L'Abbaye de Clairvaux: Gone But Not Forgotten

  Clairvaux abbey, whose mother house was the Cîteaux Abbey, was a Cisterian monastery originally founded in 1115 by St-Bernard of Clairvaux. Located in Ville-sous-la-Ferté in Northeastern France, the building is a good example of the general layout a Cisterian monastery. It consisted strong walls and was equipped with watchtowers and other defences at different intervals. Furthermore, there was both an inner and outer yard. The church had a vast nave of 11 bays, a wide transept, and a short apsidal choir. To the east of the transepts were two square chapels, while nine circular ones surrounded the apse. The four eastern bays of the nave were dedicated to the monks' stalls, while the western bays were for the lay brothers. Essentially, half of the monastery was for the literate monks (writing of manuscripts and reading), while the other half was dedicated to manual work done by the lay brothers. The cloister was at the South side in order to let the most sunshine in. Burials at the Abbey include Philip I, Count of Flanders, St-Malachy, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Theresa of Portugal, Countess of Flanders.
     Unfortunately, the powerful abbey was confiscated during the Revolution and sold to an Industrialist. Today, the grounds are now occupied by the high-security prison of Clairvaux.

Plan of the Clairvaux Abbey 

Clairvaux Abbey 1140

Here is a link to a video of the 3D reconstruction of the Abbey (my apologies, it is in French) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUcxOvQO5JE&feature=youtu.be 

Sources:

"Abbaye de Clairvaux". Accueil- Site de l'Abbaye de Clairvaux, 2015. http://www.abbayedeclairvaux.com

"Clairvaux Abbey". Wikipedia, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvaux_Abbey

Racing to the Past: The Palio

Siena, the best Gothic experience Italy can offer, holds more than just the architecture. This city is set up in the traditional medieval style. The town center revolves around the town hall. While Florence offers the more commercialized experience, Siena offers the soul an experience, and ties in massive amounts of historical background. If one visits Siena on either July 2 or August 14, they would be able to watch one of the oldest horse races: the Palio.

The Palio is a competition between 10 of the 17 neighborhoods chosen at random. This race

Palio Horse Race

was a yearly occurrence dating as far back as 15th century. The race though has deeper meaning. It was ran in honor of the patroness and advocate of Siena, Madonna dell’Assunta. She protected the Sienese military at the battle of Monteapeti on September 4, 1260. After the victory over the Florentines, Siena broke itself into Contradas, or districts. The Palio started out as a horse race between the 59 districts. Now though, there are only 17, and the race rotates between 10 of them. This race brings together all 17 neighborhoods in a friendly competition between the cities in which the winner earns a year of bragging rights. The race itself is not medieval, but the city and the reason the race came into being is.

Sources:

"Palio Di Siena - Siena's Palio Horse Race  All about the Palio." Palio Di Siena - Siena's Palio Horse Race All about the Palio. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2015. http://www.ilpalio.org/palioenglish.htm

Steves, Rick. "Siena and Its Crazy Horse Race." History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places |             Smithsonian. Smithsonian, 2009. Web. 23 Oct. 2015. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ricksteves/siena-and-its-crazy-horse-race-20432031/?all

Beautiful Brugge

Bruges, Belgium is a great example of a medieval historic settlement. Over 117,000 people live in the World Heritage Site of UNESCO. The town's golden age was between the 12th and 15th centuries, due to trade. The city became a major cloth-trading center by the late 13th century. It was mostly known for its textiles, lace, and wool. Bruges amassed so much wealth that upon visiting Bruges and seeing the wealthy people Queen Joanna of Navarre, King Philip the Fair's wife, stated "I thought I alone was queen, but I see that I have 600 rivals here".
   In the 14th century, Bruges' prosperity grew as it became became a key member of the northern European trading routes via the Hanseatic league. Its location was critical since it was at the crossroads of the Hanseatic league trade and Southern trade routes. Furthermore, Italian cities were building trade houses there and exotic goods from all over Europe made their way to Bruges.
   Unfortunately, the waterway linking Bruges to the sea silted up during the 15th century, killing the town's economic life. Nevertheless, tourism brought the city back to life at the start of the 19th century and has been the city's economic lifeline since.
Here is a list of the historical sites of Bruges:
Burg Square- this place was inhabited as early as the 2nd century AD. It became the base of operations of the Count of Flanders in the 9th century. The Palace of the Liberty of Bruges was the place from which the surrounding areas of the city was governed from the Late Middle Ages until 1775. In the square is also located the old Court of Justice and the Basilica of Holy Blood.
Markt- other medieval square dominated by its Belfry, the town's foremost edifice and therefore the perfect look-out for war and other catastrophes. It also contains the Provincial Palace, the statues of Bruges heroes Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck, as well as Waterhall, an old warehouse where goods were loaded and unloaded alongside the canals.

Huidenvettersplein (Tanner's Square)- tiny square adorned with restaurants and artists

Walplein- the name of this square refers to the first city walls built in 1127-28. Mostly known for its breweries and restaurants.

Jan van Eyckplein- square commemorating the renowned Bruges artist, Jan van Eyck. It used to be the old harbor of the city where ships loaded and unloaded their goods.

Simon Stevinplein- square named after the mathematician and physicist Simon Stevin. Until 1819, the square was the site of the Great Butcher's Hall and was owned by the Guild of Butchers. 

Sources
"Bruges". Wikipedia, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges

"Historic sites". Bezoekers. https://bezoekers.brugge.be/historicsites

"History of Bruges". Lonely Planet Information, 2015. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/belgium/flanders/bruges/history

Liber Ruralium Commodorum

Many illustrations of the Middle Ages depicted peasants at work. One illustration is called the Crescenzi calendar. Each block depicts a type of work or labor that peasants (free or serf) would do throughout the year in terms of crops and harvest. The calendar is located in the work, Liber ruralium commodorum ("book of rural benefits"), written by Pietro de’ Crescenzi around 1304-1309. It was the first printed modern text on agriculture when it was published in Augsburg by Johann Schüssler in 1471. Liber ruralium commodorum was divided in to twelve books about agriculture. It offered advice on many of the things to be done on the medieval farm. The list below describe the content of each book.

1. Siting and layout of a manor, villa or farm, considering climate, winds, and water supply; also the duties of the head of the estate
2. Botanical properties of plants and horticultural techniques
3. Agriculture of cereals and building of a granary
4. Vines and winemaking
5. Arboriculture—trees useful for food and medicine
6. Horticulture—plants useful for food and medicine
7. Management of meadows and woodland
8. Pleasure gardens
9. Animal husbandry and bee keeping
10. Hunting and fishing
11. General summary
12. Monthly calendar of tasks

Liber ruralium commodorum remained the most widely read and printed book on agriculture in Europe until the seventeenth century

Sources: 

http://www.medievalists.net/2014/06/03/year-medieval-farm/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_de%27_Crescenzi

http://catena.bgc.bard.edu/crescenzi/text.htm

Games in the Middle Ages

For my social history project, I chose to explore the common games that would have been played by peasants in the Middle Ages. Specifically, I focused on the games of Prison Base, a serial tag game, and Knucklebones, the early predecessor of jacks.

Here is a video of how Prison Base was played:

Here are some videos of Knucklebones:

Horses: More than just a Knight's Companion

This far into the Middle Ages, we have looked at horses and how they have affected warfare and their uses for knights. But what about their other uses? Horses were significant and played a major role in the development and expansion of the agricultural revolution in the 11th and 12^th centuries. Rather than just being used for show and war, these horses were used to till fields. This was possible due to improved technology; the most important development that allowed for the use of horses on a more wide scale aspect was the tandem harness. Pictured below, the harness moved the collar from around the neck of the horse to the breast to increase the force the horse was able to put out without choking.

Tandem Harness 

            Not only was the horse important for its power, but also important for its waste. As Bennett in Medieval Europe: A Short History outlines, fertilizers were hard if not impossible to come by. Technology did not exist for the average individual to create their own ratios to replenish the nutrients that the crop had taken from the soil, so they needed to use naturally occurring ones. The best one available to them was the uses of manure for the nutrients. Despite this benefit though, manure was not readily available because not every household had a horse. Because of this, there was even a case being fought over rights to manure (Bennett 140). Horses were more important in the Middle Ages than just being used as an accouterment of knights.

Sources:

http://www.scientiareview.org/pdfs/26.pdf

Bennett, Judith. Medieval Europe: A Short History. 11th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011. Print.