10 fascinating facts about life as a medieval monk
Picture the scene. It is 1348 AD. You are a farmer in the countryside, born into a life of unimaginable hardship. All around you, serfs do grueling work from dawn to dusk, tilling their feudal lord’s lands to pay him his hefty dues.
The best you can hope for is that your small business of basket weaver will prosper sufficiently to secure you a small property of your own, which can support you into old age. The worst you can expect is a life of crippling physical labor, a diet severely deficient in meat, and possibly early death from childbirth or the plague.
Under these circumstances, could you be tempted to take sacred vows and become a monk? If so, then read on – because there was a lot more to being a monk than the crazy haircut!
Related: 10 misconceptions about medieval city life
10 The crazy haircut
Yes, you know that one. Cut the bowl with the round bald spot on it? This unique style was achieved by shaving the middle part of the hair and trimming the rest. It had great spiritual significance for the monks who wore it.
The style is called a “tonsure” and was worn to represent a monk’s devotion to Christ. Some conflicting theories exist as to why only part of the head was shaved. Some believe that the remaining circle of hair symbolized the crown of thorns that Jesus wore during his crucifixion. Others think the practice originated during the Crusades, when Christians wanted to distinguish themselves from Muslims who ritually shaved off all their hair after visiting Mecca.
Regardless, the haircut was rocked by many generations of monks for centuries until 1973, when the tonsure ceremony was abolished by Pope Paul VI and declined in popularity. [1]
9 East West home is best
Monks fared much better than the peasants and serfs when it came to the quality of their accommodation. Yes, their bedroom was essentially a cell with a bit of straw in it. Technically, they didn’t own much at all – but they had a roof over their heads and regular meals in their bellies, which was more than could be said for the general population!
Many monasteries were huge, sprawling, ornate complexes built in the Gothic style and designed to showcase the wealth of the church and reflect the glory of God to the unwashed masses. It wouldn’t have been a bad place to hang out.
Settlements of monks have been found in England dating back to 406 AD. to divorce he wiped the country of all traces of Catholicism and instead declared the country Protestant. The monasteries were plundered and the loot was divided among the rich.[2]
End of an era!
8 Poverty, chastity and obedience
Hmm. It’s not the most attractive lifestyle, is it? A medieval monastery was a community of men who had renounced earthly possessions and chose to live secluded from society among other like-minded fellows. They devoted themselves to spiritual, rather than physical, pleasures. As such, they took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and were expected to live free from physical possessions and emotional attachments to the outside world. These vows were based on the writings of Saint Benedict, who laid down the rules for an ideal monastic life as early as the 6th century.
Of course chastity was easy to avoid if a) you were attracted to men and b) you could find a willing (and discreet) partner within the monastery. For those lucky guys, life was probably pretty sweet.[3]
7 The icon
An important aspect of monastic life was the possession of an icon or holy relic. The icon could be anything that people might venerate and see en masse – a piece of the original cross on which Christ was crucified, for example, or the bones of a saint. Or, in the case of the city of Turin in Italy, the shroud that Jesus wore in his tomb.
If you were lucky, your monastery’s relic would become famous, and Christians from far and wide would go on a pilgrimage to see it – bringing much-needed supplies to the area and a huge increase in donations to your church.[4]
6 Shhhhhh!
If a monk suffered from a touch of boredom after joining a monastic order, he would not have been able to pass the time enjoying good gossip with his new colleagues. Monasteries were places of peace and as such most of the duties of monks were performed in complete silence. They weren’t even allowed to chat over dinner!
Some monks got around the rule of silence by communicating in other ways. Sign language was used during meals when a monk wanted to ask for food or drink. Some also secretly communicated by whistling! These methods were often taught to the young “novices” (teenage recruits who were learning the ways of monastic life) and “oblates” (children entrusted to the care of the monks). In this way, the silent languages were passed down from generation to generation.[5]
5 Stand, sit, kneel…and repeat
Are you starting to think that life as a monk might have been a bit boring? Well, you’re probably right! Fortunately, the boredom of charity fundraising and eternal silence was regularly broken by lengthy and complicated church services.
Monks attended as many as eight services a day. They woke up with the sun (so summer was probably much more painful than winter!) and took part in various choral services such as matins, hymns and mass. They also held a daily chapter, a formal meeting to discuss monastic matters. . In all, a monk could expect to participate in a church service for up to 10 hours a day. That’s a lot of singing![6]
4 More than meat-free Fridays
Medieval life was strictly regulated. England’s “sumptuary laws” dictated behavior in all areas, and not just for monks. There were laws about what clothes and colors people could wear based on their social status, for example, and how much eateries could charge for food.
Monasteries were generally very prosperous institutions, and despite all the drawbacks of monastic life, monks could usually be confident that they could eat regularly and to a high standard. However, by law, medieval people were required to observe three “fast days” a week: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. They observed much more during times of religious observances, such as Lent.
The word “quick” does not apply here in the modern sense. During these specific days, one only had to abstain from meat and dairy products. Fish and vegetables were fine. Amazingly, some monks missed so much meat on fast days that they came up with a way around the system: they recategorized some meat products as fish! There is evidence that beaver tails and rabbit fetuses were eaten during times of fasting. A group of monks in France even started to gobble up the local puffins![7]
3 The art
We owe much to our robed brothers. Monasteries were incredible places to learn, and monks (as well as their sisters in the nunneries) spent a great deal of time and effort preserving, copying, and writing books and manuscripts. Thanks to them, many classics by Cicero, Aristotle and Virgil have been preserved. Free from the constant struggle to find food and with the great advantage of being literate, these men had the time and tools to make great art. We can still see their imaginative flair in the illuminated manuscripts that have survived and in the choral music composed during the Middle Ages.
In fact, monasteries were often the only places where books were kept. Books were very precious and precious objects. It is no coincidence that monasteries were a prime target during the Viking raids that took place in Europe up to the 11th century. Monks may have taken a vow of poverty, but the institutions themselves were filthy rich, and it seems many knew this.[8]
2 Jobs
In addition to your day-to-day obligations for church services, learning, and charitable giving, you may also be given a specific area of responsibility at the monastery. The ‘big cheese’, of course, was the abbot – and you probably wouldn’t get that job unless you were very, very lucky.
The abbot mainly maintained contacts with the outside world and was the ‘face’ of the institution for the wider community. Next in the chain of command was the prior, who led the monks. He appointed a steward, who looked after the monastery’s finances, and a cellar master, who supervised the food and drink shops. The chaplain was responsible for caring for the poor and needy in the community, and the cantor led the choir. The verger made sure the church was tidy and the services ran smoothly.[9]
Sounds exhausting!
1 Stylish clothes
When you picture a monk, you probably picture a man dressed in brown robes, with sandals on his feet and rosaries in his hand. Robes even came in many different colors and depended on the order you belonged to.
The Benedictine order wore black and eventually became known as “the Black Monks.” The Carthusian order wore white. The Capuchin monks in Italy wore brown robes with a long pointed hood – from these monks the word cappuccino is derived![10]