Living and Working in a Twelfth-Century Women’s Monastic Community

doi:10.1017/9781108573832.003

Chapter 2 - Living and Working in a Twelfth-Century Women’s Monastic Community

from Part I - Life and Monastic Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2021

Alison I. Beach

Edited by

Jennifer Bain

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Jennifer Bain: Affiliation:
Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia

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Summary

This chapter imagines an ordinary day in the life of a female monastic community in twelfth-century Germany. The chapter, like the monastic day, is organized around the celebration of the monastic liturgy of the hours. Between the liturgical hours in the oratory, the nuns attend to their daily business in the cloister, chapter house, lavatory, refectory, and workshops. The flow and activities of this monastic day are based primarily on the Rule of St. Benedict, the customary of Hirsau, and Hildegard of Bingen’s own commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, as well as on archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence that reflects medieval monastic lifeways.

Keywords

liturgy divine office daily life sanitation foodways monastic labor book production

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen , pp. 37 - 51

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108573832.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

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References

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