The Plan of St. Gall a study of the architecture & economy of & life in a paradigmatic Carolingian monastery |
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I. APPENDIX I
A CATALOGUE OF INSCRIPTIONS
523. CALCULUS VICTORII AQUITANI. MODEL ALPHABET. ABOUT 836
FRONTISPIECE: FIGURE 523 PAGE XXXIV
MODEL ALPHABET (CA. 836)
BERNE, BURGERBIBLIOTHEK MS 250 fol. IIV
Employed chiefly for titling of manuscripts, these monumental capitals, descendants of
letter forms used in Roman inscriptions, are executed with utmost precision in a style
established in use during Charlemagne's reign. On the tracing of the Calculus manuscript
to antecdents in Fulda, and the alphabet exemplar to a model made by the scribe
Bertcaudus, see Bischoff, cat. no. 385a, p. 219, in the catalogue Charlemagne, Aix-la
Chapelle, 1965.
A CATALOGUE OF
THE EXPLANATORY TITLES
OF THE PLAN OF ST. GALL
PREFACE
THE explanatory titles of the Plan of St. Gall are discussed in widely scattered places in the main body of this
work, in the specific contexts of the buildings with which they are associated, as well as in the broad range of
architectural and historical problems they raise. In such fragmentation, the inscriptions cannot be studied as a
whole and coherent body of texts. Yet, the explicit content and cultural implications of these inscriptions make
their ready accessibility not only desirable, but even imperative.
Of the 340 separate annotations on the Plan of St. Gall, more than 300 have no other purpose than to explain
specifically, and often in highly technical terms, the uses and functions of the 40-odd buildings which comprise
the monastery, the assigned use of individual rooms in these buildings, and, as well, the nature and function of
each piece of furniture or equipment installed in these rooms. The superior intellect of its originator and his deep
concern with detail make the Plan a storehouse of lexicographical information furnishing the student with an
opportunity for linguistic exegesis that has no equivalent in any other historical source on medieval art and
architecture. The words elucidate the drawing, the drawing elucidates the words. They combine to reveal in
intimate detail whatever one would want to learn about the buildings of the Plan, and explicate, with an unparalleled
thoroughness, whatever is required—in architectural, liturgical, educational, medical, technological
and agricultural terms—to support the purposes and the high quality of life within the confines of a self-sustaining
religious community.
It is in view of the profound relevance this material has for the history of medieval architecture, both monastic
and vernacular, as well as for the history of medieval economy and for medieval life in general, that we thought
it imperative to make all this explanatory matter available in a coherent and easily identifiable form for the benefit
of those who are interested in the Latinity of the Plan, its linguistic and paleographic details, and who, in this
manner, inter alia, will also be enabled to critically evaluate our success or failure to interpret this material
correctly.
To further these ends we have presented in the Catalogue that follows, in juxtaposition: first, a reproduction of
each inscription as it appears on the Plan (for legibility enlarged to one and one-half times the size of the original);
permits; and third, our interpretation of the texts rendered in English. While the inscriptions, seen here in their
architectural ambient, are able to furnish a unique and intimate view of the Plan, this Catalogue is not meant to
substitute for a facsimile of the entire document, an artifact already admirably executed by the firm of E. LöpfeBenz
of Rorschach.[1]
It is no small presumption to dissect an entire document into graphic components in order to scrutinize its
details. At risk is the coherence of the whole artifact. If we have avoided the worst of that hazard, it owes to the
patience and skill of Ernest Born who, from the viewpoint of book design, found this Catalogue to be the most
complex, time-consuming, and esthetically challenging part of the task to which he has devoted long attention.
The general historical implications of the explanatory titles of the Plan have been discussed in earlier chapters.[2]
In the present context we will make a few remarks about the Latinity of these texts, the manner in which they
are visually displayed, and some of their primary paleographical characteristics.
LATINITY
The Latin of the titles is lucid, as even a peremptory reading of this catalogue reveals. It makes use of a judicious and
sophisticated alternation of prose and verse. With a few exceptions (discussed below), verses—hexameters and distychs—
are employed to designate the general purpose of a building, whereas prose is used for their component parts and furnishings[3]
.
PROSE
The prose is logical and unambiguous, and the diction conveys meaning with great precision. This holds true even for the
letter of transmission which, although without any internal flaw, has caused some consternation among scholars. Closer
inspection has shown that whatever controversies arose in connection with this text were due not to any inherent ambiguities
in its style or composition, but rather to linguistic misconceptions of its modern interpreters. The note has the form of a
regular letter, naming its receiver, addressing him directly, revealing that the Plan was made upon the request of its receiver,
and that it needed for a particular purpose.[4]
Its only truly tantalizing feature is that it lacks a signature. There is no cause
to blame the author for this omission. The Plan of St. Gall was not made for posterity, but for the benefit of an abbot,
who had no trouble in identifying the high person who furnished him with this scheme.
In the entire body of inscriptions only seven words have given rise to conflicting interpretations: the terms exemplata and
officina (in the letter of transmission), uacatio (in the Outer School), seruitium (in the House for Servants from Outlying
Estates), sauina (in the Monks' Cloister), toregma (in the Monks' Refectory and the House for Distinguished Guests), and
testu (in the Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers and in the Outer School). In four of these cases a search for contemporary
parallels has shown that their meaning is unequivocal. Exemplata means "copied," not "by way of example"
as had been proposed.[5]
Officina cannot be restricted to the meaning "workshop" but refers to all of the buildings of a
monastic settlement.[6]
Uacatio means "time vacated from other obligations for the purpose of learning" and cannot be
interpreted to mean "recreation" as its modern derivative "vacation" has tempted some to suggest.[7]
Seruitium are the
services due an overlord by his tenants and serfs, and is a term applicable to both secular and ecclesiastical lords.[8]
Sauina
is the classical and medieval designation for the savin plant. Its meaning is clear although we are at some difficulty in explaining
fully the reasons that this plant was given a place of such honor in the Monks' Cloister.[9]
Toregma, in the previous
literature on the Plan varyingly interpreted as "cupboard," "a vessel for washing hands," "a chair or cushioned seat" or
stretched even by its medieval users beyond the limits of propriety,[10] is used on the Plan of St. Gall as a designation
for "cupboard," as must be inferred from the shape of the object to which this term refers (Monks' Refectory, Abbot's
House, House for Distinguished Guests). We are aware of only one other literary source (Ruodlieb), in which the term is
used in this sense. Testu in the literature on the Plan, consistently misread as testudo ("turtle shell"), means "protective
shell" or "cover." I have not been able to find any contemporary parallels, but the architectural context in which it appears
on the Plan suggests that its meaning is "louver", i.e., a protective covering over an opening in the roof that serves as
smoke escape and as light inlet.[11]
The term formula requires some explanation. The shape and size of the objects into which this word is inscribed (long,
narrow rectangles in the crossing and transept of the Church) precludes that it be interpreted as "lectern" as has been
proposed[12]
(the scribe's term for lectern is analogium). Among the numerous references to forma and formula quoted by
Du Cange and Niermeyer and indexed in source books such as Lehmann-Brockhaus (1935, 1938, 1955-1960) or the five
volumes of the Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum (1963-1968) there is only one instance, a rather late one at that, where
formula has been interpreted as "lectern"—incorrectly in my opinion.[13]
The history of the term is interesting. In Classical
Latin forma and its diminutive formula served to denote such concepts as "norm," "rule," "guiding principle," or "covenant,"
but also stood for "matrix," "pattern," or "mould."[14]
It is in the former sense that the term is used by St. Benedict
in an often-quoted passage in which he defines the human and intellectual qualities which an abbot must possess:
In doctrina sua namque abbas apostolicam debet illam semper formam seruare, in qua dicit: "Argue, obserua, increpa."
"For the abbot in his teaching ought always to observe the rule of the apostle, wherein he says: `Reprove, persuade,
rebuke.' "[15]
The term retained this meaning throughout the Middle Ages, but in addition generated a distinctly different variant when
it became a designation for a liturgical piece of furniture that, depending on context, may be varyingly translated as "church
bench," as "kneeling-bench" (prie-Dieu) or as "choir-stalls"—a meaning that I suppose evolved from its secondary
classical usage "matrix" or "mould." The shape and size of the objects into which the word formula is inscribed on the
Plan suggests that it was here used in the sense of "bench" (for sitting). Yet an even furtive review of its use in Merovingian,
Carolingian and later medieval sources discloses that it served even more frequently as a designation for a liturgical
contrivance that in modern French, English and German is referred to as "prie-Dieu," "kneeling bench," and
"Betstuhl," viz., a piece of furniture that supports the body when kneeling and may also be used as prop during the
deep liturgical inclinations in which the monks engage in the more sacred phases of their religious service. These prayer-supports
could either be set up separately in front of the choir benches or they could be physically attached to them (as
in the elaborate choir stalls of the high medieval abbey and cathedral churches) which explains the use of forma and formula
for either one (i.e., a bench for sitting) or the other (i.e., a support for kneeling and liturgical inclination) or the combination
of both in a fully developed choir stall (i.e., a piece of furniture, in which a solid row of prayer-supports is firmly
attached to a range of benches with hinged seats and a high-rising back.
A good example for the use of formula in the sense of bench is in the Vita sanctae Geretrudis, in a passage referring to
an event that occurred in 783 A.D.:
Haec audiens peregrina. . .eam duxit in ecclesiam beatae Mariae virginis et posuit eam ante formulam, ubi Geretrudis sancta
sedere solebat.
"In hearing this the woman on pilgrimage. . .conducted her [i.e., a young girl who had a vision of St. Gertrude] into the
church of our blessed virgin Mary and placed her before the bench where Saint Gertrude used to be seated."[16]
Unmistakably used in the sense of "support for kneeling in prayer" is the term in the famous petition (probably drafted
by Eigil, later abbot of Fulda) which the monks of Fulda submitted first to Charlemagne in 812, and again to Louis
the Pious in 817:
Quod infirmorum maior cura sit et miseratio senum videlicet et debilium neque penuria victus affligantur neque vestitus paupertate
conterantur et nec ineptiis aliquibus vexentur, ita ut nec baculum eis pro sustentatione fere liceat nec ad inclinatorium, quod nos
formula genua flectere.
"That special care be taken of the sick and mercy extended to the old and feeble so that they may not be afflicted by a
shortage of food nor struck by poverty in clothing nor subjected to any other unsuitable vexations such as being forbidden
to carry a staff for their support, or linger and cling to the inclinatorium, which we call formula, because the blind and
and the lame cannot move about without a staff nor can the decrepit bend his knees without a formula."[17]
The passage is interesting because it discloses that the prie-Dieu although clearly known, was not in general use at that
period (at least not so far as the Abbey of Fulda is concerned) since the monks in their petition speak of them as a privilege
to be made available to the old and feeble. The author of the Plan of St. Gall, as already stated, used formula in
connection with an object so shaped that it can only be interpreted as "bench," and in terms of literal visual exegesis
this is the way it should be interpreted. But in designating this object by the term formula (more frequently used in the
sense of prie-Dieu than in the sense of "bench" in contemporary sources) he may have wanted to imply that these benches,
if desired, could be furnished with a range of lean-to's to support the monks when kneeling or bending.
Special attention must be drawn to the use of the word domus, since confusion about the meaning of this term among
earlier students of the Plan has had an adverse effect upon the identification of the building type in which the workmen,
the serfs, and the animals are housed. We have discussed this matter at length in its proper place in the second volume,[18]
and therefore confine ourselves here to simply re-emphasizing that on the Plan of St. Gall the word domus is
used not as a designation for the whole of the house, but (as its qualifying adjectives disclose) for an important spatial
function of the building: its "common living room" (domus communis) or "principal room" (domus ipsa) where its components
gather around the open central fireplace, as distinguished from the peripheral rooms which serve more specialized
occupants such as sleeping or the stabling of livestock. In only one instance, in the hexameter that defines the purpose of
the House for Goats and Goatherds, does the term domus refer to the entire structure.[19]
The term pisale is on the Plan of St. Gall exclusively used as a designation for rooms that are heated by warm air generated
in a subterranean firing chamber and channeled into the interior by heat ducts installed under the floor (Monks'
Warming Room, as well as the warming rooms of the Novitiate and the Infirmary).[20]
This is in full conformity with its
classical root pensilis, an adjective formed from pendere (to hang, to be suspended) and in architecture employed as a
technical term for structures that do not rest exclusively on their own foundations, but are raised upon columns, pillars,
arches or vaults as was the case with rooms in Roman houses or baths that were heated by hypocausts.[21]
The term changed
its meaning later on, when it produced French poêle (stove) and Middle High German pisel, phiesel and phiselgadem (a
heatable room).[22]
Rooms with corner fireplaces are referred to as caminatae, (prime example: House for Distinguished
Guests).[23]
The term caminata, however, is also used for the corner fireplaces themselves (Abbot's House).[24]
The word solarium appears only once on the Plan (Abbot's House) in a textual and architectural context, that makes it
unequivocably clear that it refers to the upper level of a masonry building whose rooms gave access to the rays of the sun
by means of windows.[25]
Pistrinum is exclusively used in the sense of "bakery," never in its alternate classical meaning of
"mill."[26]
This again is in complete conformity with common contemporary parlance. The term porticus, however, has
two distinctly different meanings. In the Monks' Cloister,[27]
the Cloister for the Novices[28]
and the Cloister for the Sick,[29]
it is used in the traditional classical sense as designation for a colonnaded gallery or porch, giving access to, or being
attached to some other (usually larger) structure.[30]
In this sense it is also used for the two sunlit porches of the Abbot's
House (porticus arcubus lucida).[31]
But in one of the most important explanatory titles of the Church of the Plan porticus
but forms an integral part of its spatial composition. The extension of meaning from "porch" to "aisle" needs hardly
any comment, since the morphology and function of a galleried porch are virtually identical with those of the aisles of a
basilican church, the only difference being that in one case the gallery opens outward, in the other inward. Yet despite
these similarities the term does not appear to have gained great popularity as a designation for "aisle." Hrabanus Maurus
(ca. 776-856) uses it in this sense in his verse description of the Abbey Church of Fulda (dedicated in 818) where, with
a verbal discrimination rare in medieval poetry, clear distinction is made between the northern and the southern aisle of
the church (in porticu septemtrionali—in porticu meridiana) the transept (transversa domus), the eastern apse (in abside orientali),
the western apse (in abside occidentali), and the crypt (in crypta).[34] But this is the only Carolingian occurrence of this use
of the term, outside the Plan of St. Gall, that is known to me. The pre-Carolingian biographies compiled in the Liber
Pontificalis do not employ it in this sense[35] and the bibliographical sources published in the Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum
where the term appears in numerous places, contains not a single case where porticus can be identified unequivocably, as
a synonym for "aisle."[36] Even in post-Carolingian times the term is used only sparingly in this sense. It crops up in the
Chronicle of Montecassino, where we are told that Abbot Desiderius raised "the walls of the two aisles [of the new monastery
church he started to rebuild in 1066] up to a height of 15 cubits" (porticus etiam utriusque parietes in altitudine cubitorum
xv subrigens);[37] and it occurs in the Life of St. Dunstan, written by William of Malmsbury about 1126 in a passage, where
the Saint is said to have added alas vel porticus to an older church which he wished to widen.[38] Yet these are relatively
isolated occurrences. The full history of the term would obviously require a more systematical study than is possible in this
context; but it is surely indicative that a quick perusal of the passages referred to in the indices of the source collections
published by Schlosser, Mortet-Deschamps, and Lehmann-Brockhaus, leave little doubt that in an overwhelming majority
of cases porticus is used in its traditional classical sense as an equivalent for "colonnaded gallery" or "porch" and in only
a small number of cases as a designation for "aisle."[39]
The term claustrum occurs twice on the Plan, once in the Monks' Cloister ("quattuor semitae p transuersum claustri",
"four paths crossing the cloister at right angles") and once in the cloister of the Novices ("hoc claustro oblati pulsantibus
adsociantur", "in this cloister the oblates and those who are knocking live together").[40]
The etymological root of claustrum is found in the word claudere, "to shut" or "to lock."[41]
In Classical Latin, claustrum
stood for "lock", "bar", or "bolt"; more figuratively for "bounds" and "confines"; in military language for "barricade",
"bulwark", and other defensive enclosures.[42]
St. Benedict used the term in the sense of "confines" (claustra monasterii
egredi)[43]
—a meaning which it retained for centuries along with all the other connotations it subsequently acquired. St.
Gregory used it in the sense of "prison" (quod etiam retentus corpora ipsa jam carnis claustra contemplatione transebat), or
"confines"[44]
, Isidore of Seville more concretely for "folding doors" (valvae).[45]
When precisely in history the term claustrum became the designation for an architectural entity consisting of an open
in the Life of Bishop Hrodbert of Salzburg (d. ca. 710) where claustrum may have that connotation (although one would
like the phrase to be a little more specific to feel entirely sure of this interpretation): "claustra cum ceteris habitaculis ad
ecclesiasticorum virorum pertinentibus . . . construxit.[46]
In Carolingian sources claustrum is used in a variety of ways: (1) as a designation for the open inner court and its surrounding
porches, (2) as a designation for the porches alone, (3) as a designation for yard and porches, plus the entire
frame of buildings ranged peripherally around them, and (4) as pars pro toto for the whole of the monastic settlement.
On the Plan of St. Gall the cloister walks or cloister porches, as already mentioned, are individually referred to by the
term porticus. The word claustrum appears in titles that are inscribed into the open yard between these porches, and may
be interpreted—depending on where one places the accent—as either referring to the open yard alone (since the paths
that cross each other at right angles are physically confined to that space) or to the open yard plus its enclosing porches
(since the paths emerge from these porches). It is in this latter sense that the word is used in Hildemar's commentary
(ca. 845 A.D.) to the Rule of St. Benedict where it is said, "Dicunt multi, quia claustra monasterii centum pedes debent haberi
in omni parte minus non" ("It is generally held that a cloister should be one hundred feet square, and no less."[47]
These
dimensions could not possibly refer to the whole of the claustral complex, since it would be impossible to fit its buildings
into an area a hundred feet square.[48]
Another clear case of the use of claustrum to mean the cloister yard and its surrounding frame of porches is in Hariulf's
Chronicon Centulense (1088 A.D.) in a passage describing the cloister of the monastery built by Abbot Angilbert between
790 and 799. In the same narrative the cloister walks are referred to as tectus:
Claustrum vero monachorum triangulum factum est, videlicet a a sancto Richario usque ad sanctam Mariam, tectus unus; a
sancta Maria usque ad sanctum Benedictum tectus unus; itemque a sancto Benedicto usque ad sanctum Richarium tectus unus.[49]
"The cloister of the monks, however, he built in the form of a triangle, namely from [the church of] St. Richarius to [the
church of] St. Mary one covered walk from [the church of] St. Mary to the [church of] St. Benedict one covered walk,
and from St. Benedict to St. Richarius, likewise, one covered walk."
There are, however, other instances where claustrum stands for the whole of the claustral compound. A phrase in the
Gesta Aldrici (bishop of Le Mans, and written between 840 and 842) provides this example: "Claustrum iuxta ipsam
ecclesiam fecit, id est refectorium, dormitorium, cellarium"[50]
("and next to the church he built a cloister, i.e. the refectory
the dormitory, the cellar"); in the interesting passage in the Life of Eigil, Abbot of Fulda (written between 840 and 842)
we find this usage:
Vocantur ad consilium fratres. Quaesitum est, in quo loco aedificatio claustri congruentius potuisset aptari. Quidem dederunt
consilium, contra partem meridianam basilicae iuxta morem prioris; quidam autem, Romano more contra plagam occidentalem
satius poni, confirmant propter vicinitatem martyris qui in ea basilicae parte quiecit. Quorum concilio adsensum praebuere priores,
concordabant nihilominus et reliqua pars fratrum.[51]
"They called the brothers into council. The question was raised in which place the construction of the new cloister[52]
should be most suitably undertaken. Some advised that it should be placed against the southern part of the church like the
earlier cloister; others, however, claimed that it were more satisfactorily placed in the Roman manner against the western
side of the church, because of the nearness to the martyr who rests in this part of the church. As the priors agreed with
the advice of the latter, the remaining part of the brothers assented as well."
Even in the case of the title that defines the function of the Novitiate, on the Plan of St. Gall (hoc claustro oblati pulsantibus
adsociantur) the word may encompass the whole of the claustral complex, as the association of oblates and pulsantes, to
ranged around it.
In a few instances the word claustrum may also be used in a more limited sense as a substitute for porticus, "cloister
walk." Paul Meyvaert drew my attention to a passage in the Capitula Qualiter (written after 821 A.D.): "In claustris hora
lectionis summum silentium et summum studium lectionis ab omnibus haberi." Here claustri comes in the middle of a list of
buildings: "in oratorio", "in sacrario", "in hospitali", "in refectorio", "in dormitorio", and therefore must clearly stand
for "cloister walks."[53]
For the use of claustrum as pars pro toto for the entire monastery I refer to the sources quoted sub verbo by DuCange
and by Niermeyer.[54]
A typical example is in the Life of Duke William (d. 812), builder of the monastery of St. Guilhem-le-Desert
(Gellone) and protector of Benedict of Aniane:
Metitur etiam totius claustri spatium, domum refectionis atque dormitorium, domum etiam infirmorum et cellam novitiorum,
proaulam hospitum, Xenodochium pauperum, iunctum clibano pistrinum, de latere molendinum.[55]
"He measures, moreover, the space of the entire cloister, the refectory and the dormitory, the infirmary and the novitiate,
the house for distinguished guests, and the hospice for pilgrims and paupers, and the bakery next to the oven, as well
as the nearby mill."
In the fifteenth century, south of the Alps claustrum is used in secular parlance as a synonym for cortile, the galleried, often
double-storied range of porches opening peripherally inward onto the courts of Italian palaces. Wolfgang Lotz brought to
my attention two contracts in which the term appears with this connotation. One contract was made between Pope Paul II
and the three brothers Capranica, laying down the terms for the sale, in 1466, of a house valued at 500 ducats, and defining
this property as "unam domum . . . cum cameris, sala, coquina, reclaustro, porticali coperto columnato ante eam, . . . ."[56]
In the other contract, a donation deed of 1480 concerning the Palazzo Nardini, built for Stephano, Cardinal Nardini
between 1473 and 1478, it is specified that the gift applies to the palace "cum omnibus continentibus aedificiis et apotecis et
cum tribus claustris et porticibus et cum tribus introitibus a tribus viis, et cum omnis aulis, turribus."[57]
The term has thus come full circle: from "lock" or "bolt" to "bulwark", from military to spiritual enclosure, until
finally the image of the ubiquitous monastic cloister furnishes the word for a new concept in secular architecture for which,
because it was a novelty, there was no word to be borrowed from Classical Latin.
For the history of the term dormitorium, we refer to the discussion in the Glossary, below, s.v.
Benedicti regula, chap. 2, 23; ed. Hanslik, 1960, 23; ed. McCann,
1953, 21; ed. Steidle, 1952, 82.
Vita sancti Geretrudis, ed. Bruno Krusch, Mon.Germ.Hist., Script.
rer. Merovingicarum, II (Hanover, 1888), 348.
Supplex Libellus monachorum Fuldensium Carolo Imperatori porrectus
(812 et 817), chap. 5, ed. Semmler, Corp. Cons. Mon., I, Siegburg,
1963, 323.
For sources see Capitulare de villis, ed. Gareis, 1895, 51. Levillain's
translation of pisalis as séchoir (drying room) is misleading (Levillain,
1900, 342, note 2) as correctly pointed out by Lesne, VI, 1943, 364. The
Monks' Warming Room, truly enough, was an ideal place to dry the
monks' clothes after they had been washed in the adjacent Laundry, but
this was by no means its exclusive function (see I, 258).
On the meaning of porticus in Classical Latin, see Thesaurus, and
any standard dictionary, sub verbo.
In medieval Latin porticus is also used for spaces laterally attached
to a larger building, even if these spaces are not colonnaded, such as the
lateral spaces of the sixth-century church of St. Augustine's in Canterbury.
Cf. Baldwin Brown's "Note on the word PORTICUS" in
Brown, II, 1925, 89.
Richard Krautheimer (personal communication) believes that the
words pro porticia in the Charta Ecclesiae Cornutianae, issued in A.D. 471
(Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, I, 1886, cxlvii, line 45) may be a reference
to "aisles", but stresses, at the same time, that the term is not used
anywhere else in this sense in the pre-Carolingian biographies of the
Popes. He warns against giving any weight to the Testamentum Domini as
containing evidence for the use of porticus in the sense of "aisle," since
the Latin translation of the Syrian text in which the term appears is
modern. This translation (Ephraem Rahmani Ignatius, Testamentum
Domini, Mainz, 1899) was not available to me. For previous discussion of
the subject see Suzanne Lewis, XXVIII, 1969, 95 and the literature
quoted there.
Chronica monasterii Casinensis, book III, chap. 26, ed. Lehmann-Brockhaus,
Schriftquellen, I, 1938, 476, No. 2277.
Vita s. Dunstani, ed. Stubbs, and Willelmo monacho Malmesbiriensi,
book I, §16, Rolls Series, LXIII, 1874, 271-72; ed. Lehmann-Brockhaus,
Lateinische Schriftquellen, I: 1, 1955, 494, No. 1834.
Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford, 1945, 35: "that by
which anything is shut up or closed, a lock, bar, bolt."
Benedicti Regula, chap. 4, 78, ed. Rudolph Hanslik, Corpus
Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum LXXXV, Vienna, 1960, 35:
"Officina uero ubi haec omnia diligenter operemur, claustra sunt monasterii
et stauilitas in congregatione;" and ibid., chap. 67, 7 ed. Hanslik, 158:
"Siliter et qui praesumpserit claustra monasterii egredi."
Gregorii magni dialogi, I: 1, ed. Moricca, 1924, 14; confines: "in
quantum se intra cogitationes claustra custodivit," 2:3, ibid., p. 83.
Isidori Hispalensis episcopi Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX,
book XV, chap. 7, ed. W. M. Lindsay, II, Oxford, 1911 (no pagination):
"Fores et valvae claustra sunt, sed fores dicunt quae foras, valvae
quae intus revolvuntur, et duplices conplicabilesque sunt . . . . Claustra ab eo
quod claudantur dicta."
Vita Hrodberti episcopi Salzburgensis, chap. 8, ed. Levison, Mon.
Germ. Hist., Script. rerum Merovingicarum, VI, Hannover, 1887, 159.
Paul Meyvaert discussed the history of the term claustrum briefly in a
paper read at the symposium "Paradisus Claustralis—What is a Cloister?"
(New York, March 30-April 1, 1972), and more extensively in "The
Medieval Monastic Claustrum," Gesta XII (1973), 53-59.
Hildemar's dimensions coincide with those of the Monks' Cloister
on the Plan of St. Gall, where the yard plus its surrounding porches are
inscribed into an area 100 by 102 1/2 feet square and where it is easy to
check what would happen if one were to move the Dormitory (40 feet by
85 feet), Refectory (40 feet by 100 feet) and Cellar (40 feet by 87 1/2 feet)
from their peripheral positions into the interior of the cloister yard.
Hariulph, Chronique de l'Abbaye de Saint-Riquier, ed. Lot, 1894, 56;
ed. Schlosser, 1896, 259 No. 783.
Gesta Aldrici episcopi Cenomanensis, chap. 26, ed. Waitz, Mon.
Germ. Hist., Scriptores, XV, Hannover, 1887, 319.
Vita Eigilis Abbatis Fuldensis, chap, 19, ed. Waitz, Mon. Germ.
Hist., Scriptores, XV, Hannover, 1887, 231; and Schlosser, 1896, 112
No. 368.
The cloister referred to is the one which was started by Abbot
Eigil in 819 and completed during the abbacy of his successor Hrabanus
Maurus (822-840). See Vorromanische Kirchenbauten, I, 1966, 84.
Capitula Qualiter, ed. Frank, Corp. cons. mon., I, 1963, 355. For
other later occurrences of claustrum in the sense of "cloister walk" see
the passages quoted under this term in the index of vol. III/IV of the
Corpus consuetudinum monasticarum, under the subheadings locutio in
claustro, processionem per . . ., sedere in . . ., silentium in . . . .
VERSE
With regard to the meters found in the Plan, Charles W. Jones remarks: "The captions include four elegaic distychs[58]
and thirty-five hexameters.[59]
Although of scholastic regularity, they are not pedantically so. In the ninth century, as Leonine
rhymed hexameters were gaining favor, the uniform caesura in the third foot became increasingly standardized. But
among the thirty-five hexameters there are three hephthemimeral caesuras, and no Leonine verses.[60]
Indeed, there are
touches of liveliness. The concluding dactyls of the line on threshing (frugibus hic instat cunctis labor excutiendis)[61]
tend to
match the rhythm of the labor itself. And as Miss Patricia Clark points out, the most artful verses are the two set in the
semi-circular paradises of the church, which she diagrams as follows on the next page:
✫ alliteration of p and s
It is natural to try to explain the presence of verses in this utilitarian Plan as essentially mnemonic; but such an explanation
would be unsatisfactory. No supervising abbot or brother would find any of the common mnemonic aids in these
lines. They are, rather, the product of an artist who is taking joy in his work of art."
We have already drawn attention to the fact that the metric lines are primarily used to designate the general purpose of
a building. In order to make it clear that they define the whole and not part of the building, the author writes metric
verse inscription not into the interior of houses or buildings, but places them outside in a position of prominence (analogous
to chapter headings), parallel to and at a small distance from the entrance walls. There are, however, a few exceptions to
this rule. Some of the smaller guest and service buildings lack these general titles (House of the Physicians, House for
Bloodletting, Gardener's House, House of the Fowlkeepers). Conversely, in a few cases, metric titles are used internally
in places where the signal importance of the object or area they describe calls for special emphasis. All such instances,
except for one (Cross in the Cemetry) occur in the Church, where the inscriptions are associated with primary liturgical
stations (Altar of the Holy Cross, Altar of St. Peter, Altar of St. Paul) or appear in buildings directly connected with
the Church and vital for the regulation of the intercourse of the monastery with the outside world (the three porches of
the western atrium that control entry and exit of the monastic compound).
I can think of only one area in the whole aggregate of textual annotations where one would have wished for more explicit
information. Modern scholarship would have been spared the pains and pleasures of hundreds of pages of controversy,
had the widely spaced title in the longitudinal axis of the Church that reads "From East to West the length is 200 feet"
included in its wording a hint that this was a directive given to alter the original concept, in which the church was intended
to be 300 feet long.[62]
The decision to reduce the length of the Church from 300 feet to 200 feet—as the deposition
of the abbot of Fulda shows[63]
—cannot have been entirely free from emotional undertones. One senses a reflection of this
in a change of syntax, to which Bischoff has drawn attention: in contradistinction to all of the other legends of the Plan,
which are rendered as straight declarative statements, the majority of the titles stipulating that the Church should not be
built as large as was shown on the Plan, were put into imperative form (metire, moderare, sternito).[64]
On the entrance road, the cemetery cross, north and south of the
cross, and between the columns of the church.
The Petrus caption in the western apse of the Church and the
caption in the toolshed of the Gardener's House look as if they might be
hexameters, but they are not.
See Dag Norberg, "Introduction a l'étude de la versification latine
médiévale", Studia Latina Stockholmienses, 1958, 65.
VISUAL DISPLAY
In certain places the scribe makes use of a bold capitalis rustica rather than the delicate minuscule in which the majority
of the textual annotations are written. Here again he proceeds with discretion. Only buildings or areas that rank high in
the architectural ecology of the monastery are singled out for this distinction. Capitalized titles occur in ten places; five of
them in the context of the church: the widely spaced axial title that defines what its length should be; a hexameter that
defines the function of the presbytery; two hexameters in the western, and one in the eastern atrium. Outside of the church
capitalis rustica is found in the following places: In the bold meter that explains the function of the road of access to church
and the sick; in the word HORTUS inscribed into the outer paths of the Monks' Vegetable Garden (in widely spaced
letters); and in the two hexameters that explain the purpose of the two circular enclosures for the hens and the geese.
The choice of capitals for designating the Monks' Vegetable Garden and the enclosures for hens and geese is perhaps a
little surprising. In the two latter cases one might suspect that the scribe, faced with two magnificently free circular spaces
exuberantly let himself go. But in the case of the Monks' Vegetable Garden the use of capitals could not have been motivated
by the same reason, since the space available there is poorly suited to an inscription in capital letters. Might the
emphasis in both cases have something to do with the important place the produce of the garden and of the chicken yard
held in the monks' diet, and the fact that the flesh of chicken was the only meat of any living creature except fish permitted
on the monks' table?[65]
STYLE OF WRITING AND OTHER PALAEOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
It was to Bernhard Bischoff's credit that he established that the explanatory titles of the Plan were written in the
scriptorium of the monastery of Reichenau[66]
—a discovery of crucial importance for the evaluation of the historical context
in which the Plan was copied, and for the identification of the persons who were involved in this task.[67]
Bischoff distinguished
two hands: the hand of a young scribe ("main scribe") who wrote the majority of the explanatory titles (265
out of the total of 341, as well as the ten titles written in capital letters) and the hand of an older man who played the
role of supervisor or corrector (writer of the remaining 66 titles). Bischoff defines their respective share in the inscriptions
as follows:
MAIN SCRIBE
He is responsible for the letter of transmission, all of the titles written in capitalis rustica, and the majority of the other
titles. Most of these titles are written in dark brown ink.
The main scribe, Bischoff points out, writes in a crisp and delicate Carolingian minuscule of a kind that was common
among younger Carolingian scribes. His style of writing has a slightly insular touch and discloses clearly that he was not
trained in the Alamannic tradition of St. Gall and of the monastery of Reichenau. Certain peculiarities of his script suggest
that before joining the scriptorium of Reichenau, he spent some time in the abbey of Fulda. The particulars of his writing
Bischoff defines as follows: "He writes vertically and places his letters closely. The letters a and d appear in two variations,
on one hand in their closed Carolingian form (at the end of the word on occasion terminating with a sharp upstroke),
on the other hand open, with two points, more closely corresponding to the insular tradition, although the latter is usually
smaller. A long d alternates with a round d. In the g both arcs are closed; z rises above the letters of intermediate length,
and begins and ends with an almost horizontal stroke. Favorite ligatures are the letter combinations ct, en, er, et, rt; and
l, n, t when followed by an i. His favored abbreviations are: um (a simple r or the ligature -or with cross stroke; -us (dom');
also -ur (recitat') and insular symbols for est and id est.[68]
SECOND SCRIBE
From his hand are the plant designations in the Medicinal Herb Garden and in the Monks' Vegetable Garden, the tree
designations in the Orchard, and all of the inscriptions associated with the altars in the aisles of the church and in the
towers; furthermore, the additions infra and supra tabulatum in the House for Horses and Oxen, the supra camera et
solarium in the Abbot's House, as well as the words pausatio procuratoris (over erasure) in the lodging of the Master of the
Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers. Most of the titles of the second scribe are written in a light brown ink that did not retain
its original freshness as well as did the darker ink used by the main scribe. Of him, Bischoff says:
"The second scribe, likewise, `writes vertically,' but with relatively short ascenders and a certain trend toward loose but
regular distribution. In the alphabet he employs only the cc-a; the d is always straight. The shaft of the f begins with a
curved upstroke, occasionally even the shaft of the s; g is always open at the bottom. Favorite ligatures are ar (martini),
ect, em, ere, ex, and others; fra (a open), and re. These forms, especially the ligature fra as well as the delicate uniform
ductus of the script are closely related to that late fine style of Alamanic writing, of which the librarian Reginbert of
Reichenau (d. 846) availed himself certainly as one of its last masters"[69]
The dynamics of the interaction of these two scribes, who worked in close cooperation, as well as their relationship to
the high official for whom they performed their task, has been discussed in a previous chapter.[70]
For those among our
readers to whom palaeography is a new adventure, we are adding a few remarks about the abbreviations used in the textual
annotations of the Plan.
THE MOST COMMON ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE EXPLANATORY TITLES
The nasal bar is the sign commonly used for letters left out. The bar appears both in the middle of a word and at the end.
Almost always the omitted letters are readily supplied because the words are familiar. Examples: fr̄n̄ītas, ec̄l̄āe, nr̄ī, sc̄ī
sarcofagū, bibliothecā, dormitoriū, for fraternitas, ecclesiae, nostri, sancti, sarcophagus, bibliothecam, and dormitorium. In a few
instances, this sign is omitted through inadvertance. Examples: aucar̄ū, analogīū, sedendū, cū, mandat̄ū, earundē, seruantīū,
for aucarum, analogium, sedendum, cum, mandatum, earundem, seruantium.
A bar through the descender of the letter p stands for per and pre. Examples: semp, sup, pscrutinanda, pparanda, for semper,
super, perscrutinanda and preparanda.
A bar through the ascender of the letter b appears only once on the Plan, viz. in the dedicatory legend, in the name of
Abbot Gozbert: cozƀte for cozberte.
A period after the letter q indicates that the letters ue have been dropped. Examples: utcumq·, atq·, quoq·, for utcumque,
atque, and quoque.
A cross-stroked 1 stands for uel.
The ampersand stands for et. This sign is used both within and at the end of words as well as a symbol for the connecting
word "and". Examples: st&, exi&, cohaer&, col&ur, seru&ur, fa&us for stet, exiet, cohaeret, coletur, seruetur, and
faetus. This abbreviation survives in widespread use. A scattering of examples in current practice is included with the redrawn historic examples illustrated opposite.
Completion of ending orum and (in one case) arum. This sign always occurs after or or ar of this ending. Examples:
infirmorum, ferramentorum, porcariorum, pastorum, pigmentorum, eorum, tuarum for infirmorum, ferramentorum, porcariorum, pastorum,
pigmentorum, eorum, tuarum.
A period placed below a letter when it appears in conjunction with another letter placed above the line indicates that a
correction has been made. Examples: cabalḷͦrum, paupeṛͧm, buḅͧs for caballorum, pauperum, and bubus. Occasionally the
dot below the line is omitted. Examples: euangelacae, domum for euangeliacae and domus.
A period placed on either side of a letter deletes that letter. Example: ċlȯcleam in the Tower of St. Michael. In the House
of the Physicians on the other hand the first l of the misspelled word cubilulum is changed into a c by simply superimposing
the latter on the former.
A crescent-shaped apostrophe is used most frequently after a t, to supply the rest of the passive ending of a verb,
such as ur. Examples: conficiat͗ and triturant͗ for conficiatur and trituratur. It also appears, but more rarely, to show that
the letters us have been left off at the end of a word. Examples: camin͗ and dom͗ for caminus and domus.
Id est, "that is to say". Example: horreum·|·repositio fructuū annaliū for horreum id est repositio fructuum annalium.
This symbol is always est alone. Example: domus communis scolae id÷uacationis for domus communis scolae id est uacationis.
CAPRICIOUS ABBREVIATIONS
There are, lastly, not to be overlooked (as Charles W. Jones reminds me) what Lindsay, in his Notae Latinae, pp. 415ff,
calls "capricious abbreviations", e.g. dom for domus (Gardener's House —), necess for necessarium (Novitiate) and cub
for cubilia (House of Coopers and Wheelwrights —).
AMPERSANDS REDRAWN FROM VARIOUS SOURCES
524. VITA SANCTI BONIFATII. Karlsruhe
BADISCHE LANDESBIBLIOTHEK (Codex Augiensis CXXXVI, fol. 14v)
CAROLINE SCRIPT (9th century)
The full-page illustration reveals the main features of the great script created in the period
of Charlemagne, and further developed during the next two centuries. Unlike the great
formal court bookhands of the time, it is a cursive writing, a running hand conditioned by
economy and speed, with characteristics of both majuscule and minuscule. It is marked by
broad and sweeping lines widely spaced, letter forms clearly defined and articulated, smooth
flowing and finely proportioned to the page. Its slight slope (here, about 5° to 6°) was
perquisite to the urgent quest for speed because, by this device, slight deviations from angle
of tilt are scarcely detectible, as are deviations from the absolute verticality of formal
writing, courtly and elegant. Still, and this is one of its salient features, an air of elegance
dominates a page of finely executed Caroline script that betrays as myth the notion that a
degree of speed is inconsistent, when clarity is fused with a great portion of beauty.
Alcuin of York, in the years 781-790 at the court of Charlemagne, had been appointed
to the enterprise of creating, directing, and disseminating a vast program of education,
writing and learning throughout the empire. In 796 he was awarded the renowned abbey of
St. Martin at Tours. Here as abbot and director of probably the greatest school of its day,
Alcuin had ample time to pursue, till his death in 804, the minuscule and cursive style that
is known as Caroline script.
Later in Italy in the era of "New Learning" the Caroline script had decisive effect on
writing, type design, and printing that lasts to this day. The italic type before the reader's
eye is a direct derivative of that great writing. This legacy from Charlemagne is seen
throughout the world in all countries that employ the roman-based letter. Its place in the
history of civilization and learning is beyond appraisal.
E. B.
525. NOTE THE PLAN OF ST. GALL AS A SUBJECT
OF ILLUSTRATION IN VOLUMES I AND II
AND CATALOGUE OF INSCRIPTIONS FOLLOWING
VOLUMES I AND II
The Plan is shown in this work by two modes of illustration, tonal and line.
Tonal illustrations, shown as details of the Plan, in most cases are in color and
at the same size as the original, while line illustrations printed in black or in
red, often with overlays of the opposite color, occur in several different degrees
of reduction and represent the red line drawings of the original.
Reproduction of the Plan by line
The great Plan drawn on parchment survives in a remarkably good state as a
document. In centering attention, at original size, on its prime visual feature,
it will be observed that the red line drawing by which building and landscape
features are delineated is interrupted in many parts by short breaks, rarely
exceeding one or a few millimeters, where the ink has ceased to bond to the
parchment. These imperfections posed no problem in reproduction at reduced
dimensions. However, in certain parts the course of the red line drawing,
although clearly in evidence in original dimensions, is too meager to record
photographically a satisfactory printed image of the deteriorated condition of
the drawing at reduced dimensions. Resort to correction was performed as
follows.
By good fortune, the firm of E. Löpfe-Benz of Rohrschach, when printing
their important eight-color facsimile lithographic reproduction of the Plan of
St. Gall in 1952, also printed a small over-run edition of the red key-plate for
a few specialists, and their own use. This reproduction depicted the red line
drawing of the Plan at original size stripped of all other subject matter. With a
specimen of this key worksheet in our possession, which we obtained through
the kindness of the late Hans Bessler, by careful photography, several precision
prints were made on material of high dimensional stability and receptive to
pen and ink for retouching. On one print all defective parts of the line drawing
were corrected to yield a continuous line in all parts of the Plan, alterations
being restricted only to supplying in full strength those areas where the ink
had deteriorated or ceased to bond, but where unmistakable traces of its original
course were in clear evidence. When reduced to exactly one-fourth
original size, the print happily yielded an image satisfactory for reproduction
in printing. For greater reduction than one-fourth original size, prints as
described above required line widths to be retouched two times and in a few
cases, were retouched three times line width (1/10 × s, example, ill. I.xx).
Since the printed images at reduced size serve schematically or diagrammatically,
sometimes as red base color for a black overprinting, the often ugly
implications or connotation of "alteration" vanish. When the reader seeks a
degree of authenticity in the study of the delineation of the Plan drawing he
may turn to color reproductions shown original size in Volumes I and II, or
the following Catalogue.
Tonal Illustrations in Color
The tonal illustrations in color in this work are derived from the splendid
facsimile eight-color reproduction of the Plan of St. Gall printed in 1952,[71]
which portrays the great document in a high degree of fidelity to the original
that would be difficult to surpass. The procedure of derivation is accomplished
by means of the "optical color scanner," an instrument of photo-computer
antecedents, and available commercially only recently for application in the
printing arts. At the outset the hope of the authors had been to negotiate with
the eminent Swiss firm who printed the eight-color facsimile lithographic
edition in some scheme, one perhaps by which their color film or master negatives
could be made available. On learning these no longer existed and furthermore
knowing of the current ban on photographing the original parchment
because of the deleterious effect of strong lighting used in photographic procedure,
there was no alternative except to resort to the use of the scanner and
a copy of the facsimile reproduction.
A facsimile negative (probably on blue-sensitive film) in our possession, provided
us by Dr. Duft, was invaluable for reference but proved of little use as a
technical instrument since the stained areas of the parchment printed as great
black spaces lacking in detail. In color photography screening and dexterous
technical manipulation can correct for this condition, as is evidenced on
inspection of the facsimile Plan.
THE CATALOGUE OF INSCRIPTIONS
The remarks on certain problems of reproduction for printing in line when
drastic reduction in the dimensions of the image occurs, do not apply to the
color reproductions at the same size as the original. To some extent they apply
also to color reproduction at reduced scale but except for one instance (frontispiece,
fig. 1.X, I.xxviii) that was not a problem in this work. Enlargement
does offer grave problems, particularly when the original document to be copied
(called "the copy") has been "screened." The source from which the Plan
illustrations were scanned was screened copy. Thus, in the reproductions of the
following Catalogue, a high degree of printing technology, long experience,
great expertise, and close supervision with precise dot control are involved. By
tests and experimentation the use of one black plus two colors was found to
yield an image of visual quality adequate for the purpose of this work. The
greater degree of authenticity exemplified in high fidelity facsimile printing
with explicit veracity was not economically feasible nor even appropriate in a
work concerned with planning development and architecture more than with
great arts ancillary to it.
E.B.
As previously noted, it was produced under the auspices of the Historische
Verein des Kantons St. Gallen, on the initiative and under the supervision of
Dr. Johannes Duft and the late Hans Bessler.
In 1952, Firma E. Löpfe-Benz published a full-size facsimile in color
of the Plan of St. Gall from a series of eight negatives taken from the
Plan itself. This facsimile is visually the most coherent reproduction
of the Plan available to scholars, and stands in its own right as a
masterpiece of offset lithography. It is our understanding that copies of
this facsimile are still available from its publishers.
INDEX TO BUILDING NUMBERS OF THE PLAN
1. Church
a. Scriptorium below, Library above
b. Sacristy below, Vestry above
c. Lodging for Visiting Monks
d. Lodging of Master of the Outer School
e. Porter's Lodging
f. Porch giving access to House for Distinguished
Guests and to Outer Schoolg. Porch for reception of all visitors
h. Porch giving access to Hospice for Pilgrims and
Paupers and to servants' and herdsmen's
quartersi. Lodging of Master of the Hospice for Pilgrims and
Paupersj. Monks' Parlor
k. Tower of St. Michael
l. Tower of St. Gabriel
2. Annex for Preparation of Holy Bread and Holy Oil
3. Monks' Dormitory above, Warming Room below
4. Monks' Privy
5. Monks' Laundry and Bath House
6. Monks' Refectory below, Vestiary above
7. Monks' Cellar below, Larder above
8. Monks' Kitchen
9. Monks' Bake and Brew House
10. Kitchen, Bake, and Brew House for Distinguished
Guests
11. House for Distinguished Guests
12. Outer School
13. Abbot's House
14. Abbot's Kitchen, Cellar, and Bath House
15. House for Bloodletting
16. House of the Physicians
17. Novitiate and Infirmary
a. Chapel for the Novices
b. Chapel for the Sick
c. Cloister of the Novices
d. Cloister of the Sick
18. Kitchen and Bath for the Sick
19. Kitchen and Bath for the Novices
20. House of the Gardener
21. Goosehouse
22. House of the Fowlkeepers
23. Henhouse
24. Granary
25. Great Collective Workshop
26. Annex of the Great Collective Workshop
27. Mill
28. Mortar
29. Drying Kiln
30. House of Coopers and Wheelwrights, and Brewers'
Granary
31. Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers
32. Kitchen, Bake and Brew House for Pilgrims and
Paupers
33. House for Horses and Oxen and Their Keepers
34. House for the Vassals and Knights who travel in
the Emperor's Following
(identification not certain)
35. House for Sheep and Shepherds
36. House for Goats and Goatherds
37. House for Cows and Cowherds
38. House for Servants of Outlying Estates and for
Servants Travelling with the Emperor's Court
(not certain; cf. No. 34)
39. House for Swine and Swineherds
40. House for Brood Mares and Foals and Their
Keepers
W. Monks' Cloister Yard
X. Monks' Vegetable Garden
Y. Monks' Cemetery and Orchard
Z. Medicinal Herb Garden
NOTE: A trilingual index with each building identified in corresponding
French, German, and English may be seen in Volume I, page xxv.
THE DEDICATORY LEGEND OF THE PLAN[72]
WRITTEN IN THE UPPER MARGIN OF THE PLAN ABOVE THE MONKS' CEMETERY AND ORCHARD (ITEM Y, PLAN, PAGE 14)
Haec tibi dulcissime fili cozbte de posicione officinarum
paucis exemplata direxi · quibus sollertiam exerceas tuā
meamq · deuotionē utcumq · cognoscas · qua tuae bonae uolun
tati satisfacere me segnem non inueniri confido · Ne suspiceris
autem me haec ideo elaborasse · quod uos putemus nr̄īs indigere
magisteriis · sed potius ob amorē dei tibi soli pscrutinanda pinxisse
amicabili fr̄n̄itatis intuitu crede · Uale in xp̄ō semp̶ memor nri am̄·
For thee, my sweetest son Gozbertus, have I drawn out this briefly annotated copy
of the layout of the monastic buildings, with which you may exercise your ingenuity
and recognize my devotion, whereby I trust you do not find me slow
to satisfy your wishes. Do not imagine that I have undertaken this task
supposing you to stand in need of our instruction, but rather believe that
out of love of God and in the friendly zeal of brotherhood I have depicted this
for you alone to scrutinize. Farewell in Christ, always mindful of us, Amen.
‡ The Catalogue of Inscriptions is demonstrated in 166 separate color illustrations, each identified by a number, c.1, c.2, to c.166, pages 16 to 88.
ILLUSTRATIONS ARE SHOWN 1.5 TIMES ORIGINAL SIZE (EXCEPTION, c.135).
THE ENTRANCE ROAD TO THE CHURCH
ON THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE CHURCH EXTENDED TO THE WEST
This inscription is shown on the Plan, I, xx, and is discussed, I, 128.
NOTE For discussion of the use of CAPITALIS RUSTICA in writing certain inscriptions of the Plan, refer to the preface of this section, page 8, under Visual
Display. Other comments occur under Goosehouse, building 21, page 61, and Henhouse, building 23, page 63.
CAPITALIS RUSTICA occurs in the following parts of the Catalogue of Inscriptions:
| APPROACH TO THE CHURCH | ||
| 1. | The Entrance Road (shown above) | page 17 |
| WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE CHURCH | ||
| In the West Atrium (building 1) | ||
| 2. | Within the covered arcade | pages 18, 19 |
| 3. | In the adjacent outdoor space, Paradisiacum | pages 18, 19 |
| 4. | Written on the longitudinal axis of the Church | pages 24, 25 |
| 5. | The Presbytery | page 29 |
| 6. | The East Atrium | page 30 |
| OUTSIDE THE CHURCH | ||
| 7. | The Novitiate (building 17) | page 54 |
| 8. | The Goosehouse (building 21) | page 61 |
| 9. | The Henhouse (building 23) | page 63 |
| 10. | The Monks' Vegetable Garden (Plot X) | page 83 |
1
THE CHURCH
THE WEST ATRIUM
✠ Blank area is treated under the subheading Western Apse, page 23.
For inscriptions and translations see opposite page
For facsimile color plan showing surrounding area, see I, 132.
IN THE COVERED WALK OF THE ATRIUM (OUTER SEMICIRCULAR SPACE)
IN THE OPEN AREA OF THE ATRIUM (INNER SEMICIRCULAR SPACE)
IN THE INTERSTICES BETWEEN THE PIERS SUPPORTING THE ROOF OF THE COVERED WALK
Has inter que pe des de nos mo de rare colum nas
Between these columns count ten feet
I: Three hexameters in concentric semicircles, appear in the bold CAPIYALIS RUSTICA (inner and outer lines) and in the crisp and delicate Carolingian
minuscule (middle line) that characterizes the hand of the main scribe who, before he came to the island monastery of Reichenau, must have spent some time
at the abbey of Fulda. His work on the Plan was supervised by an older scribe practising a late fine style of Alamanic writing very similar to that used by
the famous teacher, Reginbert of Reichenau.
For discussion, see text ATRIUM, I, 128
526. CHURCH
KEY PLAN
NOTE
Diagram showing where the items occur on the Plan of St. Gall that are treated in detail in pages 21 through 30.
Each item of the text is identified by a number corresponding to the locating key number shown in the diagram.
numbers 1 to 8 inclusive, (in nave), identify Column Range
for the north row and south row of church nave columns
NAVE
1
LECTERNS
2
PULPIT
3
ALTAR OF THE HOLY CROSS
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
4
ALTAR OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST AND
ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST
5
BAPTISMAL FONT
6
IN THE SECOND BAY (slightly east of column pair 1)
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
*4-8: The ductus of all circles appearing on these pages shows clearly that they are not
instrument drawn; yet the two circles of the baptismal font (5) could hardly be so
regular had the hand of the draftsman not been guided by the compass-drawn
circles of the underlying original that the he traced.
IN WEST APSE
7
MEASUREMENTS
WRITTEN TRANSVERSELY ACROSS NAVE AND AISLES (BAY 7-8)
8
8: The measurements here listed are crucial for analysis of the scale of the Plan,
and conflict with dimensions given for the length of the Church (see further remarks,
page 24).
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
9 (ON THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE CHURCH (SPACES BETWEEN LETTER GROUPS SHOWN CONTRACTED) ON THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE CHURCH (SPACES BETWEEN LETTER GROUPS CONTRACTED)
10 IN THE INTERSTICES BETWEEN THE SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN ROW OF COLUMNS IN THE INTERSTICES BETWEEN THE SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN ROW OF COLUMNS
11
The color plan, I, xxviii, will be found helpful to orient the reader with respect to these and other detail illustrations of the Catalogue.
10, 11: If the nave of the Church was 40 feet wide (as stated in its inscriptions, p. 23), its length according to the drawing should have been stated as being 300,
not 200 feet as requested in the axial title of the Church (9). By the same token the interstices of the nave columns should have been 20, not 12 feet as
postulated in its intercolumnar titles (10, 11).
The incompatibility of these figures and the rendering of the drawing itself has haunted a hundred years of scholarship. The conclusion that the Plan was
not drawn to scale was firmly held until Bockelmann suggested, and the present authors now state, that incompatibilities between drawing and titles expressed
a change in thought about the desired length of the Church that developed later than the completion of the drawing (for historical overview and detailed
discussion see I, 77-104).
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
AISLES
12
NORTH AISLE
Titles for these two altars were written by the supervising scribe. All other altars of this
group were written by the main scribe.
13
SOUTH AISLE
14
NORTH AISLE
15
SOUTH AISLE
16
17
18
19
TRANSEPT
20
IN THE CROSSING SQUARE
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
21
IN THE CROSSING SQUARE
22
23
24
25
*IN THE NORTH ARM OF THE TRANSEPT
26
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
*
27
28
IN THE SOUTH ARM OF THE TRANSEPT
29
30
31
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
For remarks on the Crypt, see
Figure 83 with caption, I, 130; Figure 123 with caption, I, 177.
THE PRESBYTERY
32
33
The altar occupies central position in the Presbytery.
For remarks on the Crypt, see
Figure 83 with caption, I, 130; Figure 123 with caption, I, 171.
THE EAST APSE
34
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
CRYPT
35
THE EAST ATRIUM
36
NOTE Small black circles with numbers refer to locations shown on the Plan, page 20.
I a
SCRIPTORIUM BELOW, LIBRARY ABOVE
ON THE SOUTH AND NORTH OF THE TABLE
AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE LIBRARY FROM THE PRESBYTERY
I b
SACRISTY BELOW, VESTRY ABOVE
ON THE SOUTH AND NORTH OF THE TABLE
ON THE TABLES
I c
LODGING FOR VISITING MONKS
I d
SCHOOLMASTER'S LODGING
‡ Damage to the parchment, where noted above, invites conjecture in an attempt to
restore the break in the line of the drawing with a continuous wall line, or with a
doorway. The furniture arrangement and a door on the north wall suggest strongly the
former presence of a door in the Church wall, since this would permit the most direct
access to the Outer School for students who pass the Porter's station (see I.f, next
page). The alternate route, circuitous, seems unlikely—walking the full length of the
Church, across the north transept, through the quarters for visiting monks, then into
the school yard to the school.
I e
THE LODGING OF THE PORTER
IN THE EAST SPACE
IN THE WEST SPACE
I f
PORCH GIVING ACCESS TO HOUSE OF DISTINGUISHED GUESTS & TO OUTER SCHOOL
If: The first half of this hexameter was written by the supervising scribe, the
second half by the main scribe. On their interaction see I, 13-14.
I g
PORCH FOR RECEPTION OF ALL VISITORS TO THE MONASTERY
Ig: The word HABEBIT was partially covered by the overlapping margin of sheet
5 when the latter was attached to sheet 1. The inscriptions on the latter,
therefore, must have been completed before the two were joined (cf. I, 35-50).
I h
PORCH GIVING ACCESS TO THE QUARTERS OF THE SERFS AND TO THE HOSPICE
I i
LODGING OF THE MASTER OF THE HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS AND PAUPERS
I j
THE MONKS' PARLOR
I k
THE TOWER OF ST. MICHAEL
Ik: The inscriptions in the two towers are from the hand of the supervising scribe and
very characteristic of his style. Strangely enough the titles in the outer ring of the spiral
are rendered in the dark brown ink of the main scribe, and were probably entered before
the altar designations in the innermost rings. These are written in the pale brown ink of
all other entries of the supervising scribe (and like them are difficult to decipher).
I l
THE TOWER OF ST. GABRIEL
2
THE ANNEX FOR PREPARATION OF HOLY BREAD AND OIL
For facsimile color plan see I. 260.
3
THE DORMITORY AND WARMING ROOM
3.1
THE ADJACENT CLOISTER WALK
For facsimile color plans see pp. I, 257, 260.
See site plan and caption, p. 81.
*
3.2
IN THE BEDS
3.3
IN THE FIRING CHAMBER
3.4
IN THE SMOKE DUCT
3.5
IN THE PASSAGE TO THE PRIVY
3.6
IN THE PASSAGE FROM WARMING ROOM TO MONKS' LAUNDRY AND BATH HOUSE
4
THE MONKS' PRIVY
4: The presence of a light (lucerna) in the privy is stipulated as a necessity,
in a 9th-century commentary to the Rule of St. Benedict (see I, 259).
5
THE MONKS' LAUNDRY AND
BATH HOUSE
5: Whether or not, or how often, monks should be allowed to bathe was a
highly controversial issue in monastic life. As in all similar matters, St.
Benedict took a tolerant stand (see I, 262-67).
6
THE MONKS' REFECTORY AND VESTIARY ABOVE IT
6.1
IN THE CLOISTER WALK ADJACENT TO THE REFECTORY (SEE SITE PLAN PAGE 81)
6.2
THE CENTRAL PART OF THE REFECTORY
For facsimile plan see I, 263.
6.2.1
READERS LECTERN
6.2.2
IN FRONT OF THE LECTERN
6.2.3
ON THE VISITORS' TABLE
*6.2: The design of the Refectory entrance is unique on the
Plan. It strikingly resembles a modern revolving door, but
was probably a draft-blocking construction divided internally
into two parallel passages for entering and leaving.
6.3
IN THE EASTERN HALF OF THE HALL
6.3.1
ON THE BENCH ON THE SOUTH HALL
6.3.2
IN THE FRONT OF THE BENCH
6.3.3
ADJACENT TO (SOUTH) OF THE ABBOT'S BENCH
6.3.4
THE GREAT U-SHAPED TABLE ON MAIN AXIS OF THE REFECTORY
6.3.5
ON THE BENCH NORTH OF THE ABBOT'S TABLE
6.4
IN THE WESTERN HALF OF THE HALL
6.4.1
JUST WEST OF THE VISITORS' TABLE
6.4.2
ON THE CUPBOARD NEAR THE EXIT
AND ADJACENT TO THE KITCHEN
7
THE MONKS' CELLAR AND LARDER
7.1
THE WESTERN WALK OF THE CLOISTERS (SEE SITE PLAN PAGE 81)
7.2
ON THE AXIS OF THE BUILDING FROM SOUTH TO NORTH
For facsimile color plan see I, 258.
7.2.1
ON THE WEST SIDE (TOP ROW)
7.2.2
ON THE EAST SIDE (BOTTOM ROW)
7.2: On the daily allowance of wine in St. Benedicts's time and at the
time the Plan was drawn, see I, 296-303. On the question of the scale
of the barrels and their sufficiency, see I, 303-305. see also I, 286
8
THE MONKS' KITCHEN
8.1
IN THE PASSAGE FROM THE REFECTORY
8.2
IN THE CENTER OF THE KITCHEN
8.2: The term FORNAX is used in the Monks' Kitchen to mean
hearth or stove. In the Bakery of the House for Distinguished
Guests (10:3) it is used to designate a baking oven.
For facsimile plan see I, 263.
9
THE MONKS' BAKE AND BREWHOUSE
9.1
ON THE ENTRANCE SIDE OF THE HOUSE (EXTERIOR)
*9.2
IN THE AISLE FACING THE KITCHEN
*
9.3
IN THE BREWERY
9.2.1
ON THE NORTH SIDE
9.3.2
IN THE SOUTH AISLE
9.4
IN THE BAKERY
9.4.1
9.4.2
IN THE SOUTH AISLE
*For an outline plan, size of original, 1:192, see II, 138.
9.4.3
IN THE EAST AISLE OF THE BAKE & BREW HOUSE
9.4: The drawing fails to show access from the bakery to the lean-to where flour is
stored, or to the aisle which contains the kneading trough. This is among the few
genuine oversights of the drafter of the Plan. See I, 61-66 on rendering of doors, and I,
65-73 on oversights.
10
KITCHEN, BAKE, AND BREW HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS
10.1
IN THE KITCHEN
10.2
IN THE LARDER
10.3
IN THE MAIN ROOM OF THE BAKERY
10.4
IN THE MAIN ROOM OF THE BREWERY
10.5
IN THE SOUTH AISLE OF THE BAKERY
10.6
IN THE SOUTH AISLE OF THE BREWERY
For facsimile color plan see II, 144.
For author's interpretation see II, 154.
The original form of this not easily readable word, as written by the
main scribe, appears to have been intriuendae, a gerundive form mistakenly
formed from the perfect stem (intrivi) of the verb interere instead
of from its present stem (intero). The supervising scribe discovered and
corrected this faulty conjunction by striking out the letters riu and
replacing them above the line by the letters er. I am indebted to my
colleague Charles E. Murgia both for the palaeographical and grammatical
interpretation of this title. The verb interere, literally `to bruise'
or `to crumble' is commonly used in Classical Latin to designate the
process of transforming small broken-up substances (such as grain
ground into flour) into a pap or paste by mixing them with water or
some other liquid. See Lewis and Short, Classical Dictionary and
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, s.v.—W.H.
11
THE HOUSE FOR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS
11.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE
This building, too, serves for the reception of guests
11.2
IN THE SOUTHERN AISLE
11.2.1
EASTERLY AREA
11.2.2
IN THE CENTRAL AREA
11.2.3
WESTERLY AREA
11.3
IN THE PRINCIPAL HALL
* *For facsimile color plan see II, 144.
For authors' interpretation see II, 146.
11.3
IN THE PRINCIPAL HALL
11.3.1
IN THE EAST SIDE (ON EACH SIDE OF A DOORWAY)
11.3.2
IN THE CENTER SQUARE
11.3.2: Among the guest and service structures of the Plan, this is the
only one in which the large square at the center of the house is termed
LOCUS FOCI. In two other houses the similar square is termed TESTO (see
above, 12.2, 1, 2, and below, 31.4.1). The two terms are crucial for
identification of the building type (see II, 117-18).
11.3.3
NORTH OF THE FIRE PLACE
11.3.4
ON THE TABLE
*11.4
IN THE NORTH AISLE
11.4.1
IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST SPACES
11.4.2
TO THE NORTH OF EACH OF THESE SPACES
*
11.5
IN THE CHAMBERS FOR THE GUESTS UNDER THE LEAN-TO'S
11.5.1
IN THE EAST SIDE OF THE PRINCIPAL HALL
For the multivalence of the term CAMINATA, here meaning heatable room,
elsewhere meaning corner fireplace (Abbot's House, 13-4, below, p. 50) see II,
123ff.
11.5.2
IN THE WEST SIDE OF THE PRINCIPAL HALL
11.6
IN THE PRIVY
*
12
THE OUTER SCHOOL
12.1 ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE
For facsimile color plan see II, 169.
For author's interpretation see II, I, 170.
*12.3
IN THE OUTER ROOMS READ CLOCKWISE BEGINNING ON THE SOUTH ROWS
12.2 IN THE MAIN HALL
12.2.1 SQUARE, LEFT CENTER
12.2.2 SQUARE, RIGHT CENTER
*
12.4
IN THE PASSAGE TO THE PRIVY
13
THE ABBOT'S HOUSE
13.1
ALONG THE FENCE SOUTH OF THIS HALL
For facsimile color plan see I, 130.
For authors' interpretation see I, 318, 320, 322.
13.2
IN THE EAST PORCH
13.3
IN THE WEST PORCH
*
13.4
THE HOUSE ITSELF IS DIVIDED IN TWO AREAS DESIGNATED AS
13.4.1
WRITTEN ACROSS THE TWO ROOMS IS THE PHRASE
(in the hand of the second scribe)
13.4.2
IN THE PASSAGE BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE ABBOT'S HOUSE
13.4.3
IN THE ABBOT'S BEDROOM READING COUNTER CLOCKWISE STARTING ON THE EAST NEAR THE CHIMNEY
** The words DORMITORIUM and MANSIO ABBATIS, designating the
Abbot's dormitory and living room, are in the hand of the main scribe.
The titles SUPER CAMERA, ET SOLARIUM, were added by the supervising
scribe. The word DORMITORIUM, located in the center of the space it
defines, suggests that the main scribe did not yet realize the necessity
for a second title below it. He must have become aware of that need
before he wrote the title MANSIO ABBATIS. Its position in the eastern
half of the room suggests that a second title was to follow in a corresponding
position in its western half. (A similar condition exists in the
House for Horses and Oxen, 33.2, 33.7).
‡ The term CAMINATA written into the ovoid symbols in the contiguous
corners of these two rooms is crucial for their interpretation as corner
fireplaces. There are many of them on the Plan, but only in facilities for
high ranking monastic officials or guests (see I.c, d, e, i, w, 11, 13, 17.c,
d, 20). For the use of CAMINATA as "heatable room" see comments
to the House for Distinguished Guests, 11.
13.4.4
ON EACH SIDE OF ENTRANCE TO CHURCH
13.4.5
ON EACH SIDE OF THE SITTING ROOM
13.5
IN THE PRIVY
14
KITCHEN, CELLAR, AND BATH HOUSE OF THE ABBOT
14.1
IN THE EAST AISLE
14.2
THE MAIN HOUSE IS DIVIDED INTO THESE PARTS ON THE WEST SIDE
14.1.1
14.2.2
14.2.3
15.
For facsimile color plan see I, 310.
For authors' interpretation see I, 322.
HOUSE FOR BLOODLETTING
15
THE HOUSE FOR BLOODLETTING
15.1
WRITTEN ACROSS THE MAIN ROOM IN TWO PARTS
15.1.1
IN THE WESTERN PART
15.1.2
IN THE EASTERN PART
15.2
WRITTEN IN SEPARATED LETTERS, CLOCKWISE BEGINNING ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE ROOM,
THUS,
15: For monastic views on bleeding, and bleeding as a panacea of general
medieval medicine see II, 185-88. For identification of the ovoid symbols
in the corners of this house, and in many other places of the Plan, see commentary
to the Abbot's House (13) where they are defined as "corner
fireplaces."
For facsimile color plan see II, 184.
For authors' interpretation see II, 184.X, 185.X.
16
THE HOUSE OF THE PHYSICIANS
16.1
IN THE MAIN ROOM (ENTERED ON THE SOUTH SIDE)
16.2
IN THE WESTERN AISLE
16.3
IN THE EASTERN AISLE
16.4
IN THE LEAN-TO ON THE NORTH
16.1: The plural form of the title, DOMUS MEDICORUM, makes it clear that
this house accommodated more than one physician working under a chief
physician, who had his own living room occupying the entire eastern aisle of
the house (16.3) and furnished with a corner fireplace.
16.2: The bedroom for critically ill in the opposite aisle, also with corner
fireplace, must have been used for care of the monastery's serfs and workmen,
since novices, ill, or dying, were cared for in the Novitiate (17.c) and Monks'
Infirmary (18.d).
For facsimile color plan see II, 171.
For authors' interpretation see II, 179, 180.
17
THE NOVITIATE AND THE INFIRMARY
ALONG THE AXIS OF THE DOUBLE CHAPEL, 17.a & 17.b, READING FROM EAST TO WEST
17.b
THE CHAPEL FOR THE SICK
17.a
THE CHAPEL FOR THE NOVICES
(AT ENTRANCE TO CHAPEL
FROM CLOISTER WALK FOR NOVICES)
NOTE benches opposite,
in east apse and at altar below, are not identified
by inscriptions
For plan, scale 1:384, see I, 288.
For authors' interpretation see I, 302.
17.c
THE NOVITIATE
17.c.1
IN THE CLOISTER YARD OF THE NOVITIATE, SOUTH OF THE CHAPEL
*17.c.2
IN THE CLOISTER WALKS
BEGINNING ON THE WEST IN
THE ARCADE, READING CLOCKWISE
17.c.1: One notices that the scribe rotated the parchment
counter-clockwise as he wrote the inscription (PORTICUS) in the
four sides of the south cloister walk; whereas in the north cloister
walk (17.d.2) the inscription is written from a position on the
east looking west. The inscriptions in the open space of the
cloister, in both cases, are written from this same position.
17.c.3
IN THE WEST WING, SOUTH PART
* See note under 17.d.3, page 58.
*
17.c.4
IN THE SOUTH WING
17.c.4.1
IN THE WEST SPACE
17.c.4.2
IN THE EXTENSION TO THE SOUTH
17.c.4.3
IN THE EAST SPACE
*17.c.5
IN THE EAST WING, SOUTH PART
*
17.d
THE INFIRMARY
17.d.1
IN THE CLOISTER YARD OF THE INFIRMARY
17.d.2
IN THE CLOISTER WALKS
Beginning on the west in the arcade
reading clockwise into the north
arcade, hence to the south arcade,
then counterclockwise to the
east arcade[73]
17.d.3
IN THE WEST WING, NORTH PART
*17.d.4
IN THE NORTH WING
17.d.4.1
IN THE WEST PORTION
17.d.4.2
IN THE EAST PORTION
The corner fireplace in each room
is unidentified by an inscription.
Access to each room is from the
arcaded cloister walks, 17.c.2
‡ Refectorium is written with a capital R in the north part of the west wing,
whereas in the corresponding space of the south wing, 17.c.5, spelling is with a
minuscule. The word Camera in both locations is capitalized.
17.d.5
IN THE EAST WING, NORTH PART
17.d.5: The three protrusions to the east of the north part of the east wing are
not identified by written inscriptions, although dormitory and warming room are
identified in both the north and south parts (cf. 17.c.3, p. 55). Corresponding
features in the Novitiate (17.c.5) are identified: CAMINATUS, EXITUS FUMI,
NECESSARIUM.
18
THE KITCHEN AND BATH FOR THE SICK
18.1
IN THE SOUTH HALF OF THE BUILDING
18.2 IN THE NORTH HALF OF THE BUILDING
19
THE KITCHEN AND BATH FOR THE NOVICES
19.1
IN THE SOUTH HALF OF THE BUILDING
19.2
IN THE NORTH HALF OF THE BUILDING
* Letters in brackets are supplied.
Parchment is perforated by damage
in this small area. The b of "balnea"
shows clearly, as does part of the
"a" in a facsimile size negative of
the Plan, in our possession.
20
THE HOUSE OF THE GARDENER
20.1
IN THE NORTH AISLE
20.2
IN THE MAIN ROOM
20.3
IN THE SOUTH AISLE
20.4
IN THE EAST AISLE
21
THE GOOSEHOUSE
CAPITALIS RUSTICA, in a free cursive form, was used as a
display letter on the Plan with great restraint.
Easily understood is its use in the entrance road to the Church
(I, 128), in the Presbytery (I, 139), in the eastern Paradise
(I, 155), on the west atrium, on the longitudinal axis of the
Church (I, 128), and in the chapels of the Novitiate (I, 311).
That capitalis rustica was used to identify the houses for
poultry (II, 268), and for the Monks' Vegetable Garden
(II, 203), touches the student of the Plan with some wonder.
While the letters in the Monks' Vegetable Garden are so
small and widely spaced as to almost escape notice, in the
Goosehouse capitalis rustica is used in the largest size and
most elegant display found in the Plan. The chicken house is
honored with a similar display but with smaller letters.
WRITTEN CLOCKWISE IN THE CIRCULAR GOOSE RUN
BEGINNING ON THE WEST SIDE AND ADJACENT TO THE POINT OF ENTRY.
BUILDING 21 AND 23:
The circles of the Goosehouse and the Henhouse are neither continuous nor accurate
enough to be compass drawn, but too accurate to have been drawn freehand. As no
auxiliary work lines are to be discovered on the parchment, we have assumed
(I, 15-19) that the circles were traced, a principal argument in our contention that
the Plan as a whole is not an original drawing but a traced copy. Among other
circles similarly treated, the most important are those of the ambo and the baptismal
font in the Church (1.2 and 1.5).
For facsimile size plan see II, 265.
22
THE HOUSE OF THE FOWLKEEPERS
22.2
IN THE NORTH AISLE
*22.1
IN THE MAIN ROOM
*22.3
IN THE SOUTH HALL
‡ One curious feature of the design is that the east-west axis of the circle, more
or less parallel with the east-west axis of the Church, and the north-south axis
of the circle parallel to the axis of the transept, do not coincide with any of the
lobes of the system of lobe axis, but instead fall between four pairs of lobes.
For facsimile size plan see II, 265.
For authors' interpretation see II, 258, 260, 262.
23
THE HENHOUSE
ENTRANCE TO THE HEN RUN
The entrance to the hen run is on
axis with the entrance to the
goose run and the two
entrances of the main room of
the Fowlkeeper's House, 22.
Within the circle of the hen run the inscription of 38 letters is
more spaciously composed than the inscription of 48 letters
within the circle of the goose run.
Capitalis rustica, written to a curve of circular configuration
occurs in only two other places in the Plan, in the eastern
Paradise and in the western Paradise with its adjacent arcade.
An eight lobed ornamental rosette occurs in a central position in
each poultry house. A similar, but smaller, pair of eight lobed
rosettes occurs in a central position in the tower of St. Michael
and in the tower of St. Gabriel (building numbers I.k and I.l,
page 35). These four are the only rosettes in the Plan.
Located on axes of opposing direction, these four rosettes—the
sacred four—compose, in the mind, a sacred cross.
Is the drawing of an eight-lobed rosette in the center of
goose and hen houses of any symbolic significance at this
location? Or is it simply a pretty decoration and a
convenient ornament to compose in a circle? These are
difficult questions to resolve. Apparently the scribe chose not
to use the six-lobed configuration, more common, no doubt;
because of the great facility with which the "hex"
configuration is constructed with a compass. A case for
possible apotropaic implications is made, I, 131.
WRITTEN CLOCKWISE IN THE CHICKEN RUN
BEGINNING ON THE EAST ADJACENT TO AND
STARTING ON THE LEFT OF THE POINT OF
ENTRY IN TO THE RUNWAY
(an arrangement identical to that of the Goosehouse)
For facsimile color plan see I, 20 and II, 265.
For authors' interpretation see II, 273.
24
THE GRANARY
24.1
IN THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE GRANARY
24.2
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE (ON THE EAST) OF THE GRANARY
24.3
IN THE ARMS OF THE THRESHING FLOOR IN THE FORM OF A CROSS
For facsimile color plan see II, 214.
For authors' interpretation see II, 220, 221.
25
THE GREAT COLLECTIVE WORKSHOP
25.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE OR NORTH SIDE OF THE HOUSE
25.2
IN THE NORTH SIDE
25.3.1
IN THE WESTERN LEAN-TO
25.3.2
IN THE EASTERN LEAN-TO
25.4
IN THE MAIN HALL
25.5
IN THE SOUTH AISLE [see next page]
For facsimile color plan see II, 130.
For authors' interpretation see II, 191, 192, 193.
25.5
IN THE SOUTH AISLE
26
THE ANNEX OF THE GREAT COLLECTIVE WORKSHOP
26.1
IN THE WORKSHOP ON THE NORTH
26.2
IN THE SOUTH AISLE, PERTAINING TO ALL WORKSHOPS OF THE ANNEX
For facsimile color plan see II, 190.
For authors' interpretation see II, 194.
27
THE MILL
27.1
IN THE NORTH SPACE
concerning this word, see note for building
number 29, next page
27.2
IN THE SOUTH SPACE
NOTE: for text relating to this building,
see II, 233ff.
For facsimile color plan see II, 224.
For authors' interpretation see II, 232, 233.
28
THE MORTAR
28.1
IN THE NORTH SPACE
concerning this word see note for building
number 29, next page
28.2
IN THE SOUTH SPACE
NOTE: for text relating to this building
see II, 236ff.
For facsimile color plan see II, 224.
For authors' interpretation see II, 246, 247.
29
THE DRYING KILN
29.1
IN THE NORTH SPACE
29.2
IN THE SOUTH SPACE
NOTE
Buildings 27, 28, 29 are a trio of which the titling in the
north aisle must be read as a phrase, reading left to right,
i.e., west to east, thus—
eorundem famulorum cubilia
their servants' bedrooms
For facsimile color plan see II, 224.
For authors' interpretation see II, 248.
30
THE HOUSE OF THE COOPERS, THE WHEELWRIGHTS,
AND THE BREWERS' GRANARY
30.1
ALONG THE OUTSIDE OF THE BUILDING
30.2
IN THE WORKSHOP OF THE COOPERS
30.3
IN THE WORKSHOP OF THE WHEELWRIGHTS
30.4
IN THE AISLE OF THE WORKSHOPS FOR BOTH CRAFTS
30.5
THE BREWERS' GRANARY
30.5.1
IN THE BREWERS' GRANARY IN THE CRUCIFORM AREA
For facsimile color plan see II, 196.
For authors' interpretation see II, 199, 200, 202.
30.5.2
IN THE BREWERS' GRANARY IN THE 4 CORNERS OF THE GRANARY
31
THE HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS AND PAUPERS
31.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE OF THE BUILDING ON THE EAST
31.2
IN THE EAST AISLE
For facsimile color plan see II, 140.
For authors' interpretation see II, 142, 143.
31.3
IN THE WEST AISLE
*
31.4
THE MAIN ROOM
31.4.1
IN THE RECTANGLE IN THE CENTER OF THE MAIN ROOM
31.5
IN THE LEAN-TO'S, NORTH SIDE AND SOUTH SIDE
32
THE KITCHEN, BAKE, & BREW HOUSE FOR PILGRIMS & PAUPERS
32.1
IN THE BREWHOUSE: MAIN ROOM, NORTH PART
32.3
IN THE AISLE OF THE BREWHOUSE NORTH & WEST
For facsimile color plan see II, 140.
For authors' interpretation see II, 143.
32.2
IN THE BAKEHOUSE: MAIN ROOM, SOUTH PART
32.3
IN THE AISLE OF THE BAKEHOUSE SOUTH & WEST
33
THE HOUSE FOR HORSES AND OXEN AND THEIR KEEPERS
33.1
IN THE EAST AISLE, NORTHERN PART
*33.2[74]
IN THE MAIN SPACE OF THE NORTHERN PART
OF THE BUILDING
33.3
IN THE WEST AISLE, NORTHERN PART OF THE BUILDING
*33.4
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE OF THE BUILDING ON THE EAST
33.5[75]
IN THE CENTRAL SQUARE AREA
*33.6
IN THE EASTERN AISLE, SOUTHERN PART OF BUILDING
For facsimile Plan in color see II, 274.
For authors' interpretation see II, 283, 284, 285.
33.7
IN THE MAIN SPACE, SOUTHERN PART OF BUILDING
*33.8
IN THE WESTERN AISLE, SOUTHERN PART OF BUILDING
34
THE HOUSE FOR THE EMPEROR'S FOLLOWING
THE IDENTIFICATION OF THIS BUILDING IS NOT CERTAIN
HOUSE FOR VASSALS AND KNIGHTS WHO TRAVEL IN THE EMPEROR'S FOLLOWING
The identification of this building is uncertain, because its explanatory titles were erased in the twelfth century to make room for the last paragraph of the
text of a LIFE OF ST. MARTIN, which a monk of the twelfth century wrote on the back of the Plan and spilled over onto the recto, when the verso
was taken up by his writing. An attempt made early in the nineteenth century to revive the inscriptions through chemical treatment destroyed them forever.
More recent efforts (1949) to make them legible with the aid of X-ray and infra-red photography brought no clarity into the matter (page II, 159).
The distribution of blue streaks left on the parchment by the chemical employed discloses that the house was originally provided with a long title, running
parallel to the entrance side, unquestionably defining the function of the building, as is done by titles similarly placed in other buildings. Shorter blue
blotches visible in the interior of the building reveal the location of other titles once designating the purpose of the component interior spaces.
Of the line work of the house itself enough is left to disclose that it consisted of a great central hall with an open fireplace and a complete perimeter of
outer rooms ranged symmetrically around it. It differed from the general run of houses of this type by its gigantic dimensions (100 feet long and 80 feet
wide) as well as the fact that its (only!) entrance was located not in the center of one of its long walls, but in the middle of one of its two shorter walls.
As in all of the other houses of this construction type the peripheral rooms are accessible from the center space exclusively, and every man or beast, to
reach his place of rest in any of these outer rooms, would have to be channeled through this center space, which can in turn only be entered through a
vestibule located in the middle of the aisle that runs along the entrance side of the house.
We have set forth, in our textual discussion of this structure (Vol. II, pp. 166ff), the reasons why we presume that it served as a House for the Vassals and
Knights who travelled in the Emperor's Court.
For authors' interpretation see II, 160-64
35
THE HOUSE FOR SHEEP AND SHEPHERDS
35.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE ON THE EAST
35.2
IN THE AISLE NORTH & SOUTH OF THE ENTRY
35.3
IN THE MAIN ROOM
For facsimile color plan see page II, 298.
For authors' interpretation see BUILDING TYPE 38, II, 157.
35.4
IN THE U-SHAPED AISLE AROUND THE LIVING ROOM
36 THE HOUSE FOR THE GOATS AND THE GOATHERDS
36.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE ON THE EAST
36.1: This hexameter is the only
instance on the Plan where the term
DOMUS designates an entire
structure. In eleven other houses,
DOMUS refers to the central hall.
This common living space is
variously called DOMUS
COMMUNIS (12.2, 22.1) and
IPSA DOMUS (20.2, 35.3), or by
the name or occupation of those
inhabiting the buildings (16.1,
25.4, 31.4, 38.3, 39.3, 40.3). A
typical example, DOMUS
ARMENTARIORUM (37.3), is
shown on the next page.
The absence of an inscription
in the main or central area
of this type of building in
the Plan is most exceptional.
36.2
TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE ENTRANCE ON THE EAST
36.3
in the U-shaped area, north, west, and south of the main room (written counter-clockwise)
For facsimile color plan see II, 244.
For authors' interpretation see BUILDING TYPES, 38, II, 157.
37
THE HOUSE FOR COWS AND COWHERDS
37.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE ON THE EAST
* barely visible
37.2
AT THE EASTERN EXTREMITIES OF THE LEAN-TO'S
37.3
IN THE MAIN ROOM
For facsimile color plan see II, 286.
For authors' interpretation see II, 290-91.
37.4
IN THE WEST AISLE (U-shaped)
38
THE HOUSE FOR SERVANTS OF OUTLYING ESTATES AND FOR SERVANTS
TRAVELLING WITH THE EMPEROR'S COURT
38.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE ON THE EAST
38: The lack of inscriptions in the
U-shaped space on the north, west, and
south of the central hall is noteworthy,
since close to a dozen other similar
buildings on the Plan are systematically
labeled as to facility and function.
On the basis of precedent it might be
argued that the purpose of these
unidentified areas was self evident
(storage, stables, sleeping quarters) since
the chief function of the house was known
by its explanatory title. But sophisticated
architectural perceptions typical of the
Plan's least details are not elsewhere left
to subjective interpretation. It may be
more accurate to infer that when the
Plan was traced some question still
remained open as to final determination
of the specific disposition of these areas;
hence specific designation was omitted.
38.2
IN THE EAST AISLE TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF
THE ENTRANCE TO THE BUILDING
For facsimile color plan see II, 156.
For authors' interpretation see II, 157.
38.3
IN THE MAIN HALL
39
THE HOUSE FOR SWINE AND SWINEHERDS
39.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE ON THE EAST
39: In building 38, the unlabeled U-shaped
area around the central hall can
only have served as a dormitory strewn
with pallets for repose, and heaps of
travellers' trappings—or perhaps, if the
servants were so lucky as to be mounted,
with harness tack and the mounts
themselves. In the House for Swine and
Swineherds, herdsmen's sleeping quarters
are designated on the east side (cf.
guardians' quarters, building 38). The
unlabeled areas were likely intended to
shelter swine. But absence of drawing (cf.
ox stalls, building 33) or inscriptions may
indicate that the kind of pen to be
installed for pigs was not determined
when the Plan was traced.
Sole access to the inner spaces of the
buildings lay through the vestibule
(center, east side). Swine herded to their
pens would have to pass right through the
herders' quarters, certainly a very social
arrangement and highly nondiscriminatory.
39.2
IN THE EAST AISLE TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF
THE ENTRANCE VESTIBULE
For facsimile color plan see II, 296.
For authors' interpretation see BUILDING TYPES 38, II, 157.
39.3
IN THE MAIN ROOM OF THE BUILDING
40
THE HOUSE FOR THE BROOD MARES AND FOALS AND THEIR KEEPERS
40.1
ALONG THE ENTRANCE SIDE ON THE EAST
40.2
ON THE EAST END OF THE U-SHAPED LEAN-TO'S
For facsimile color plan see II, 292.
For authors' interpretation see BUILDING TYPE 37, II, 290-91.
40.3
IN THE MAIN ROOM
40.4
IN THE WEST AISLE
W
THE MONKS' CLOISTER YARD
W.1
IN THE NORTHERN WALK OF THE CLOISTER ADJACENT TO AND PARALLEL TO THE CHURCH
W.2
IN THE ARCHES OF THE NORTHERN WALK TO THE WEST AND TO THE EAST OF THE CENTRAL ARCH
W.1: Descriptive titles are written only within the small arches of the north side of
the cloister wall.
Arches giving access to the yard occur in groups of four. On each side of the four
principal arches are four small arches rising from plinths. From each of the four
principal arches a path extends to what appears to be a square planting bed in
which four junipers emerge radially from an inner circular bed.
The stress on four is emphatic. The graphic delineation of a cross in the layout
of the yard is unmistakable.
For facsimile color plan of CLOISTER see I, 257.
For author's interpretation see I, 158, figure 107, scale 1:384, and also
figure 69, scale 1:192, CONSTRUCTION OF CLOISTER YARD.
N. The inscription in the cloister walk on the north is treated above on this page.
W. Treated under building 7, c.83, page 41.
S. Treated under building 6, the Monks' Cellar and Larder, c.78, page 39.
Treated under building 3, Monks' Dormitory and Warming Room, c.70, page 36.
W.3
IN A CIRCLE IN THE CENTER OF THE CLOISTER RECTANGLE
W.4
IN THE OPEN SPACE OF THE CLOISTER YARD WRITTEN CLOCKWISE AROUND THE CENTER FEATURE BEGINNING ON
THE WESTERLY SIDE
W.3: For an extended discussion of Juniperus sabina, its inclusion among
the plants listed on the Plan of St. Gall, and its use in such a prominent
location in the design of the Cloister yard, see I, 246-48.
The four specimens depicted in highly stylized side view in the Cloister yard
scale about eight to nine feet, conforming to the growth range for Juniperus
sabina (see note, preceding page).
X
THE MONKS' VEGETABLE GARDEN
X.1
IN THE OUTER PATH, ON THE NORTH SIDE & SOUTH SIDE, WIDELY SPACED, WRITTEN IN CAPITALIS RUSTICA
X.2
IN THE CENTER PATH, LIKE THE CAPITALIS RUSTICA, READING WEST TO EAST
*X.3
IN THE TWO ROWS OF VEGETABLE PLOTS (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)
For facsimile color plan see II, 204 and caption, II, 205.
For modular analysis, scale 1:192, see I, 88.
X.3
IN THE TWO ROWS OF VEGETABLE PLOTS
see previous page for full layout of the MONKS' VEGETABLE GARDEN
Y
THE MONKS' CEMETERY AND ORCHARD
Y.1 EACH SIDE OF MONUMENTAL CROSS IN THE CENTER AND ABOVE AND BELOW ITS CROSS BAR
Y.1.1
Y.1.2
Y.1.3
Y.1.4
Y.3.1
Y.2.1
NORTH OF THE CROSS
*Y.2.2
SOUTH OF THE CROSS
Y.3.2
For facsimile color plan and caption,
see II, 210.
Y.4
THE TREES TO THE EAST OF THE CROSS
NOTE
There are thirteen symbols for trees, and thirteen titles defining their species. Nine of these have been treated with the same chemical substances
which obliterated the titles of the large building in the northwest corner of the monastery site, but these are still legible. Two other chemical
blotches along the north side of the corner trees on the entrance side of the Cemetery suggest that there may have been titles for two additional
species, no longer identifiable today. Keller believed he recognized the letters mal and r and reconstructed these words as malarius (apple)
and pinus (pine). The names of trees in Orchard and plants in Medicinal Herb Garden (p. 88) were written by the supervising scribe.
* Because the camera supported by photographic processes can reveal matter unseen by
the unaided eye, an examination was made of the facsimile negative of the Plan which
we were permitted to use in the preparation of this study (see note preceding the List
of Illustrations, page xi).
We confirm, in part, Keller's observation: the letter "m" is clearly visible in the
negative; the second letter, somewhat less clear, is still evident as an "a".
Y.5
THE TREES TO THE WEST OF THE CROSS
* see note, foot of opposite page
Z
THE MEDICAL HERB GARDEN
Z.1
IN THE PERIPHERAL ROW OF PLANTING BEDS, READING CLOCKWISE, STARTING AT THE ENTRANCE
Z.1.1
Z.1.4
ENTRANCE
Z.1.2
Z.1.3
IN THE CENTER PATH (READING VERTICALLY)
Z.2 PLANTING BEDS, SOUTH ROW
For facsimile color plan and authors' interpretation with caption concerning
the place of the garden in the scheme of medical facilities see II, 182.
CATALOGUE OF EXPLANATORY TITLES
END
17.d.2: An alternative arrangement in the writing of this
inscription, to the clockwise arrangement shown in 17.c.2, is
amusing and probably issues from the scribes' desire to escape
from what was at times a boring task, no doubt. Even a
change in letter sequence was an imaginative variant to the
day's toil. See I, 155.
STABULUM EQUORUM, written in the stable, is by the main scribe. INFRA in the same
line, and SUPRA TABULATUM beneath it were added by the supervising scribe. In the ox
stables (33.5) all corresponding lines are written by the main scribe. The location of
STABULUM EQUORUM very low in its space suggests that the scribe was not yet aware that
it would be followed by another line—a situation similar to that observed in the Abbot's
House (13). This oversight must have been discovered by the supervising scribe before the
corresponding titles in the ox stables were written, for these appear with ample room for the
lower inscription.
33.5: The rectangular configuration in the central area is unique among graphic treatments
drawn in similar spaces throughout the plan. An outer rectangle measuring more
than 12 feet by 16 feet frames a smaller rectangle of peculiar design. If the outer rectangle
represents the boundary of a hearth, the inner rectangle with one pair of parallel projecting
sides cannot be interpreted as a piece of cooking or kitchen gear since it would be inaccessible,
being over a hot fire below. If the line of the outer rectangle is interpreted to
define the edge of a paved area of kitchen space the inner rectangle can be construed to be
a hearth or fire area with some kind of cooking or utensil rig suspended above it, possibly
of controllable height. Certainly a typical hearth is not shown, nor is it a stove of some
sophistication such as are found in the kitchens for monks or nobles. The delineation
piques the imagination. (See text, I, 74-75).
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