University of Virginia Library

V. 8

FACILITIES FOR THE RECEPTION
OF VISITORS

V.8.1

THE MULTIFARIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS

The reception and care of guests, wealthy and poor, was
one of the primary duties of a monastic community. About
the proper performance of this service St. Benedict spoke
in emphatic terms: "Let all guests that come be received
like Christ, for he will say I was a stranger and ye took me
in."[278] He asks that "fitting honors be shown to all," but
especially to churchmen and pilgrims[279] and demands that
special care be given to the reception of the poor "because
in them is Christ more truly welcomed; for the fear which
the rich inspire is enough in itself to secure them honor."[280]
He rules that the guests be served from a separate kitchen,
"so that the brethren may not be disturbed when guests
arrive at irregular hours,"[281] and he places the responsibility
for the reception of the visitors in the hands of the Porter.[282]

[ILLUSTRATION]

390. LUTTRELL PSALTER

LONDON, BRITISH MUSEUM. ADD. MS. 42130, fol. 207

[after Millar, 1932, pl. 166]

The open kettles in this margin illumination appear to be supported on stands,
with open fires below them. The arcuated ranges of the Plan were considerably
more sophisticated; the Luttrell Psalter illuminations date to 1340.

The protection of paupers and pilgrims was also a concern
of the secular ruler—a responsibility that the emperor
had taken upon himself through his coronation in Rome,
as the holder of a universal power that obliged him to
protect and promote the Christian faith. It is defined as
such in a capitulary issued by Charlemagne in 802: "That
no one shall presume to rob or do any injury fraudulently
to the churches of God or widows or orphans or pilgrims;
for the lord emperor himself, after God and His saints, has
constituted himself their protector and defender."[283]

On the Plan of St. Gall there are no fewer than seven
separate installations devoted to monastic hospitality and
its administration. Listed in the order of prominence with
which they were associated in the thinking of St. Benedict
they are:

• 1 The Lodging for Visiting Monks

• 2 The Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers, with an annex
  containing the Kitchen, the Bake and Brew House for the
  Pilgrims and Paupers

• 3 The Lodging of the Master of the Hospice for Pilgrims
  and Paupers

• 4 The Porter's Lodging

• 5 The House for Distinguished Guests, with annex
  containing the Kitchen, Bake and Brew House for the Distinguished
  Guests

• 6 The House for Servants of Outlying Estates and for
  Servants Traveling with the Emperor's Court

• 7 The House for the Vassals and Knights who travel in
  the Emperor's Following

[ILLUSTRATION]

391. PLAN OF ST. GALL

LODGING FOR VISITING MONKS

Like the Monks' Dormitory lying on the opposite side of the Church (I, 260, fig. 208), the quarters for visiting monks communicate directly with
the transept and are accessible only from within the Church. The six beds in the lodging accord in number with the seats available in the
Refectory (I, 263, fig. 211) at a table in front of the reader's lectern reserved for visitors. The visiting monks have available for recreation an
outdoor space, probably gardened, 7½ feet wide and 80 feet long, which serves as a buffer between their quarters and the adjacent enclosure of the
Outer School (fig. 409, p. 174).

In order to attend religious services, students and teachers in the Outer School would have crossed this outdoor area for visiting monks, thence
passing through the eastern end of their living room. Like the nearby quarters of the Master of the Outer School and the Porter, the Lodging of
Visiting Monks must have been at ground-floor level, doubtless a lean-to the roof of which could not have risen above the sills of the north aisle
windows of the Church (I, 165-66, figs 111-112). The visitors' living room and dormitory were equipped with corner fireplaces.

Also intrinsically geared to the reception of visitors is the
atrium in front of the western end of the Church, and in a
very specific sense: the three porches attached to it in the
west, the south, and the north are where the guests are
formally received, screened, and distributed to their
respective quarters.

V.8.2

LODGING FOR VISITING MONKS

The synod of 817 prescribed that each monastery should be
provided with special quarters for the reception of the
visiting monks: "Ut dormitorium iuxta oratorium constituatur
ubi superuenientes monachi dormiant."[284] Hildemar, in
his commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict (written between
845 and 850 at the monastery of Civate in Italy),
furnishes us with some further detail on this subject.[285] The
brothers, he tells us, should never be quartered with any
laymen (not even with the vassalli by whom they may be
accompanied) as the latter often stay awake until midnight,
passing their time in idle talking and jesting, while the
monks should spend it in silence and prayer.[286] For this
reason their Dormitory should be next to the church, so
that they can enter the sanctuary at any time of the day and
night.[287]

In compliance with these stipulations a Lodging for
Visiting Monks is established on the Plan of St. Gall, in the
corner between the northern transept arm and the northern
aisle of the Church (fig. 391). It consists of a long and narrow
apartment, 10 feet wide and 50 feet long, which is internally
divided into a living room (susceptio fr̄m̄ supuenientium) and
a dormitory (dormitoriū eorum), both of equal dimensions. The
living room is furnished with two wall benches and from
it direct access is gained to the Church through a door
which leads into the northern transept arm. The dormitory
has a privy attached to it (necessarium); and the number of
beds that it contains suggests that the maximum number of
daily visitors who could be expected from other convents
was six.

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL

392.

391.X

HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS AND PAUPERS

Installation of auxiliary services in annexes to
the main houses characterizes all facilities of
the Plan of St. Gall associated with potential
fire hazards: the tasks of baking, brewing,
cooking, blacksmithing, and goldsmithing (figs
292, 396, 419-421, and 462, below).

The narrow shape of the Lodging for Visiting Monks—
like that of the Lodging of the Master of the Outer School,
which lies next to it, and that of the Porter's Lodging which
follows—suggests that all of these apartments are installed
in a narrow lean-to, built against the northern aisle of the
Church (figs. 108, 112 and 191).

The visiting monks take their meal in the Refectory for
the regular monks, where a table for guests is set aside for
that special purpose.[288] If one among the visiting brothers
decides to stay longer, or is a familiaris, Hildemar tell us,
he will join into the life of the regular monks, sleep and eat
with them, read in the claustrum, and attend the chapter
meetings in the morning and evening.[289] The Lodging for
Visiting Monks may also on occasion have been used by
one or the other of the regular monks when, after a long
absence, he returned from a journey or from some other
task that took him away from the mother house.[290]

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL. HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS AND PAUPERS

393.B LONGITUDINAL SECTION

The presumption in these reconstructions is
that the roof was supported by a frame of
freestanding inner posts connected lengthwise
by roof plates and crosswise by tie beams
(cf. fig. 393.D). The rafters rise in two tiers,
the lower from wall plates to roof plate, the
upper, at a slightly steeper angle, from the
roof plates to the ridge.

393.A PLAN

For historical justification of the
reconstructions shown in this series of
illustrations we refer to pages 72-82 above,
where it has been shown that the guest and
service buildings of the Plan of St. Gall
belong to a vernacular building tradition
traceable in the Germanic territories of the
Lowlands to the 14th century B.C. The
traditional material for this building type
was timber.

All the guest and service buildings of the Plan
were freestanding; in reconstructing
their plans and elevations, we have used the
simple lines of the Plan as indicating their
interior dimensions. The elevations shown
here are purely conjectural but based on the
assumption of comfortable minimum heights
required by the functions of each component
of the building. Carpentry details derive
from later medieval buildings (see above,
pages 88ff).

AUTHORS' INTERPRETATION

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL. HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS AND PAUPERS

393.C EAST ELEVATION

The roof lines might have been straight. We
have chosen to show them broken, because
they thus reflect more clearly in the exterior
appearance of the building the composition
and boundary lines of its inner spaces. To
hip the roof over the narrow ends of the
building is a sound constructional assumption,
since it steadies the roof in the longitudinal
orientation and is a feature archaeologically
well attested as early as the Iron Age.

393.D TRANSVERSE SECTION

393.E NORTH ELEVATION

AUTHORS' INTERPRETATION

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL. LODGING OF THE MASTER OF THE HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS & PAUPERS

394.A

394.B

The nature of his duties required that the caretaker of the poor have his own lodging, a
simple rectangular room with corner fireplace installed as a lean-to abutting the south aisle
of the church and about 15 feet from the Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers. The porch
through which pilgrims and paupers entered was an access to be shared by them with the
monastery's workmen and tradesmen, and by other lay visitors such as relatives of the
brothers, who might enter through that porch and then converse with their kin in the Monks'
Parlor next to and east of the Hospice. No outsider went beyond this Parlor without
escort.

The Master of the Hospice was assisted by servants lodged in the eastern aisle of the
Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers. The suggested circulation patterns show with what
relative ease the congress of the monastery with the world might be controlled. Confined on
the east by the Cellar wall and on the south by a (presumptive) fence, travelers could
enter the areas around the Hospice, dine in the house provided for their needs, rest,
exchange news and gossip of the day, and move on, all without disturbing the more orderly
life going forward in the calm heart of the monastery.

*

1. Church- Ig. Porch of Reception- WP western paradise- I1. Tower of St. Gabriel- Ih.
Porch to Hospice- Ii. Lodging, Master of Hospice for Pilgrims & Paupers- 31. Hospice
for Pilgrims & Paupers- 32. Kitchen, Bake & Brewhouse for Pilgrims & Paupers.

V.8.3

HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS AND PAUPERS

THE MAIN HOUSE

The Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers (fig. 392) lies to
the south of the Church and west of the cloister in a yard
that is bounded to the east by the Monks' Cellar and Larder,
to the south and west by fences that separate the pilgrims
and paupers from the houses for the livestock and their
keepers, and to the north by the semicircular atrium of the
Church. Access to this yard is gained by a porch built
against the southern wall of the atrium, which also serves
as entrance for the monastery's servants. The house is
identified by the hexameter, "Here let the throng of pilgrims
find friendly reception" (hic peregrinorum la&etur
turba recepta).

The Hospice is composed of a main house for the reception
of the pilgrims and paupers, and an annex containing
kitchen, bakery, and brewing facilities. The main house
measures 50 by 60 feet. It has in its center a large rectangular
room that is designated as "living room" or "hall for
the pilgrims and paupers" (domus peregrinorum et pauperėm).
This space must also have served as dining room, as may
be gathered from the benches that run all around its circumference.
The draftsman did not enter the tables, but
the meaning of this seating arrangement is clear from the
corresponding space in the House for Distinguished Guests.
The house receives its warmth from a large central fireplace,
and the smoke escapes through a louver (testu) in the roof
above it.[291] Two rooms on the front side of the house are
used as quarters for the servants (seruientium mansiones),
two corresponding rooms at the rear as "supply room"
(camera) and "cellar" (cellarium). The spaces under the
lean-to's on the narrow sides of the house serve as dormitories
for the pilgrims and paupers (dormitorium and
aliud). The Statutes of Adalhard, written at about the same
time (822) that the Plan of St. Gall was drawn, make it
clear that the normal number of pilgrims expected to spend
the night in the monastery of Corbie was twelve[292] —this
corresponds quite closely to the number of pilgrims who
could be housed in the rooms which in the Plan of St. Gall
are designated as dormitories for pilgrims. They are capable
of accommodating eight beds each, ranging in a single row
all around the walls of the room. But, in an emergency, of
course, the bedding capacity of the Hospice for the paupers
could be increased by a wide margin, if the benches in the
hall were used as additional facilities for sleeping.

The Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers is wanting of that
other convenience so profusely attached to the houses that
shelter the upper social strata of the monastic community:
the privy. I have already had occasion to remark that I do
not think that this is an oversight.[293]

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL. LODGING OF THE PORTER

395.A

395.B

The Porter's Lodging, with its corner fireplace, private privy, quarters for as many as five
assistants, and garden, reflects the importance of this official in monastic life; his quarters
were nearly twice the size of those of the Master of the Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers, his
subordinate. St. Benedict stipulated that the Porter be selected with special care, for he was
charged with the reception of all guests and the distribution of food and services to fill all
their needs. His role was diplomat and administrator.

In particular his duties were to identify and greet distinguished guests of the monastery and
their retinues, and then see to their escort through the north reception porch into the grounds
and quarters provided for them in the House for Distinguished Guests and its Annex.
Guests of high social standing might have business with the internal life of the monastery,
but their reception area, though larger and better appointed than that for pilgrims and
paupers, was likewise closed off from any direct access to the inner monastery grounds;
similarly, unnecessary contact of such guests with the less exalted class of traveler lodged
upon the south was by these arrangements largely precluded.

*

1. Church- Ie. Lodging of the Porter- If. Porch of the Porter- Ig. Porch of Reception-Ik.
Tower of St Michael- 10. Kitchen, Bake & Brewhouse for Distinguished Guests- K.
Kitchen- L. Larder- B. Bakery- BH Brewery- 11. House for Distinguished Guests- DH
Dining Hall.

We have reconstructed the Hospice for Pilgrims and
Paupers as a large rectangular hall with central hearth and
louver in the roof above it, the hall being surrounded on
all four sides by aisles or lean-to's (fig. 393A-E). In view
of the constructional characteristics of the genus of houses
to which the guest and service buildings of the Plan of St.
Gall historically belong, it is reasonable to assume that the
roof of this, as well as of all other related houses of the Plan,
is carried by a frame of timber, consisting of two rows of
posts connected crosswise by tie beams and lengthwise by
post plates. The natural and historical place for alignment
for these two rows of posts are the lines that define the
boundaries between the aisles and the central hall of the
house. Since the Plan does not designate the location of the
structural members in this type of house, but confines
itself merely to delineating the boundaries of its component
spaces, we know nothing about the respective distances of
the roof-supporting posts. Ours are purely conjectural.
There is a variety of other possibilities.

As there is only one source of heat for both the hall and
the peripheral spaces, the latter can only have been partially
boarded off against the center hall. The separating wall
paneling may not have risen much higher than the backrest
of the benches that surround the hall. We have reconstructed
the roof as a simple rafter roof (of the type exemplified
by St. Mary's Hospital in Chichester, figs. 341-343), but
the roof might have belonged as well to the family of purlin
roofs.

We are well informed about the function and management
of the Hospice for Paupers through the Administrative
Directives of Adalhard of Corbie.[294] The management
of the Hospice for Paupers, we learn from this account, was
in the hands of the Hosteler (hostellarius) who was subject
to the directives of the Porter (portarius). On the Plan of
St. Gall the Hosteler is accommodated in a special apartment
which abuts the southern aisle of the church immediately
to the side of the Hospice for Paupers. The rooms
that are designated camera and cellarium in the Hospice for
Paupers are the Hosteler's food and supply rooms.

Adalhard orders that each pilgrim was to receive, each
day, a loaf of bread, weighing 3½ pounds and made of a
mixture of wheat and rye, and that on his departure he was
to be issued half a loaf of the same kind for his journey.

[ILLUSTRATION]

396. PLAN OF ST. GALL

HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, WITH ANNEX CONTAINING KITCHEN, BAKE & BREWING FACILITIES

The layout of this structure is in its basic dispositions the same as the Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers. It also consists of a main house with
an annex to accommodate services involving fire hazards. Likewise the main house here consists of a central hall for dining and a subsidiary
suite of outer rooms used for sleeping, the accommodation of servants, and when appropriate, even horses. But the layout of the House for
Distinguished Guests is more explicit than its humbler counterpart. Here with great precision is portrayed placement of tables and benches in
the center hall, as well as the furnishings in bedrooms of the Distinguished Guests. These rooms are provided with corner fireplaces, making
their comfort independent of the open fireplace in the middle of the center hall, and thus affording their occupants the luxury of privacy. The
presence of these corner fireplaces induced us to assume that the outer walls of this house were intended to be of masonry.

The use of masonry and timber in a royal Carolingian hall is well attested through an important literary source, the Brevium Exempla
(p. 36ff, above), where the DOMUS REGALIS of an unnamed estate near Annapes is described as being constructed in timber "in the usual
fashion." This remark reveals that wood was the more common and traditional material for this house type. Hipped roofs are attested for the
windswept continental coastlands of the North Sea from the 7th century B.C. onward (figs. 295-297 and 314, above) and became a permanent
trait of rural architecture north of the Alps (figs. 335-336, above).

Windows are not part of the customary design of this house type. They became an indispensable adjunct when its outer rooms were partitioned,
separating them from the only other traditional light source: the lantern-covered opening in the roof ridge. Such was the case with the bedrooms
of the distinguished guests under the lean-to's of the two end bays of the house, and perhaps even with the servants quarters to the left and
right of the door, in the middle of the southern long wall. This door is the only means of access to the house, and through it both men and
animals were intended to pass. It leads to a vestibule which gives lateral access to the servants' quarters, and axially, to the large living and
dining hall that forms the center of the house, and from which all other rooms, including the servants' privy, are reached.

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL

397.B LONGITUDINAL SECTION

397.A PLAN

HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS. AUTHORS' INTERPRETATION

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL

397.C SOUTH ELEVATION

397.D NORTH ELEVATION

HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS. AUTHORS' INTERPRETATION

[ILLUSTRATION]

397.E TRANSVERSE SECTION

397.F EAST ELEVATION

[ILLUSTRATION]

398. PLAN OF ST. GALL. HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS

AUTHORS' RECONSTRUCTION

This perspective shows the large center nave of the house, the communal living and dining area, and bedrooms of servants to the left, with
stables to the right. Tables and benches ranged around the walls of the center space presumably could be rearranged to meet particular needs of a
group of guests, or moved back altogether when not in use.

In each building of the Plan housing both animals and men, the layout is similar: servants' quarters flank (or guard) the entrance while
animals pass through the common room to the rear. This disposition may reflect a defensive posture of ancient antecedents. In the House for
Distinguished Guests it had the further convenience of proximity to the privy where, as an amenity afforded guests of high rank, refuse and
manure from the stables might be readily disposed of.

Carpentry details shown here derive from later medieval examples (cf. page 115ff, above); but the concept of a timber-framed roof dividing
the house into nave, aisles, and bays, is clearly in the historical tradition of the Germanic all-purpose house to which the preceding chapters
have been devoted.

This exterior view shows, in the left foreground of the main house, the privy for servants and guards. In the right background lies the annex
containing kitchen, baking, and brewing facilities. Bedrooms for distinguished guests, with individual corner fireplaces and private toilets, are
under the hips of the roof on the two narrow sides of the house. Stables are in the northern aisle parallel to the servants' privy. Bedrooms of
the latter are on the entrance side (not visible here).

[ILLUSTRATION]

399. ST. GALL
HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS; ALSO ITS KITCHEN, BAKE, AND BREW HOUSE

Paupers arriving and leaving on the same day were to be
issued a quarter loaf of bread per head.

The daily ration in the Hospice also included two tankards
of beer, but whether or not any wine could be served
was left to the judgment of the prior. Special consideration
was to be given to the sick pilgrims, and to those who came
from distant lands, for whom the Hosteller could draw
additional rations "so that he should not incur any shortages
in his normal allotments." Provisions not spent on the
days when the number of visitors fell below the expected
norm were to be saved and used as a surplus to be drawn
against on days when the norm was exceeded.

Adalhard specifies the source and volume of beans, lard,
and cheese, as well as the amount of eel and meat, and all
of the other indispensible items, not omitting the "old
clothes and shoes of the monks, which the Hosteler receives
from the Chamberlain for distribution to the paupers
as is customary." He lists the amount of money that should
be distributed among the poor, pointing out that no rigidly
binding rules could be established in this delicate matter
where varying needs require varying action, and he terminates
this chapter of his statute with the wistful admonition:
"We therefore beseech all those upon whom this office will
be bestowed in our monastery that, in their generosity and
distribution, they bow to the will of God rather than to their
own parsimoniousness, since everyone is to be rewarded
according to the pattern he has set for himself."[295]

THE KITCHEN, BAKE AND BREW HOUSE FOR
PILGRIMS AND PAUPERS

The Kitchen, Bake and Brew House for Pilgrims and
Paupers lies ten feet west of the Hospice, and covers a
surface area of 22½ feet by 60 feet. Its layout repeats on a

[ILLUSTRATION]

400. PLAN OF ST. GALL

KITCHEN, BAKE AND BREWHOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS. AUTHORS' RECONSTRUCTION OF
ROOF FRAMING, WITH SOME TIMBERS REMOVED

A widened aisle forms an extended lean-to accommodating kitchen and larder on either side of the entrance. The wall plate for the main space
of the house provides footing for rafters over this enlarged lean-to. In the nave space are the oven, kneading troughs, and tables for shaping
loaves. At right are the brewing range and four tubs or cauldrons for steeping brew. The narrow aisle beyond and to the rear (its interior not
visible here) is of conventional width in relation to the main space, and houses at one end containers for cooling beer and at the other, troughs
for leavening dough.

smaller scale that of the Bake and Brew House of the
Monks, which shall be discussed later on. But it combines
with the facilities for brewing (bracitoriū) and baking
(pistrinū) a stove for cooking. This is the meaning that must
be attributed to the square in the bakery immediately in
front of the baking oven (fornax), which is internally divided
into four more squares by two lines crossing each other at
right angles. The same symbol is used for the stove in the
Kitchen for the Distinguished Guests.[296] There, in the
center, of a room, explicitly defined as "kitchen" (culina),
its meaning is unequivocal. The facilities for cooling the
beer (ad refrigerandū ceruisā) and for leavening the bread
(locus conspergendi) are installed in the aisle that runs along
the western side of the house. The equipment is identical
with that of the Bake and Brew House of the Monks, and
the design and construction of the house must also have
been very similar.

V.8.4

LODGING OF THE MASTER OF THE
HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS AND PAUPERS

The management of the Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers
was the responsibility of a monastic official to whom the
Plan of St. Gall refers as "the caretaker of the poor" (procurator
pauperum).[297] His lodging (pausatio procuratoris
pauperum) lies immediately to the north of the Hospice for
Pilgrims and Paupers, between the south porch of the
atrium and the Monks' Parlor (fig. 394). It is an oblong
chamber, 10 feet wide and 25 feet long, which is built
against the southern aisle of the Church, doubtless in the
form of a lean-to. It is provided with a corner fireplace and
doors that connect it with both the court and the southern
aisle of the Church. The Master of the Hospice for Pilgrims
and Paupers is a subordinate of the Porter.

V.8.5

LODGING FOR THE PORTER

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. As soon as anyone knocks, or a poor man hails him,
let him answer Deo gratias or Benedic. Then let him attend to them
promptly, with all the gentleness of the fear of God and with fervent
charity. If the porter needs help, let him have one of the younger
brethren.[298]

The Porter was in charge not only of the reception of the
monastery's guests, but also of providing them with food
and bedding. In order to acquit himself of this obligation,
he was assigned one-tenth of the revenues and produce
from the monastery's outlying estates, as well as one-tenth
of the offerings and gifts received at the gate.[299] He was in
charge of the collection and transportation of his supplies.
At Corbie, for these multiple tasks he was provided with a
staff of ten assistants (prouendarii).[300] Originally, according
to Hildemar, the duties of the porter were performed by
the monks who were in charge of the abbot's kitchen.[301] In
Hildemar's own days this was no longer possible because
of the throng of the guests, which required that two brothers
devote themselves exclusively to the task of receiving the
poor and announcing distinguished guests to the abbot or
prior. While one of the porters attended the divine services
or took his meal, the other tended the gate where visitors
might arrive at any time.[302] Monastic protocol required that
upon entry kings, bishops, and abbots were received by
prostration, the queen by a bend of the knee, others by a
nod of the head.[303] After the guests had been received and
greeted, they were led to prayer; then they were given the
kiss of peace, and finally, the abbot presented them with
water for their hands, and both the abbot and the community
washed the feet of the guests.[304]

On the Plan of St. Gall, as St. Benedict had stipulated,
the Porter's dwelling lies near the gate of the abbey, next
to the House for Distinguished Guests, and contiguous to
the Porch through which the distinguished visitors enter
(fig. 395). It consists of a long, narrow apartment that is
built against the northern aisle of the Church, forming a
counterpart to the Lodging of the Master of the House for
Pilgrims and Paupers, but it is twice as large as the latter's
dwelling. Internally, it is subdivided into a living room with
corner fireplace (caminata portarii) and a dormitory (cubilium
eius) with six beds and a projecting privy. One door of
the living room opens directly into the northern aisle of the
Church, the other onto a long, narrow yard that borders on
the yard of the House for Distinguished Guests.

[ILLUSTRATION]

401.A, B, C, D PLAN OF ST. GALL

KITCHEN, BAKE AND BREW HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS. AUTHORS' INTERPRETATION

The layout of this structure is a striking example of the extraordinary functional flexibility of the building type to which it historically belongs.
The drafters of the Plan found themselves faced with having to enlarge facilities for baking and brewing, installed in the nave of this building,
with a large kitchen and larder. They accomplished this by increasing the width of one of the two aisles of the structure (usually about half that
of the nave) to a ground area equalling the nave, and by accommodating larder and kitchen in this enlarged aisle to either side of an entrance
corridor directly into it. The aisle at the back of the house, used for leavening dough and cooling beer, retained its traditional width.

V.8.6

HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS

THE KING'S CLAIM ON MONASTIC HOSPITALITY

To the north of the Church in a large enclosure, which
forms the counterpart to the court of the Hospice for
Pilgrims and Paupers, is a house whose elaborate layout
reveals it to be a guesthouse for visitors of unusual stature.
It is here that the traveling emperor or king was received,
his court or his agents (missi), and also, perhaps, the visiting
bishops and abbots.

The king's right to draw on the hospitality of the monasteries
for food and quarters while traveling dates back to
the early days of the introduction of monastic life in transalpine
Europe. But the use that the rulers made of it in the
time of the Carolingians was considerably more burdensome
than it had been under the Merovingians.[305] Ever-changing
political necessities, the protection of the boundaries, the
maintenance of peace in the interior, prevented the emperor
from establishing a permanent residence. "Performing his
high craft by constantly shifting around,"[306] he moved from
one of his royal estates to the other—making full use of the
obligations of the abbots and bishops to provide him with
lodging—according to the circumstances that his itinerary
imposed upon him, or simply in response to the necessity
of finding additional subsistance for himself and his court.
The primary motivations for such visits were not always of
an economic or military nature. Gauert's analysis of
Charlemagne's itinerary has shown that the emperor's general
travel schedule often had embedded in it a special
"Gebetsitinerar," at times involving lengthy detours for
visits to religious places where the emperor went primarily
for the purpose of prayer, to participate in important religious
festivals, or to venerate the local saints.[307] The heaviness
of the economic obligations that a monastery took upon
itself on such occasions depended on the frequency of the
visits, the length of the emperor's stay, and the size of his
retinue. Charlemagne and Louis the Pious availed themselves
of monastic hospitality with discretion; under the
later Carolingian kings the burden became heavier.[308] But
even as early as the second decade of the ninth century the
sum of monastic obligations in hospitality had reached proportions
so heavy as to drive the witty abbot Theodulf,
Bishop of Orléans, to remark desperately that had St.
Benedict known how many would come, "he would have
locked the doors before them."[309]

THEIR MAGNITUDE: A REFLECTION OF THE CLOSE
ALLIANCE OF CHURCH AND STATE

The Plan of St. Gall provides for four separate houses
for the reception of royal visitors: 1, a house for the emperor
and his immediate entourage; 2, an ancillary building
containing the kitchen, bake, and brewing facilities pertaining
to this house; 3, a House for Visiting Servants; and,
if my interpretation is correct, 4, a house for the emperor's
vassals and others of knightly rank traveling in the emperor's
train. Plans, sections, reconstructions, and authors'
interpretations for these facilities are shown in figures
396-406.

The total surface area taken up by these houses and their
surrounding courts amounted to 1,360 square feet, or a
little over one-fifth of the surface area of the entire monastery
complex.

The presence of obligatory royal quarters of such magnitude
within the precincts of the monastery is a reflection of
the close alliance that had been struck in the kingdom of the
Franks between the concepts of regnum and sacerdotium, a
development that started with the sanctioning of the Carolingian
house by Pope Zacharias in 751 and reached its
apex with the coronation of Charlemagne in the year 800.
As the appointed successor of the emperors of Rome,
Charlemagne had taken upon himself not only the duty of
protecting the Church in a physical sense, but also the
obligation of safe-guarding its institutions, regulating the
life and education of the clergy, and even ruling in questions
of liturgy and dogma.[310] It is fully understandable that
within the context of a political philosophy so replete with
religious overtones the emperor's presence in the monastery
was as yet not considered a worldly infraction on
monastic peace and seclusion.

THE MAIN HOUSE

Layout and function

The general purpose of the House for Distinguished
Guests is defined by a hexameter which reads:

The conjunction quoque suggests that the building holds a
position of secondary importance with regard to another
facility for guests, which can only be the Hospice for Pilgrims
and Paupers. The modest slant of this verse is obviously
a reflection of the warning given by St. Benedict
that the hospitality accorded to the poor lies on a higher
plane of religious devotion than that extended to the rich.[312]
But the profuse attention lavished on the internal layout of
the House for Distinguished Guests tends to defy this
thought.

The House is 67½ feet long and 55 feet wide. It has as its
principal room a large rectangular hall, which its explanatory
title defines as the "dining hall of the guests" (domus
hospitū ad prandendum). Access to this is gained through a

[ILLUSTRATION]

402. PLAN OF ST. GALL. HOUSE FOR SERVANTS OF OUTLYING ESTATES AND FOR SERVANTS

TRAVELING WITH THE EMPEROR'S COURT (NOT CERTAIN: cf. BUILDING 34)

The house is one of four identical buildings located to the right of the entrance
road where most of the monastery's livestock is kept. Its large central hall, like
those of many other buildings of this group, is referred to as DOMUS, a term used
by the drafters of the Plan not to designate the entire house (as its classical usage
would prescribe), but as a name for the common living room where men gather
around the open fireplace for conversation and meals. The spaces in the aisles
and under the lean-to's are used for sleeping and for the stabling of livestock.

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL

403.C

403.D EAST ELEVATION AND TRANSVERSE SECTION

403.B LONGITUDINAL SECTION

The criteria for reconstructing this house are identical
with those which guided that of the Hospice for
Pilgrims and Paupers (figs. 393.A-E) and the House
for Distinguished Guests (figs. 397.A-F). Being
smaller and of more modest purpose, there is no reason
to assume that any part of the house was built in
masonry, beyond (as sound construction would suggest)
its foundation and a shallow plinth of stones protecting
the roof-supporting timbers against the dampness of the
ground. The traditional building material for this
type of house was timber for all its structural members,
wattle-and-daub for the walls, and shingles or shakes
for the roof.

403.A PLAN

HOUSE FOR SERVANTS OF OUTLYING ESTATES AND FOR SERVANTS TRAVELING WITH THE EMPEROR'S COURT
AUTHORS' INTERPRETATION

[ILLUSTRATION]

404. PLAN OF ST. GALL. HOUSE FOR KNIGHTS AND VASSALS IN THE EMPEROR'S FOLLOWING

Its identification must remain tentative, for the lines and titles of this building were erased in the 12th century by a monk who wrote a Life
of St. Martin on the verso of the Plan, spilling the last 22 lines of text onto the plan of this house. The few fragments of titles that escaped
his knife were obliterated in the 19th century by an attempt to restore them with a chemical substance that left only coarse blotches on the
parchment wherever it was applied.

[ILLUSTRATION]

405. PLAN OF ST. GALL. HOUSE FOR KNIGHTS AND VASSALS IN THE EMPEROR'S FOLLOWING

X-rays revealed the outlines of a colossal variant of the standard house of the Plan, with an entrance in one narrow side. Comparison with
other similar buildings leaves no doubt that the large center room was intended as a common hall for living and dining, with peripheral spaces
serving partly for bedrooms, partly for stables.

[ILLUSTRATION]

406.A PLAN OF ST. GALL

HOUSE FOR KNIGHTS AND VASSALS WHO TRAVEL IN THE EMPEROR'S FOLLOWING. AUTHORS' INTERPRETATION

"vestibule" (ingressus) which lies in the middle of the
southern aisle of the house. The dining hall has in its center
a large quadrangular "fireplace" (locus foci) and in the
corners, ranged all around the circumference, benches and
"tables" (mensae), plus two "cupboards" (toregmata[313] ) for
the storage of cups and tableware. Under the lean-to's at
each of the narrow ends of the house there are the "bedrooms"
for the distinguished guests (caminatae cum lectis),
four in all, each furnished with its own corner fireplace and
its own projecting privy (necessariü). The rooms to the left
and right of the entrance in the southern aisle of the house
serve as "quarters for the servants" (cubilia seruitorum),
while two corresponding rooms in the northern aisle are
used as "stables for the horses" (stabula caballorum). Their
cribs (praesepia) are arranged against the outer walls. A
small vestibule between the two stables gives access to a
covered passage that leads to a large privy (exitus neces-
sarius). The latter covers a surface area of 10 by 45 feet and
is furnished with no fewer than eighteen toilet seats—an
indication of the extraordinary sanitary precautions that,
at the time of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, must have
been taken for the persons who traveled in the emperor's
immediate entourage.[314]

I have already drawn attention to the fact that the stables
for the horses have no direct access from the exterior. The
entire house has only one entrance, and in order to reach
their stables the horses had to be led through the central
dining hall. This suggests that all the rooms of the house
were on ground level and that the floor of the center room
was made of stamped clay rather than of a boarding of wood.
The large open fireplace in the center of the dining room
makes it unequivocably clear that this house was not a
double-storied structure.[315]

[ILLUSTRATION]

406.B

By making the center hall of this building 45 feet wide by 60 feet long, the drafters of the Plan pushed the structural capabilities of the aisled
Germanic all-purpose house to its limits. Spans of 45 feet, rare even in church construction, were unheard-of in domestic architecture. We
know of only one other medieval building of even comparable dimensions: the barn of the abbey grange of Parçay-Meslay, France (figs. 352-355)
at a width of 80 feet. But the vast roof of that barn is supported, not by the traditional two, but by four rows of freestanding inner posts.
We do not believe that the roof of the House for Knights and Vassals could have been supported successfully by less posting and have therefore
introduced in our reconstruction two additional rows of posts, that reduce the center span of the inner hall from 45 to a more conventional
27 feet.

Incorporating the doubled rows of posting is not in conflict with methods of architectural rendering employed by the drafters of the Plan.
They were not concerned with constructional details, but primarily with establishing the boundaries of each building on the site in terms of its
function and its components. The size of a royal retinue—including its servants, grooms, bodyguard, as well as the principals themselves—
justifies the tentative identification of this house.

In this, as in other buildings of the Plan, details of construction engineering were left to be resolved by the ingenuity of a master builder who
would determine in what ways a building conceived for the purpose of housing up to 40 men and 30 horses, and their attendants, could be
realized as functional architecture. The interaction of planners with builders is elsewhere attested on the Plan, wherever features obviously
intended and needed are absent: staircases, doors and windows, and others (see I. 13, 65ff).

The main point of interest, we believe, in our investigation of this particular building is that the prevailing building type of the Plan of St. Gall,
the three-aisled hall—without loss of the essence of its character—adapts with ease and dignity and possibly with some elegance, to a building of
relatively inordinate size through the device of adding an aisle between the central main space of the nave, and each of the lean-to side aisles.
In effect, a five-aisled hall is thus formed (see fig. 354.A, B, Parçay-Meslay, and Les Halles, Côte St. André, Isère, France).

Materials and mode of construction

In contrast to the Abbot's House,[316] whose typological
roots lie in the South, the House for Distinguished Guests,
as has been demonstrated, is a descendant of a strictly
Northern building type. It may have been built entirely
in wood, or it may have had its circumference walls constructed
in masonry. In our reconstructions (figs. 397-399)
we have chosen this latter solution in order to demonstrate
the possibility of mixed materials on this higher social level
of building. In the interior the roof must have been supported
by two parallel rows of wooden posts, framed into
weight- and thrust-resisting trusses with the aid of tie
beams and post plates. If the roof belonged to the purlin
family of roofs, its basic design cannot have differed greatly
from what we have suggested in figures 397 and 398. For
the thirteenth century this type of roof is well attested, at
least on the Continent, as has been demonstrated by the
examples discussed above on pages 88ff. It may have been
as common in Carolingian times.

That royal timber houses with masonry walls existed in
Carolingian times is known through the Brevium exempla,
for it is doubtlessly to this mixture of materials that the
author of this work refers, when describing the domus
regalis of one of his anonymous crown estates as a house that
was "externally built in stone, and inside all in timber"
(exterius ex lapide et interius ex ligno bene constructam).[317]

[ILLUSTRATION]

PLAN OF ST. GALL

406.C

NORTH ELEVATION

HOUSE FOR KNIGHTS AND VASSALS WHO TRAVEL IN THE EMPEROR'S FOLLOWING

Separation of common & private rooms

The internal layout of the House for Distinguished
Guests (fig. 398) is historically of particular interest, as it
shows that at the beginning of the ninth century the timbered
royal hall was sufficiently partitioned internally to
allow the lord to withdraw from the ranks of his followers
to the privacy of separate bedrooms. Dining was still a
communal function. But the establishment of individual
fireplaces with chimneys in the lord's private chambers
made the latter independent from the open fire in the floor
of the hall. Architecturally speaking, this means that the
private bedrooms under the lean-to's at each end of the
hall could have been screened off from the rest of the
building, not only by vertical wall partitions (as they most
certainly were), but also by their own individual ceilings.
If ceilings were installed, the walls required windows,
since ceilings would have deprived the bedrooms of the
principal source of light for the house—the louver over the
fireplace in the ridge of the roof of the hall. The quarters
of the servants, on the other hand, cannot have been provided
with ceilings, since they depended for warmth on the
heat furnished by the communal fire in the center hall.

Housing capacity

The House for Distinguished Guests can accommodate
eight visitors of rank in four separate rooms, each of which
is furnished with two beds, two benches, and a corner
fireplace.[318] These are the rooms for the emperor, the empress,
or any other members of the imperial family who
accompanied the emperor on his travels, and some of the
highest ranking ministers and councilors who were part of
the emperor's permanent staff. The rooms for the servants
in the southern aisle of the house have a bedding capacity
for eighteen men. This is the number of beds of standard
size that could be set up for the servants if they were ranged
peripherally along the walls of their rooms (nine in each).
Eighteen also happens to be the number of toilet seats
available in the servant's privy. The two stables in the
northern aisle of the house can accommodate four horses

[ILLUSTRATION]

406.D

TRANSVERSE SECTION

HOUSE FOR KNIGHTS AND VASSALS WHO TRAVEL IN THE EMPEROR'S FOLLOWING

each (figuring for each horse a standing area 5 feet wide and
7½ feet long). These must have been the mounts of the distinguished
guests, since their number corresponds exactly
to the number of beds available in the latter's private
chambers.

Even the seating capacity of the dining room is closely
correlated with the total number of men who can be accommodated
in the House for Distinguished Guests. The
eastern or upper end of the hall is furnished with two short
straight tables, each capable of seating four of the eight
distinguished guests (if we attribute to each of them a sitting
area 2½ feet wide). The western or lower end has longer,
L-shaped tables with sufficient sitting space to take care of
the eighteen servants.

Number and composition of officers of state
in the emperor's train

There are no conclusive studies on the number or composition
of the officers of state who accompanied the emperor
on his travels.[319] From Hincmar's account of Adalhard
of Corbie's De Ordine Imperii,[320] it appears that the central
administrative body of the Carolingian court consisted of a
staff of six leading functionaries, who by the very definition
of their office were part and parcel of the emperor's personal
entourage, viz., the Seneschal (senescalcus, literally,
"the old servant") who was in charge of provisions and
especially those of the royal table; the Butler (buticularius),

[ILLUSTRATION]

406.E PLAN OF ST. GALL

EAST ELEVATION

HOUSE FOR KNIGHTS AND VASSALS WHO TRAVEL IN THE EMPEROR'S FOLLOWING

responsible for drink; the Chamberlain (camerarius) in
charge of lodging and the royal treasury; the Constable
(comes stabuli) in charge of horses and all other means of
transportation; the Count Palatine (comes palatinus), the
primary officer in charge of the empire's judiciary administration;
and last but not least, the Arch Chaplain (summus
capellanus), the emperor's primary advisor in ecclesiastical
and educational matters, whose office later became absorbed
in that of the Chancellor (summus sacri palatii cancellarius).[321]
Readiness for action involving the state and the imperial
household in its entirety would have required the presence
of all these men. But it is well known that the holders of
these offices were often away from the court in the summer
on special missions.[322] The House for Distinguished Guests,
nevertheless, would have been equipped to accommodate
all these men besides the emperor himself, plus his wife or
one of his children. How many members of his family he
was wont to have with him when traveling is another
question for which we have no ready answer. "Charlemagne,"
we are told by Einhard, "cared so deeply for the
training of his children that he never took his meal without
them when he was at home, and never made a journey
without them."[323] Although this could scarcely have applied
to all the seven sons and daughters[324] that Einhard ascribes
to Charlemagne, it would still suggest that the traveling
emperor was frequently accompanied by one or another of
his sons and daughters.[325] When Louis the Pious stayed in
St. Gall in 857, his sons Karlmann and Karl III were with
him.[326] This is about all that seems to be known on this
subject.

The Plan of St. Gall may actually help us here to close a
gap of knowledge. It discloses that at the time of Louis the
Pious a monastery was expected to be capable of taking care
of a royal party consisting of eight dignitaries of state or
members of the imperial family, their mounts, and eighteen
of their personal servants. In later centuries the figure may
have been considerably larger. The Consuetudinary of
Farfa—in reality the customs of Cluny (written between

1030 and 1048)—prescribed for that monastery a guest
house for forty male and thirty female members of the
emperor's train, plus a stable capable of sheltering some
150 horses.[327] Yet conditions at Cluny were probably
unusual. A fulcrum of revival and reform among the
monasteries of France and unbelievably rich, the abbey
was already well on its way toward wedging itself as an
arbitrating spiritual force into the interplay between the
secular and the ecclesiastical powers of the period.

Other supporting forces

Even in the ninth century, nevertheless, a guest house
with a bedding capacity of eight distinguished guests, their
horses, and eighteen of their servants, is not likely to have
been capable of accommodating the whole of the emperor's
permanent train. To be protected, the king needed a bodyguard.
Such a guard of mounted knights would not necessarily
have had to be very large, yet it is unlikely to have
consisted of fewer than twenty or thirty men. They, too, and
their horses would have to be provided with quarters. One
would have to expect, additionally, a small train of wagons
with emergency rations, kitchens, tents, and other equipment
indispensable to the movement of the court. This
involved another troup of servants who would also have to
be sheltered. The Plan of St. Gall shows two buildings that
may have performed that function, located at the gate of the
monastery in the immediate vicinity of the House for Distinguished
Guests. But before we turn to them, some attention
must be paid to the kitchen, bake, and brewing facilities
of the House for Distinguished Guests.

KITCHEN, BAKE AND BREW HOUSE FOR
THE DISTINGUISHED GUESTS

The main portion of this structure, which covers an area
roughly 50 by 55 feet (figs. 396, 400-401), is identical
with that of the Bake and Brew House for Pilgrims and
Paupers (fig. 392). But its outside appearance must have
been quite different, as it had attached to it on the side facing
the House for Distinguished Guests, two large rectangular
rooms (17½ feet by 22½ feet); one of which served as the
guests' kitchen (culina hospitū), the other as "larder"
(promptuariū). The kitchen stove, a square of 5 by 5 feet, is
subdivided into four cooking areas by two median lines that
bisect it at right angles. The principal space of the house,
measuring 20 by 55 feet, contains in its southern half the
"bakery" (pistrinum) with its "oven" (fornax), two kneading
troughs (not designated as such by inscriptions), and
all around the periphery of the room, the indispensable
tables for the shaping and laying out of the loaves. The
northern half contains the brew house (domus conficiendae
celiae) with fires and coppers for malting the grain (fig.
401A). The aisle in the rear of the house is subdivided into
two equal parts, each serving as an accessory to the work
carried on in the corresponding portion of the principal
space of the house. The room near the bakery is designated
as "the place where dough is made [by mingling flour with
water]" (interndae pastae locus) and for that purpose it is
furnished with a long trough and a circular vat. The other
near the brewery, is described as the place where the brew is
"cooled" (hic refrigeratur ceruisa). It is equipped with two
smaller troughs that stand on either side of a circular vat.

V.8.7

HOUSE FOR SERVANTS OF OUTLYING
ESTATES & SERVANTS TRAVELING
WITH THE EMPEROR'S COURT

This house measures 47½ feet by 60 feet (figs. 402-403)
and lies to the right of the entrance road in a tract entirely
reserved for the raising of livestock; and it is the only one
among the buildings in this sector which is inhabited by
people alone. Its general purpose is described in a hexameter
which reads:

Its layout is a classical example of what in an earlier phase
of this study we referred to as the "standard house" of the
Plan of St. Gall; a house consisting of a central hall with
open fireplace and aisles and lean-to's all around the hall.
The entrance, like those of all the other houses in this tract,

lies in the middle of the eastern long wall. Two rooms on
either side of the entrance serve as quarters for the guardians
(cubiʈ custodientiū). The great hall in the center carries the
inscription, "the hall of the serfs who come with the
service" (domƆ famuliae quae cum seruitio aduenerit). Keller,
Willis, Bikel, Leclercq, and Reinhardt[328] interpreted this to
refer to the serfs who live on outlying estates (familia foris)
and come to the monastery in the pursuit of their obligatory
services, delivery of produce, tithe, or harvest; Bischoff
thinks that the house was for the accommodation of servants
who traveled in the following of a visiting ruler.[329] Both
views may be correct, since the seruitium mentioned in the
explanatory title may refer to either or both: the service
due the king or the service due the monastery.[330] The
monastery needed lodgings for the serfs who came with
deliveries from places too distant to allow them to return
to their base on the same day. It also needed lodgings for
the servants who traveled in the king's train. As both of
these potential occupants arrived only intermittently
(uicissim, "as the case may be"), the house may have performed
the double task of giving shelter to both.

V.8.8

HOUSE FOR KNIGHTS AND VASSALS
WHO TRAVEL IN THE EMPEROR'S
FOLLOWING

ERASURE OF OUTLINES AND DESTRUCTION OF
EXPLANATORY TITLE

The large anonymous building in the northwestern corner
of the monastery remains enigmatic. Its lines and all its
explanatory titles were erased in the twelfth century by the
monk who wrote the Life of St. Martin on the back of the
Plan and spilled his text over onto the front side of the
Plan (fig. 404).[331] During the nineteenth century an attempt
was made to make the inscription legible with the aid of a
chemical substance, which destroyed it forever.[332] The chemicals
left strong blue blotches whose distribution reveals
that the house was originally provided with a long title
(unquestionably in metric form), running parallel to the
entrance side of the house, which is east; a shorter title
explaining the function of the large hall in the center; and
other short titles designating the purpose of the rooms in
the aisles and lean-to's. X-ray photographs taken in 1949
by the Schweizerische Landesmuseum at Zurich brought
to light the outlines of the building itself (fig. 405), but
failed to reveal its titles. Ildefons von Arx, in two hand-drawn
annotated copies of the Plan, made around 1827,
remarks, "Von dem Hause sind bloss geringe Spuren übrig
und die angeschriebenen Erklärungen und Bestimmungen
vertilgt. . . . Es scheint aber ebenfalls eine Stallung (vielleicht
für Gastpferde) gewesen zu sein."[333] Keller apparently could
still read the word cubilia.[334]

PRESUMPTIVE PURPOSE

I have expressed the view in previous studies that this
building might have been a large barn or wagon shed,[335] but
I am now inclined to think that it served as quarters for the
emperor's bodyguard. The assumption of a wagon shed is
precluded by the fact—not recognizable to the naked eye
but clearly exposed by the X-rays (fig. 405)—that the only
entrance that gives access to the building is not wide enough
to admit any wagons. Unfortunately, we are not well informed
about the size and composition of the emperor's
bodyguard when he was engaged in travel. In the previously
quoted passage from the Life of Charlemagne, where Einhard
tells that the emperor liked to take his sons and daughters
along on his journeys, Einhard remarks that on such occasions
"his sons would ride at his side and his daughters
follow him, while a number of his bodyguards, detailed for
their protection, brought up the rear."[336] A hint of the total
number involved in such movements might be contained in
a passage of the Chronicle of Hariulf, where it is said that
the abbot and priors of St.-Riquier, when traveling, enjoyed
the protection of the monastery's entire retinue of
110 mounted knights. As the chronicler proudly adds in
this context, when the knights were gathered at St.-Riquier
during the religious festivals, "their presence lent to the
monastery almost the appearance of a royal court,"[337] we
must infer that the emperor himself was wont to turn up
with an even larger escort when visiting the abbey.

Heusinger estimates the traveling emperor's court to
have run into the hundreds.[338] Professor Ganshof would
consider this to be an excessive figure if it were applied to
the Carolingian period.[339] Obviously, the number of men
who made up such a protective guard must have varied
greatly, depending on the political stability at the time of
travel and the distance involved in the journey,[340] but one
might safely expect that an elite guard of some twenty to
thirty men accompanied the emperor wherever he went.
The great anonymous building at the northwestern corner
of the monastery site could easily have accommodated a
detachment of this magnitude, and if necessity demanded,
a detachment several times larger. The natural monastic
traffic flow would call for such a barracks to be located in
that corner rather than anywhere else in the rectangular
site into which the monastery is inscribed.

One wonders whether von Arx's conjecture that the
house might have been used for "guest horses," was pure
fantasy or whether his eye could still decipher somewhere
among the obliterated titles the word caballi.

DIMENSIONS AND HOUSING CAPACITY

The building is 100 feet long and 80 feet wide. Its great
common hall covers a surface area of 65 feet by 45 feet. It
contains in its center a hearth or cooking area 17½ feet
long and 15 feet wide. The lean-to's of the hall, if used as
stables, could accommodate fourteen horses under the
eastern hip of the roof and sixteen horses under the western
hip (counting per horse a standing area 5 feet wide and 7½

feet long). Each of the four large rooms in the aisles have a
bedding capacity for ten to twelve men (if the beds were
ranged in standard fashion around the four walls of the
room). Total occupancy: thirty horses and forty to forty-four
men. If utilized in barrack fashion—and especially, if
the large common hall in the center was also used for stabling
and bedding—the housing capacity of the building
could be tripled.

CONSTRUCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS

The reconstruction of this colossal structure poses problems
as difficult as the bewildering riddle of its purpose. Its
great central hall (measuring 45 feet by 60 feet) is 5 feet
wider than the nave of the Church of the Plan of St. Gall.
It is technically possible to span such a distance with tie
beams of very heavy scantling—the abbey church of Fulda
had a nave width of well over 50 feet (16.70 m.)—but the
fact remains that an aisled hall with an open center space
of 45 feet is not known to have existed in the earlier Middle
Ages at any place, with the solitary exception of the Great
Hall of the Palace of Westminster (1097-99) which owed
its inordinate dimensions to a very unusual set of historical
circumstances.[341] Even in the largest monastic barns of the
thirteenth century the center aisle rarely exceeds a span of
30 feet, and, in general, stays below the range of 20 feet.[342]
Where barns attained a width that was in any manner comparable
to the building with which we are here concerned,
their roofs were supported not by two but by four ranges of
freestanding inner posts, as in the great monastic barn of
Parçay-Meslay in France (figs. 352-354).[343] In order to
bring our building a little closer to both constructional
realities as well as to what appears convincing in the light
of existing historical parallels, we have introduced in our
reconstruction two inner rows of roof-supporting posts
along lines which have no equivalent on the Plan itself.
This is not quite as arbitrary as it may appear on first sight.

The inventor of the scheme of the Plan, as I have already
pointed out,[344] was not preoccupied with the definition of
the constructional details of his houses—these were fixed
by tradition, and therefore not in need of further specification.
Instead he chose to give his full attention to defining
the size and functional boundaries of its component spaces.
We shall meet this same problem again when discussing the
Granary, the House for Bloodletting, and the hall in the
House for Horses and Oxen.[345]

The colossal dimensions of the large anonymous building
may elicit the thought that the designing architect was not
aware of the unusual dimensional and constructional implications
of what he drew. If this were so, it would be in
complete departure from the procedures that he followed
everywhere else in the Plan. Wherever the relation of size
to function can be checked, it is apparent that at every step
of his work the draftsman operated in full awareness of the
dimensional realities involved. Accordingly, if he drew a
house 80 feet wide and 100 feet long, we must assume he
did so because he felt that there was a need for a house of
such dimensions.