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Sacred Landscapes and the Early Medieval European Cloister

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Sacred Landscapes and the Early Medieval European Cloister Sacred Landscape and the Early Medieval European Cloister. Unity, Paradise, and the Cosmic Mountain Author(s): Mary W. Helms Source: Anthropos, Bd. 97, H. 2. (2002), pp. 435-453 Published by: Anthropos Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40466044 . Accessed: 29/07/2013 13:52 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Anthropos Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Anthropos. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 152.13.249.96 on Mon, 29 Jul 2013 13:52:20 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions § ANTHROPOS 97.2002:435-453 r'jT! _ Sacred Landscape and the Early Medieval European Cloister Unity,Paradise, and theCosmic Mountain Mary W. Helms Abstract. - The architecturalformat of the early medieval Impressiveevidence of the lattermay be found monastery,a widespread feature of the Western European both in the structuralforms and iconograph- landscape,is examinedfrom a cosmologicalperspective which ical details of individual or argues thatthe garden,known as the garth,at the centerof buildings comp- the cloister reconstructedthe firstthree days of creational lexes dedicatedto spiritualpurposes and in dis- paradiseas describedin Genesis and, therefore,constituted the tributionsof a numberof such constructions symboliccenter of the cloistercomplex. The monasteryis then throughouta geographical region where they may on furtherinterpreted as representativeof thecosmic mountain transformmere topography into sacralized land- whose summitparadise was believed to be situated.Outside its in which or cos- walls monasteriesas symbolicmountains anchored and defined scapes significantsupernatural the focal points of the medieval European sacred landscape. mologicalqualities and meaningsare tangiblyev- [Europe, symbolismof medievalmonasteries, garden as sacred idencedeither by particulargeographical features space, cosmicmountain, sacred landscape] or by the sitingof architecturalcomplexes with - relatedfeatures or connotationsor W. is a cultural anthro- landscape by Mary Helms, (Ph.D. 1967, Prof.) a combinationof both. pologistinterested in cosmology,cosmography, and political- ideological legitimationwho teaches in the Departmentof An- Impressiveevidence of thedeeply felt need to thropology,University of NorthCarolina at Greensboro,USA. relatethe vulnerabilities ofhuman society to wider Major publicationsinclude: Ulysses' Sail. An Ethnographic temporal/spatialdimensions through the creation Odyssey of Power, Knowledge, and Geographical Distance of someform of sacred can be found (Princeton 1988), Craft and the Kingly Ideal. Art, Trade, landscapes and Power (Austin 1993), and Access to Origins. Affines, in manyregions of theworld; to noteonly a few, Ancestors,and Aristocrats(Austin 1998). thenetworks of earthenmounds characteristic of pre-Columbianeastern North America, the numer- ous templecomplexes of the lowlandMaya, the It is a basic tenetof traditionalcosmologies that interrelatedoracle sanctuaries of theIbo of Nige- a givensociety, whatever its size and however ria,the sacred places where the mythic ancestors of it is politicallyor sociologicallydefined, cannot AustralianAboriginal tribes first emerged from the survivesolely on itsown terms but must constantly earth during the Dreaming,and the distributions reachout beyondthe borders of its communitiesof Neolithicchambered monuments in southern and politiesto linkits own orderto an orderbe- Wales are all good examplesof this practice.1 yonditself, that is to say,to the cosmos (Balandier 1970:101). Considered cross-culturally, themeans of thistask are and diverse. 1 Numerous sources describe the creation of sacred land- accomplishing many marked earthenmounds in easternNorth America Some are in ritualbehavior; scapes by expressedprimarily and by templepyramid complexes among the lowland Ma- manyare assistedand manifestedat leastin part ya; Cameron Wesson provides introductorydiscussion of by special naturaland/or architectural settings. both(1998). Ibo oracles are describedby Ottenberg(1958). This content downloaded from 152.13.249.96 on Mon, 29 Jul 2013 13:52:20 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 436 MaryW. Helms I would like to suggestthat late antiquityand scape as virtuallyblanketed with numerous para- especiallyearly medieval Western Europe offers disiacalabodes standing atop spiritualmountains anothercase in point.During this era2 the cultural- that,in theform of monasteries,dotted the land- ly createdlandscape increasingly came to include scapein all directions.To appreciatesuch imagery, theabodes of dedicatedChristian holy men (and however,we mustdevelop an understandingofthe women),growing numbers of whose habitations monasteryin such terms.It is the intentof this dottedboth towns and countryside.Most notable essayto do so by discussingsome of thegeneral of these were monasteries3in whichcenobitic symbolismcontained in the monasticcomplex monks,who renounced kith and kin, worldly prob- withparticular consideration of thecloister walks lemsand worldlypleasures and rewards, opted to and thecentral garden or garthat theheart of the live in communalhabitations well removedfrom monastery. theroutines of ordinarysecular life. To ordinarylaypersons living outside the mon- asterywalls, the boundedand hiddenenclosure The Monasteryand Its Environs verylikely was a mysteriousand hallowedplace filledwith spiritually rarefied souls; a spaceforbid- The groundsincorporated within an established dento all butthe initiated and the very privileged monasterycan be interpretedas constitutinga (see Fischer1990: 320; James1981: 41). To those carefullycrafted landscape in theirown rightin livingwithin, the particular organization of their whichsome locations were set aside and developed habitationpermitted a more refined identification to meetthe materialneeds of a communityof of space and place. Two of theseidentifications, religious men while other settings were dedicated both carrying"landscape" implications, are the to maintenanceof theirspiritual lives (see, for majorsubject of this essay: the ratherfamiliar example,Horn and Born 1979). It is the latter themeof thecloister garden or garthas paradise thatare of particular interest here, for these places and the relatedtheme, less considered,of the andbuildings were accorded the qualitative values cloistercomplex as sacred,even cosmic moun- and sometimeshoused the ritualsnecessary to tain.Ultimately, however, when expanded into a definethe monasteryas a wholeas a definitive perspectiveof the earlymedieval countryside at ideologicalcenter and a focalpoint in thebroader large,the cloister as paradiseand sacred mountain territorybeyond its walls. Inherentin thiswider encouragesus to thinkof the early medieval land- identificationwas recognitionof themonastery as a consecratedcenter where contact could be ef- fectedwith supernatural worlds beyond; a placeof Introductionto the sacred landscape of theAustralian Ab- connectionsand mediations between cosmological originescan be foundin Biernoff(1978) andalso in Tilley realmswhere sacred spaces were linked to the cos- (1994:37-48, see also chap.2 in general).Discussion of theNeolithic chambered monuments in southernWales is mos and whereliminal monks, while individually foundin Tilley(1994: parttwo). An introductionto the pursuingthe promise of an eternalspiritual life, entiresubject of sacredlandscapes can also be readily as a communityof holymen formally dedicated foundin Tilley(1994, esp. chap.1) and Wesson(1998: to theongoing liturgical praise of God (theopus 93-98). a of between 2 The overalltime period referenced in researchfor this Dei), composed point conjunction essay extendsapproximately from the 4th century up to heavenand earth,between God and humanityin the emergenceof the mendicantorders in the 13th,the general. periodwhen European monasticism developed and under- The importanceof such conjunctionsin ear- wentearly processes of standardization and reform. Within medieval and cannotbe thisextensive I ly cosmology theology period,however, focusparticularly on the for constituted of the monasticismofthe 8th to 12thcenturies. Broadly speaking, overemphasized, they part I am interestedin thetheology, cosmology, and monastic mysteryand joy of cosmologicalunity which life of WesternEurope prior to the theologicalchanges medievaltheology avidly sought to understand thatbegin to appearby the12th century and the monastic and celebrate."The universeis manifold,God is adjustmentsoccasioned by the emergence of the mendicant orders.See note4. simple;all thatis innumerable,infinitely varied, 3 The humbledwellings of solitaryhermits (e. g., Constable andmutable in theworld dissolves into the unity, 1988:239-264; Leyser 1984) and the gravesof saints simplicity,and tranquilityof God . Unityin (Brown1981), not to mentionthe wide distributionof multiplicityconstitutes one of the aspects of beauty shrinesand oratories where their holy relics were venerated inGod" 1969: see also Ladner werealso of thissacred (De Bruyne 139,77; (Geary1994), part landscapeof 1983: Not andthe
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