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.
