LECTURE OUTLINE FOR HISTORY 203

                                                                           Prof. Martha Carlin

                                                                            Week 11: Tuesday
 

                                                               THE EARLY MEDIEVAL CHURCH
   

 Plan of abbey of St. Gall (Switzerland), 820:
    Original manuscript  or click here for both sides of the manuscript
    Redrawn plan, with captions in English 
    Models and reconstructions of St. Gall  (click on the four models, and scroll down to see six different reconstructions)
    (The abbey church of St. Gall today)

Typical monastic buildings (shown here in a sketch of St. Riquier, also called "Centula") include:
        Church (nave, side aisles, crossing, transept, choir, apse or chancel, altar)
        Cloister
        Chapter house
        Scriptorium and/or library
        Dormitory (dorter)
        Refectory
        Infirmary

Benedict of Aniane (c. 750-821), a Visigoth from S. France who had been educated at Pepin the Short's court and served as cup-bearer to Pepin and to Charlemagne, later became a monk and founded a monastery on his own estate at Aniane.  Louis the Pious put him in charge of reforming all the Carolingian monasteries with a re-edited and revised version of the Benedictine Rule (Capitulare monasticum), that emphasized liturgical and intellectual work over manual work for the monks.

910 foundation of abbey of Cluny in Burgundy by  Count William (Guillaume) the Pious

Some common ecclesiastical abuses in the early middle ages:
    Bishoprics and abbacies granted as patronage
    Clerical marriage or concubinage
    Ill-educated parish clergy

 

                                                                       Thursday:

787    Council of Nicaea rehabilitates cult of religious paintings (vs. Iconoclasm in Byzantine
                Empire, c. 730-843); religious statuary not restored until late 9th cent., with reliquary
                busts and figures.  (Click here for a page showing scenes from Genesis from the
                Grandval Bible, written at Tours in 834-43 (London, Add. MS 10546, f. 5v) 

Liturgy elaborated in 9th cent., including:
    New use of incense
    Gregorian (Roman) chant (required but often not known)
    Musical notation re-invented: click here to see a German liturgical manuscript of c. 950-1050
                (Stanford University Library, Philip Bliss collection, M389.)
    New saints' days introduced (e.g., Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, 15 August; Feast of
                All Saints, 1 November)

Private confession and penitential manuals introduced by monks from British Isles

Churches became places of legal asylum

Monasteries housed pilgrims, retirees, and paupers