Hospitality was for Benedictines and Cistercians a central part of their duty and service to God. This could be for the sick, the pilgrim, travelling nobility, the King, or fellow monks.. What had started as a simple duty might increasingly require a development of their infrastructure : buildings, officials and support staff. How did this work?
The Welcome -Benedictine
How to
welcome a guest was included in the Rule
of St Benedict. It should be enthusiastic and cheerful. There were basic
procedures which would vary according to the size of the convent , its
community and accommodation, and the status and requirements of the guest. At
the point of entry a porter or other official would say “Deo
gratias” and the visitor might then be greeted by a superior, who would bow to
him, and then pray with him. Distinguished
guests might be welcomed by the Abbot or Prior or even the whole community. In
1182 at Bury for Abbot Samson’s installation guests were met with singing,
bells and sound of an organ. There would be an opportunity to find out the
reason for the visit, whether the guest had horses and servants. whether they
required dinner. The guest might then be led away for prayer and have a reading
said to him. If the community were not reciting the Office he might be taken
into the church for prayer. Otherwise prayer was said in the vestry. He might
then receive foot washing in the cloister and be greeted by the Guest Master,
who would lead him to the Guest House. Only the Guest Master was supposed to
speak to the guest. Originally the Rule had recommended the foot washing (and
hand washing too by the abbot) but as hospitality grew this became impractical,
without disrupting the monastic offices and the running of the convent. The Guest
Master had to ensure the guest chambers were kept ready, clean and that the
tablecloths, napkins, bed clothes were sweet and clean. At Bury the split
between guests for the Abbot or the convent became more accentuated. It became
more than one person’s job here and at other larger convents. Disputes could
arise over who was to stand in for the Abbot when he was away.
To get the atmosphere of a Guest House I recommend this post from the Abingdon Blog. It shows the interior of this surviving Guest House.
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| West guest house, Fountains Abbey (Matt Cormack CC BY-NC 2.0) |
In Cistercian houses the porter was not a layman and this monk was excused his canonical duties to act as the welcomer. He would say “Benedictus” and find out the reason for the visit, and explain the expected rules of behaviour. The guest might receive the kiss of peace and be sprinkled with holy water and led to the Guest House where he would meet the Guest Master. The latter decided where he will sleep and be served. Also he might arrange foot washing. The Guest Houses at Fountains Abbey built in the 1160s were the furthest separate buildings from the Church and had fireplaces, latrines and rose windows. It seems that a tour of the whole convent was not given at Fountains (contrary to Benedictine practice) because Cistercians generally wanted to keep visitors away from the inmates. When the guest facilities were renovated in the 14th century a new two storey Guest Hall was built. Servants were housed in different quarters to their master.
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| (Interior of guest wing, Fountains Abbey Damian Entwistle CC BY-NC 2.0) |
At Beaulieu the accounts from 1270 help to show how it worked ; nobles, ecclesiastics and distinguished guests were entertained in the Guest House; 'decent' travellers of lesser rank who came in the morning stayed only to eat, and those after lunch to stay the night. The porter could select up to 13 poor people to stay the night. At Christmas time as many poor people as there were monks ibn the convenr could stay from Christmas Eve until after dinner on Boxing Day. Apparently provision was made for feeding women relatives but we do not know where they ate.
Some monasteries could not always hope to accommodate all demands for hospitality. The poorer visitors would stay in the local town or village, perhaps with friends or relations. They might use a hostel provided by the monastery which provided limited free accommodation or use an inn, if they could afford it.
Visitors to Cistercian houses were limited to the normal Cistercian food with no meat until after 1335.In Benedictine houses distinguished guests would have had meat in the 13th century. As guests were graded and given varying accommodation, so too would the food and drink have varied. This applied to both Benedictine and Cistercian establishments. Types of bread served differed according to status. Only distinguished guests dining with the Abbot would have wine. Herrings were the most common fish served to all. More exotic fish would be reserved for the Abbot’s guests.
Problems
The cost of hospitality could be heavy. At Beaulieu during the year 1270 guests consumed 12,500 loaves of hospice bread and 7500 of better convent bread, along with 8640 gallons of good beer, 6000 of mixed beer, hundreds of thousands of herrings,1600 mackerel and 850 hake! Various methods of redress might be tried : for example, Cistercian houses sometimes received permission to not to receive guests for a limited period.
It was good practice to watch that guests did not “accidentally”
take away convent property. A Prior at
Dover complained of strangers “who were such wasteful destroyers that it is
impossible to keep things in order…such noxious…followers, that packed up tablecloths,
napkins, sheets and coverpanes and such things as they could lay hold of”. King
John stayed at Bury for 10 days with his retinue and left 13 pence and a silk cloth he had
purloined from the sacrist for which he had forgotten to pay.
Behaviour of guests could be problematic and Lanfranc in his rules enjoined the Guest master to prevent the wearing of riding boots, spurs or just drawers (!) in the cloister. It was all about avoiding disruption to the quiet atmosphere and rhythm of the liturgy.
Some sources
Bond, J. Monastic landscapes (Stroud, 2004)
Bottomley, F. Abbey explorer’s guide (Otley, 1995)
Braun, H. English abbeys {London, 1971)
Clark, J.G. Benedictines in the Middle Ages (Woodridge, 2011)
Cook, G.H. English monasteries in the Middle Ages (London, 1961)
Crossley, F.H. The English abbey 3rd ed, (London,1949)
Greene, J.P. Medieval monasteries. (Leicester, 1992
Kerr, J. Monastic hospitality : the Benedictines in England c1070-c1250 (Woodbridge,2007)
Kerr, J. Life in the Medieval cloister (London, 2009)
Knowles, D. Religious Orders in England vol 1-3 (Cambridge, 2008)
Parry, A. ed. Rule of St Benedict (Leominster, 1990)
Rosewell, R The Medieval monastery (Oxford, 2011)
Williams, D.H. The Cistercians in the early Middle Ages (1998)
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