The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

Isidore‟s description shows a community that utilised heavily agricultural production,
for there is mention of viticulture and the planting and sowing of crops. The presence of
wine in monasteries is confirmed elsewhere. 78 Linked to this, Isidore also mentions
threshing, and elsewhere confirms that the grinding of corn and baking of bread was a
monastic activity. 79 The fact that Isidore‟s description was comparable to practices in other
monasteries is suggested by the Common Rule, which, when talking about children, states: “a
pistrino et coquinarum uice excusentur et ab agro et duro labore quieti uacentur”. 80
Earlier on in his monastic rule, Isidore had mentioned a “hortulus”, and the gardener
here is also given responsibility for apiculture. The hortulus, the home of bees and seedlings
and an area that Isidore had previously linked physically to the cloister, 81 is presumably in
contrast to the agri, which were the location of open farmlands outside of the monastery. It is
also in these agri that one might expect the plethora of animals Isidore refers to, amongst
them sheep, pigs and mules, which could be used both for manual work and meat. Isidore‟s
mention of “lana et linum” also suggests the use of sheep for making textiles in particular.
The rearing of animals seems to have been widespread, since it is mentioned also in
the Rule of Fructuosus and the Common Rule. Valerius of Bierzo also mentions that one
monastery lived in fear of cattle raids. 82 Apart from clothing, animals also provided food,
including dairy products. The Common Rule suggests that these constituted an important
78 Lives of the Fathers of Merida 2.10.
79 Rule of Isidore 21, “Ars autem pistoria ad laicos pertinebit; ipsi enim triticum purgent; ipsi ex more
molant; massam tantum idem monachi conficiant et panem sibi propriis minibus ipsi faciant”.
80 Common Rule 10.
81 Rule of Isidore 1, “Monasterii autem munitio tantum ianuam secus habebit et unum posticum per
qua eatur ad hortum”.
82 Ordo quaerimoniae 9.
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