|
CISTERCIAN PRACTICE.
Recesses such as these were developed in Cistercian houses into a small
square room[Pg 24] without a window, and but little larger than an ordinary
cupboard. In the plans of Clairvaux and Kirkstall this room is placed
between the chapter-house and the transept of the church; and similar
rooms, in similar situations, have been found at Fountains, Beaulieu,
Tintern, Netley, etc. The catalogue, made 1396, of the Cistercian Abbey at
Meaux in Holderness, now totally destroyed, gives us a glimpse of the
internal arrangement of one of these rooms. The books were placed on
shelves against the walls, and even over the door. Again, the catalogue of
the House of White Canons at Titchfield in Hampshire, dated 1400, shews
that the books were kept in a small room, on shelves there called
columpnæ, set against the walls. It is obvious that no study could have
gone forward in such places as these; they must have been intended for
security only, and to replace the wooden presses used elsewhere.
Next: 15th Century Libraries
|
|
