University of Virginia Library

VI. 2

THE MONASTERY OF CLUNY,
BUILT BY
ABBOT ODILO, 994-1048

VI.2.1

ITS DESCRIPTION IN THE SO-CALLED
CUSTOMS OF FARFA

Our first complete description of the layout of a Benedictine
monastery later than the Plan of St. Gall is found
in a chapter of the so-called Customs of Farfa (Consuetudines
Farfenses) written between 1030 and 1048.[34]
These customs were believed to pertain to the monastery
of Farfa near Rome, until Dom Ursmer Berlière and Dom
Hildephonsus Schuster showed that they were the customs
of Cluny recording the layout of the monastery built by
Abbot Odilo of Cluny (994-1048).[35] The chapter of the
Farfa text with which we are here concerned falls into two
parts: a description of the layout of the claustral range of
buildings, and a description of the layout of buildings
located peripherally around this complex.[36] Since it forms
the basis for conclusions set forth on the pages that follow,
we feel compelled to quote it verbatim:

[ILLUSTRATION]

LUTTRELL PSALTER

The Psalter, dating ca. 1340, appears to have only these three owls (border ornament, fol.
177v) among its illustrations. They are redrawn here as line interpretations the same size as
the originals.

THE FARFA TEXT HAS BEEN COMPOSED WITH TRANSLATION IN "PARALLEL TEXT" STYLE

I. Ecclesiae longitudinis CXL pedes, altitudinis XL et tres, fenestrae
vitreae CLXta. Capitulum vero XL et V pedes longitudinis, latitudinis
XXXta et IIIIor. Ad oriente fenestrae IIIIor; contra septemtrionem
tres. Contra occidentem XIIci balcones, et per unumquemque afixe in eis
duae columnae. Auditorium XXXta pedes longitudinis; camera vero
nonaginta pedes longitudinis. Dormitorium longitudinis Ctū LXta
pedes, latitudinis XXXta et IIIIor. Omnes vero fenestrae vitreae, quae
in eo sunt XCta et VIIte et omnes habent in altitudine staturam
hominis, quantum se potest extendere usque ad summitatem digiti,
latitudinis vero pedes duo et semissem unum; altitudinis murorum XXti
tres pedes. Latrina[37] LXXtē pedes longitudinis, latitudinis XXti et
tres; sellae XL et quinque in ipsa domo ordinatae sunt, et per
unamquamque sellam aptata est fenestrula in muro altitudinis pedes duo,
latitudinis semissem unum, et super ipsas sellulas compositas strues[38]
lignorum, et, super ipsas constructionem lignorum facte sunt fenestrae
Xcē et VIItē, altitudinis tres pedes, latitudinis pedem et semissem.
Calefactorium XXtt et Ve, pedes latitudinis, longitudinis eademque
mensura.[39] A janua ecclesiae usque ad hostium calefactorii pedes
LXXV. Refectorium longitudinis pedes LXXXXta, latitudinis XXV;
altitudinem murorum XXtt tres, fenestrae vitreae, quae in eo sunt ex
utraque parte octo, et omnes habent altitudinis pedes V, latitudinis tres.
Coquina regularis XXXta pedes longitudine, et latitudine XXtt et V.
Coquina laicorum eademque mensura. Cellarii vero longitudo LXXta,
latitudo LXta pedes.

Aelemosynarum quippe cella pedes latitudinis Xcē, longitudinis
LXta ad similitudinem[40] latitudinis cellarii. Galilea longitudinis LXta
et quinque pedes et duae turraes ipsius galileae in fronte constitute; et
subter ipsas atrium est ubi laici stant, ut non impediant processionem.
A porta meridiana usque ad portam aquilonarium pedes CCLXXXta.
Sacristiae pedes longitudinis L et VIII cum turre, quae, in capite ejus
constituta est. Oratorium sanctae mariae longitudinis XL et quinque
pedes, latitudines XXti, murorum altitudinis XXti et tres pedes.
Prima cellula informorum latitudinem XX et VIItē pedes, longitudinem
XX et tres cum lectis octo et sellulis totidem in porticum juxta
murum ipsius cellulae de foris, et claustra praedictae cellulae habet
latitudinis pedes XIIci. Secunda cellula similiter per omnia est coaptata.
Tertia eodemque modo. Similiter etiam et quarta. Quinta sit
minori ubi conveniant infirmi ad lavandum pedes die sabbatorum: vel
illi fratres, qui exusti sunt ad mutandum. Sexta cellula praeparata[41] sit
ubi famuli servientes illis lavent scutellulas, et omnia utensilia. Juxta
galileam constructum debet esse palatium longitudinis Ctū XXXta et
Ve pedes, latitudinis XXXta, ad recipiendum omnes supervenientes
homines, qui cum equitibus adventaverint monasterio. Ex una
parte ipsius domus sunt praeparata XLta lecta et totidem pulvilli ex
pallio ubi requiescant viri tantum, cum latrinis XLta. Ex alia namque
parte ordinati sunt lectuli XXXta ubi comitisse vel aliae honestae
mulieres pausent cum latrinis XXXta, ubi solae ipsae suas indigerias
procurent. In medio autem ipsius palatiis affixae sint mense sicuti
refectorii tabulae, ubi aedant tam viri quam mulieres.

In festivitatibus magnis sit ipsa domus adornata cum cortinis et
palliis et bamcalibus in sedilibus ipsorum. In fronte ipsius sit alia
domus longitudinis pedes XLta et V, latitudinis XXXta. Nam ipsius
longitudo pertingant usque ad sacristiam, et ibi sedeant omnes sartores
atque sutores ad suendum, quod camerarius[42] eis praecipit. Et ut praeparatam
habeant ibi tabulam longitudinis XXXta pedes, et alia tabula
afixa sit cum ea, quarum latitudo ambarum tabularum habeat VIItē
pedes. Nam inter istam mansionem et sacristiam atque aecclesiam, nec
non et galilaeam sit cimiterium, ubi laici sepeliantur. Ad porta meridiana
usque ad portam VIItem trionalem contra occidentem sit constructa
domus longitudinis CCtū LXXXta pedes, latitudinis XXti et V,
et ibi constituantur stabule equorum per mansiunculas partitas, et
desuper sit solarium, ubi famuli aedant atque dormiant, et mensas
habeant ibi ordinatas longitudinis LXXXta pedes, latitudinis vero
IIIIor. Et quotquot ex adventantibus non possunt reficere ad illam
mansionem, quam superius diximus, reficiant ad istam. Et in capite
ipsius mansionis sit locus aptitatus, ubi conveniant omnes illi homines,
qui absque equitibus deveniunt, et caritatem ex cibo atque potum in
quantum convenientia fuerit ibi recipiant ab elemosynario fratre. Extra
refectorium namque fratrum LXta pedum in capite latrine sint cryptae
XIIci, et todidem dolii praeparati, ubi temporibus constitutis balnea
fratribus praeparentur; et post istam positionem construator cella
novitiorum, et sit angulata in quadrimodis, videlicet prima ut meditent,
in secunda reficiant, in tertia dormiant, in quarta latrina ex latere.
Justa istam sit depositam alia cella, ubi aurifices vel inclusores seu vitrei
magistri conveniant ad faciendam ipsam artem. Inter cryptas et cellas
novitiorum atque aurificum habeant domum longitudinis Ctum, XXti et
quinque pedes, latitudinis vero XXti et quinque et ejus longitudo perveniat
usque ad pistrinum.[43] Ipsum namque in longitudinem cum turrem,
quae in capite ejus constructa est, LXXta pedes, latitudinis XXti.

END OF PARALLEL TEXT TREATMENT

(After Albers, Cons. Mon, I, 1937-39)

I. The length of the church is 140 feet, the height 43 feet, with 160
glass windows. The chapter house is 45 feet long, 34 feet wide with
four windows on the east, three on the north. On the west are
twelve arches with two columns affixed to each. The inner parlor is
30 feet long. The camera, 90 feet long. The dormitory is 160 feet
long, 34 feet wide. All the windows are glass, 97 in total, as tall as a
man extending his arm, and 2½ feet wide. The walls are 23 feet
high. The latrine is 70 feet long, 23 feet wide. In that building there
have been arranged 45 seats with a small window above each seat,
2 feet high, ½ foot wide. Above those seats is built a wooden structure
and above this wooden construction, there are 17 windows,
3 feet high, 1½ feet wide. The warming room is 25 feet wide, and
the same in length. From the door of the church to the door of the
warming room there are 75 feet. The refectory is 90 feet long, 25
feet wide. The height of the walls is 23 feet; there are glass windows,
eight on each side, 5 feet high and 3 feet wide. The monks' kitchen
is 30 feet long, 25 feet wide. The lay kitchen has the same dimensions.
The cellar is 70 feet long, 60 feet wide. The almonry is 10
feet wide, 60 feet long, the same width as the cellar. The narthex is
65 feet long with two towers placed in front of it. Underneath is an
atrium where the laity stand so as not to impede the processions.
From the south entrance to the north, there are 280 feet. The length
of the sacristy is 58 feet with the tower, which is at its head. The

chapel of St. Mary is 45 feet long and 20 feet wide; its walls are 23
feet high. The first cell of the sick is 27 feet wide and 23 feet long
with eight beds and as many seats outside in the portico of that cell,
and the cloister of that cell is 12 feet wide. The second cell is the
same in all respects. Also the third and the fourth. Let a fifth be
smaller, where the sick might come to wash their feet on the
sabbath, or those brothers who have been burnt to change [their
bandages]. A sixth cell should be prepared where the servants attending
them can wash the pans and all the utensils. Near the narthex
must be built a house for distinguished guests 135 feet long, 30 feet
wide, to receive all the visitors who, along with their squires, shall
come to the monastery. On one side of that house have been prepared
forty beds and as many straw matresses for the repose of as
many men, and forty latrines. On the other side have been arranged
thirty beds where countesses or other noble women can rest, with
thirty latrines where alone they can see to their needs. In the center
of that lodging there should be placed tables like those of the
refectory, where both the men and the women can eat.

During the great holidays that house should be decorated with
curtains and drapes and bench coverings. In front of that house let
there be another, 45 feet long, 30 feet wide. Its length should reach
clear to the sacristy, and in it should sit all the cobblers and tailors,
who sew what the chamberlain tells them. They should have there a
table 30 feet long, and another table joined to it. Both tables should
be 7 feet wide. Between that house and the sacristy and the church
and also the narthex there should be a cemetery for the burial of the
lay. From the south gate to the north gate let there be built on the
west a house 280 feet long, 25 feet wide for the separate stalls of the
horses, and above that a solarium where the servants can eat and
sleep. They should have tables 80 feet long, 4 feet wide, and when
they cannot feed some of the visitors at the above-mentioned
building, they should feed them at this one. At the head of that
building let there be a place where those can come together who
arrive without squires and there receive from the alms brother
sufficient charity in the form of food and drink. Outside of the
refectory of the brothers 60 feet from its head twelve latrines should
be dug and as many baths, where at fixed times the brothers can
bathe. After that location let the cell of the novices be built and it
should be divided off into four parts: in the first they might meditate;
in the second, ear; in the third, sleep; and the fourth have a
latrine on the side. Next to that one let there be built another cell
where the goldsmiths or jewelers or glaziers come for their craft.
Between the latrines and the cells of the novices and of the goldsmiths
they should have a house 125 feet long, 25 feet wide and its
length should extend to the bakery. Its length including the tower
at its head is 70 feet, its width, 20 feet.

[ILLUSTRATION]

515. CLUNY. PLAN OF MONASTERY ABOUT 1050

REDRAWN FROM CONANT, VARIOUS VERSIONS

Cluny sprang from a nucleus of five or six monasteries united by its first abbot,
Berno (909-927). Under the leadership of Abbot Odo (927-942) and his
successors, and vigorously supported by the Papal See, Cluny became the
center of an order that included, by about 1150, no fewer than 314 monasteries
all over Europe as well as the Holy Land.

The fabric of Cluny was almost utterly destroyed during the French Revolution.
Through intimate knowledge of the topography and archaeology of the site,
superior draftsmanship, and an ingenious synthesis of historical sources,
Kenneth John Conant has reconstructed the various stages of the architecture of
this great center of monastic reform, thus making a major contribution to its
visual history.

The church of this plan, Cluny II, was built by Abbot Mayeul around
954-981, perhaps over the court of the original villa given to its monks in 910.
The adjoining conventual buildings were erected ca. 991-1048 by Abbot Odilo,
replacing Mayeul's claustrum. Conant believes that Odilo rebuilt the east and
west ranges of the cloister outside Mayeul's buildings, thus taking them out of
alignment with the transept and façade of Mayeul's church, thereby forming the
peculiar L-shaped bend of the northern cloister walk where it clears the transept.
Insertion of a chapter house in the east range, together with the small size of
both Odilo's cloister yard and Mayeul's church caused extension of the east
range beyond the limits of the cloister square—a feature that in the 12th century
became widespread among independent Benedictine churches of England (figs.
516, 518); and standard among 12th-century Cistercian houses (figs. 519-521).

Attempts to convert the prose account of the monastery
described in the Consuetudines Farfenses into a graphic
reconstruction were made by Julius von Schlosser in 1889,
by Georg Hager in 1901, and by A. W. Clapham in 1934.[44]
The views set forth by these scholars have been expanded
and refined by Kenneth John Conant in a series of studies
published over a period of nearly thirty years.[45] Schlosser
felt that the Latin text was confused, ambiguous, and
disconnected, and consequently assumed that the description
of the buildings around the cloister followed no logical
order. He had overlooked the dimensional clues in the
text which could help to clarify the order.[46] Hager made use
of these clues and, by grouping buildings of identical widths
together, discovered that the author of the text describes
the monastery in a continuous order away from the church
and clockwise around the compound of the cloister, describing
first the east range, then the south range, and finally
the west range. Hager noted that the resulting order coincided
with the layout of later monasteries, in particular that
of the Abbey of St. Peter and Paul of Hirsau, which he used
as a model for his reconstruction.[47]

Conant focused upon the task of superimposing the order
of buildings recorded in the Farfa text upon the actual
building site of the monastery of Cluny, and in doing so,
demonstrated that the Farfa text was compatible with the
topography of Cluny. Conant published his findings in a
number of plans; the latest in 1965 (fig. 515) and 1968.
In developing these schemes he depended upon a plan of
the monastery of Cluny drawn up between 1700 and 1710
(now in the Musée Ochier), and to some extent on the
results of his excavations conducted from 1928 onwards
with the permission of the French authorities under the
auspices of the Medieval Academy of America.

The Farfa description discloses that the monastery built
toward the middle of the eleventh century by Odilo of
Cluny was, in its basic features, still like the layout of the
buildings shown on the Plan of St. Gall. There are of course
some modifications—most notably the introduction of a
separate chapter house at the head of the east range—but
these changes remain within the framework set forth on
the Plan of St. Gall.

VI.2.2

LAYOUT OF THE
CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS

As on the Plan of St. Gall, the cloister at Cluny lies to
the south of the church. The east range contains the
dormitory and its annexes; the south range, the refectory
and the kitchens; the west range, the cellar and the parlor.[48]

EAST RANGE

In Cluny, as on the Plan, the monks' dormitory (dormitorium)
occupies the second floor of the east range. The Farfa
text describes it as 160 feet long and 34 feet wide, with walls
reaching to a height of 23 feet. But in the space below the
dormitory some important innovations have been made.
On the Plan of St. Gall, this entire space is occupied by the
Monks' Warming Room coextensive with the dormitory of
40 feet by 85 feet overhead. In Cluny, this space is internally
divided into a chapter house (45 feet long and 34 feet wide);
an auditorium (30 feet long); and a camera (90 feet long).
The Monks' Warming Room (calefactorium) has been reduced
at Cluny to a surface area of only 25 feet by 25 feet
and shifted into the south range. This amounts to complete
reassignment of the space beneath the dormitory, a modification
for which an explanation will later be offered.[49]

Chapter house

In the monastery shown on the Plan of St. Gall the chapter
meetings were held in the northern cloister walk, which
was made wider (15 feet) than the other three walks (12½
feet) and furnished with benches.[50] The same arrangement,
as has been shown above, prevailed at Fontanella, which
might indicate that the cloister walk next to the church was
the common location for the capitulum in Carolingian
times.[51] Attempts made by Hager and others to show that
a separate chapter house existed at Jumièges in the seventh
century, at Reichenau in 780, at Fontanella by 823-833,
and in the monastery of St. Gall after 830, can be shown to
be based on faulty textual exegesis, and in one case on the
use of a corrupted text.[52]

To use the northern cloister walk for chapter meetings,
however, had disadvantages. Although warmed by the
rays of the sun in the winter, when the arc of sun is in
the southern hemisphere, and sheltered from the north
wind by the church, the open cloister walk offered little
protection from inclement weather. The physical discomforts
endured in the winter or on rainy days must have
called early for a more protected location for the chapter
meetings.

Certain passages in the Casus Sancti Galli of Ekkehart IV
(980-1060) suggest that in the abbey of St. Gall chapter
meetings were then held in the Monks' Warming Room.
It is quite possible that the special room for chapter meetings
at Cluny II owes its existence at the head of the east
range to the desire to convert into a separate space a portion
of the former warming room that in the earlier days had
served temporarily for chapter meetings during inclement
weather. Ekkehart mentions that on the order of the abbot,
a raging monk was punished during a chapter meeting by
being "bound to a column of the warming room and
harshly beaten," (ad columpnam piralis ligatus acerrime virgis
caeditur).[53] Another passage indicates that the pyrale was
the traditional place for punishment in the monastery,
since it was there that the whip was kept.[54] Punishment
was traditionally carried out in the chapter house in the
Middle Ages. This practice seems already to have been
current in the time of Ekkehart IV, since a text from
Paderborn of 1023 explicitly states that punishment was
administered in the chapter house.[55]

Inner parlor

Its name (auditorium) in the Farfa description suggests that
it served as an area where monks might talk to one another
when silence was being observed in the rest of the cloister.[56]

Supply room

The largest architectural entity in the east range after the
dormitory is a space 90 feet long and 34 feet wide which in
the Farfa text is designated as camera, that is, "store-" or
"supply room".[57] It is too far away from the kitchen to be
interpreted as a pantry or larder. Since the Farfa description
lacks any reference to a vestiary in which the clothes
of the monks are kept, it is possible that this room was a
storehouse for clothing and such other material necessities
that were furnished by the camerarius (chamberlain) who
was in charge of the workmen and craftsmen. On the Plan
of St. Gall, the monks' clothing was kept, and perhaps even
tailored, in the large vestiary which formed a second story
over the refectory (40 feet by 100 feet). Since the generous
clothing allowance provided by the synod of Aachen in
816 was adopted by Cluny, the storeroom for clothing would
need to be about the same size as that of the Vestiary on
the Plan of St. Gall.[58]

One of the primary changes necessitated by the inclusion
of the chapter house and inner parlor in the east range was
that these additions made this range along with its annexes
(the monks' bath and privy) extend southward well beyond
the cloister square. In other respects, the relative position
of the dormitory, privy, and bathhouse are identical with
those on the Plan of St. Gall.

SOUTH RANGE

In both the Plan of St. Gall and Cluny II the refectory
formed the principal mass of the south range, although at
Cluny the refectory was apparently a building of one storey.
It is 90 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 23 feet high. At Cluny
as on the Plan, the monks' kitchen (coquina regularis) lies
at the western end of the refectory in the corner between
refectory and cellar; but at Cluny there is also a kitchen
for laymen (coquina laicorum) not found on the Plan of
St. Gall. The dimensions of the two kitchens of Cluny
are the same, 25 feet by 30 feet. Since the Farfa description
of the house for noblemen and of the hospice for paupers
does not include any reference to kitchens, the coquina
laicorum may represent a consolidation of the formerly
autonomous kitchens of these two houses.[59]

The dimensions of the calefactory at Cluny indicate that
it was part of the south range. It has the same width as the
refectory, 25 feet, distinctly narrower than the buildings
of the dormitory range, which are 34 feet wide. The sequence
of the account suggests that the calefactory was at
the eastern end of the south range. This is a solution
different from that of the Plan of St. Gall, but at the same
time, the position of the calefactory at Cluny next to the
east range might suggest a development from its earlier
position under the dormitory in the east range on the Plan
of St. Gall.[60]

WEST RANGE

At Cluny II, as on the Plan of St. Gall, the cellar (cellarium)
forms the principal building of the west range. It is 70 feet
long and 60 feet wide. Next to it lies a long and narrow
room which the Farfa text designates "aelemosynarum."
This room is 10 feet wide and 60 feet long; its name suggests
that it served as an area in which the almoner administered
to the needs of transient paupers. An inscription on the
Plan of St. Gall indicates that a room of similar shape and
nearly the same dimensions (15 feet by 47½ feet) performed
the triple function of serving as "an exit and entrance to
the cloister," as a Parlor "where the monks could converse
with guests" and as "the place where the feet [of the
visiting pilgrims] were washed" (exitus & introitus ante
claustrū ad colloquendum cum hospitibus & ad mandatū faci-
endū).[61] A passage in chapter 46 of book II of the Customs
of Farfa reveals that it was in connection with the ritual of
the mandatum that the visiting paupers received their customary
ration of wine and bread (justitiam vini et libram
panis);[62] and in a complete description of this ritual

found in the first book of these customs, explains that
the place where the paupers' feet are washed, is "in the
cloister to the side of the church" (in claustro juxta eccles-
iam)[63] which indicates that the eleemosynarium at Cluny was
located in the same relative position as the Parlor on the
Plan of St. Gall, and also served some of the same
functions.[64]

A parlor or auditorium is not mentioned in the Farfa
text, but appears in the two passages of the Ordo Cluniacensis,
written around 1086. In one of these the claustral
prior is admonished to "go through the whole cloister
beginning at the door of the auditorium, carefully checking
that the eleemosynarium is closed and locked" (Claustrum
incipiens ad ostium auditorii, sollicite observans quatenus
Eleemosynaria sit clausa et obserata).[65] In the other, the
door of the eleemosynarium is mentioned next to "that other
door through which those who come from outside enter
the cloister" (ad ostium . . . Elemosynariae, et ad illud, per
quod de foris venientium est ingressus in claustrum.[66] Both
passages suggest that auditorium and eleemosynarium were
two different areas. Architecturally this could have been
accomplished in two ways: either by relegating the function
of the parlor to a separate space, or by dividing the
oblong eleemosynarium internally into two areas accessible
by separate doors, one used as parlor, or auditorium, for
the reception of guests, the other for the washing of the
feet and the distribution of alms. In the former case one
would have to assume a separate room immediately to the
north of the eleemosynarium, perhaps in the court around
the galilee where Conant indicates a room for the Porter.

VI.2.3

LAYOUT OF THE
EXTRA-CLAUSTRAL BUILDINGS

As on the Plan, the infirmary lies east of the church, the
houses for the guests to the west and northwest, and the
houses of the workmen to the south of the cloister.

AREA EAST OF THE CONVENTUAL BUILDINGS

In Cluny, as on the Plan of St. Gall, this tract contains the
monk's cemetery as well as the monks' infirmary. The
infirmary itself consists of four rooms, each 27 feet wide
and 23 feet long plus two additional rooms a little smaller
than the others. In one of these the sick brothers came to
wash their feet on Saturdays; in the other, attending
servants cleaned the pans and all the other utensils of the
sick brothers. The Farfa text does not refer to an infirmary
chapel; however, a chapel 45 feet long, 20 feet wide, and
23 feet high (oratorium sanctae Mariae) which could have
served this function is mentioned immediately before the
infirmary in the text. There is no further evidence to either
confirm or disprove this assumption.

In departure from the layout shown in the eastern tract
of the Plan of St. Gall, the novitiate has been separated
from the infirmary and moved to a site south of the east
range. As on the Plan, however, the novitiate may still
have been arranged peripherally around a cloister yard, as
Conant suggests in his latest plan. The Farfa text describes
it as composed of four parts: "In the first they meditate;
in the second they eat; in the third they sleep; in the fourth
there is a latrine on the side" (prima ut meditent, in secunda
reficiant, in tertia dormiant, in quarta latrina ex latere).

AREA SOUTH OF THE CONVENTUAL COMPLEX

Again, there are striking similarities between the Plan of
St. Gall and Cluny II. The bakery (pistrinum) lies to the
south of the monks' kitchen. The dimensions, including
the bulk of a tower that stands at the head of the bakery,
are listed as 20 feet by 70 feet. As on the Plan, the work and
living quarters for the workmen and craftsmen are arranged
along the southern edge of the monastery to the north of
the bakery. They are accommodated in a building (domus)
125 feet long and 25 feet wide.[67] The goldsmiths, jewelers
or glaziers (aurifices, vel inclusores, seu vitrei magistri) had
their own cell, the dimensions of which are not listed in the
Farfa text. The principal house for workmen does not
include facilities for tailors and shoemakers. Their workshops
are located north of the cloister. This arrangement
differs distinctly from that on the Plan of St. Gall.

AREA NORTH OF THE CLOISTER

The workshop for tailors and shoemakers (sartores atque
sutores) occupied a building 45 feet long and 30 feet wide
which extended clear to the sacristy on the north side of
the church. The sacristy is 58 feet long and has at its head
a tower (turris). Alfred Clapham proposed that the sacristy
and the house for the tailors and shoemakers might have
been installed in the masonry of the church of Cluny I,
the western half being converted into the workshop, the
eastern half into the sacristy.[68] —a hypothesis that Conant
finds plausible.[69] On the Plan of St. Gall this was the site
for the Abbot's House. A house for the abbot is not mentioned
at any place in the Farfa description.

The absence of a house for the abbot seems due to a
change in the rules concerning the abbot's sleeping accommodations.
The Customs of Udalric, written about 1085,
specifically state that the bed of the abbot was located in
the middle of the monks' dormitory and that it was the
abbot who gave the signal to get up in the morning: In
medio dormitorii est lectus eius prope murum; sonitum ipse
facit quo fratres diluculo ad surgendum excitantur.[70] Since
the Farfa text fails to mention an abbot's house, this
practice must already have been in effect during the
abbacy of Odilo (995-1049). The beginnings of this development
can be observed in the tenth century monasteries of
Moyen Moutier and Leittlich. In each of these monasteries
the abbot's house was attached to the monks' cloister. To
eliminate the abbot's house entirely, thus to draw him
bodily into the community of sleeping monks, was the
ultimate step. It was the enforcement of a policy proposed
as early as 816 at the synod of Aachen, but revoked at the
synod of 817.[71]

AREA WEST OF THE CONVENTUAL COMPLEX

The Farfa text is quite explicit concerning the location and
use of the buildings which lie to the west of the church and
near the gate of the monastery. Again, the analogies with
the Plan of St. Gall are striking. Both on the Plan and at
Cluny this is the location of the houses in which the
monastery's visitors are received. On the Plan of St. Gall
these consisted of a House for Distinguished Guests, a
House for the Vassals and Knights who travel in the
Emperor's Following, a House for Visiting Servants, and
the Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers.[72] The monastery of
Cluny, according to the Farfa text, provides for a house with
bedding and eating space for forty noblemen and thirty
noblewomen, a house for the horses of the visiting noblemen,
and a house for pilgrims and paupers. The relative
location of these facilities, in both instances, appears to be
the same.

The house for the forty noblemen and the thirty noblewomen
at Cluny has been discussed in detail in a preceding
chapter.[73] It belongs to the same building tradition as the
House for Horses and Oxen on the Plan of St. Gall, and its
two privies, which accommodated seventy toilet seats, forty
for men and thirty for women, reflect the highest standard
of medieval sanitation.[74]

The house for the horses and servants who travel in the
following of the distinguished guests extends from the
north gate to the south gate. It is 25 feet wide and has an
impressive length of 280 feet. The ground floor accommodates
the horses of the traveling guests and for that purpose
is divided into stalls (per mansiunculas partitas). Above the
stable there is a sunroom (solarium) where the servants
eat and sleep. This room is furnished with at least two
ranges of tables 80 feet long and 4 feet wide.[75]

The dimensions of the house for pilgrims and paupers
are not listed in the Farfa text. The building is simply
referred to as "the place where those can come together who
ride without squires and there receive from the almsbrother
sufficient charity in the form of food and drink" (locus . . .
ubi conveniant omnes illi homines, qui absque equitibus
deveniunt, et caritatem ex cibo atque potum . . . ibi recepiant
ab elemosynario fratre). The text tells us that it lies at the
head of the house for horses and servants, but does not
reveal whether this means to the south or north of it.
Conant placed it as the northern end of the stables. The
relative location of these facilities for guests, consequently,
appears to be like that on the Plan of St. Gall.

The Farfa text says nothing about any houses for livestock
and their keepers but the topography allows for a
forecourt of considerable dimensions precisely at the place
where one should expect them in the light of the Plan of
St. Gall.

IRREGULAR SHAPE OF ODILO'S CLOISTER YARD

The original concept of the Plan of St. Gall was that the
Church should be 80 feet wide and 300 feet long, but an
explanatory title inscribed in the longitudinal axis of the
Church directs that in actual construction it should be
reduced to 200 feet.[76] The church of Cluny II, built by
Abbot Mayeul between 965 and 981, was only 140 feet
long (Ecclesia longitudinis CXL pedes).[77]

Conant believes that the timbered houses in which Abbot
Mayeul lodged the monks of Cluny lay further inward than
Odilo's conventual buildings, and that when Odilo constructed
the new masonry ranges he located them outside
and around the original structures.[78] If this assumption is
correct, the old cloister yard of Cluny would have been
considerably smaller than the cloister yard of the Plan of
St. Gall (only about 75 feet square, as compared to the 100
by 102½ feet of the Plan or the 100 by 100 feet stipulated

by Hildemar as the acceptable minimum).[79] Should the
original dormitory of the monks indeed have been located
inside of Odilo's masonry ranges, the original dormitory
of Cluny would have been in axial prolongation of the
transept of Mayeul's church, i.e., in the same relative
position in which it is shown on the Plan of St. Gall. Moving
his claustral ranges further out, Odilo would have
brought the cloister yard of Cluny back to the dimensional
standards set by the Plan of St. Gall but at the same time
would have created an irregularly shaped cloister yard, in
which the east range was separated from the transept. This
solution had no lasting effect on later monastic planning.[80]
It may very well have been the outcome of special local
conditions, namely the inordinate smallness of Mayeul's
church and original cloister which could only be overcome
by disconnecting dormitory and transept.[81]

VI.2.4

CONCLUSIONS

Schlosser's and Hager's analyses of the Farfa text, Clapham's
attempt to apply it to the monastery of Cluny, and
Conant's reconciliation of this text with the actual topography
of the monastery of Cluny, make it clear that the
monastery constructed by Abbot Odilo of Cluny (995-1049)
was, in its principal dispositions, a reflection of the scheme
displayed on the Plan of St. Gall. There are certain modifications,
some of which can be traced to a change in custom.
But the fundamentals remain unaltered. The historical
weight of this observation becomes apparent only if one
realizes that the layout of the monastery shown on the Plan
of St. Gall was by no means the only Carolingian or early
medieval arrangement available for imitation.

The cloister of Jumièges (Gemeticum), founded by Philibert
around 650, had dormitory, refectory, and cellar installed
in one two-storey building 50 feet wide and with an
unheard-of length of 290 feet. Refectory and cellar shared
its ground floor; the dormitory extended the entire length
of the upper storey.[82]

The triangular cloister yard of Angilbert's monastery at
St. Riquier (Centula), built 790-799 (figs. 196-197) shows
that the square was by no means the only form available
for the layout of a Carolingian cloister yard. In the monastery
of Fulda, built by Ratger between 817 and 822, in the
cathedral of Cologne, built by Bishop Hildebold between
800 and 819, and even in the master monastery of Inden,
built from 815 onwards by Louis the Pious for Benedict of
Aniane, the monks' cloister was to the west, not to the south
of the church. In the case of Cologne, the cloister was not
even square, but of trapezoid form.[83]

Yet another arrangement different from that set forth on
the Plan of St. Gall was the layout of the monastery of St.
Wandrille (Fontanella). Here the conventual buildings
built by abbots Gervold (787-806) and Ansegis (823-833)
lay to the north of the church. The refectory and the cellar
were in the east range, the dormitory in the west, and the
domus in the north (fig. 520A).[84]

The analysis of Cluny II as described in the Farfa text
discloses, however, that it was the arrangements seen on
the Plan of St. Gall which became the guiding pattern for
later monastic plans. This may be due to the fact that the
arrangement of the monastic offices which appears on the
Plan of St. Gall was more practical than any of the other
arrangements. The location of the cloister to the south of
the church, the warmest side in the winter, was especially
desirable in northern countries. The dormitory and the
warming room of the monks were conveniently located in
the east range, near their choir in the church where they
spent at least four hours each day, beginning with a service
held at two o'clock in the morning. The refectory and the
kitchen with their activities were isolated in the south
range, the area farthest from the church. The cellar was
placed in the west range, facing the outer court from which
it took provisions. The location of the medical services and
of the novitiate to the secluded eastern tract of the monastery,
the houses for the workmen to the south with easy
access to water, the livestock and their keepers in the large
courtyard to the west, the houses for the guests near the
gate of the monastery—all of this made perfect sense in
terms of monastic planning.

The affiliation of the Plan of St. Gall with the reform of
Benedict of Aniane, however, may have been the most
important reason for the survival of this layout in later
monastic planning.[85] The prime objective of this movement—viz.,
to establish binding rules regulating even the
smallest details of monastic life—was never forgotten,
especially since the resolutions made during the two great
reform synods of Aachen had been promulgated by Louis
the Pious as public laws.[86] The capitularies of the emperor
contained a clause instructing the attending bishops and
abbots to make these new ordinances known to their monks,
and Louis the Pious appointed inspectors to see that all
monasteries observed these customs. The monastery of
Inden was to serve as a training ground for monks whose
task it became to go out and insure compliance throughout
the empire with the unity of customs established at
Aachen.[87]

The transmission of the missionary ideals of the synods
to the monastery of Cluny can be traced through a series of
monastic foundations in direct lineage from Benedict of
Aniane to Cluny. Benedict himself, under the direction
of Louis the Pious, sent twenty monks to the newly founded
Abbey of St.-Savin in Poitou.[88] St.-Savin escaped the
ravages by the Normans in the second half of the ninth
century and maintained the regularity of its monastic life.
Around 870 the monks of St.-Savin restored the ancient
abbey of St.-Martin-les-Autun, and with it, reasons Watkin
Williams, "would have arrived the spirit of the Concordia
regularis and the observances prescribed at the councils of
Aachen."[89] Consequently, from St.-Savin to St.-Martin-les-Autun,
and from there to Baume-les-Messieurs, the
parentage of Cluny can be traced to Benedict of Aniane.

Dom Bruno Albers has further established, on the basis of
textual similarities, that the Ordo Qualiter of Benedict of
Aniane and the Capitula of 817 were passed to Baume-les-Messieurs
and then to Cluny.[90] This was the traditional
heritage professed by Cluniac monks. According to John,
the biographer and friend of Odo, second abbot of Cluny,
"Euticius instituted those customs which have hitherto
been observed in our monasteries" (Benedict of Aniane's
baptismal name was Witiza, or Euticius in Latin).[91]

It is self-evident that such an important issue as the
layout and order of the buildings in which the monks and
their serfs were housed would have been part of this overriding
preoccupation with uniformity of custom. The layout
of the monastery of Cluny, as described in the Farfa
text, discloses that in the middle of the eleventh century the
arrangements set forth on the Plan of St. Gall were indeed
alive. But in precisely what manner this tradition was bequeathed
to Cluny may never be ascertained. We are
unfortunately completely ignorant of the layout of the
cloisters in the chain of abbeys which leads from Benedict
of Aniane to Berno of Cluny. The seventeenth-century
engravings of St.-Savin and St.-Martin-les-Autun cannot
be trusted to give reliable information on the early medieval
layout, since both of these monasteries were extensively
rebuilt in the later Middle Ages.[92]