Fountains abbey assignmentMedieval Monasticism compared with the site of fountains abbey
Medieval monasticism was a complex development that involved many monks living communally and devoting their lives to God. The main idea behind monasticism is that by rejecting wealth, bodily comfort and possession you will become closer to God. ... The monks obviously devoted an enormous proportion of their time to God and this was originally the central part to the idea of medieval monasticism. ... One of the outcomes of these changes was the formation of the Cistercians who founded Fountains abbey. Both the site and the secondary sources confirm these four issues (religion, social community, economics and political power). I am going to analyse the sources then the site and come to a conclusion of which helps us to understand medieval monasticism better. In source A you can clearly see at least two of the features of medieval monasticism. ... Furthermore it shows that they had some valuables because we can see the sacristy, which is where valuables were kept this probably, reflects most churches around the country as the site supported this, as there is evidence that there was a sacristy. ... In addition it shows than an idea of monasticism was to use devils, evil, fear of death and hell as a means to get and keep people connected to the church. ... This great wealth takes me on to the second aspect of medieval monasticism, economics. ... The site supports this as you can see the ruins of a mill at the site. Source A shows some of the political aspects of medieval monasticism such as the coats of arms found within the church this shows that the noblemen obviously had a connection with the churches. ... There is evidence of political links at fountains for example the chapter house where the most important people are buried (the abbots). ... The plan of the church, which is in the shape of a cross, is not the church at fountains and which is not in-fact that shape because of the chapel of the nine altars. The plan does not give any impressions of the two churches, which were previously at fountains before they were joined to give the third church that we can see today. Although in the cloister at the site you could clearly see where the buttresses were not connected properly and in the church where the rood screen had been that symbolised the geographic divide and could also show a social divide between the well-educated choir monks and the often-illiterate lay brothers. Furthermore the small social part of the source is not relating directly to monasticism but to general medieval life and is hard to relate to the monks social community. ... An advantage economically is that the source is not relating to fountains in particular as fountains abbey had a very prosperous economy and could be different to the average monastery, although this is also a disadvantage because it makes the source harder to relate to the site. Overall I think that this source is useful in understanding some factors of parts of medieval monasticism (religious importance and economic success) however it does not go in to much detail about any of the aspects and is actually only about the architecture of churches. ... The source hardly touches on the political or social aspects of medieval monasticism. ... This source yet again shows the progression of architecture and then the stopping of progress, this suggests a rise in the wealth of medieval monasticism and supports source A. ... There is one political link in this source and that is on the diagram ‘giving advice to the king’ to give advice to the king medieval monasticism must have been very highly regarded and had great political power, it also involved the aforesaid link ‘divine right’ the king would not just accept advice from anyone. This is the clearest link in any of the secondary sources that politics was linked with monasticism. This source supports source A in several ways and helps us to see more of the things that monks did when not praying, it also shows us a few possible ways in which medieval monasticism could have achieved its economic success. ... The map in the middle of the diagram is completely wrong and does not relate to the positions in the site at all. The actual plan of a monastery also has a problem since it also does not fully relate to the site although it is very similar, it is of a Benedictine monastery and Fountains abbey is Cistercian. This can be seen by the position of the hospital and the fact the tower of the church is in the centre while at fountains it is in fact on the north transept. ... Medieval monasticism would have had to hire a huge workforce to build their ‘prayers in stone’ the source mentions many masons and specialists that would have needed to be hired to just build one religious building, this shows that the abbeys generally had a lot of money to build such immense buildings. ... The source explains why a major feature of medieval monasticism is separation ‘this separation was to allow the monks and nuns to live as close to possible to the ideal way in which Christians should live’. This again has religious significance as it shows that a major ideal of medieval monasticism was to live the correct way for a Christian to live. ... The plan of Byland Abbey shows the chapter house like the previous maps, this again shows that the monks had a structured economy and this was similar to their ‘office’.