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The parlour
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The monks were expected to observe silence in
the claustral area and communicated by signs when necessary. However,
it was recognised that there were times when conversation – but
not idle chat - was necessary. This took place in the parlour,
a narrow chamber situated to the south of the chapter-house which
had stone benches and a vaulted ceiling. The monks also gathered
here each day after the chapter meeting for the allocation of tasks.
The master of novices was
permitted to speak with novices in the parlour during the first
two months of their probationary period
and also with visiting monks; during the time allocated to reading
the prior could hear novices’ confessions here. The parlour
may also have been used by the monks to hang their cowls.(1)
The German Cistercian, Idungus of Prufung, criticised
Cluniac monks for chatting and complained that they eagerly gossiped
after the daily chapter meeting ‘by permission of the order’.
He compared the noise they made to the din in a tavern full of
sots where the men talked ‘with their fellow spouses’ and
the women drinkers chatted with their companions. Idungus warned
of the perils of such behaviour: ‘From the permission to
chatter arises the wherewithal for brawling. From the brawl come
threats and acrimony, so much so that at times it is necessary
to recall the chapter by striking the wooden tabula’.(2)
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