The Cistercians large-scale water systems

Małgorzata Milecka

doi:10.5277/arc120102

Abstract

The Cistercian Order having in its rule soil cultivation as one of the main activities, developed in its congregation certain permanent principles regarding a choice of the monastery location and a manner in which it was arranged. Water constituted an inherent attribute of their layouts and it was used for economic and industrial purposes in a very skilful way. Throughout centuries, Cistercian streams and rivers, whose waters were captured in the form of canals, millstreams and ponds, constituted a source of water necessary to irrigate farmlands and gardens, to the proper work of ‘water crafts’ of mills, forges, breweries and fulleries. The article presents water systems in the territories administered by two abbeys, i.e. Cîteaux and Mogiła in order to show solutions in the range of large scale water management used by Cistercians. Transformations of the landscape which were made in the presented areas and their contemporary results should constitute the basis for further research on the influence of man’s activities on the natural environment, whereas historical systems and water devices should be researched at length and protected as cultural heritage of the white monks.

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The oldest Cistercian abbey of Cîteaux in France consti-

tutes an example of numerous explicit landscape transfor-

mations, which can be seen even today, brought about by

the redevelopment of water courses, including the con-

struction of ponds for stocking and water retention. The old

abbey’s ‘water heritage’ comprises, among other things,

about twelve flour mills situated mainly on the water

courses of Vogue and Cents-Fonts and about twenty ponds

0DáJRU]DWD0LOHFND*

The Cistercians large-scale water systems

Water was certainly the Cistercians’ element – an order

which, since Mediaeval times, realised its charisma by

soil cultivation in the territory of Europe and later also by

conducting business activity based on exploitation and

processing of natural resources. Since their beginnings,

the Cistercians were associated with rivers through the

characteristic of their congregation valley locations of

abbeys and as a consequence they were able to use water

for their activities in a particularly conscious manner [10].

Today, we can see a real technical genius of the Cistercians

by analysing the solutions of the large-scale water econo-

my which was developed on the territories managed by

this congregation in the past.

Until today, a technical and organisational sense of

the Cistercians can be seen in monumental work under-

taken in the abbeys in order to build water intakes, canals

and economic usage of water power. Monks widely

applied bold and – as for their times – modern technical

solutions in order to gain control over rivers, swamps

and fisheries. In the Cistercian abbeys – due to their

countryside locations (which even today are character-

ised by a low level of urbanisation) there are still many

relics of old water systems. Even though the abbeys as

architectural complexes were destroyed – ponds, dykes

and channels supplying water and its power to mills and

other workplaces – they are still a visible part of the

landscape. Researchers of the Cistercian heritage know

impressive water systems, e.g. the Aubazine water net-

work which drew water from a stream situated two kilo-

metres from the abbey, while the aqueduct supplying

water was partially grooved in the solid rock and par-

tially hung on big arches situated over ravines [1].

However, the scale of spatial changes that were intro-

duced by the Cistercians can be better assessed if we

analyse a long-term water economy of certain selected

abbeys and its present effects on the environment. At

present, these solutions resulted in the landscapes char-

acteristic of the congregation, whose identification and

comprehensive protection ought to be included in numer-

ous activities currently aimed at a harmonious process of

the formation of historical landscapes of Europe. In the

author’s opinion, these landscapes culturally unite our

continent showing strong and still present connections

based on the Christian tradition [8].

This article is an attempt to show the principles of

water systems formation as built by the Cistercians in

their developments on the example of the parent abbey of

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the water system is still functioning – in spite of the old

abbey destruction – we have a completely different situa-

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with mediaeval origins is still functioning today, but as

part of the city landscape because the development of

Kraków largely absorbed the agricultural landscape of

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in the past constituted an important element of the mon-

astery spatial economy. Comparing the characteristic

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nificant message concerning directions of transformations

of these two structures.

* Department of Landscape Design and Conservation, University of

Life Sciences in Lublin.

Cîteaux water system

DOI: 10.5277/arc120102

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The Cistercians large-scale water systems 15

Another equally interesting example of a comprehen-

sive water development can be encountered on the Polish

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kept in the abbey’s archives, activities of these monks

were also impressive and the effects of terrain transforma-

tions as regards water relations can still be seen in the

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historical information in this regard, it was not possible to

reconstruct the beginnings of these transformations, how-

ever, three important documents allowed for determining

the manners of open waters development within the

Cistercian premises in the 19

century

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of water systems formation is described in the three fol-

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deducted from the first of these plans: the monastery

which was then situated north of the Vistula was sur-

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fed water into the system of monastery ponds and gave

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vicinity of the monastery, the river flowed meridionally, it

formed three river beds with the middle one being the

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Nowadays, only scarce relics the old water system of

Cîteaux within the old monastery survived, however, the

analysis of an aerial photograph

that shows this area as

part of a larger territory proves that the old extensive sys-

tem of water connections is still functioning although not

in the same form as in the times when the whole area was

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spot, with a characteristic monotonous agricultural land-

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centre of which is situated on a little depression with rel-

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fields, which surround the complex, are used for cultivat-

ing various plants which are afterwards processed in the

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spite of significant modifications within the monastery

development, Cîteaux still retains features of a hermitage

with forests and fields around and a landscape that is

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tem that was built by the Cistercians on this territory is

a significant and extremely valuable element of this land-

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16 0DáJRU]DWD0LOHFND

performed the role of the canal accompanying the main

road leading to the monastery. This well-disciplined water

course directly serviced the whole development; it was

also the source of a minor canal that supplied water to the

seven ponds and the dykes situated north of the monas-

tery, which specifically complemented the complex of

monastery gardens. These ponds (now we can see only

their relics) had geometrical shapes, close to rectangles.

They were connected to the middle one, i.e. the natural

FXUUHQWRIWKH5LYHU'áXEQLDWKURXJKWKHRWKHUFDQDO±WKLV

solution enabled to regulate the water level between the

two courses of the little river. The aforementioned water-

course surrounding the monastery collected the wastes

from the buildings in the south and flowing under the

farm buildings (among other things, under the mill) sup-

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against the background of the water system (elaborated by author)

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wodnego (oprac. autorki)

7KH&LVWHUFLDQVODUJHVFDOHZDWHUV\VWHPV 17

plied its power to their devices. The plan shows in detail

crossings across the river in form of bridges, water struc-

tures (weirs) as well as mills; moreover, it precisely

presents flood-lands, meadows, dykes and swamps, giv-

ing in some cases their proper names. Thanks to the

analysis of this document, we gain detailed information

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south of the Cistercian premises – its contents are ponds,

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RIWKHDEEH\RQWKH5LYHU'áXEQLDDQGWKHHDVWHUQZDWHU-

course there are numerous dams and smaller canals.

This information is made even more detailed by the

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courses and water plants (Fig. 5). On the area shown in the

previous plan, we could see the whole system of open

waters and technical water devices. On the western border

of the area shown on the plan, we can see that from the

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ZDUGVIORZVEDFNLQWRWKH'áXEQLDULYHUZKLOHWKHRWKHUDUP

flows in parallel, a little to the south. The two water cours-

es intersect and change their structures at the point of the

railway line leading to the mill as follows: the watercourse

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continues flowing on the southern side through the

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called ‘lower’, supplies a rent mill, next the Cistercian mill

and afterwards the nail mill. Beyond the weir the river is

separated and flows in two arms: as a main stream (middle

water course) and the ‘upper’ watercourse. It is this water-

course that contains (according to the information on the

plan) one third of all the waters, flowing around the mon-

astery buildings and supplying the monastery mill, which

functions at the edge of the monastery premises as well as

the next mill (both given for lease by the Cistercians). All

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FRXUVHVJHWFRQQHFWHGEHORZWKHPRQDVWHU\:KHQDOOWKH

work entrusted to the water is done, all the devices in its

way put in motion and the terrains irrigated, the river finds

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The third plan (Fig. 6) presents a fragment of the

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tains a precise project of the river regulation and what

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the background of the water system (elaborated by author)

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wodnego (oprac. autorki)

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against the background of the water system (elaborated by author)

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XNáDGXZRGQHJRRSUDFDXWRUNL

18 0DáJRU]DWD0LOHFND

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References

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