MONASTIC ARCHITECTURE CHAPTER I MONASTIC ARCHITECTURE: ITS ORIGIN The origin of monastic architecture is of no greater antiquity than the fourth century of the Christian era. The hermits and anchorites of the earliest period made their habitation in the caves and deserts of the Thebaïd; their sole monument is the record of their virtues, which have outlived any buildings they may have raised during their years of solitude. But the first Christians who banded themselves together under a common rule, and discarded anchoritism for the cenobitic life, marked their worldly pilgrimage by monuments, traces of which are still to be found in historic records or fragmentary remains. The history of abbey churches is identical with that of cathedrals.[43] The architectural evolutions and transformations which succeeded each other in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries manifested themselves in both. Like the cathedrals, the abbey churches were the creation of monkish architects, and were carried out either under their immediate direction or that of their pupils. [43] See Part I., "Religious Architecture." But a kindred field of study offers itself in the abbeys themselves, their organisation and adaptation to the domestic needs of their be-frocked inmates. [Illustration: 132. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. CLOISTER (THIRTEENTH CENTURY. FROM A DRAWING BY ED. CORROYER)] Monastic institutions date from the Roman era. The first abbeys were those established in France in the fourth century, by St. Hilary of Poitiers and St. Martin of Tours. These religious associations or corporations, which eventually became so powerful, by reason not only of their numbers, but of the spirit which animated them, must be reckoned as among the most beneficent forces of the Middle Ages. Even from the philosophical side alone of the religious rule under which they flourished, by virtue of which enlightened men wielded supreme power, they were admirable institutions. To instance one among many, the so-called _Rule_ of St. Benedict is in itself a monument, the basis of which is _discipline_, the coping-stone _labour_. These are principles of undying excellence, for they are the expression of eternal truths. And from them our modern economists, who so justly exalt the system of co-operation, might even in these latter days draw inspiration as useful and as fruitful as that by which men were guided in the days of Benedict. Three great intellectual centres shed their light on the first centuries of the Middle Ages. These were Lérins, Ireland, and Monte Casino. Their most brilliant time was from the fourth century to the reign of Charlemagne, by which period they may be said to have prepared the way for successive evolutions of human knowledge, by assiduous cultivation of the sciences and arts, more especially architecture, in accordance with the immutable laws of development and progress.