Page 24 - All About History - Issue 18-14

Mass Media

Day in the life

AMEDIEVALMONK

KEEPERS OF KNOWLEDGE, TRANSCRIBING

THE PAST FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS,
EUROPE, 14TH CENTURY

For many in the Middle Ages, where plague, war and poverty were
common,thehallsoftoweringmonasterieswereasafehaven.Anyone
couldbecomeamonk,buttheirliveswerefarfromeasy;most
monasteries followed the rule of St Benedict, commanding that all
monksliveastrictscheduleofprayerandmanuallabour.The
monasterieswereanintegralpartofeverycommunity,thehubsof
learning and education in an illiterate world and one of their most
important tasks was the making of books. Before mechanical
printing,bookswerehandmadeobjects,treasuredasworks
ofartandassymbolsofenduringknowledgeand
many of them were produced by monks.

MORNING PRAYER
The day would begin bright and early
for medieval monks as they rose before
dawn for the morning service at 5am.
The monks’ entire day was structured
around The Book Of Hours, which was
split into eight sections of prayers
intended to be read at specific times of
day. Prayers would be held at 5am, 6am,
9am, 12pm, 3pm, 4pm, 6pm and 2am. A page from a 15th-century
Book Of Hours

DISCUSS DAILY BUSINESS
The monks would gather in the Chapter House,
a large room next to the church, to discuss daily
business. As well as being given jobs to do, such as
copying manuscripts or translating texts, the monks
would also listen to the abbot or senior monks
talk. They would relay significant details about the
world outside if they affected the community, such
as a monarch’s death, or more commonly, issues of
discipline within the monastery itself.

MANUAL LABOUR
The monks were expected to take an active role
in the upkeep of the monastery, which included “In a time when most of the
manual labour. This could range from planting and
harvesting food to caring for animals. Monasteries population were illiterate,
were commonly surrounded by acres of land,
gardens and orchards where onions, turnips, beans monks could read and write”
and leeks were grown, not only for the monks to eat,
but also to sell outside of the monastery.

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