V.11.1
INTRAMURAL PRACTICE OF CRAFTS
BENEDICTINE AMBIGUITIES
The Rule of St. Benedict did not specifically regulate the
location of the monastic workshops. The only reference to
artifices occurs in chapter 57 where St. Benedict stipulates
"if there be craftsmen in the monastery, let them practice
their crafts with all humility" and "let the goods always
be sold a little cheaper than they are sold by people of the
world."[414]
The conditional "if" clause of this sentence,
which implies that under certain conditions the craftsmen
were housed outside the monastic enclosure, caused confusion;
the more so, since it contradicted the famous passage
in the Rule that declares, the "monastery, if possible,
should be so constituted as to contain within itself every
necessity of life. . . so as to avoid that the monks stray
outside of its bounds which is not good for their souls."[415]
CLARIFYING DIRECTIVES ISSUED AT AACHEN
The first synod of Aachen (816) attempted to solve this
problem, and Bishop Haito, in accordance with a directive
issued there, ruled that the craftsmen "be instructed to
perform their work henceforward not without, as heretofore,
but within the monastic enclosure" (non forinsecus
sicut actenus, sed intrinsecus).[416]
The Plan of St. Gall conforms
with this rule and provides for two large buildings to take
care of these activities: a Great Collective Workshop, in
which the majority of the monastery's workmen and craftsmen
work and live, and a House for the Coopers and Wheelwrights.
The Great Collective Workshop lies directly south
of the Refectory, between the Granary and the Monks'
Bake and Brew House; the House for the Coopers and
Wheelwrights is at the southwestern end of the claustral
block, in convenient proximity to the Monks' Cellar and
the House for Horses and Oxen.
