The researchFaculty ofwritten Arts and down Philosophy in this thesis was conducted with the permission and financial support of the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg HolyPart 123 -vows, BroaderFrom... into etic theworldly perspective tonebulous emic... manners concept to case inof culturepoint Monastic space, consumer behaviour and social identity in the Cistercian nunnery of Clairefontaine The author and the promotor give the authorisation to consult and to copy parts of this work for personal use only. Every other use is subject to the copyright laws. Permission to reproduce any material contained in this work in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, should be obtained from the author. Promoter Prof. dr. Wim De Clercq Department of Archaeology Thesis presented for the degree of Davy Herremans Doctor of Archaeology Promotor:Dean Prof. dr. WimProf. Dedr. MarcClercq Boone ISBN: 978-94-9179-4Vice-chancellor2013 Prof. dr. Paul Van Cauwenberge The researchFaculty written of Arts downand Philosophyin this thesis was conducted with the permission and financial support of the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg Holy vows, worldly manners Monastic space, consumption practices and social identity in the Cistercian nunnery of Clairefontaine Part 123 - BroaderFrom... into etic the perspective tonebulous emic... concept to case inof culturepoint The author and the promotor give the authorisation to consult and to copy parts of this work for personal use only. Every other use is subject to the copyright laws. Permission to reproduce and material contained in this work in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, should be obtained from the author. Promotor Prof. dr. Wim De Clercq Department of Archaeology Thesis presented for the degree of Davy Herremans Doctor of Archaeology Promotor:Dean Prof. dr. WimProf. Dedr. MarcClercq Boone ISBN: 978-94-9179-4Vice-chancellor2013 Prof. dr. Paul Van Cauwenberge The researchFaculty written of Arts downand Philosophyin this thesis was conducted with the permission and financial support of the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg Holy vows, worldly manners Monastic space, consumption practices and social identity in the Cistercian nunnery of Clairefontaine Part 123 - BroaderFrom... into etic the perspective tonebulous emic... concept to case inof culturepoint The author and the promotor give the authorisation to consult and to copy parts of this work for personal use only. Every other use is subject to the copyright laws. Permission to reproduce and material contained in this work in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, should be obtained from the author. Promotor Prof. dr. Wim De Clercq Department of Archaeology Thesis presented for the degree of Davy Herremans Doctor of Archaeology Promotor:Dean Prof. dr. WimProf. Dedr. MarcClercq Boone ISBN: 978-94-9179-4Vice-chancellor2013 Prof. dr. Paul Van Cauwenberge Acknowledgements The research would have not come into being without the support and efforts of many relatives, friends and colleagues. Therefore I wish to thank sincerely all individuals who have supported me during the time of my research. Johnny De Meulemeester at Clairefontaine during the summer of 2006, instructing his staff- members on site (Davy Herremans) First and foremost, my thoughts go to the late Johnny De Meulemeester, professor in medieval archaeology at Ghent University who was for me and for many other students much more than an inspiring mentor. He had a great belief and trust in my skills as a 5 researcher and, as initial promoter of my thesis, he guided me on my first steps into the academic world. I wish to dedicate this thesis to the memory of Johnny, knowing that he would probably agree with me on much of the work, but would certainly have had some objections or critical remarks on other parts. Just as much I would like to thank my two adoptive promoters, Prof. dr. Jean Bourgeois and Prof. dr. Wim De Clercq. The first was found willing to take up the unexpected role of temporary promoter after the death of Johnny De Meulemeester in 2009. He gave me advice when possible and showed me the way through academic bureaucracy. I’m grateful to Wim De Clercq for many reasons. Despite the advanced stage of the research project, he was thankfully willing to take over promotorship in 2011 shortly after his appointment as professor of Historical Archaeology, which was a duty he performed with much enthusiasm and energy: the inspiring talks we had undoubtedly shaped my views on material culture and contributed fundamentally to the content of this thesis. Several people outside Ghent University contributed to the realization of the research project. From the Département du Patrimoine de la Région walonne I wish to thank Jean Plumier and especially Philippe Mignot for the supporting my research. From the Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art Luxembourg I wish to thank Christina Bis-Worch who supported the project application and provided me with work space during my six-month stay at the museum. Many colleagues contributed to the research through discussion and collaboration. I wish to thank Gertjan Plets for joining me on my journey into social space. I would like to give a special word of thanks to Prof. dr. Thomas Coomans de Brachène, teacher and researcher at the Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning and of the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation of the Catholic University of Leuven. The conversations and discussions we had on the architecture of Clairefontaine improved this research in many ways. I also wish to highlight the fruitful cooperation with the team of Koen Janssens of the Department of Chemistry of Antwerp University on the Clairefontaine glass collection. More specifically I wish to thank Simone Cagno and Anke Vincke. I’m also grateful to Quentin Goffette, Wim van Neer, Mona Court- Picon, Sindonie Preiss and Aurelie Salavert of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences for their work on the botanical and animal remains. In this context I also want to thank Isabelle Bernard of the asbl Millen who provided me with transcriptions of the 18th century receipts of the abbey. I also want to pay my respect to all scholars, students and others involved in the Clairefontaine fieldwork who paved the road for this research: André Matthijs, Jean- Michel Poisson, Terry Barry, Roland Budd, Helen Butler, Wouter D’Haese, Jorge Eiroa, Christophe Larbalastrier, Reem Shqour, Michel Siebrand, An Van Den Bremt, Katrien Van 6 Iseghem, Yves Bar, Roland Bar, Christophe Titeux and Jean-Luc Bar. Many more remain anonymous. I want to praise the members of the asbl Amanoclair for their tremendous efforts in maintaining the site of Clairefontaine. Many thanks to two members in particular: Jean-Pierre Mandy and David Colling who were always prepared to lend a helping hand. Numerous people have read parts of this volume to improve the quality of the English and / or the manuscript lay-out. Many thanks to Erick Robinson, Helen Butler, Russell Palmer, Dries Herremans, Ken Utsi, Anke Herremans and Thomas Van de Velde. Just as much I would like to thank Gitte Callaert and Frederic Lamsens for helping me with the final lay-out This research was improved by the moral support of, and substantive talks with, many colleagues and friends (often there is only a thin line between both) who I wish to thank here. As the danger exists in forgetting someone, I choose not to individually name them. A special word of thanks to my family and in particular my parents and grandparents who always supported me in all my choices. Last but not at least, I wish to thank my girlfriend Annelies and my daughter Liza for their patience and understanding during the times when I was either not around or I was physically present but my thoughts were somewhere far away in the past. Davy Herremans, May 2013 7 8 Preface Of funding and supervisors… This research is funded by the Aides à la Formation-Recherche - Grant Scheme of the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg who granted a 48 months mandate as PhD – Fellow at the Department of Archaeology at the Ghent University (reference : TR-PHD BRF06/80). During the first 24 months of the project (01/04/2007-31-03/2009), research was conducted at 100%. From 01/04/2009-31/03/2013 research activities (50%) were combined with a position as teaching assistant at Department of Archaeology at Ghent University. During this period a compulsory Doctoral Training Programme was completed. The research project was set up as a close collaboration between the Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art Luxembourg (Christina Bis-Worch) and the Department of Archaeology of Ghent University (Johnny De Meulemeester), with the latter providing the role of Host Institution. Research was initiated under the supervision of the late Prof. dr. Johnny De Meulemeester, lecturer in medieval archaeology at Ghent University. After his early and unfortunate death (17/01/2009) the supervision of the research project was taken over temporarily by Prof. dr. Jean Bourgeois, head of the Department of Archaeology. On 01/10/2011, after a long vacancy, Prof. dr. Wim de Clercq was appointed as successor of Johnny De Meulemeester at the Department of Archaeology and was willing to take over the supervision of the on-going research project The Département du Patrimoine de la Région walonne supported research on the Clairefontaine find collection and the Walloon district provided additional funding for the study of the animal and plant remains. 9 Less is more: transforming research directions The initial project proposal focussed on the etic analysis and comparative study of the finds of three monastic sites in the Luxembourgian area. Two out of the three monasteries were located in the city centre of Luxembourg (GDL) and were excavated by the Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art Luxembourg.