly. The Plan depicts the layout of the Scriptorium.
This has in its center a large square table, identical in size
and shape with that for the sacred vessels in the Sacristy
and like the latter, it, too, is raised on a plinth. Along the
north and east walls of the room, there are seven desks for
writing, and seven windows[79]
placed to provide the scribes
with adequate lighting. This, incidentally, is one of the
only two instances where windows are marked on the
Plan.[80]
Unquestionably they owe this distinction to the
fact that they were of vital importance for the work performed
in this room. The windows must have been glazed.
Glass windows, although still a considerable luxury in
Carolingian times, were indispensable in a monastic scriptorium.
That they were actually in use in Carolingian times
is attested in the chronicles of the Abbey of St. Wandrille
(Fontanella) for the period of Abbot Ansegis (823-833) and
by sources pertaining to the cathedral of Reims, for the
time of Bishop Hincmar (845-882).[81]
Also to be mentioned
in this context is a passage in the Casus sancti Galli of
Ekkehard IV, where we are told that Sindolf the Maligner,
while eavesdropping on a conversation carried on in the
scriptorium of St. Gall, pressed his ear at night "to the
glass window where Tutilo was seated" (fenestrae vitreae
cui Tutilo assederat).[82]
The tale, written around 1050, is
almost certainly fictitious, but may in fact reflect the
architectural conditions of the Carolingian scriptorium of
St. Gall, which was rebuilt by Abbot Gozbert, when he
reconstructed the monastery church between 830 and 837.
One observes, not without surprise, that the scriptorium is
not furnished with any facilities for heating.
