Medieval Cistercian Blacksmithing

[JHCC]

While looking through the catalog of the college's Art Library for blacksmithing-related resources, I found an interesting honors thesis by 2017 graduate Jacob Bradley Roosa on "Sound and Silence in the Forge: Work, Space, and Communication in Early Cistercian Monasticism". I haven't read the whole thing yet, but the introduction is promising. For those who'd like to take a look, the text is online HERE.

(Seeing this, it struck me pretty hard to remember that ThomasPowers is gone. I think he would have enjoyed this, and I would have loved to send it to him.)

[Frosty]

Thank you John, I'm just a few pages in right now but am enjoying every bit.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I too miss Thomas, especially when I see something that he was interested in. Thank you John for this. It is a very interesting read and subject matter.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[Frosty]

It's hard to read articles like this without wishing for Thomas's take. 

Just a couple days ago while trying to figure this new computer out I ended up with posts from both Thomas and Glenn on my screen. It brought me to a full hard stop even though there wasn't a split second I thought they were new posts. 

It'll be some time before my feelings of loss will ease.

Frosty The Lucky.

[LarryFahnoe]

A fascinating read John, thank you for posting the reference. Peering through the veils of time with the help of folks who have made the effort to read earlier works and synthesize their own thoughts is an endeavor that seems the road less traveled these days. To sit down beside one who has & in due course has pondered the lives of ancient craftsmen was a gift. Brings to mind a couple of reflections.

First, the "noise" of everyday life and its impact upon craft, or really any work. How many times do I yield to the temptation to click on a link, or tune in to a song rather than training my mind's focus and energy upon something I'm working on? Many. My life is filled with such distractions & if that wasn't bad enough, then there is the tinnitus that further separates me from silence. The pleasure or satisfaction resulting from descending into the zone of focused effort is profound, but is often held at bay by the myriad distractions. For some, silence is a precursor to achievement.

Presumably (I have limited church history) the imperative for silence was to lay the groundwork for spiritual reflection and insight, but I can't help but wonder about additional motivations. I have no qualm nor quarrel with self discipline being used to further personal/spiritual growth and/or one's work, but as the author alludes, it also is effective for management and control of others. The honoring of the cellarer Gerard on one hand and the many rebellions by both monks and lay brothers on the other. The thesis touches on the economic magnitude of the hierarchy of their monasteries.

All good food for thought & I have to chuckle though as after reading the thesis, I still don't have a better sense of what distinguished the Cistercians from the Benedictines. Or for that matter the Jesuits who I have had a little more contact with. I wonder though, did Jacob go on to develop an interest in smithing, or was he already acquainted? I suspect the later.

--Larry

[JHCC]

Strictly speaking, the Cistercians were an offshoot of the Benedictines. Benedict of Nursia founded the Benedictine Order in the early 6th century, and the order experienced a number of reforms over its history, almost always by monks who thought that the observance of the Rule of St. Benedict had gotten excessively lax. (To be fair, it often had: many widowed nobles would retire to Benedictine monasteries, where in exchange for sizeable donations, they were basically provided with a relatively comfortable life for the rest of their days. The rules about work, prayer, silence, and fasting were often relaxed for these wealthy donors, and that laxity tended to spread to the other members of their communities.) The first substantial reform was the Cluniac reform of the early 10th century, and the Cistercian reform was an additional reform about a century later by monks who thought the Cluniac reforms hadn't gone far enough. The Cistercians experienced their own reform in the late 17th century, which resulted in the formation of the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance, better known as Trappists (of whom probably the best known was the 20th century monk and author Thomas Merton). The Benedictines, the Cistercians, and the Trappists all survive today as separate orders, with communities all over the world.

The Jesuits (formally, the Society of Jesus) were founded in the middle of the 16th century and differs from the orders of the Benedictine tradition by being more focused on pastoral care, education, and missionary work than on the earlier tradition of communal work and prayer (Ora et Labora, the motto of St. Benedict). They also differ from the various Benedictine orders in two significant ways: they are almost all ordained priests (monks are not necessarily ordained to the priesthood), and they are all men (the Benedictine, Cistercian, and Trappist orders all have both monks and nuns).

That's vastly oversimplified, but I hope it helps.

As for Jacob and his interest in smithing, I do not know, but I can probably find out. I can say that one of the current Curatorial Assistants at the college's Allen Memorial Art Museum has been over to my forge for a couple of introductory smithing lessons!

[LarryFahnoe]

Goodness John, thank you for taking the time to offer those summaries! They do indeed help; sometimes bite-sized tidbits are the perfect morsel that help to build the mental map. Neat also to have the connection to Thomas Merton, I'd most recently run into him referenced in James Douglas' "JFK And The Unspeakable", more roads to travel.

I would bet that the experience at your forge provided some interesting insights to the museum curator!

I'm inferring that you work at the College? It was decades ago now that I took the fork in the road away from academia & towards industry (a career in IT) and I still wonder if that was the best choice. Quite likely economically, but that isn't a good measure of a life's worth.

--Larry

[JHCC]

Yes, I am a major gift fundraiser in the Advancement Office. Good clean fun.

[Frosty]

Ahhhh, Larry. Anybody who doesn't reflect on past decisions is short a brick or perhaps sociopathic / psychopathic. 

Your last post was a good read John, it it added much to my "things to read, IF," resource bank.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Something that might interest you is the documentary "Into Great Silence", which profiles a Carthusian monastery in the French Alps. Carthusians are similar to the Trappists (although not themselves within the Benedictine tradition) and are extremely strict, rather like the Navy Seals of Roman Catholic monasticism.

Here's the trailer: 

 

[Frosty]

Thanks John. I'll watch when I find a site I don't have to join or give a CC#. I'm a little too fried at the moment to look very hard at the moment.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Will Brouwers]

Thank you John for sharing this! I just finished reading it! I am still in seminary, and one of the classes I have is called Work and Worship. It talks about how our Sunday morning worship and our weekday work have been separated. [religious content deleted]

Edited November 20, 2023 by Mod34
Religious content removed per TOS

[gewoon ik]

If you ever get over to Belgium and Nederlands, go to La Trappe. It is trapist monastry who does tours in the monastry and the brewing. They share nice details about their life and how things used to be and sometimes still are.

Oh and they have beer.

[JHCC]

There are a number of Trappist monasteries in the US, including one just down the road from where jlpservicesinc is building her blacksmithing school. 

There’s also a Carthusian monastery outside Manchester, Vermont, on the back side of Mount Equinox. They don’t take guests, but if you take the Sky Line Drive up the mountain (which they own), there’s a visitor’s center at the top with a little museum about the Carthusian life. Great views, too. 

[George N. M.]

There are a number of monastaries and abbies and other communities, both Roaman Catholic and Orthodox, in Colorado.  About 30 miles from here, off the highway between here and Ft. Colilins, CO is the Abbey of St. Walburga, a community of Benedictine nuns.  You can go there for a contemplative retreat.  They follow the Rule of St. Benedict and farm and raise livestock.  

GNM

[gewoon ik]

i was there for the beer, the tour was nice.

[Frosty]

There used to be a very interesting and I "think" unique monastery here in Wasilla many years ago. Father Engels Mild Winery. I don't remember the faith but he had the documents granting his facility monastery status. It was a self supporting one man operation, he sold milk wine and milk cheese. Both products of the same process. He gave tours and copious free samples, held services, performed weddings, etc. 

He was a charming and very friendly fellow and was always ready to give a tour and talk up his cheese, the wine was just a sideline, the cheese was just chock full of benefits! It was okay, had a consistency like very small curd cottage cheese but more stuck together (sticky?). HIs main talking point was how eating the cheese daily produced perfect stools it wouldn't constipate you but fixed the runs, no more farts, . . . PERFECT Stools! He could tell you why that was so important, you betcha!

Better still, the whole time Father Engels was telling you the stories he was filling your sample glass from a bota bag he always had over his shoulder.

Probably why I don't remember details like what faith the monastery represented. He was a wonderful guy and was in business there for 30+ of the years I've lived here. He passed about 20 years ago and LOTS of people showed up at his services. A much beloved local CHARACTER.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[JHCC]

A little internet research tells me that Fr. Emmett Engel was a Roman Catholic priest who believed that milk does not contain the fusil oils that cause a hangover and therefore that a milk-based wine was much better for you. He does seem like quite a character.

[Frosty]

Ayup, the last time I searched I didn't find much of anything but that's him. I found this and it covers him pretty well. I remember the no fusil oil claims too now. https://www.happymountain.net/essay_engel.htm

I didn't live in the valley, a couple friends and I were cruising and seeing the sights and his winery being in Big Lake explains why the site I thought was his in Wasilla never looked quite right.

Frosty The Lucky.