THE MONASTERY: A PLANNED SOCIETY
The basic ecological reason for these comparatively high
standards of monastic sanitation are easy to define: in
contrast to the medieval or classical city, whose growth was
subject to pressures beyond the control of its inhabitants,
the monastery was a planned society. Its population was
stable, and in general not subject to unexpected fluctuations.[669]
The same care that was used in regulating the
spiritual life of the community, therefore, could also be
applied to the organization of its physical environment.
