\Clois"ter\, n. [OF. cloistre, F. clo[^i]tre, L.
claustrum, pl. claustra, bar, bolt, bounds, fr. claudere,
clausum, to close. See {Close}, v. t., and cf. {Claustral}.]
1. An inclosed place. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
2. A covered passage or ambulatory on one side of a court;
(pl.) the series of such passages on the different sides
of any court, esp. that of a monastery or a college.
But let my due feet never fail To walk the studious
cloister's pale. --Milton.
3. A monastic establishment; a place for retirement from the
world for religious duties.
Fitter for a cloister than a crown. --Daniel.
{Cloister garth} (Arch.), the garden or open part of a court
inclosed by the cloisters.
Point us to a cloister and were are there. Our come the cameras for the multiple of views that always seem possible within the visually appealing space. We have captured some of the moments on our line of note cards.
Cloister. At one level, refers to the monastery, a place where the a Christian community lived deliberately in isolation. More commonly, the cloister is the enclosed courtyard that is formed by the walls of the church, buildings for residence, and a walkway or covered colonnade overlooking the square. Flowling from medieval times and primarily in Western Europe, the "age of cloisters" is between the 8th and 15th centuries.
Monastic cloisters were generally built in the countryside, away from the cities. Canonical cloisters were generally built for the "cannons regular", the priests who lived by the church and are generally located in the centre of towns.
Typically, a cloister always has a patio which is an open area in which flowers or shrubs are planted arranged around a fountain or well. There is a extensive range of architectural details. Yep, bring out those cameras! Although at one time a scared place, just about all have been deconsecrated and are open to visitors.
Benedict of Nursia is known as the father of Western monasticism. What what is reported or can be known, Benedict lived between 490 and 560 and was born somewhere in Umbria. From there he went to Rome, then to Subgiaco and later further south to Monte Cassino. (We thoroughly enjoyed our visit Monte Cassino in 2003.)
The life of the monk was based on prayer and work. There were rules to the most detailed degree. The Benedictine Rule was known fro its fraternal obedience and charity and the moderation in discipline. Benedictine Rule was not the only guidance.
Cistercian reform. The next major change starts somewhere around 1098 when a Cistercian reform took place. This was a return to the basics initiative. Cistercians wanted a better balance between the Benedict's two founding principles: prayer and manual labour. Austerity, asceticism and isolation were the main thrust of this movement.
In terms of what we have seen on our travels, the Order of Saint Benedict, or the Benedictine System pretty well was the only type of structure from the 9th to 12th Century in Western Europe. The Benedictine Plan was used pretty consistently: church and cloister join at the south wall of the church, the cloister's perfect square have four paths that meet in the middle at a bush bearing red berries.
During Cistercian reform, the concept of lay brothers was introduced. They could not be in the cloiser but had a seperate walled corridor, "lay-brother-alley".
Decorations of cloisters had their time also. The capitals of the columns are an example of different approaches. During Carolingian times, the capitals were cubes or decorated with foliate - that is typically filled with a leaf scroll design. Figurative capitals started to appear in the Romanesque period -- starting around the 11th Century and included foliate, geometric and animal motifs. This disappeared at that end of that period. One of the oldest is the abbey in Moissac, part of our scheduled 2004 tour of France. In the Renaissance period, capitals reflected a Roman look and were simple squares.
Ceiling vault development took place between the 11th and 16th Century. The plainer barrel vault ceiling was more often found in the cloister and ribbed vaulted would be used in the chapter-house. Rib vaulting took off and was found in the cloisters also.
Travels to Cloisters
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