University of Virginia Library

IV. 4

NUMBER OF MONKS AND SERFS

IV.4.1

MONKS (RELIGIOSI)

The first cenobitic monastery, founded around 320 by St.
Pachomius in Tabennisi near Dendera in the Upper Nile
Valley, had at one point in its history between 1,200 and
1,600 monks.[133] Benedictine monasticism reduced these figures
to more manageable proportions. Although the Abbey
of Jumièges, in the seventh century is said to have had as
many as 900 monks,[134] the largest Carolingian monasteries
north of the Alps rarely exceeded a count of 300 monks.
The average number of monks of a transalpine monastery
in the ninth century appears to have ranged between 100
and 150. The following is a list of the approximate number
of monks in certain Carolingian monasteries, based primarily
on the studies of Dom Ursmer Berlière.[135]

The monastery on the Plan of St. Gall can house approximately
110 monks. I arrive at this figure through a count
of the beds that are actually shown on the Plan, adding to
this the number that might be installed in the bedrooms of
houses where they have not been designated. The Dormitory
of the Monks is equipped with seventy-seven beds,[136]
the dormitory in the Abbot's House with eight.[137] There are
five beds in the Porter's Lodging,[138] two in the lodging of the
master of the Outer School.[139] To this must be added an
estimated minimum of twelve beds in the dormitory of the
Novitiate[140] and an estimated three beds in the apartment of
the master of the Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers. It is
not quite clear from the Plan where the chamberlain slept.[141]
If the gardener was a monk (as he appears to have been),[142]
he would probably also have had with him one or two assistants.
There were at least two physicians, who may also
have been monks.[143] This brings the total of the religiosi to
the estimated 110 monks.

Because of the paradigmatic character of the Plan, these
figures must be looked upon as a reflection of what the assembled
bishops and abbots, in 816 and 817 at the time of
Louis the Pious, considered to be the ideal number of monks
in a monastery. There is no doubt in my mind that the architect
who developed the scheme of the Plan based his work
upon a clearly formulated population plan, as I have demonstrated
earlier,[144] and that he implemented this plan as he
established the dimensions of the individual buildings.

IV.4.2

WORKMEN, SERFS, AND SERVANTS
(FAMILIA)

Judging from the number of bunks that could have been
installed in the bedrooms of the workhouses, stables, mill,
and mortar, etc., the total number of workmen, serfs, and
servants must have ranged between 130 and 150. The estimate
runs as follows: gardener's crew, 6; fowlkeepers and
their crew, 6. Workmen and artisans: 4 shoemakers, 4 saddlers,
3 trenchermakers, 3 shieldmakers, 4 turners, 4 curriers,
2 goldsmiths, 2 blacksmiths, 2 fullers, 5 coopers, 5
wheelwrights. Servants: in the abbot's kitchen and bathhouse,
6; in the Bake and Brew House of the Monks, 8; in
the Mill, 4; in the Mortarhouse, 4; in the Drying Kiln, 4;
horsegrooms, 8; oxmen, 8; for pilgrims and paupers, 6; in
charge of the House for the Emperor's Following, 8; keepers
of livestock: cowherds, 6; keepers of the mares and
colts, 6; swineherds, 6, goatherds, 6; shepherds, 6.

This is a purely mechanical count based on the number
of beds that could be installed while still maintaining comfortable
sleeping arrangements. The number could be increased
considerably if beds were crowded into sleeping
areas.

Except for the Abbey of Corbie, we do not have much
specific information about other Carolingian monasteries
with which to compare these figures. At Corbie, under

TABLE II

LIST OF THE APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF MONKS IN CERTAIN
CAROLINGIAN MONASTERIES

                                         

MONASTERY	TIME	NUMBER OF MONKS
		note
St.-Riquier	Angilbert (833)	400[[145]]
St.-Wandrille	Seventh century	300[[146]]
Fulda	Ninth century	270[[147]]
St.-Germain-des-pres	Toward 815	212
	In 829	120
	841-847	122[[148]]
Corbie	Adalhard (822-826)	circa 150-200[[149]]
Tegernsee	Toward 750	150[[150]]
St.-Denis	838	126[[151]]
Marmoutier	853	116[[152]]
St.-Vaast	Beginning of ninth century	112[[153]]
St. Maximin at Trier	Seventh century	100[[154]]
St. Gall	Gozbert (816-836)	circa 140-180
	Grimald (841-872)	103
	Toward 896	103[[155]]
St. Bertin at St.-Omer	Toward 820	83[[156]]
Lobbes	Toward 850	71[[157]]
Prüm	862-883	66[[158]]
Kornelismünster	817	30[[159]]

[ILLUSTRATION]

LVII. DE ARTIFICIBUS MONASTERII

1 Artifices sí sunt in monasterio, cum omni humilitate faciant
ipsas artes, si permiserit abbas.

2 Quod si aliquis ex eís extollitur pro scientia artis suae, eo
quod uideatur aliquid conferre monasterio,

3 hic talis erigatur ab ipsa arte et denuo per eam non transeat,
nisi forte humiliato ei iterum abbas iubeat.

52 THE CRAFTSMEN OF THE MONASTERY

If there be craftsmen in the monastery, let them practise their crafts with
all humility, provided the abbot give permission. But if one of them be
puffed up because of his skill in his craft, supposing that he is conferring
a benefit on the monastery, let him be removed from his work and not
return to it, unless he have humbled himself and the abbot entrust
it to him again.

Adalhard, the prebendaries numbered 150 "within" and
forty "without" the monastic enclosure. Adalhard gave instructions
that "whenever one died, he should be immediately
replaced by another, so that the number be always
complete. And no one should ever be added to enlarge this
number."[160] This group included in the first workshop (ad
primam camaram): three shoemakers (sutores tres), two
saddlemakers ([ad] caualos duo), and one fuller (fullo unus);
in the second workshop (ad secundam cameram): one storekeeper
(ad camaram unus), six blacksmiths (fabri grossarii
sex), two goldsmiths (aurifices duo), two shoemakers (sutores
duo), two shieldmakers (scutarii duo), one parchment-maker
(pargaminarius unus), one polisher (saminator unus), and
three foundrymen (fusarii tres). Two servants from the
third workshop were attached to the cellar and storehouse
of the porter (ad cellarium et dispensam portarii duo); one
to the infirmary (ad domum infirmorum unus). There were
two helpers (gararii duo), one in the woodshed of the
bakehouse (ad lignarium in pistrino unus), the other at the
center gate (ad portam medianam). Lastly, there were four
carpenters (carpentarii quattuor), four masons (mationes
quattuor), and two physicians (medici duo). Two servants
were attached to the house of the vassals (ad casam uasallorum
duo).[161]

We do not have enough information to draw any concrete
conclusions about the average ratio of monks to secular
domestics in Carolingian times, and there were probably
vast fluctuations, since there must have been some relation
between the number of serfs who worked within the monastic
enceinte and the number of serfs and workmen stationed
outside it, yet still within the immediate vicinity of the
monastery. If the calculations of von Arx are correct, the
Monastery of St. Gall, in 895, when it had 100 monks, employed
some 200 secular domestics,[162] and the Abbey of St.
-Bertin at St.-Omer, toward the middle of the ninth century,
when it numbered eighty-three monks had ninety-five
domestics.[163]

If the Plan of St. Gall represents the typical, as its paradigmatic
nature suggests, the average Carolingian monastery
at the time of Louis the Pious must have had a lay
population of domestic serfs and workmen exceeding that
of the number of monks by some 15 to 30 percent.

According to calculations found in many sources, the
number of people in the "outer family" was considerably
higher than the number of domestics. An inventory of 831
of the Abbey of St.-Riquier lists no less than 2,500 men,
including 110 mounted knights,[164] on the land immediately

[ILLUSTRATION]

LXVI. DE HOSTIARIIS MONASTERII

1 Ad portam monasterii ponatur senes sapiens, qui sciat
accipere responsum et reddere et cuius maturitas eum non
sinat uacari.

2 Qui portarius cellam debebit habere iuxta portam, ut uenientes
semper praesentem inueniant, a quo responsum accipiant.

66 THE PORTERS OF THE MONASTERY

At the gate of the monastery let there be placed a wise old
man, who understands how to give and receive a message,
and whose years will keep him from leaving his post. This
porter should have a room near the gate, so that those who
come may always find someone to answer them.

around it. The number of all persons living on the lands of
the Abbey of St.-Germain-des-Prés has been calculated by
Guérard to have amounted at the time of Abbot Irminon
(ca. 800-826) to about 13,300.[165] If we add to this the approximately
160 serfs and laymen who worked in the monastery
itself and divide the total of 13,460 thus obtained, by
the 120 monks of the monastery, we find that, as far as the
Abbey of St. Germain-des-Prés is concerned, to sustain one
single monk involved the support of 112 laymen.[166] The
figure 13,300 of St. Germain-des-Prés does not include
those persons who lived on land that the monastery had
granted in benefice (in beneficium). If the latter were included
the general population of the Abbey of St. Germain-des-Prés,
as Guérard estimates, would have been around
40,000.[167] The abbeys of St.-Wandrille and St. Denis appear
to have had populations of similar magnitude.[168]

NOTE

ON THE HATTON 48 INSCRIPTION ILLUSTRATIONS

Inscriptions are shown same size as the originals and are based on Bodleian
Library, Oxford, photographs, centimeter-inch scale shown, and on Farmer,
Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, vol. 15, Rosenkilde and Bagger,
Copenhagen, 1968.

The original script was written in black ink on parchment. A splendid capital
marks the start of each chapter, drawn in black outline with vermilion infill
that gives pleasing brightness to the work. Black outline capitals are surrounded
with a line of red dots, a characteristic feature of Insular manuscript ornamentation.

The excerpts used in the preceding pages do not occur, in all cases, in the exact
sequence as reproduced. A dotted line printed in black shows where the text
of the manuscript is interrupted by breaks, such as occur in moving from one
column or one page to the next. Folio identification is included with each
excerpt.

The adaptation or translation from tonal-range copy to line copy with tone
absent was resolved by making photographic enlargements precisely 4 times
original size. Extraneous background blemishes or other stains and `show-through'
were easily eliminated at this scale (letters ca. 15mm high, lines ca.
5.5cm apart). Thus, corrective measures were subtractive (removal of unwanted
stains) rather than additive (as they would have been by redrawing or
tracing from the original). Exceptions are the red dots, where in many cases
the original vermilion dots had long ago faded and were barely legible around
the black outlines of the capitals. Many of these red dots were supplied here
by hand to correctly portray a continuous sequence of dot ornamentation as
originally executed.

Then, by photographic reduction back to the original size (with precision
equal to the procedure of enlargement), together with careful darkroom and
laboratory control with high-contrast processing (by Irwin Welcher, General
Graphics, San Francisco), images were obtained of clear and precise definition
of outline, devoid of tonal background, and without supervening interpretation
of additive subjective character.

Consequently the elegance of the letter forms of the script is reproduced with
a high degree of fidelity to the original and with authenticity of impression.

E. B.

[ILLUSTRATION]

261. UTRECHT PSALTER (CA. 830). PSALM XIII (14), DETAIL

UTRECHT UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CODEX 32, fol. 7v

[courtesy of Utrecht University Library]

The singing of psalms, as many as three to six during one service, was one of the central and longest phases in a monk's daily worship. In the
adoption and reshaping of the old Gregorian chant, in which psalms were sung from the days of Gregory the Great, and in its transformation
into the medieval sequence by Frankish monks in the 8th and 9th centuries, Carolingian monasticism made one of its greatest and most
innovative contributions to the birth of Western music (see Crocker, 1975).

Richly illuminated psalters existed in the Roman world as early as the 4th and 5th centuries. The Utrecht Psalter, made in the abbey of
Hautvilliers near Reims, is the finest Carolingian copy of this kind of Early Christian psalter. In its rendering of landscapes, architecture,
people and animals it is full of classical reminiscences, but combines the sketchy illusionism of Late Antiquity with a nervous and lively
linear expressionism that appears to be more typically medieval. This illustration to Psalm XIII shows men doing evil to one another as
described in verses 2-4 (for more information see Dewald, 1932, 9).