History
-------

In the early church, there were a great many hermits.
Men who lived a solitary life, praying to God.

Some of these men began to group themselves together
into communities of like minded men.

In the early 6th century, St Benedict, from the
monastery of Monte Casino in Italy, wrote his
'Little Rule for Beginners'. This laid out the 
'rules' for living together in a 'monastic' life.

His rule was gradually accepted in many other
monasteries. Although these monasteries were
Benedictine, that is the followed the Rule of
St Benedict, they were also independent of one
another.

Larger monasteries, ruled by an abbot or abbess,
came to be known as abbeys.

Smaller ones came to be known as priories - their
prior would be responsible to the abbot of the
monastery that they had originally come from.

According to the Rule, the daily life of a monk
would be split into hours for prayer, hours
for study and hours for work.

In about the year 910, the monastery of Cluny
was established in Burgandy. The Cluniacs followed
the Rule, but developed more ceremonials and
became known for their rich buildings. A great many
Cluniac Priories were established in Europe (i.e.
monasteries run by a prior, answerable to the
mother house at Cluny).

The Norman Conquest of England, saw a rapid
increase in the number of monasteries and of
new orders.

e.g. The Cistercians.
 
Founded in 1098, with the building of a monastery at
Citeaux in Burgundy.

They believed in the simple life - their habits were
made of undyed wool (this is why they came to be
known as the WHITE MONKS) - they built
monasteries in remote places, far from towns -
only one room in the monastery was to have a fire -
monks were to sleep on bare boards and work daily
in the gardens - gifts of land were to be accepted
and farmed by the 'lay brothers or lay monks'. These
were monks who had a limited amount of education
and only attended church for a limited amount of
time. Their main task was to carry out manual jobs
in the monastery.

The Carthusians - founded in 1084 - they were
even stricter than the Cistercians.

The Augustinians - known as the Black Canons - they
were priests who could work outside the
cloister - they served in local parish churches,
ran schools and hospitals and almshouses and were
popular.

The Gilbertines - an English order, containing
mixed monasteries of men and women.

THE DAILY TIMETABLE in an Abbey might look
something like this :

1am : Vigils, Matins and Lauds in church.
      Return to bed using night stairs.

6am : Prime in church followed by High Mass.

7am : Reading in cloister, followed by a change
      from night shoes into day shoes in the dorter,
      followed by a wash in the cloister.

8am : Tierce in church followed by Mass.

9am : Meeting of monks in the Chapter House.

10am : Work.

Noon : Sext in church.

1pm : Dinner in refectory.

2pm : Nones in church.

3pm : Study or work.

5pm : Vespers in church and day shoes changed for
      night shoes in the dorter.

5.30pm : Light supper in the refectory.

6pm : Compline in church.

6.30pm : Bed in dorter.

IN THE ABBEY you might also find the following
people :

Abbot or Abbess.

Cellarer.

Kitchener.

Prior or Prioress.

Fraterer.

Infirmarer.

Almoner.

Precentor.

Novice master/mistress.

Guest master/mistress.

Sacristan.

Monk or Nun.

NOTE : this information comes from the following
source - A Teacher's Guide to Using Abbeys, 
by Cynthia Cooksey. English Heritage. 1992.
ISBN 1 85074 328 2.

If I had to suggest any book for the classroom
teacher, it would be this one.

It contains some excellent material and suggestions
for work both in the classroom and on a
monastic site.
