Life in a middle ages monastry.

A day in the life of a medieval monk

Early in the morning

Daybreak

8 O'Clock

10 O' clock

Ater dinner

End of the afternoon

by R Maufroid

Early in the morning

Brother Peter got up early, very early.... at about 2.am. He heard the bell and knew he had to go leave the dormitary, he took his prayer book, his candle and went to the church for the first service.

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Day break

After that, he went back to bed and had some rest until daybreak when he attended a second service. Next, he had a light breakfast made of bread and wine or ale. As he was eating, Brother Peter was not allowed to speak, he had to listen to a reading from the Bible,

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At 8'Oclock

Home

At about 8 o'clock. The abbot gave the monks the work for the day. If a monk had misbehaved, it was time for punishment. If they were late, if they fell asleep during services, if they broke something, if they sang the wrong words during Church, if they didn't respect the rules or if they were lazy, the monks were punished. What type of punishment? Well,a monk could be beaten, sometimes,he had to stay flat on the floor, sometimes the other monks stepped on him, he could also be isolated from the community.Brother Peter was rarely punished, he was a very good monk.Then, it was time for a little walk in the cloister.

At 10'Oclock

Home

At 10, the most important service took place with more singing and praying, At dinner time. Brother Peter walked to the refectory. During the meals, he didn't speak, he listened to more reading of the bible. His food was simple, he often had salt fish, bread and water, sometimes meat.

After dinner

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After dinner it was time to set to work: Gardening, growing herbs, taking care of the animals, farming, writing, copying manuscripts, cleaning, building, fishing, cooking, and making clothes.... The monks were never bored.

At the end of the afternoon, Brother Peter had to attend the 8th and last service of the day, then he had supper.. at 7 or 8 o'clock Bother Peter went to bed..

End of the day

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