Issue 3(35)/2013

doi:10.37190/arc (doi:10.5277/arc)

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Articles

Kateřina Charvátová - Landed property of the Cistercian houses of Bohemia 1142–1420

doi:10.5277/arc130301

This is a paper on landed property of Bohemian monasteries of the Cistercian order in the Middle Ages, from their beginnings up to the epoch of the Hussite wars which completely changed the property situation of the Bohemian houses. Between 1142 and 1357, the kingdom of Bohemia saw the foundation of ten abbeys of the white monks. In view of the emergence and development of monastic landholdings, a major role apparently fell to the chronological range of establishment of individual houses in relation to the main phase of medieval landscape-assarting and -cultivation activities. In Bohemia, this process, which substantially changed the landscapes of the duchy and later kingdom, was situated between the last decades of the 12th and the first decades of the 14th century. Foundations of the earliest houses of the Order preceded this upsurge of activities, but most of the Cistercian abbeys constituted, in one way or another, its integral component. Only the very latest house of the white monks emerged after the termination of this intensive settlement process, which, in the course of the “long 13th century”, covered the entire Bohemia. 12th-century donations to Cistercian abbeys show beyond all doubt that in terms of the property transferred to them, they fell short of complying with economic demands of the Order. All the foundations were based not on landholdings cultivated by manual labour of the monastery incumbents, but on the perception of revenues from singular villages. This related even to the earliest foundations of the Order which sprang up in the lifetime of Bernard of Clairvaux. The example of donations to the abbeys shows clearly to what extent the customs and habits of the land hosting the Order establishments infl uenced the material sustenance of the new foundations. Cistercian monks received the same kind of material support as other ecclesiastical institutions of Bohemia, not that enjoyed by the Order houses in western Europe. The 13th century saw a considerable growth of the extent of landed property of all monasteries, surpassing in its scale that of the earlier and later epochs. Though the expansion of particular monastic landholdings continued until the Hussite wars, all regular houses had to cope with an economic crisis beginning in the forties of 14th century, and climaxing at the beginning of 15th century. During the twenties of the 15th century, most of the Cistercian monasteries of Bohemia were conquered by the Hussites and went up in fl ames. The following secularization, acknowledged by king Sigismund mostly in 1420 and 1421, and confi rmed in writing in 1436–1437, deprived the Cistercians of most of their possessions, leasing them but tiny vestiges of their former landholdings.

Keywords:

    cistercian

    monastery

    bohemia

    middle-ages

Ks. Franciszek Wolnik - Landed property of the Cistercian houses of Bohemia 1142–1420

doi:10.5277/arc130302

In Rudy starting from the mid-13th century monks prayed and worked in accordance with the Benedictine rule ora et labora. In the course of time they built and developed a well prospering ‘industrial plant’ which constituted the basis of the abbey’s self-sufficiency. This article is a presentation of the initial endowment of the monastery, the course of colonization activities carried out by the monks and the monastery’s material development due to the dynamic success in agriculture, reasonably conducted forest management and broad industrial activities, including mines, forgery works, metallurgical plants and crafts such as distilleries and beekeeping. The Cistercians’ attitude to nature – well-worth imitating – was also discussed because in the areas that they exploited the natural environment was not damaged during the intensive economy managed by the monks. The Cistercians when necessary bought wood for the needs of the monastery and its economy in order not to destroy their own forests; they also stopped producing glass when they realised that its production led to the devastation of the environment and moreover, they created a rich network of roads. The Cistercians from Rudy left the environment practically intact. A few changes in the natural environment which they introduced skilfully blended in with the nature of the region.

Keywords:

    cistercians

    abbey

    agriculture

    economy

    ecology

Jolanta M. Marszalska - The Cistercian monastic granges in Szczyrzyc in the 17th to the 20th centuries as presented in the original inventories

doi:10.5277/arc130303

The Cistercian monastic economy in the Middle Ages and in the modern era was based on land farming and animal husbandry which provided for the current needs of each abbey. At the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries new forms of farmsteads – granges – began to develop in the Cistercian monasteries along with the increased settlement processes and organizational changes. The monastery economy in Szczyrzyc was mainly agricultural and included fields, meadows, pastures, gardens and orchards. The basic crops included: rye, wheat, barley, oat as well as millet. Furthermore, they grew calamus, buckwheat, vetch, clover, potatoes as well as hemp and hops. In the gardens they grew parsnip, nigella, horseradish, cabbage, carrot, parsley, broad bean, turnip, onion, beet and poppy as well as fruit trees such as apple, pear and plum. The main sources of information on the Cistercian economy in Szczyrzyc include the original 17th, 18th and 19th-century monastic inventories and many other documents, especially those regarding the modern era. Their analysis provides information about both the equipment of the granges, including necessary land farming machinery, and the land farming efficiency. Furthermore, the paper describes the changes regarding the farming land ownership in the Szczyrzyc abbey after 1945.

Keywords:

    szczyrzyc

    cistercians

    monastery

    economy

    granges

Małgorzata Milecka - Cistercian gardens – myth and reality

doi:10.5277/arc130304

A usable plan of the Cistercian monastery constitutes a specific spatial expression of the Rule of the Order. The White or the so called grey monks carried out this plan by choosing a place to build their abbeys by a river, surrounded by forests and wetlands, but characterised by good environmental conditions and potential possibilities of economic development. They consequently built their development into nature, which they extended as necessary and thus transformed the surrounding environment. A significant element of a Cistercian monastery development complex was constituted by gardens – building structures that complemented the development as regards its program and simultaneously permeated its space. The structure of garden spaces was an effect of implementing the Rule and although functions of the basic types of gardens were maintained until the times of dissolution of orders, their arrangements and locations within the monastery complexes underwent changes which was strictly connected with the usage of the entire complex space and its particular buildings and these, in turn, at times changed their functions and forms. This article was aimed at presenting the basic principles of garden arrangements and specifying briefly types of gardens that existed in Cistercian monasteries. It also included references to the still vital literature of the mediaeval garden heritage of Cistercian monasteries and a discussion of the problem of protecting the original connected with strictly Cistercian activities. We must bear in mind the fact that the evolution of the discussed complexes takes places all the time and the existing Cistercian and other orders monastery houses create modern gardens on the base of the former complexes, in accordance with their present needs, which frequently have little in common with the old arrangements. Today these places are quite often simply relaxation areas with numerous sport and recreation facilities built into green arrangements and other decorative components that are totally alien to the Cistercian tradition. With all the attractiveness of these ‘novelties’, it is extremely important that the monastery complexes within which the garden relics are preserved could transfer into the future the old traditions of the monastery garden that underwent a constant evolution as regards its functions and arrangement, but nonetheless throughout centuries was an important medium of symbolic content and religious aspects of life and moreover it constituted a significant record documenting the level of life, knowledge and first of all an attitude of man towards nature.

Keywords:

    abbey

    cistercians

    monastery-gardens

    landscape

Janusz Nowiński SDB - Gardens of the former Cistercian Abbey of the Virgin Mary and Saint Nicholas in Ląd

doi:10.5277/arc130305

Before the abolition in 1819 the Cistercian abbey in Ląd had three garden complexes: the monastic garden (conventual) – located on the south side of the monastery by the Warta River canal and on as island between the canal and the river-bed, the abbot’s garden – founded by the abbot’s palace in the second half of the 16th century, on the slope on the east side of monastery and the church, as well as a viridarium with a fountain in the monastic interior. After the abolition these gardens became devastated, while the biggest part of the abbot’s garden was incorporated into a grange which came into being at the beggining of the 19th century. In 1850, the church and the monastery in Ląd were taken over by the Capuchins who carried out a renovation of the whole complex and also a revival of its gardens. In the square in front of the church a park was founded at the time. A plan of the church and monastery in Ląd from about 1865 documents the location of the gardens and park after the abolition of the Capuchines’s monastery by the Tsarist government. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the abbot’s palace was pulled down as well as most of the monastic farm buildings. The Salesians, who came to Ląd in 1921, restored parts of the old gardens to their primary function. In 2008, due to the commission of the Administration of the Salesian Society Facilities of St. Adal bert Inspectorate there came into existence a conceptional project of revalorization and management of the park and gardens by the post-Cisterican abbey in Ląd by the Warta River. The authors of the project are Anetta Jarosińska-Krokowska and Janusz Nowiński. The project anticipates a new management and reconstruction of the old and present gardens by the monastery in Ląd assigning them for purposes of recreation, education and economic ones.

Keywords:

    ląd-by-the-warta-river

    gardens’-history

    cistercian-gardens

    cistercians

Aleksander Piwek - The old brewery of Oliwa Cistercians

doi:10.5277/arc130306

The facade of the former Cistercian church is linked with a wall which goes from the south. The wall contains niches and an entrance that manifest the former brewery and its décor. Research made by the author revealed that the building has been remodeled. In the first phase (13th c.–early 14th c.), the interior had a sequence of pillars in two rows. Later, in phase 2 (the thirteen sixties–3rd quarter of 14th c.) the south staircase of the facade was incorporated to the building. In phase 3 (1577), the interior was divided by brick walls to form smaller rooms. Another division of the interior took place in phase 4 (1824). On the ground floor, the central part comprised a big hall with a staircase. To the west and east of the hall, an inner corridor was formed. It enabled access to separate rooms. The lay-out of the first floor copied that of the ground floor. Phase 5 (1832–1833) included almost the entire demolition of the brewery. Only the west wall was retained. To the last, 6th phase, there belong repairs of the preserved but dilapidated parts of the wall.

Keywords:

    brewery

    cistercian

    monastery

    oliwa

Anna Galar - Following the route of Cistercians from Silesia to the General Chapter in Cîteaux in 1768

doi:10.5277/arc130307

Starting from the 12th century the Cistercian abbots had their meetings at General Chapters in Cîteaux – the mother of the Order. In the beginning, the Chapters were held each year but from the 17th century they were organised irregularly, in fact each time they were announced by Cîteaux abbots. A trip of more than 1000 km to Burgundy was also undertaken by abbots from the Cistercian monasteries situated in Silesia. Starting from the 17th century, we know the names and surnames of abbots and monks who were present at the sessions in Cîteaux. Travelling through Bohemia, German countries, Switzerland and France was an important experience. We are fortunate enough to be in possession of a unique account written by Bartłomiej Sedlak the Henryków professed monk who accompanied his abbot Konstanty Haschke as a secretary in the journey to the General Chapter in Cîteaux in 1768. They travelled along with Augustyn Renner, the abbot of the monastery in Rudy. This article constitutes a detailed discussion of the route of this journey indicating its particular places, i.e. towns, monasteries, churches as well as the residences of lay and church dignitaries that the Silesian Cistercians saw and visited on their way to and from Cîteaux. The route was presented on the map and in the itinerary in the form of the table including a detailed list of the visited places. An important question in this context is whether journeys to Cîteaux had any impact on the local monastic culture in the Polish lands and in Silesia. This sort of itinerary may be of some use to historians of architecture and art in their research on the local artistic and material culture of the Silesian Cistercian monasteries indicating some possible sources of inspiration or borrowings.

Keywords:

    cistercians

    general-chapter

    henryków

    cîteaux

    travels

Anna Galar - Abbaye de Grosbot sur les circuits patrimoniaux de Via Equidia Cisterciena

doi:10.5277/arc130308

Via Equidia c’est l’idée de découvrir «au rythme du pas du cheval» les paysages naturels et le patrimoine, une autre façon d’apprendre l’histoire. C’est un nouveau concept touristique pour: «pouvoir vivre ensemble le monde du cheval, le monde agricole, rural et urbain», un réseau de chemins équestres, composé de chemins déjà existants, à recenser, rétablir et revaloriser et de chemins à créer. L’association veut proposer plusieurs itinéraires à parcourir, en fonction du temps disponible, des niveaux d’équitation acquis et de l’intérêt pour le patrimoine. Le but du projet est également la restauration des activités liées au monde équin, redécouverte, préservation des métiers, des professions et des traditions et des lieux liés à la «plus belle conquête de l’Homme». Via Equidia envisage la mise en valeur et réutilisation des équipements anciens liés au monde du cheval (forges, auberges, relais) et la création des équipements spécifiques (stationnements, haltes de repos, abris, abreuvoirs, gués, sanitaires, signalétique) partagés par les cavaliers, les randonneurs et les cyclistes. Le projet est né dans le département de la Charente. Cependant, il est prévu d’étendre ces balades sur d’autres territoires. Les «circuits à thèmes» pourraient lier plusieurs départements français et d’autres pays d’Europe. Via Equidia Cisterciena est une proposition de «circuits à thèmes» en rapport avec les voyages le long des chemins empruntés par les convois cisterciens pour bâtir les nouvelles abbayes. La première étape proposée en Charente est l’abbaye de Grosbot. Deux circuits sont tracés pour découvrir l’abbaye et ses alentours.

Keywords:

    patrimoine

    histoire

    cisterciens

    chevaux

    tourisme

Krzysztof Woźniak - The Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Hajnówka and the Holy Cross Exaltation Orthodox Church in Jałówka

doi:10.5277/arc130309

The article presents the forms of architecturally outstanding churches The Holy Trinity Church in Hajnówka and the Holy Cross Exaltation Church in Jałówka. Both churches were designed by Professor Aleksander Grygorowicz. They are a rare example of a successful integration of tradition and contemporaneity which is often postulated in the literature on the subject. This integration is based on an entirely different design philosophy in each case. Built in a traditional and historicizing convention, the church in Jałówka contains contemporary elements made of reinforced concrete, clearly indicating the time of its construction. The modern church in Hajnówka constitutes a recognizable reinterpretation of the traditional crosswise and domed arrangement. Both objects are dissimilar in many more ways, and have been compared within this article. The churches stand on both sides of the line dividing the contemporary Orthodox church architecture into a traditional and a contemporary trend. Both churches answer constructively to the problem of designing a contemporary church (a very conservative sector of architecture), and prove that the use of traditional solutions does not have to mean culling from historical forms literally.

Keywords:

    ecclesiastical-architecture

    orthodox-church

    temple