Architecture of Monasteries

by

Sheila Bonde, Clark Maines

• LAST REVIEWED: 22 February 2023
• LAST MODIFIED: 26 February 2020
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780190922467-0024

Introduction

The idea of withdrawal from secular society was central to the notions of monasticism and monastic architecture. The word derives from μόνος (mónos, Greek for ‘alone’). Christian monasticism made its first traceable appearances at the end of the 3rd century in Egypt and Palestine, though we know little of its architecture at this early stage. The eremitic ideal of the solitary saint retained its appeal, but was soon complemented by cenobitic monasticism where likeminded male or female ascetics joined together in communities that built architecture that was used in common. Monasticism as a religious form of life is found in Buddhism, Islam, and other traditions, though this essay will emphasize the medieval West, where monasteries were popular beginning in the 5th century. The various orders or congregations formulated differing architectural responses to their needs. The 9th-century Plan of Saint Gall, for example, represents an ideal meant to inspire emulation. Some monasteries were designed only for their resident populations of monks or nuns, while others might accommodate lay brothers or sisters, serfs, parish communities, visiting pilgrims, or dignitaries. A number of cathedrals across Europe were in fact monastic, following most often the Augustinian rule. The cenobitic monastery typically provided spaces for worship (church), sleeping (dormitory), dining (refectory), and meeting (chapter house) for the resident community, as well as buildings for reception and accommodation of visitors and other more functional structures (stables, storage barns, forges, mills, etc.). Monastic communities varied in size and might be very small or quite large. Some were found near or within urban locations, while others commanded large agricultural lands, including dependent parishes and granges. A survey of monastic architecture must therefore include industrial and hydraulic structures such as mills and dams, storage structures such as barns, dependent priory and farm buildings, and buildings for the care of the sick and infirm. Bibliography on monastic architecture is often divided regionally, and often focuses upon the church rather than the entire complex. Scholarship has privileged the architecture of certain orders—Cluniac Benedictines, Cistercians, and Franciscans, for example—over the more than five hundred monastic orders and congregations that once existed during the European Middle Ages. Archival research, architectural analysis, and archaeology are all contributing to a broader picture of the range and diversity of monastic architecture for male, female, and double houses. Traditional approaches to medieval architecture and its decoration have been primarily formalist, anchoring stylistic observations upon church records read as building documents in order to establish chronologies. While this approach remains important, new approaches such as stone-for-stone recording, C-14 dating of lime mortar and plaster, and dendrochronology, as well as the scientific study of painted layers and 3D modeling, are reshaping the history of medieval buildings. Together with archaeological analysis, early-21st-century work is examining the longer and more complicated cultural biographies of buildings and sites. This more integrated approach has recognized that architecture is not merely a reflection of monastic reform, but rather plays a strategic role in shaping it.

General Overviews

Most books surveying monastic architecture are limited in scope, either in period coverage, geography, or in the number of orders considered. Braunfels 1972, Brooke 1982, and Krüger 2008 are notable exceptions. Coverage is not the same in all three volumes, however, with Krüger 2008 being the broadest by virtue of reflecting advances in scholarship over the last fifty years.

• Braunfels, Wolfgang. Monasteries of Western Europe: The Architecture of the Orders. Translated by Alastair Lang. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972.

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  A general survey with many illustrations and a selected appendix of primary sources. Braunfels treats the beginning of monasticism, the plan of Saint Gall, Cluny, Cistercian monasteries, mendicant orders, English cathedral monasteries, and Baroque and later monastic buildings.

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• Brooke, Christopher. Monasteries of the World: The Rise and Development of the Monastic Tradition. New York: Crescent Books, 1982.

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  A richly illustrated survey that treats the establishment of monasticism and the arts and architecture from the 3rd through the 11th century, with attention to Cluny; the hermit traditions of Camodoli, Vallombrosa and the Carthusians; the new orders of the Augustinians Cistercians, Praemonstratensians, Franciscans and Dominicans; and an epilogue tracing monasticism from 130–1500. Reprinted with a new introduction, corrections, updated bibliography and fewer illustrations as The Age of the Cloister: The Story of Monastic Life in the Middle Ages (Mahwah, NJ: Hidden Spring, 2003).

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• Krüger, Kristina. Monasteries and Monastic Orders: 2000 Years of Christian Art and Culture. Edited by Rolf Toman, translated by Katherine Taylor and First Edition Translations, Ltd. Königswinter, Germany: H. F. Ullmann, 2008.

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  Lavishly illustrated, the volume considers the origins of monasticism in the Near East, and follows the spread and development of monasticism through the Counter-Reformation into the 20th century in the West with a chapter (chapter 9, pp. 326–353) on Byzantine monasticism by Rainer Warland.

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General and Regional Studies of Western Monastic Architecture

There are relatively few general surveys of the entirety of western monastic architecture, but Badstübner 1980 surveys Benedictine monastic buildings across Europe. Binding and Untermann 2001 surveys monasteries in Germany, while Coppack 2009, Greene 1992, and Knowles and Hadcock 1971 provide overviews of important themes in Britain. Gilchrist 1995 and Coomans 2018 provide critical reexaminations for the shape of monastic life and the evidence for its architecture.

• Badstübner, Ernst. Kirchen der Mönche: Die Baukunst der Reformorden im Mittelalter. Berlin: Union Verlag, 1980.

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  A survey of Benedictine monastic architecture in Europe from the Carolingian period to the Rococco. Preceded by a short essay on the formation of the western monastery, the book then commences with two chronologically structured chapters discussing developments. The largest part of the volume is devoted to short, well-illustrated monographs on a selection of monasteries from each period.

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• Binding, Günther, and Matthias Untermann. Kleine Kunstgeschichte der Mittelalterlichen Ordenbaukunst in Deutschland. 3d rev. ed. Stuttgart: Theiss, 2001.

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  A useful reference handbook on the architecture of monastic orders in Germany. Copiously illustrated with plans and some elevations, sections, and drawings.

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• Coomans, Thomas. Life Inside the Cloister, Understanding Monastic Architecture: Tradition, Reformation, Adaptive Reuse. Kadoc Studies on Religion, Culture & Society 21. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 2018.

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  An important contribution by a major scholar that looks at the shape of monastic life considering the organization of sacred space and time, the ways in which the sacred is embodied, and the differences in physical forms among the various orders. It concludes with a section of the afterlife of monasteries discussing adaptive reuse and heritage issues.

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• Coppack, Glyn. Abbeys and Priories. Stroud, UK: Amberley, 2009.

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  An archaeological and architectural survey of Anglo-Saxon and medieval monasteries in England, arranged thematically and functionally. This volume enlarges the author’s first edition of 1990 titled English Heritage Book of Abbeys and Priories (London: Batsford).

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• Gilchrist, Roberta. Contemplation and Action: The Other Monasticism. Archaeology of Medieval Britain. London: Leicester University Press, 1995.

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  Challenges the dominant models for the study of monastic architecture by examining four types of monastic experience typically held to be marginal: medieval hospitals, houses of the military orders, nunneries, and hermitages in England.

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• Greene, J. Patrick. Medieval Monasteries. Archaeology of Medieval Britain. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press, 1992.

  DOI: 10.5040/9781472599452Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  An excellent survey of monasteries in Britain emphasizing themes such as establishment, growth, and rebuilding; water management; food, diet, hospitality and health; relationship to towns; and dissolution and heritage, presented in the context of monastic archaeology.

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• Knowles, David, and R. Neville Hadcock, eds. Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales. London: Longman, 1971.

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  A guidebook providing lists of houses in England and Wales of all orders, including dates of foundation and suppression and information on their size and location.

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General Works on Monastic History and Surveys of the Orders

Monastic architecture cannot be usefully studied without an understanding of the diverse forms of monasticism which it embodied. Lawrence 2001 and Pacaut 1993 are excellent thematic and synthetic summaries of medieval monasticism. Le Bras 1979–1980 and Duchet-Suchaux and Duchet-Suchaux 1993 are useful catalogues of religious orders, often including brief discussion of their art and architecture.

• Andrews, Frances. The Other Friars: Carmelite, Augustinian, Sack and Pied Friars in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2006.

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  Examines four medieval mendicant orders which have received less scholarly attention than the better-known Franciscans and Dominicans—the Carmelites and Augustinians (or Austin Friars), whose orders survived the Second Council of Lyons in 1274; and the Friars of the Sack and Pied Friars, who were forced to disband. This book traces the history of these orders to the Council of Trent.

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• Duchet-Suchaux, Gaston, and Monique Duchet-Suchaux. Les ordres religieux. Paris: Flammarion, 1993.

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  A handbook with brief entries on orders and congregations and important monastic people and monasteries as well as administrative, organizational, and juridic terms, many of which are illustrated.

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• Johnston, William M., ed. Encyclopedia of Monasticism. 2 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000.

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  A well-illustrated, largely historical work with entries written by specialists, some of which are articles on architecture.

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• Lawrence, C. H. Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. 3d ed. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Ltd, 2001.

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  This third enlarged edition expands upon the contents of earlier editions and remains the best single survey of western monasticism from the desert hermits to the friars and mendicant orders. Female and military orders are included, as is a summary discussion of the relations between the cloister and the secular world.

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• Le Bras, Gabriel, ed. Les ordres religieux: La vie et l’art. 2 vols. Paris: Flammarion, 1979–1980.

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  A well-illustrated two-volume encyclopedia of monastic orders in the medieval and modern periods.

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• Melville, Gert. The World of Medieval Monasticism: Its History and Forms of Life. Translated by James Mixon. Cistercian Studies Series 263. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications and Liturgical Press, 2016.

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  Melville surveys ten centuries of Christian monastic life, starting with the desert hermits of Egypt and Frankish monasteries and ending with the religious ruptures of the 11th and 12th centuries and the reform movements of the later Middle Ages. Melville situates monastic life within the context of European history and institutions. Includes a foreword by Giles Constable.

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• Pacaut, Marcel. Les ordres monastiques et religieux au Moyen Âge. Paris: Nathan, 1993.

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  Originally published in 1970 (Paris: Fernand Martin), this is a revised and enlarged edition. Pacaut traces the history of monastic orders and congregations, beginning in the East and following the establishment of religious life in the West. He examines, Cluny, the ‘new orders,’ and finally the mendicant orders. Throughout, Pacaut is conscious of creating an independent chronology that relates to religious life without trying to fit it into the institutional history of medieval Europe.

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Bibliographic Surveys

Online bibliographies now provide the most up-to-date coverage of topics in monastic history and architecture, although previously published surveys remain useful.

Journals

Studies on monastic architecture can be found in a wide range of scholarly journals. Gesta and the Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies cover monastic architecture broadly, while other journals (Analecta Cartusiana, Analecta Cisterciensia, Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses, and the Revue Bénédictine) are devoted to single orders.

• Analecta Cartusiana. 1970–.

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  Published by the Institut fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik at the Universität Salzburg, the Analecta Cartusiana has issued a Series of regional publications that now provide descriptions and photographic coverage of many existing charterhouses. Between the years 1989 and 1993, a journal also named Analecta Cartusiana was published by the Centre de recherches cartusiennes in Pont-Saint-Esprit (Gard), France. This journal merged with the Salzburg Analecta in 1994. A full list of contents is available online.

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• Analecta Cisterciensia. 1965–.

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  Titled Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis from 1945 until 1964, this journal includes studies on Cistercian architecture.

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• Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses. 1950–.

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  Titled Citeaux in de Nederlanden from 1949–1959, this journal devoted to Cisterican studies often includes studies on Cistercian archaeology, art, and architecture.

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• Gesta. 1963–.

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  Sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA), New York, this biannual journal contains refereed articles on medieval art and architecture, an important number of which deal with monastic production. While most articles are in English, the journal occasionally publishes in French and German.

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• Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies. 2013–.

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  A multidisciplinary journal that publishes articles on monasticism throughout medieval Europe, with contributions on history, archaeology, architectural history, art history, literature and other fields. JMMS is peer reviewed and publishes in English with abstracts in the original language.

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• Revue Bénédictine.1884–.

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  Published by the Abbaye de Maredsous, this journal is dedicated to Benedictine studies on history and spirituality, and occasionally on art and architecture. Articles are published in French, English, and German.

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Series

Several book series (the Dizionario degli Instituti di Perfezione, Medieval Church Studies, Medieval Monastic Studies, Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture, and the Zodiaque series La nuit des temps) include works on monastic architecture.

• Dizionario degli Instituti di Perfezione. 10 vols. Rome: Edizioni Paoline, 1974–2003.

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  A very complete and richly illustrated resource on monastic history, architecture, and iconography.

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• La nuit des temps.76 vols. Paris: Zodiaque, 1951–.

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  The series divides into two groups: France (forty volumes) and the rest of Western Europe (thirty-five), plus a single volume on the Holy Land. Volumes on Romanesque monasteries are organized regionally and contain short essays on the sites included, as well as usually excellent black-and-white photographs of monastic buildings and schematic plans. Text is in French with English and German summaries.

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• Medieval Church Studies. 40 vols. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2001–.

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  A book series comprising monographs and anthologies related to the history of the medieval church, several volumes of which are architectural studies.

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• Medieval Monastic Studies. 2 vols. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2015–.

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  A new series (two volumes to 2019) of monographs and anthologies devoted to various aspects of monasticism, including architecture. Edited by Karen Stöber and Janet Burton.

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• Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture. 6 vols. Edited by Meredith Parsons Lillich. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1982–2005.

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  A set of six anthologies with contributions by specialists on Cistercian art and architecture.

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Studies of Medieval Architecture Relevant to Monasticism

Several books are devoted to special architectural features found commonly in monastic churches. Huitson 2014 treats the “upper spaces” of churches; Sapin 2002 examines western elements of narthex, atria and towers; Sapin 2014 treats French medieval crypts.

• Huitson, Toby. Stairway to Heaven: The Functions of Medieval Upper Spaces. Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 2014.

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  Huitson looks at medieval upper spaces, which were important but have been little studied, from a number of thematic perspectives, including the nature of upper spaces, access to them, and their role in liturgical performance. Importantly, there is a chapter devoted to rethinking how scholars approach and understand upper spaces. The volume ends with a summary, arranged alphabetically, of upper-story functions.

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• Sapin, Christian, ed. Avant-nefs & espaces d’acceuil dans l’église entre le IVe et le XIIe siècle. Paris: Éditions du CTHS, 2002.

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  A major study of western spaces (atria, porches, towers etc.)—their forms, development, functions and iconography—covering buildings from the Early Christian through the Romanesque in France, Germany, England, Spain, and Italy, though the majority of studies concern monuments in France. Articles are contributed by major scholars from Europe and America, though none of the studies are in English. There are many black-and-white and color illustrations. Further work on western spaces will proceed from this volume.

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• Sapin, Christian. Les cryptes en France. Paris: Picard, 2014.

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  A comprehensive analysis of the development and function of crypts in France, with redating of important examples.

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Architectural Decoration

Many of the sources on monastic architecture also include attention to sculpture, stained glass, and wall painting. Few are specifically devoted to decoration. Kinder and Cassanelli 2014 is a notable exception, examining the arts of the Cistercians. Surveys of architectural sculpture, such as Rupprecht 1975 for Romanesque and Sauerländer 1972 for Gothic, include many monastic examples within their treatments of the larger development of style. Grodecki, et al. 1983, Grodecki and Brisac 1984, and Lillich 1994 provide useful surveys of the development of stained glass. Bolman 2002 presents a detailed study of the recently (as of this date) cleaned fresco cycle at a Coptic monastery, while Sapin 1994 explores early medieval wall painting in the diocese of Auxerre, and Kupfer 1993 analyzes the roles of medieval wall painting cycles in the diocese of Bourges.

• Bolman, Elizabeth. Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.

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  The Coptic monastery of Saint Antony on the Red Sea preserves a remarkably complete cycle of 13th-century wall paintings. Obscured by soot and overpainting, an early-21st-century conservation program has revealed them. Bolman explores the hybrid nature of the decoration that combines Coptic, Byzantine, and Islamic forms.

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• Grodecki, Louis, Catherine Brisac, and Claudine Lautier. Le vitrail roman. Fribourg, Switzerland: Office du Livre, 1983.

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  The pioneering identification and publication of Romanesque stained glass.

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• Grodecki, Louis, and Catherine Brisac. Le vitrail gothique au XIIIe siècle. Fribourg, Switzerland: Office du Livre, 1984.

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  The continuation of Grodecki’s 1974 study of Romanesque stained glass traces the development of the medium through the 14th century.

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• Kinder, Terryl N., and Roberto Cassanelli, eds. The Cistercian Arts: From the Twelfth to the Twenty-First Century. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014.

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  An edited volume with articles by noted experts including treatment of architecture, liturgical objects, stained glass, sculpture, manuscript painting, seals, metallurgy, and wall painting.

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• Kupfer, Marcia. Romanesque Wall Painting in Central France: The Politics of Narrative. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993.

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  Kupfer traces the important mediating role of fresco cycles in the diocese of Bourges.

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• Lillich, Meredith. The Armor of Light: Stained Glass in Western France 1250–1325. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994.

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  In addition to exploring stained glass workshops from western France in cathedral contexts, Lillich includes a detailed examination of Saint Père, Chartres Sainte Radegonde in Poitiers, and Gassicourt priory.

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• Rupprecht, Bernard. Romanische Skulptur in Frankreich. Munich: Hirmer, 1975.

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  An authoritative survey of Romanesque sculpture in France.

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• Sapin, Christian, ed. Édifices & Peintures aux IVe—XIe siècles: Actes du Colloque C.N.R.S. Archéologie et Enduits Peints, 7-8 Novembre 1992, Auxerre, Abbaye Saint-Germain. Auxerre, France: Musée d’Auxerre, 1994.

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  An important analysis of early medieval wall painting in the diocese of Auxerre.

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• Sauerländer, Willibald. Gothic Sculpture in France, 1140–1270. London: Thames and Hudson, 1972.

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  A comprehensive and well-illustrated survey of the development of Gothic sculpture in France, including several monastic examples.

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Architecture of Early Monasticism (to the 11th Century)

McClendon 2005 and Untermann 2006 provide valuable surveys of the architecture of the early medieval period, with monasteries playing a major role. Grodecki 1958 treats architecture of the Ottonians, while Hodges 1995, Louis 1997–1998, and Horn and Born 1979 provide analyses of important case studies.

• Grodecki, Louis. L’architecture ottonienne: Au seuil de l’art roman. Collection Henri Focillon. Paris: Armand Colin, 1958.

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  A classic early study of Ottonian architecture that treats the evolution of architectural forms, using largely monastic buildings, that represent architecture built during the 10th and 11th centuries.

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• Hodges, Richard, ed. San Vincenzo al Volturno 1: The 1980–1986 Excavations, Part 1. Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 7. London: British School at Rome, 1993.

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  A detailed archaeological analysis of one of the best preserved early medieval monasteries.

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• Hodges, Richard, ed. San Vincenzo al Volturno 2: The 1980–1986 Excavations, Part 2. Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 9. London: British School at Rome, 1995.

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  The second volume of excavation reports on this well-preserved early medieval monastery.

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• Horn, Walter, and Ernest Born. The Plan of St Gall: A Study of the Architecture and Economy of, and Life in, a Paradigmatic Carolingian Monastery. 3 vols. Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1979.

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  Detailed study of an early 9th-century monastic plan, including reconstructions of the full range of monastic buildings represented, as well as translation and discussion of the inscriptions appearing on the plan.

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• Louis, Étienne. “Aux débuts du monachisme en Gaule du Nord: Les fouilles de l’abbaye mérovingienne et carolingienne de Hamage (Nord).” In Clovis, histoire et mémoire. 2 vols. Edited by Michel Rouche, 842–868. Paris: Presse universitaire de la Sorbonne, 1997–1998.

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  A study devoted to the important Merovingian and Carolingian abbey of Hamage, exploring the results of excavations there, and the implications for understanding the phases of the monastery.

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• Louis, Étienne. “Hamage (Nord): espaces et bâtiments claustraux d’un monastère mérovingien et carolingien.” In Pratique et sacré dans les espaces monastiques au Moyen Âge et à l’époque modern: Actes du Colloque de Liessies-Maubeuge 26, 27 et 28 Septembre 1997. Edited by Philippe Racinet, 73–97. Histoire médiévale et archéologie 9. Amiens, France: CAHMER, 1998.

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  A second study on the excavation and phased evolution of Hamage focusing on the claustral buildings, where much of the architecture was wooden and is known only from postholes.

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• McClendon, Charles B. The Origins of Medieval Architecture: Building in Europe, 600–900 A.D. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005.

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  Thematic survey of late antique and early medieval architecture including a chapter devoted to monastic buildings.

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• Untermann, Matthias. Architektur im frühen Mittelalter. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2006.

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  Chronological survey of architecture from the 5th through the 10th century across Europe with attention to contemporaneous archaeological information and building phases. Includes discussion of monastic reform architecture of both male and female houses within the period.

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Architecture of Early Christian and Byzantine Monasteries

There is no single overall survey of early Christian and Byzantine monastic architecture, although the Pelican surveys (Krautheimer 1986 and Mango 1976) are useful and include monasteries in their purview. Bolman 2016, Gough 1985, Hirschfeld 1992, Kostof 1972, Mamaloukos 1996, and Speake 2002 provide in-depth studies of important sites. McNally 2001, an edited volume, explores thematic issues common to the monasteries in the east and west.

• Bolman, Elizabeth S., ed. The Red Monastery Church: Beauty and Asceticism in Upper Egypt. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016.

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  A collective volume growing out of the restoration of the Red Monastery, specialist chapters discuss context, architecture, liturgy, sculpture, and above all painting. Additional chapters treat the White Monastery, monastic prosopography in Egypt, and the early modern and contemporary history of the house and its conservation.

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• Gough, Mary, ed. Alahan, an Early Christian Monastery in Southern Turkey: Based on the Work of Michail Gough. Studies and Texts 73. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1985.

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  A volume of chapters reporting on the excavation and study of Alahan, which includes an essay by Michael Gough on the geographical setting of the monastery and one by Gerard Bakker on its buildings. Other chapters concern the archaeological finds and religious life.

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• Hirschfeld, Yizhar. The Judean Desert Monasteries in the Byzantine Period. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.

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  Hirschfeld provides a survey of the types of Byzantine monasteries in the Judean desert and discusses how they were built, including detailed discussion of the architectural components from the church to gardens and water systems. He also discusses monastic daily life and sources for livelihood. This is an excellent survey, with good black-and-white illustrations and line drawings, of important early sites that are increasingly hard to visit and at some risk for survival.

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• Kostof, Spiro. Caves of God: The Monastic Environment of Byzantine Cappadocia. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1972.

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  The author presents the geographic setting of the cave monasteries in historical context, and then discusses the different types of cave monasteries and their decorations across time.

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• Krautheimer, Richard. Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture. Revised with Slobodan Ćurčič. 4th ed. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1986.

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  The standard survey of early Christian and Byzantine architecture. Chapters are arranged chronologically to the end of the Byzantine period. Well illustrated with plans, photographs, and axonometric drawings; monastic churches are treated alongside secular ones. Extensive notes make this a useful reference tool.

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• Mamaloukos, Stavros. “The Buildings of Vatopedi and Their Patrons.” In Mount Athos and Byzantine Studies: Papers from the Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, 1994. Edited by Anthony Bryer and Mary Cunningham, 113–125. Birmingham UK: Variorum, 1996.

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  A study of the architecture of Vatopedi, an important Byzantine monastery.

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• Mango, Cyril. Byzantine Architecture. New York: Abrams, 1976.

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  A chronologically arranged survey of Byzantine architecture that begins with a discussion of the pragmatics: materials, construction methods, designers, builders, and patrons. While the book is not specifically about monastic architecture, Mango treats monasteries in the early, middle, and late Byzantine periods, focusing primarily on churches. Illustrations are entirely in black and white, and most buildings have ground plans and sections.

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• McNally, Sheila. Shaping Community: The Art and Archaeology of Monasticism: Papers from a Symposium Held at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum, University of Minnesota, 10–12 March 2000. BAR International Series 941. Oxford: Tempus Reparatum, 2001.

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  This volume, the result of a conference held at the University of Minnesota in 2000, contains seventeen studies, seven devoted to Early Christian monasticism, predominantly in Africa, as well as four studies on Byzantine monasticism. Some are thematic in focus like Aravecchia’s early use of access analysis to study the use of space at the Kellia, others like Godlewski’s are more descriptive, presenting information of little known monastic sites. The remaining six studies concern medieval monasticism in the west.

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• Rodley, Lyn. Cave Monasteries of Byzantine Cappadocia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

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  Rodley provides a well-illustrated survey of the rock-cut monasteries, hermitages, and other complexes in Cappadocia (central Anatolia, in Turkey). The buildings were cut into volcanic rock when Cappadocia was part of the Byzantine Empire. The monasteries were carefully finished to resemble built architecture, and many are decorated with wall paintings. Rodley reassesses the chronology and patronage for these monasteries, and locates them within the larger context of Byzantine architecture.

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• Speake, Graham. Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.

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  Arranged chronologically, Speake has written an excellent history of Mount Athos and its twenty Orthodox monasteries. While it contains information on and excellent color photographs of many of the Byzantine monasteries on the mountain, the book is not an architectural history.

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Architecture of Serbian Monasteries

Ćurčić 2010 and Petković and Peić 2013 provide the best surveys of architecture in the Balkans, including monasteries. Individual monuments are presented in the works of Todić and Medić 2013 (the Dečani monastery), Pirivatrić 2015 (Studenica), and Ćurčić 1979 (Gračanica).

• Ćurčić, Slobodan. Gračanica: King Milutin’s Church and its Place in Late Byzantine Architecture. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1979.

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  The authoritative study of the royal monastic complex at Gračanica, locating it within Byzantine architectural tradition.

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• Ćurčić, Slobodan. Architecture in the Balkans from Diocletian to Süleyman the Magnificent. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010.

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  Ćurčić traces the development of architecture in the Balkans from late antiquity to the height of the Ottoman Empire. The book covers ecclesiastical (and monastic) architecture as well as secular and urban development, and evaluates the impact of Byzantine architecture in the region.

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• Petković, Vesna, and Sava Peić. The Serbian Medieval Cultural Heritage. Belgrade, Serbia: Dereta, 2013.

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  A general but useful survey of medieval Serbian art and architecture, including attention to monasteries.

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• Pirivatrić, Srđan. “The Chronology and the Historical Context of the Construction of the Studenica Monastery: Contribution to the Study.” Zograf 39 (2015): 47–56.

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  An analysis of the construction history of Studenica monastery. Available online by subscription or purchase.

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• Todić, Branislav, and Milka Čanak Medić. The Dečani Monastery. Translated from the Serbian by Randall Major, Snežana Ivanišević de Berthet, and Milica Ševkušić. Belgrade, Serbia: Muzej u Prištini, 2013.

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  An overview of one of the most important Serbian monasteries, Dećani, which dates to the mid-14th century.

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Architecture of Female Monasticism

The architectural study of female houses, irrespective of the order, is largely a phenomenon of the last forty years of research. Publications now permit a fuller picture of female monasticism, both for research and teaching. Parisse 1983 provides a summary female monasticism. Bruzelius and Berman 1992, a special issue of Gesta, examines a range of female monastic architecture. Burton and Stöber 2015 takes a comparative approach to female monasticism across Europe. Gilchrist 1994 explores the material differences between male and female monasticism. Other sources focus on individual orders: Barrière and Henneau, 2001 and Mohn 2006 on Cistercian nuns, and Jäggi 2006 on female mendicants.

• Barrière, Bernadette, and Marie-Élizabeth Henneau, eds. Cîteaux et les femmes. Rencontres à Royaumont. Paris: Créaphis, 2001.

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  The volume is divided into three parts, the first of which is devoted to architecture and spatial analysis covering sites in France, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain, and Portugal.

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• Bruzelius, Caroline A., and Constance H. Berman, eds. Special Issue: Monastic Architecture for Women. Gesta 31.2 (1992).

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  This important special issue of the journal Gesta is devoted to female monastic architecture. Articles include Barrière on Cisterican Coyroux, Bruzelius on Clarissan architecture in Italy, Rigaux on Franciscan tertiaries, Simmons on Fontevraud, and Hamburger on enclosure. Available online by subscription or purchase.

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• Burton, Janet, and Karen Stöber, eds. Women in the Medieval Monastic World. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2015.

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  The articles in this book take a comparative approach to the emergence and spread of female monastic communities across various geographical, political, and economic settings, comparing rich and powerful royal abbeys with small subsistence priories on the margins of society. Several of the articles treat architecture and monastic space.

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• Gilchrist, Roberta. Gender and Material Culture: The Archaeology of Religious Women. London & New York: Routledge, 1994.

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  A pioneering analysis of the archaeology of gender, exploring the material differences between the religious life of men and women. Gilchrist explores site selection, strategies of economic management, the form and development of buildings, and the symbolic representations of church decoration.

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• Jäggi, Carola. Frauenklöster im Spätmittelalter: Die Kirchen der Klarissen une Dominikanerinnen im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert. Studien zur internationalen Architektur- und Kunstgeschichte 34. Petersburg, Germany: Michael Imhof, 2006.

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  Jäggi traces the rise of female mendicant orders, noting that their architecture has been largely ignored because it has been assumed that it was simple and imitated male forms. Jäggi demonstrates, in fact, that the nuns’ experience in their segregated choirs had a profound impact on their churches, which saw great regional variety.

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• Mohn, Claudia. Mittelalterliche Klosteranlagen der Zisterzienerinnen: Architektur des Frauenklöster im Mitteldeutschen Raum. Berliner Beiträge zur Bauforschungen une Denkmalpflege 4. Petersburg, Germany: Michael Imhof, 2006.

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  Mohn traces the rise of female Cistercian communities in Germany, analyzing their patronage conditions, and tracing their sometimes tenuous relationship with the Cistercian order.

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• Parisse, Michel. Les nonnes au moyen age. Le Puy, France: Christine Bonneton, 1983.

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  A pioneering survey of female participation in religious life from the 11th through the 13th centuries in northeastern France. Parisse divides his survey into three parts, dedicated to the foundation of a female religious house, the daily life of a female community, and the roles of religious women in medieval society.

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Anglo-Saxon and Irish Monastic Architecture

Fernie 1983 and Taylor 1965–1978 provide the most accessible surveys of Anglo-Saxon monastic architecture, including non-church buildings. Henry 1965 provides the same for Irish monastic houses. Bitel 1990 situates Irish monasticism in the context of change. Cramp 2005 furnishes a summary study of an early Anglo-Saxon double monastery.

• Bitel, Lisa. Isle of the Saint: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.

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  This volume recreates the physically harsh, but richly spiritual world of Irish monks. Bitel uses saints’ lives written between 800 and 1200 to explore changing social networks that linked monasteries to each other and to their secular communities. Unlike many earlier studies that see the Irish monastic world as unchanging, the author emphasizes variation and change.

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• Cramp, Rosemary. Wearmouth and Jarrow Monastic Sites. Vol. 1. Swindon, UK: English Heritage, 2005.

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  These two volumes describe in detail the results of extensive excavations of the twin monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow in northern England. Founded in the late 7th century, the monastery achieved international fame through the writings of Bede. Vol. 2. Swindon, UK: English Heritage, 2006.

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• Fernie, Eric. The Architecture of the Anglo-Saxons. London: Batsford, 1983.

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  An excellent, now somewhat dated, survey of architecture in England before the Norman Conquest with good illustrations and schematic plans.

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• Henry, Françoise. Irish Art in the Early Christian Period, to 800 A.D. Rev. ed. London: Methuen, 1965.

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  A pioneering and still useful survey of the art and architecture of Irish monasteries.

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• Taylor, Harold. Anglo-Saxon Architecture. 3 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1965–1978.

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  Still a good reference work on the buildings, many of which are monastic. Volume 1 contains a short essay on the characteristics of Anglo-Saxon architecture, followed by an alphabetically arranged, 400-building gazetteer that extends through Volumes 2 and 3. Volumes 1 and 2 are written with Joan Sills Taylor; Volume 3 with Dorothy Taylor.

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Surveys of the Architecture of Individual Monastic Orders

Scholarship is not evenly distributed across the numerous monastic orders and congregations; nor does it evenly cover the various regions or individual sites. Studies of Cistercian architecture by far outweigh those of any other order, a condition that stems from relatively good preservation on rural sites of many Cistercian houses and from the wealth of medieval texts written by Cistercians themselves. In contrast, Augustinian, Franciscan, and Dominican houses were typically sited in or at the edges of towns where they have often been swallowed by urban expansion and are less well preserved if at all. Monasteries following the Benedictine rule (excluding Cistercians) were the most numerous of all, and were often grouped in smaller regional congregations. While scholarship has studied the Arrouaisian order historically, nothing is known about the mother house and little has been written about its few surviving monasteries. Regular canons were groups of religious who followed the Augustinian Rule, but with varied customs. These include not only Augustinians, but also Praemonstratensians, Victorines, and Gilbertines (this last in England only). Bibliographic sources are given on only a sampling of individual monastic orders in the citations that follow.

Architecture of the Claustral Ranges

Initially, and for many years, the study of monasteries focused on the church, largely to the exclusion of the other buildings of the monastic complex. The development of the field of medieval archaeology, beginning in the 1950s, gave rise to new interest in aspects of daily life and has wrought changes to our understanding of monastic architecture by its focus on the functional buildings of the claustral ranges and the outer court.

Architecture of Monastic Water Systems: Spring Houses, Fishponds, Aqueducts, Latrines, Fountains

Study of monastic water management has developed rapidly over the late 20th and early 21st centuries, exploring onsite uses of water and looking closely at offsite water systems like diversion dams, linked fish ponds, and mills. The study has been, especially in France, weighted heavily toward Cistercian houses, driven in large measure by good preservation in and around their rural sites. That said, the heavy focus on Cistercian water management risks misrepresenting the history of water management as, for example, neither of the two known pressure-powered systems in France belonged to Cistercian monasteries. Grewe 1991; Paulus, et al. 1999; and Magnusson 2001 provide overviews that focus on, or include, monastic water management. Pressouyre and Benoit 1996 and Squatriti 2000 provide collections of essays on individual sites or summaries of work in larger regions. Lillich 1982 wrote an early survey of the uses to which monks put water. Maines 2006 offers a reevaluation of the function and meaning of a well-known “water sign.”

• Berthier, Karine, and Joséphine Rouillard. “Nouvelles recherches sur l’hydraulique cistercienne in Bourgogne, Champagne et Franche-Comté.” Archéologie médiévale 28 (1998): 121–148.

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  An important comparative study of water management at Cistercian houses in the geographic area where Cistercian monasticism originated and first developed. The study looks at dams; fishponds; canals; water capture and delivery (spring houses, conduits); use and evacuation (drains, sewers); and mills.

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• Bonde, Sheila, and Clark Maines. “The Technology of Medieval Water Management at the Charterhouse of Bourgfontaine.” Technology and Culture 53.3 (2012): 625–670.

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  A detailed study of the material, hydraulic, and textual evidence for one of only two known siphon-powered monastic water systems in France. Available online by subscription or purchase.

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• Grewe, Klaus. Die Wasserversorgung im Mittelalter. Geschichte der Wasserversorgung 4. Mainz am Rhein, Germany: Philipp von Zabern, 1991.

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  An excellent survey on medieval water management, much of which is monastic, with important coverage of sites in Germany and excellent color illustrations.

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• Paulus, Helmut-Eberhard, Hermann Reidel, and Paul W. Winkler. Wasser, Lebensquelle und Bedeutungsträger: Wasserversorgung in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart: Beiträge des Regensburger Herbstsymposions zur Kunstgeschichte und Denkmalpflege vom 20–23. November 1997. Regensburger Herbstsymposion zur Kunstgeschichte une Denkmalpflege 4. Regensburg, Germany: Schnell und Steiner, 1999.

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  Twenty papers from the second international conference on medieval and early modern water management, half of which present early-21st-century research on monastic water use.

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• Pressouyre, Léon, and Paul Benoit. L’hydraulique monastique, milieux, réseaux, usages. Rencontres à Royaumont 8. Paris: Créaphis, 1996.

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  Papers from the first of three international conferences on monastic hydraulics, this collection of more thirty studies on monastic water systems from nine different European countries marked a turning point in the understanding of how monks and nuns located, transported, used, and removed water.

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• Lillich, Meredith Parsons. “Cleanliness with Godliness: A Discussion of Medieval Monastic Plumbing.” In Mélanges a la memoire du Pére Anselm Dimier. 3 vols. Vol. 3.5. Edited by Benoît Chauvin, 123–149. Arbois, France: Pupillin, 1982.

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  A fundamental early and still useful summary of monastic uses of water in the middle ages.

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• Magnusson, Roberta. Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire. Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

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  An historical survey of water use in the European Middle Ages covering resource acquisition, planning, construction as well as the financing and the administration of water systems, with an emphasis on written and pictorial evidence more than material. Includes considerable discussion of monastic water management.

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• Maines, Clark. “Word and Image—Meaning and Function: The Aque Ductus Relief from Santa Maria de Alcobaça.” Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses 57.1–2 (2006): 5–44.

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  A contextual and symbolic treatment of a “water sign” that had always been seen as a functional device to guide repairmen. Available online by subscription or purchase.

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• Squatriti, Paolo, ed. Working with Water in Medieval Europe: Technology and Resource-Use. Technology and Change in History 3. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2000.

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  An important contribution to the history of water management studies, the volume contains eight chapters written by specialists. Some of the studies, like Rinne’s on Irish water mills, Holt’s on water technologies in England, Grewe’s on German water technology, and Benoit’s and Rouillard’s on France, contain sections on monastic water technologies while others do not. The other studies do, however, provide a much larger context within which to understand the importance of monastic technologies to the history of water management.

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Architecture of Monastic Domains: Mills, Granges, Monastic Spaces

The spatial distribution of monastic possessions, many of which were architectural, has long been of interest to monastic historians and was typically rendered on a single map. About thirty years ago, historians and archaeologists began to map phases in the development of monastic domains, sometimes in arbitrary time periods (twenty-five years, for example) or sometimes on internal criteria (a sequence of papal confirmations, for example). This interest in mapping monastic domains has grown into a larger subfield that includes understanding monastic spaces and their architecture from a wide range of perspectives. Aston 2000 and Bond 2004 provide useful surveys of the monastic landscape in England and its attendant architectural features. Cassidy-Welch 2001 takes a more theoretical approach to the cultural production of monastic space. The edited volume Fixot and Zadora-Rio 1994 explores landscape and the relationships of secular to religious space in studies that traverse medieval Europe. The edited volume Lauwers 2014 investigates the circulation and experience of space within the monastic enclosure. Müller and Stöber 2009, also an edited volume, explores symbolism in the use of space in monastic and Mendicant Architecture and art. Platt 1969, while now somewhat dated, examines the medieval grange in England, while Dietrich and Gaultier 2001 explores the timber work of the grange at Maubuisson.

• Aston, Mick. Monasteries in the Landscape. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2000.

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  Arranging material by historical periods, Aston discusses monastic precincts, estates, and buildings such as granges and dovecotes, supplementing discussion with numerous maps. He discusses transfers of site, changes in the landscape, farming practices, site clearance and drainage, and mining as well as the end of monastic landscapes in the Dissolution.

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• Bond, James. Monastic Landscapes. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2004.

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  More fully focused on the landscape per se than Aston, Bond begins with a discussion of approaches to the subject and its sources. He considers farming practices, gardens, woodlands, deer parks, orchards, rabbit warrens, and fishponds, providing a nuanced picture of the relationship between a monastery and the lands it owned, occupied, and used.

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• Cassidy-Welch, Megan. Monastic Spaces and their Meanings: Thirteenth-Century English Cistercian Monasteries. Medieval Church Studies 1. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2001.

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  This volume considers English Cistercian houses of the 13th century. The author engages with theoretical approaches to space such as Foucault, Bourdieu, and Lefebvre to explore the cultural production of space and the meanings attributed to particular spaces of the monastery (church, cloister, lay brother’s building, etc.) and its landscape. The author demonstrates how Cistercians saw themselves in relation to architecture, landscape, community, and cosmos.

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• Dietrich, Arne, and Matthieu Gaultier. “La charpente de la grange abbatiale de Maubuisson (Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, Val d’Oise).” Archéologie Médiévale 30.31 (2001): 109–132.

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  This study of the remarkably well-preserved grange of the Cistercian convent grew out of its restoration by the Commission des Monuments Historiques. Dendrochronological analysis confirms an early 13th-century date for the barn and is accompanied by an assessment of its structural innovations and a detailed investigation of the large number of carpenter’s marks on the original beams.

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• Fixot, Michel, and Elizabeth Zadora-Rio, comps. and eds. L’environnement des églises et la topographie religieuse des campagnes médiévales: Actes du IIIe Congrès international d’archéologie médiévale, Aix-en-Provence, 28–30 septembre 1989. Documents d’archéologie française 46. Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 1994.

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  This collection contains fifteen studies arranged thematically in three groups—the influence of late antiquity on the religious topography of the medieval rural landscape and the question of continuity of occupation of religious and funerary sites; the role of churches as focal points for settlement organization; and the organization of ecclesiastical domains. While most articles concern France (eleven) and all are published in French, the areas covered include Spain (two), Switzerland (one), Ireland (one) and Italy (one).

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• Lauwers, Michel, comp. Monastères et espace social: Genèse et transformation d’un système de lieux dans l’Occident médiéval. Collection d’études médiévales de Nice 15. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2014.

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  This collection of nineteen studies is divided into three sections. In the first (five studies), scholars examine how monks represented monastic spaces, in writing and in images, mostly in manuscripts. In the second (eight studies), specialists examine the notion of circulation within the larger monastic enclosure. In the third (six studies), scholars consider spaces within and without the precinct in relation to their function and the environment.

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• Müller, Anne, and Karen Stöber, eds. Self-Representation of Medieval Religious Communities: The British Isles in Context: Papers from a Bi-National Interdisciplinary Workshop Held in April 2008 in Aberystwyth, Wales, Organized by “Research Centre for the Comparative History of Medieval Religious Orders” (FOVOG), Catholic University of Eichstätt. Vita Regularis 40. Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2009.

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  Four articles in this volume investigate symbolism in the use of space in monastic and Mendicant Architecture. Kerr writes about the symbolism of hospitality at monasteries, focusing on Carthusian houses. Müller argues that the cloister could be seen as a metaphorical purgatory among other meaningful representations. Mersch writes about the interactions between patrons and religious in the construction of mendicant architecture. Dänhardt sees architecture as part of an abbot’s responsibility and self-representation.

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• Platt, Colin. The Monastic Grange in Medieval England: A Reassessment. New York: Fordham University Press, 1969.

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  Discusses the buildings of the monastic farm, its estate and staffing, and its late medieval transformation, ending with remarks on the fate of the grange at the Dissolution. Now considered too positive in its treatment of the grange, it remains a starting point for research on monastic farms and farming.

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