> George's end of year musings prompts me to add one of my own. I just
> returned from trudging through several chilly French cathedrals and monastic
> houses. I noticed that both in monastic churches and working cathedrals that
> services were often held in the crypt where it was nicely warm. So I was
> wondering whether medieval congregations were as pusillanimous as we
> moderns: is there evidence of ordinary services being held in the crypts, or
> more interesting, any evidence of fires for warmth being lit in some of the
> huge spaces in some of these buildings?
> jw
Dear John,
There were certainly no fires in medieval churches, and crypts would
be no substitute for the high altar or the many other altars above
ground. In monasteries, there were generally two places in which
fires could be found: the calefactory or warming room, usually
located in the undercroft of the east cloister range, and in the
infirmary. During the later Middle Ages, the monastic administrative
officers, or obedientiaries, took advantage of the latter
circumstance, by often locating their offices in the infirmary (which
also featured relaxed dietary restrictions). In the church itself,
through the 13th century there are a number of papal sanctions
allowing English monks to wear woolen caps in choir, and from about
the end of the 13th century, the form of choir stalls changed,
becoming substantial wooden screens that shut out drafts and created
a warmer atmosphere. Such measures became standard, but they were
initially quite exceptional: even English Franciscans initially went
bare-foot, like their Italian compatriots. From the perspective of
central heating, one can only marvel at the austerity of it all. But
then, few buildings of any sort would have been heated during the
Middle Ages. Reminds me of my (more recent) student days in England!
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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