In the eleventh century the monastery, besides being a model of centralised organisation, was the only place of repose for intellectual minds. The monks also resuscitated the culture of the soil-establishing small convents, or Obédiences, in remote and neglected territories, where they cleared the ground, drained the marshes, enclosed fields, and planted vineyards. They also constructed roads and established bridges and ferries. Trades of all kinds were likewise practised and encouraged in the monasteries, and the arts of the gold and silver smith, the glazier and glass painter, the illuminator, and the carver were specially subjects of the monks’ attention. The houses of the inhabitants who carried on these trades clustered round the walls and increased in number with the importance of the monastery. The workmen consisted of tanners, weavers, curriers, and drapers, who manufactured the produce of the live stock of the abbey. Where there were mines on the property, the necessary labourers were employed; and all the ordinary trades, such as those of bakers, butchers, shoemakers, smiths, &c., were needed and supported. Schools were established, and the education of all provided for. The sick were attended to, and all travellers were welcomed and entertained.
It was natural that the monasteries, well regulated as they were, and encouraging all kinds of industries, should speedily grow rich. But it would be difficult to imagine how wealth could have been better made available for the benefit of the community at that time, and under the conditions then existing, than it was in the hands of the Benedictines.
The history of the Cistercian monasteries is similar to that of the Clunisiens. In the end of the eleventh century some monks of Molesmes, whose monastery had fallen into the greatest laxity, obtained from the Papal Legate permission to found an Abbey on rules of great strictness. Twenty monks established themselves in the forest of Citeaux, in the diocese of Châlon, on a desert territory surrendered to them by the Viscount of Beaune. The monks built an Oratory and established Rules—one of which was that they should live by the work of their hands. These monks were soon afterwards joined by St Bernard and his companions, when the rule of Citeaux took a great start. In less than twenty-five years after these twenty men began their labours in the marshy forest by reclaiming and cultivating a small patch of ground, they were represented by 60,000 Cistercian monks spread over every part of Europe. They were called in by feudal lords from all countries to clear the land, to establish industries, to rear flocks and herds, to drain the marshes, and cultivate the soil. In a short time Citeaux ruled over the incredible number of 2000 houses of both sexes, each house possessing 5 or 6 granges.
Nothing can better illustrate the immense strides made in the West during the eleventh century than the great development of these establishments, and no part of the progress then made had greater influence on Architecture. It is from this time that we may date the revival of our art, after the almost total extinction of the Dark Ages. It is evident that the very large number of new monasteries and churches now required would have a great effect in stimulating the growth of Architecture. The position of this and every other art was at that time necessarily in the hands of the monks, who alone had sufficient knowledge for the designing and decorating of any building. Under the monastic influence, however, the designs naturally became subject to rule and tradition, and tended to assume fixed forms, although these varied somewhat under the regulations of the different orders, and in different localities.
Another remarkable phenomenon, which was both an indication of the new life and religions awakening of the epoch, and had also a very powerful effect in increasing these movements, was the Crusades. The same enthusiasm which prompted thousands to devote their lives to a holy and useful existence in the cloister, stirred up in others through the eloquence of Peter the Hermit and St Bernard, a resolve to sacrifice everything to the righteous endeavour to rescue the places sanctified by the great events in our Saviour’s Life from the hands of the Infidels. Amongst the innumerable multitudes who joined in the Crusades, and visited the East, there must have been many who were able to appreciate the splendid architecture and decoration of Santa Sophia and the other great churches and buildings of the Levant; and these travellers would bring back with them fresh ideas which they would endeavour to import into the structures of the West. Besides, the eyes of all were opened and their minds enlarged by contact with the culture and refinement of the Eastern empire, where the ancient Greek and Roman civilisation had continued uninterruptedly during the centuries of darkness and barbarism which had well nigh obliterated them in the West. They also saw at Constantinople the great mart where the commerce between the East and West was concentrated, and became acquainted with the rich fabrics and beautiful art of Persia and India.
The transport of men and materials to the East, for the prosecution of the war, likewise gave a great impulse to navigation and maritime enterprise, while contact with the Saracens (then an enlightened and scientific people) taught valuable lessons to the soldiers of the cross. They especially acquired from them many improvements in the art of the attack and defence of fortifications, and in the construction of military engines, the results of which the Western nobles were not slow to avail themselves of in the great castles which they erected on their return from the Holy Land. The buildings of the Holy places themselves were naturally adopted as models, and the circular churches of the West are probably mostly imitations (although sometimes remote ones) of the church of the Holy Sepulchre (which was itself rebuilt by the Crusaders). It will be further pointed out in dealing with the history of the Architecture how the ancient Greco-Roman art had been preserved in Syria, and the direct influence it had on the Architecture of the West.
Such being the general condition of affairs, and their bearing on the art of the West of Europe up to the twelfth century, let us now look a little more closely at the progress of events in the province with which we are specially concerned.
