The cloister in the landscape: Monastic architecture in England to 1174

The Cloister in the Landscape is a typological study which examines the establishment of the foursquare Carolingian cloister in England, the interaction of this pattern with indigenous traditions of monastic organization, and the role played by the cloister in the process of cultural assimilation during both the late Saxon and post-conquest eras. I suggest ways in which the cloister's resonance with earlier models would have reinforced the Benedictine project during the reforms of the tenth century. Further, I offer a new way of interpreting the dramatic Norman rebuilding programs of the monasteries of England in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. While old, venerated structures were demolished to make way for new, high-style buildings, I argue that the placement of the new buildings often emphasized or commemorated previously sacred ground, the cloister acting as a commemorative frame and a container for the potential power which lay in soil formerly associated with relics. I assert that the desire to honor previous buildings and, most especially, the former resting places of indigenous saints, may further explain the phenomenon of the north cloister, especially at male monasteries where such an arrangement was unusual. In addition to consolidating a wide range of functions into a practical and aesthetic whole, during its first two centuries in England the cloister also integrated a number of different traditions, fostering cultural transition and assimilation.