Central France.  1308.  (Reference:  #430253)

14. What kinds of animals were kept and raised?
15. Were animals kept and tended by the brothers, or by whom?
16. Were any animals slaughtered there for food, or did they keep only
animals that produced things, such as eggs, wool, and milk?
17. Was the cheese served in monasteries made on the premises?
18. Was the cheese made from goat?s, cow?s, or sheep?s milk?
19. Where did the goatskins for parchment come from?
20. What became of the goat meat?
21. Did any monasteries keep rabbits?  If so, what for?
22. Would there be a cat on the premises?
23. Who would have top-level responsibility for any livestock??a
brother who held what title?
24. Who did the needlework for altar cloths, vestments, etc.?
25. Did monasteries use itinerant workers other than stonecutters for any tasks?
26. If so, where would they sleep and eat while on a job?

Thank you,
Archae0pteryx

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 28 Jan 2006 18:56 PST

Hello Archae0pteryx,

I was researching something else and I was reminded about your quest
for help with the myriad of topics you need to research for your book.

It occurred to me that you need to find people who would not have to
research your topics ? they would know the answer off the top of their
head or know where to find the answer without having to research
resources. You need experts on medieval life and history.

Where would you find people who would be happy to discuss the topics
you?re investigating? Again, you need people who are studying the
subject or are already experts.

I did a quick search to see if there are academic programs that
specialize in medieval history in general and medieval monasticism in
particular. I found a few. It seems to me that you might be able to
connect with some of them, especially faculty who specialize in the
period you?re writing about, and ask them how to get research help for
your book.

I hope you?re doing well.

Best wishes for the book.

~ czh ~

http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/
The Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University

http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/academic/grad/faculty.html
Faculty Affiliated with the Medieval Institute

http://www.georgetown.edu/departments/medieval/
MEDIEVAL STUDIES at Georgetown University

http://www.the-orb.net/
The ORB: On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies

http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/4950.shtml
HIST 4950: Medieval Monasticism


SEARCH STRATEGY
site:.edu Medieval monastery OR monasteries
site:.edu Medieval life OR village OR economy
site:.edu Medieval clothing OR household

HI Tryx,
I am going to have to pass on most of these because I really, really
have to get on with other things  - leaving on a two week trip on
Saturday.
And a lot of the answers I don't know.

Monasteries were basically self-sufficient, well into the 20th
century.  Just heard a radio interview with the head of one here,
decrying that now they had to pay for services and trades (carpentry,
etc.) that previously were taken care of by monks or lay brothers with
the skills.  Monasteries of different orders were also more or less
austere and more or less well off.

Animals of all kinds would have been kept  - depending on the size and
financial situation, probably also oxen to plow.  They are plodding
but much stronger than horses, as I have learned here.   (Pity that
you didn't ask about that.)
I believe that the farming and herding activities would have been
handled mainly by the lay brothers, but under whose direction and his
title I don't know.

Obviously double purpose animals are advantageous, but horse and goat
meat (chevon) are quite good.  First site on goat meat says that it is
one of the most widely eaten meats.
There would have been dairy (and probably a vinyard), cheese being an
ideal way to preserve nutritional value.
19.  Where did the goatskin for parchment come from?  Slaughter
billies and nannies, but parchment is also made from sheepskin (your
college diploma, maybe), and also from calfskin, then called vellum.
They very well could have kept rabbits, to eat.  They are very easy to
keep and eat table scraps, and don't need to told to reproduce.  (Many
families here during the wars kept them on their balcony in towns. 
Not so nice for the younger children when one ended up on the table.)
Cats, mousers, for sure, and maybe ending up as fur lining, ditto for
rabbits, of course.
Needlework was done by men and women.  That subject is very broad, so
many kinds, materials, types of embroidery.  I believe the finer
embroidery would have come from women's cloisters, perhaps "ladies'"
cloisters.  There was some social ranking of cloisters; fine
embroidery was a skill for ladies and learned at a young age.  But
later, at least, there were types of embroidery made exclusively by
men, couched gold work, I believe, but I am not sure, and also not
sure if this was being done in 1308, and certainly not everywhere. 
There would have been a monk or two to make and mend their habits and
maybe even to weave the woolen cloth.

As said, monasteries were very much self-sufficient communities, often
with extended agricultural estates, not just contiguous land (lots of
records about gifts and administration).  And now that I remembered
that, such properties could also include commoners' dwellings or small
villages, whereby there could have been some employment (sorry about
the contradiction) for agricultural work. Life in a monastery could be
better than that outside of one.

That is all undocumented and just off the top of my head, so please
excuse any discrepancies with what you have read elsewhere.

I hope your friend Scriptor will give this a glance and at least point
out anything that he does not agree with.

When I get back on the 6th or 7th, I'll see what has happened.

Regards, Myo

Tryx,
I defer to Leli's well supported comment to your related question,
which answers so much here.  Maybe a little misinformation is an
inspiration to others.  :)

Regards, Myo

There's a forum/list which might be able to find answers to your questions:


MEDIEV-L
The premier list for medievalists, MEDIEV-L is unmoderated and focuses
on history from roughly 300-1500 AD. are accessible by date or by
thread.
To subscribe do this: start an e-mail.  Address it to
listproc@listproc.cc.ku.edu. You should leave everything else blank,
including the subject line.
The body of your message should just be:
sub mediev-l <your name>

G**gle on MEDIEV-L for more.

Incidentally, a number of yor questions are answered in Sharan
Newman's historical detective novels (the Levendeur series). she has a
website at:
http://www.sharannewman.com/

Thank you each, thank you all.

I have been out of touch for a while--I'm sorry.  czh, I owed a reply
to you in particular.  I apologize.  Yes, you are exactly right, I had
hoped to find people who already knew the answers.  I thought there'd
be some here on GA.  Your ideas are helpful and good.  Myo, as always,
you have offered me some thought-provoking suggestions.  amber00, you
have a very different perspective--thank you!

Archae0pteryx