n of a
cloister as an essential portion of an ecclesiastical establishment for
the better discipline and instruction of the clerks. Peter of Blois
(_Serm._ 25) describes schools for the novices as being in the west
walk, and moral lectures delivered in that next the church. At
Canterbury the monks' school was in the western ambulatory, and it was
in the same walk that the novices were taught at Durham (Willis,
_Monastic Buildings of Canterbury_, p. 44; _Rites of Durham_, p. 71).
The other alleys, especially that next the church, were devoted to the
studies of the elder monks. The constitutions of Hildemar and Dunstan
enact that between the services of the church the brethren should sit in
the cloister and read theology. For this purpose small studies, known as
"carrols," i.e. a ring or enclosed space, were often found in the
recesses of the windows. Of this arrangement there are examples at
Gloucester, Chester and elsewhere. The use of these studies is thus
described in the _Rites of Durham_:--"In every wyndowe" in the north
alley "were iii pewes or carrells, where every one of the olde monkes
had his carrell severally by himselfe, that when they had dyned they dyd
resorte to that place of cloister, and there studyed upon their books,
every one in his carrell all the afternonne unto evensong tyme. This was
there exercise every daie." On the opposite wall were cupboards full of
books for the use of the students in the carrols. The cloister
arrangements at Canterbury were similar to those just described. New
studies were made by Prior De Estria in 1317, and Prior Selling
(1472-1494) glazed the south alley for the use of the studious brethren,
and constructed "the new framed contrivances, of late styled carrols"
(Willis, _Mon. Buildings_, p. 45). The cloisters were used not for study
only but also for recreation. The constitutions of Archbishop Lanfranc,
sect. 3, permitted the brethren to converse together there at certain
hours of the day. To maintain necessary discipline a special officer was
appointed under the title of _prior claustri_. The cloister was always
furnished with a stone bench running along the side. It was also
provided with a lavatory, usually adjacent to the refectory, but
sometimes standing in the central area, termed the cloister-garth, as at
Durham. The cloister-garth was used as a place of sepulture, as well as
the surrounding alleys. The cloister was in some few instances of two
stories, as at Old St