Abbey

An abbey is a facility that consists of a collection of Christian Catholic monastic buildings assembled about a church, housing a establishment for persons devoted to a religious life. Within the game world, they exist as the principle training facility for members of the monk character class. Within Alexis's game world, monks of the west possess the same combat and defensive capabilities as monks from eastern cultures.

Abbeys are self-sufficient and isolated from the general world, often denying the entry of outsiders altogether. Arrangements varied to suit the particular discipline of the abbey, with peculiar plan arrangements and other architectural traits being distinguishable between orders. No distinction is made in the game world regarding abbeys occupied by males, females or both.

Origins

From the early days of Christianity, first in Egypt, groups of pious people gathered about the dwelling of persons renowned for their exalted holiness, who behaved as religious sectarians or prophets. They would build their dwellings in the same village, subjecting themselves to the sectarian's discipline of life. In time, these religious communities organised and dedicated their lives to the fulfillment of a worthy religious task, such as ministering to pilgrims who came their way — in turn becoming a place of pilgrimage or refuge themselves. The first European monastic order, the Benedictines, had a rapid growth in Italy as early as the 6th century, and by the 8th century their monasteries were established throughout western Europe.

By the opening of the 12th century, many abbeys possessed much wealth and wielded great power. They administered extensive landed states and erected elaborate convent-related churches that were, in time, matched by other abbatial structures. For long periods of time, the arts were largely in the hands of the monastic orders, and churchfolk emerged as art patrons, as well as leaders in religion and statecraft.

Architectural Development

While the monastic institutions were organising, during the 6th century in Italy, the architectural arrangement didn't immediately define itself. However, because of unsettled conditions of the Dark Ages, it was necessary that such institutions should contain within their walls all that was essential to the support of the chapter. The abbey thus appears as a fortified religious city including gardens, mills, stables, workshops and other adjuncts necessary to the domestic economy of the establishment.

Since these religious houses divided themselves between lay brothers and monks, architectural arrangements were so conceived as to provide such segregation. AS the monastic system developed, the abbeys became well-planned arrangements for monks' houses, infirmaries, refectories (dining halls), libraries, chapter houses and incidental structures, grouped about a cloister and carefully related to the church. The abbot or abbess lived in a separate house. All about were landed estates of the establishment.

The general architectural style of the earlier monasteries was the Romanesque, but as the Gothic evolved, the monastic institutions — like others — espoused the newer vogue. Since many of the conventual houses have been repeatedly rebuilt, scant remains of the older structures are found. A good many of the ruined abbeys exhibit Gothic traits; Fountains Abbey, abandoned in 1539, recalls the Romanesque style. Monastic architecture projected itself beyond the medieval period; the brilliant Certosa near Pavia, and the elaborate Escorial, some 30 mi. from Madrid, were erected during the Renaissance.

Benedictine Abbeys

Monte Cassino, established in 529, is the oldest abbey in Europe, but was abandoned twice following the attack of the Lombards in 570, and again by the Saracens in 718. As such, the abbey has been rebuilt many times. The abbey experienced a golden age in the 11th and 12th centuries, acquiring a large secular territory which it heavily fortified with castles. Since the 13th century, however, it's been in decline; the buildings were destroyed by earthquake in 1349; its occupation after 1454 became provisional as it was placed in the custody of a patron instead of the monks themselves; and in 1504 it became subject to another abbey, that of Santa Giustina, in Padua.

St. Gall in Switzerland, erected about 820, is more illuminating. The traditional double-ended church is surrounded by a well-arranged group of structures, including workshops, mills, kiln, farm buildings, cemetery, kitchens, bakehouse, brewhouse and cloister, with the usual dormitories, refectory, scriptorium (for the scribes and copyists), infirmary, school and guesthouses. The plan follows the Benedictine rule that the abbey group should include every necessity of life, thus obviating the need for monks to go outside its precincts. Thus, St. Gall presents the appearance of a small medieval city of detached buildings, with streets and gardens between them.

Cistercian Abbeys

Fossanuova, located in Italy, dates from 1135. The Cistercians, a reformed branch of the Benedictines, carried simplicity into both their way of life and its environmental expression; this abbey is typical of their establishments. Its frugal Gothic church, square-ended and cruciform, is flanked on one side by the cloister with refectory and chapter house; on the other, by the cementery. The hospital, guesthouse, farm buildings and gardens are scattered about informally within a walled enclosure.

Clairvaux in France possesses a similar disposition of buildings, though less formal on account of the surrounding rugged topography. Founded in 1115, the abbey was built with a strong wall, furnished at intervals with watchtowers and other defenses. A moat, artificially diverted from tributaries flowing through the princincts, completely or partially encircles the wall, depending on the season. This water also furnishes the abbey with an abundant supply for irrigation and sanitation. It's held that places like Clairvaux shows the Cistercians chose the most dismal and forbidding localities that could be found, to fulfill their ascetic perspective. Attractive turrets or towers, or stained-glass windows, and all other ornament characteristic of the age were forbidden.

Fountains Abbey was an important Cistercian establishment on the river Skell in England, dating from 1132; it had been altered from it's original plan to be more elaborate than the average house of the order. Flanking the west side of the cloister and extending across the Skell is a range of vaulted apartments, popularly called cloisters, which serve as cellars and storehouses, with dormitories above. The abbot's house, one of the largest and most elaborate in England, lay at the extreme eastern end of the compound, where much of the structure was suspended upon arches over the river. The great hall of this house was a splendid room 170 ft. long and 70 ft. wide. As was said above, the abbey was abandoned and in 1650 stands as a ruin in North Yorkshire.