Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/780

* MONABCHY. 702 MONASTIC ART. and distractions, as was llie case in Poland (q.v. ). Constitutional nioiiarchy may be in its origin elective, or conil)ine both systems, as when one family is disinlieiiteil and the sceptre de- clared hereditary in the hands of another under certain conditions, as occurred in England in IGSS. See Uoverxment; King; Repibuc. MONAS. See Monad. MONASTERY (Lat. monasterium, from Gk. liova)s, moiuislvs, solitary man, monk, from jioi/a^tiv, munazein, to dwell alone, from juiioj, Monoi single). The generic name of the resi- dence of any body of men (or even, though more rarely, of women) bound by monastic vows. In its strict application, it is confined to the houses of monks proi)erly so called, but is frequently used of the establishments of the mendicant and more modern orders. The older monasteries were divided into two great classes, abbeys and pri- ories. The former name was given only to the important or mother houses, governed by an abbot, who was commonly assisted by a prior, sub-prior, and other functionaries. An abbey al- ways inclutled a church, and the English word minster, still uiiplied to churches no longer part of a in»nastic establishment, had its origin in the Latin momisleiiiim. A priory supposed a less extensive and less numerous conniiunity. It was governed by a prior, and was originally subject to the jurisdiction of an abbey. This was the Benedictine rule; but in other orders, such as the Carthusian, the title of prior was uniformly used instead of abbot. In the military orders the names commandery and preccptory were used instead of abbey and jjriory. The name cloister is sometimes applied to the whole monastery, considered as an inclosed place; the term is also used, in a narrower sense, to designate the ar- caded ambulatory which runs around tlie iiuier court of the buildings, lielow the officials men- tioned above, the ordinary monks were generally divided into two great classes: choir brothers (frequently, in later times almost universally, in holy orders), so called because they were required and by their education qualified to take part in the singing of the choir olliccs, and lay brothers, who. instead of this duty, had the household cares of the comnuinity. For the principles of monastic life and the history of its development, see MoN- ASTICISM : and, for the important part played by monasteries in the growth of architecture and its kindri'd arts, see Monastic Art. MONASTERY, TnE. A novel by Sir Walter Scott I 1820). It is a story of the sixteenth cen- tury, of the days of Murray, the Hegent, and had for its sequel i'lif Abbot. It was not so siccess- ful as most of Scott's works, partly from the supernatural element in the appearance of the White Lady of .venal. MONASTIC ART. The art peculiar to the monastic orders. In the development of (Miris- tian art monasticisni was at times the determin- ing cause. The Knxilinn and other groups of monks in the East during the entire Middle Ages: the fSrnrdictincs in the West from the eighth to the eleventh century; the Cistrrrinm during the twelfth; the Franriscnns and Do- minirnti.i. especially in Italy, during the thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries, produced a large proportion of the works of art of those periods. The influence of tliesc urders was seldom exer- cised on the material side of the various arts, but more generally and radically on the choice and treatment of subject. Uasilian Abt. The monks of the Order of Saint Basil were the best organized and most numerous of the monastic aggregations in the East, and their influence upon Christian art was the most important produced by Eastern nionas- ticism. Oriental monasteries cannot compare with the largest in the West; but, on the other hand, study of them is more interesting, because so many mure remain comparatively intact and are of so early a date. The groxips in the Egj'p- tian Desert, for example, date mainly from the fourth and fifth centuries, and some of those in Old Cairo are not much later. The usual type is an immense inclosure surrounded by a high wall, like that around an Egy|)tian temple. Within the court the monks' cells are built against the inner eilge of this wall, leaving the central space free for two or three churches, a large rcl'eclory, a strong watch tower which contains the treasury and library. Xext in age come the monasteries of the cities of Central Syria (fifth and sixth centuries), with a connuon cloister. Scattered over Syria and Palestine, beginning with .Justini- an's famous monastery of Saint Laba. on Mount Sinai, are monastic estal)lishmcnts of the Syrian monks which rivaled those of Egypt. They have been very little studied. But the period suc- ceeding the Iconoclastic movement is represented by some monasteries at Constantinople (e.g. Saint .lohn Stoudios), Saloniki, Cliios. Daphne, and Saint Luke in Greece, and especially by those of the Holy Jlountain. Mount Athos, the centre of Hellenic monasticisni from the eleventh century to the present day. The general plan of the" ilount Athos monasteries was similar to that of the Egyptians, with the ditlerence that a better organization had luoiight. The separate monasteries were dotted over the mountain, each in its inclosing wall. Their churches, treasuries, frescoes, and manu.scripts have been carefully stud- ied : they form one of the most interesting groups remaining from the iliddle Ages. Some of the buildings are as early as the tenth and eleventh centuries, with mosaic pavements, decorative sculptures and mosaics, but the frescoes are all much later. The most interesting group in Thes- saly are the famous monasteries of Meteora, which the visitor can reach only by being hauled in a basket to the top of a high precipitous rock. Here the l)uildings are nut as old as at Mount Athos. In the strong Byzantine revival unch'r Basil the Macedonian and his successors (ninth and tenth centuries), the monks jilayed an im- portant part as colonists. Traces of their monas- teries and hundreds of their anchoret ic caves with Bvzantine frescoes are found, for cNample. in Ca- labria, .pulia. and other parts of Southern Italy. Before thin, in the eighth century, the Icono- clastic persecutions had driven to Italy many Basilian iiKinks, who as painters could no longer l>ractiee their art safely in the East. They gave the strongly Byzantine tinge to the art. especial- ly the painting and decorative sculpture of the Roman school, which thence spread over the rest of I'll rope. There were over twenty (J reek mon- asteries in Rome, large and small, bi'fore the eleventh century. That of (Jrottafcrrata. near Rome, became the greatest representative of the Basilians in the West outside of Southern Italy,