Cellarium

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The cellarium of Fountains Abbey, England Monks' cellarium, Fountains Abbey.jpg
The cellarium of Fountains Abbey, England

A cellarium (from the Latin cella, "pantry"), also known as an undercroft , was a storehouse or storeroom, usually in a medieval monastery or castle. In English monasteries, it was usually located in or under the buildings on the west range of the cloister. [1]

Undercroft traditionally a cellar or storage room

An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.

Monastery complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplace(s) of monks or nuns

A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, and may also serve as an oratory.

Cloister open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries

A cloister is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southern flank, usually indicates that it is part of a monastic foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the monks from that of the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went forward outside and around the cloister."

The monastery's supplies of food, ale and wines were stored there, under the supervision of the cellarer, one of the monastery's obedientiaries. He was often assisted by a sub-cellarer. [2]

Obedientiaries, the plural of Obedienciary, from the Latin Obedientiarius, meaning someone in an 'obedient', i.e. subordinate, position, is a term commonly used in medieval times for the lesser officials of a monastery who were appointed by will of the superior.

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Storm cellar

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San Zaccaria, Venice church in Venice

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Waverley Abbey

Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England. It was founded in 1128 by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester. Located in Farnham, Surrey, about 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of the town centre, the abbey is situated on a floodplain, surrounded by current and previous channels of the River Wey. It was damaged on more than one occasion by severe flooding, resulting in rebuilding in the 13th century. Despite being the first Cistercian abbey in England, and being motherhouse to several other abbeys, Waverley was "slenderly endowed" and its monks are recorded as having endured poverty and famine.

Salt cellar table salt container popular before salt shakers

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Alaverdi Monastery

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Tvrdoš Monastery Serbian Orthodox monastery

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Conches-sur-Gondoire Commune in Île-de-France, France

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Eberbach Abbey former Cistercian monk cloister in the Rheingau

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Enclosed religious orders

Enclosed religious orders of the Christian churches have solemn vows with a strict separation from the affairs of the external world. The term cloistered is synonymous with enclosed. In the Catholic Church enclosure is regulated by the code of canon law, either the Latin code or the Oriental code, and also by subsidiary legislation. It is practised with a variety of customs according to the nature and charism of the community in question.

Kingswood Abbey Grade I listed listed building in the United Kingdom in Stroud District, United Kingdom

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Buttery (room)

A buttery was originally a large cellar room under a monastery, in which food and drink were stored for the provisioning of strangers and passing guests. Nathan Bailey's An Universal Etymological English Dictionary gives "CELLARIST – one who keeps a Cella, or Buttery; the Butler in a religious House or Monastery." As the definition in John Stevens's The History of the Antient Abbeys shows, its initial function was to feed and water the guests rather than monks: "The Buttery; the Lodging for Guests". In a monastery a buttery was thus the place from which travellers would seek 'doles' of bread and weak ale, given at the exterior buttery door. The task of doling out this free food and drink would be the role of the butterer. At larger monasteries there would also be a basic hostelry, where travellers could sleep for free.

Whitefriars is an area in the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. Until 1540, it was the site of a Carmelite monastery, from which it gets its name.

St Augustines Abbey Canterbury

St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent dismantlement until 1848. Since 1848, part of the site has been used for educational purposes and the abbey ruins have been preserved for their historical value.

References

  1. Cook, George Henry (1961). English Monasteries in the Middle Ages. Phoenix House. p. 71.
  2. Wright, Geoffrey N. (2008). Discovering Abbeys and Priories. Osprey Publishing. p. 17. ISBN   9780747805892.