The Carthusian order, on its establishment by St Bruno, about A.D. 1084, developed a greatly modified form and arrangement of a monastic institution. The principle of this order, which combined the coenobitic with the solitary life, demanded the erection of buildings on a novel plan. This plan, which was first adopted by St Bruno and his twelve companions at the original institution at Chartreux, near Grenoble, was maintained in all the Carthusian establishments throughout Europe, even after the ascetic severity of the order had been to some extent relaxed, and the primitive simplicity of their buildings had been exchanged for the magnificence of decoration which characterizes such foundations as the Certosas of Pavia and Florence. According to the rule of St Bruno, all the members of a Carthusian brotherhood lived in the most absolute solitude and silence. Each occupied a small detached cottage, standing by itself in a small garden surrounded by high walls and connected by a common corridor or cloister. In these cottages or cells a Carthusian monk passed his time in the strictest asceticism, only leaving his solitary dwelling to attend the services of the Church, except on certain days when the brotherhood assembled in the refectory. The peculiarity of the arrangements of a Carthusian monastery, or charter-house, as it was called in England, from a corruption of the French chartreux, is exhibited in the plan of that of Clermont, from Viollet-le-Duc.
Clermont.
The whole establishment is surrounded by a wall, furnished at intervals with watch towers. The enclosure is divided into two courts, of which the eastern court, surrounded by a cloister, from from which the cottages of the monks open, is much the larger. The two courts are divided by the main buildings of the monastery, including the church, the sanctuary, divided from the monks’ choir, by a screen with two altars, the smaller cloister to the south surrounded by the chapter-house, the refectory---these buildings occupying their normal position--and the chapel of Pontgibaud. The kitchen with its offices lies behind the relectory, accessible ftom the outer court without entering the cloister. To the north of the church, beyond the sacristy, and the side chapels, we find the cell of the sub-prior, with its garden. The lodgings of the prior occupy the centre of the outer court, immediately in front of the west door of the church, and face the gateway of the convent. A small raised court with a fountain is before it. This outer court also contains the guest-chambers, the stables and lodgings of the lay brothers, the barns and granaries, the dovecot and the bakehouse. At Z is the prison. In this outer court, in all the earlier foundations, as at Witham, there was a smaller church in addition to the larger church of the monks.) The outer and inner courts are connected by a long passage, wide enough to admit a cart laden with wood to supply the cells of the brethren with fuel. The number of cells surrounding the great cloister is 18. They are all arranged on a uniform plan. Each little dwelling contains three rooms: a sitting-room, warmed by a stove in winter; a sleeping-room, furnished with a bed, a table, a bench, and a bookcase; and a closet. Between the cell and the cloister gallery is a passage or corridor, cutting off the inmate of the cell from all sound or movement which might interrupt his meditations. The superior had free access to this corridor, and through open niches was able to inspect the garden without being seen. At I is the hatch or turn-table, in which the daily allowance of food was deposited by a brother appointed for that purpose, affording no view either inwards or outwards. H is the garden, cultivated by the occupant of the cell. At K is the wood-house. F is a covered walk, with the necessary at the end.1
Continued on page two.
1Letters such as H, I and Z refer to a diagram that was not available with the original material provided.
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