Around the cloister: spaces for monks and spaces for laymen in the Early Medieval monasteries

This paper presents some considerations on the organisation of the monastic space in western countries, a main topic in the current debate on monasticism. The uses of the area within the enclosure, but not included in the sacred core (the abbatial church and the living quarters reserved to the monastic community), are the object of this research. It deals with a particular space, where several categories of people, very different in their status – monks, servants, dependants, visitors, pilgrims/devotees and, generally speaking, “laymen” –, meet each other and operate together. Many functions are associated to this very complex area, e.g. hospitality, crafts, permanent residence, burial, sometimes economical and commercial activities. Both written and archaeological sources allow us to understand the uses of this particular in-between space and its transformations in the Early Middle Ages. The article covers a vast geographical area, with the specific intention of comparing different contexts that are often considered individually, but almost never addressed in the specialist literature, in a comparative perspective. Reference is made to the most recent studies on the subject, particularly in the archaeological field, and the Italian situation is also included, which is still decidedly little investigated as regards the theme of functional spaces outside the cloister, in a European framework.