University of Virginia Library

ARE THE BARRELS DRAWN TO SCALE AND
SCALED TO NEED?

The layout of the Monks' Cellar raises some interesting
dimensional questions. Are the scale, the size, and the
number of its barrels to be taken seriously? Or are they
meant to simply indicate in a schematic and purely general
way that there is a cellar full of barrels for the storage of
wine and beer?

An answer to this question depends on our ability to
assess the total number of men who were to be housed in a
monastery such as that which is shown on the Plan of St.
Gall, the extent of their total annual need for storage of
alcoholic beverages, and the relation of this need to the
storage capacity of the barrels that are drawn out on the
Plan.

In entering upon a discussion of these relationships,
one has to keep in mind, first, that the wine for an entire
year is manufactured in the fall and must be stored in its
entirety at that time; second, that this wine cannot be
tapped during the first six months of storage (during which
it is still in full process of fermentation) and preferably
should not be tapped during the first twelve months. This
means that a well planned monastic cellar should be able to
hold the entire yield of not less than two years' vintage.
Beer, unlike wine, was not a seasonal product, but could be
manufactured all year round.[245] It needed only a few weeks
of recovery in the cellar for clearing and therefore no large
facilities for long range storage.

A calculation of the probable number of people daily to
be fed in the monastery shown on the Plan of St. Gall
discloses that it consisted of about 110 monks, some 150170
serfs, plus an indeterminate and varying number of
guests: all together roughly 300.[246] Our analysis of the
layout of the Monks' Cellar has shown that there are nine
small barrels, each of a length of ten feet and a central
diameter of five feet; and five large barrels each of a length
of fifteen feet and a central diameter of ten feet.[247] My friend
and colleague William B. Fretter (experienced vintner,
and mathematician), by a calculation based on the apparent
dimensions of the barrels portrayed on the facsimile
Plan, concluded that each small barrel contained 4,250
liters and each large one, 28,250 liters. These capacities
vary slightly from those determined by Ernest Born (Fig.
235.A-C, p. 286). Both tend to confirm nonetheless that
the scale of the barrels on the drawing is not capricious,
but an intentional representation of casks the size of which
related directly to the needs of the inhabitants of the proposed
community.

On the preceding pages it has been shown that the daily
allowance of wine for each monk at the time of Louis the
Pious could not have been less than 0.2736 liters (old
Roman hemina) and is very unlikely to have been more than
0.7 liters. The most persuasive historical assumption is
probably that it was somewhere in the middle between
these two extremes, perhaps around 0.5 liters. This gives
us a lower and upper limit as well as an intermediate value,
all of which can be checked against the storage capacity of
the barrels actually shown on the Plan.

1. If the daily allowance was 0.2736 liters (fig. 235.B):

If the normal daily allowance of wine had still been the
old Roman hemina of 0.2736 liters the total daily consumption
of wine for 300 people would have been 82 liters,
the total yearly consumption, 29,930 liters. To store two
years of vintage in this order of magnitude would have
required barrel space for 59,860 liters. This amount could

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL. NOVITIATE AND INFIRMARY. ELEVATION AND SECTION

248.A CROSS SECTION THROUGH CLOISTER AND CHAPEL LOOKING WEST

248.B WEST ELEVATION

AUTHORS' INTERPRETATION

The absence of explanatory titles to indicate the existence of any upper stories, as well as the fact that the ground floor accommodates all
parts of the traditional claustral scheme, is clear evidence that all rooms of the Novitiate and Infirmary lay at ground level. In reconstructing
the elevations and sections of this compound shown in this and the subsequent figure, we have followed the procedure chosen for every other
building on the Plan by conjecturing comfortable minimum heights for each part of the complex: head clearance in the cloister walks, sufficient
elevation in the walls of the chapels to receive the roof covering them, and sufficient height in the clerestory above that level to allow for
proper fenestration. The outer wall perimeter, likewise, must have been of sufficient height to allow for windows giving light and air to the
rooms they enclose.

have been stored in two of the large barrels of the Monks'
Cellar, but would have left a number of barrels empty, or
for the storage of beer, which seems excessive: three of the
large ones, and all of the nine small ones. We have already
pointed out that from a purely historical point of view it
seems unlikely that the daily measure of wine at the time
of Louis the Pious was still the old Roman hemina of
0.2736 liters. Our analysis of the storage capacity of the
Monks' Cellar would tend to confirm this assumption.
The Cellar, if it was rationally planned, must have been
planned for a larger volume of alcoholic beverages.

2. If the daily allowance was 0.5 liters (fig. 235.C):

If the normal daily allowance of wine was 0.5 liters; the
daily consumption for 300 people would have been 150
liters, the needed supply for one year, 54,750 liters; for
two years, 109,500 liters. This amount could have been
stored in four of the five larger barrels, leaving the fifth for
the storage of beer, and all the smaller barrels for the aging
of smaller quantities of higher quality wine, perhaps
reserved for distinguished guests and for the abbot when
he dined with distinguished guests.

It is interesting to note that under this assumption,
which we found to be historically the most persuasive one,
the physical layout of the Monks' Cellar makes perfect
sense. It offers comfortable space for everything, leaving
perhaps even a small margin for extra needs—a condition
that we found to prevail everywhere else in analyzing the
scale of the Plan.[248]

3. If the daily allowance was 0.7 liters:

If the normal daily allowance was 0.1 liters, the daily
consumption for 300 people would have been 210 liters;
the needed supply for one year 76,650 liters; for two years,
153,300 liters. 153,300 liters would have occupied all of the
five large barrels, plus three of the smaller ones, leaving
only six of the smaller barrels for other purposes, such as
the long term storage of wines of higher quality for aging,
or the short term storage of beer.

Again it is interesting to note that under this assumption,
which lies at the borderline of what would have been
acceptable within the tenets of the Rule of St. Benedict,
would also in the physical sense have been a very tight fit.