The Premonstratensian regular canons, or White Canons, had as many as 35 houses in England, of which the most perfect remaining are those of Easby, Yorkshire, and Bayham, Sussex. The head house of the order in England was Welbeck. This order was a reformed branch of the Austin canons, founded, A.D. 1119, by Norbert (born at Xanten, on the Lower Rhine, c. 1080) at Prémontré, a secluded marshy valley in the forest of Coucy, in the diocese of Laon. The order spread widely. Even in the founder's lifetime it possessed houses in Syria and Pales tine. It long maintained its rigid austerity, till in the course of years wealth impaired its discipline, and its members sank into indolence and luxury. The Premonstratensians were brought to England shortly after A.D. 1140, and were first settled at Newhouse, in Lincolnshire, near the Humber. The ground-plan of Easby Abbey, owing to its situation on the edge of the steeply-sloping banks of a river, is singularly irregular. The cloister is duly placed on the south side of the church, and the chief buildings occupy their usual positions round it. But the cloister garth, as at Chichester, is not rectangular, and all the surrounding buildings are thus made to sprawl in a very awkward fashion. The church follows the plan adopted by the Austin canons in their northern abbeys, and has only one aisle to the nave—that to the north; while the choir is long, narrow, and aisleless. Each transept has an aisle to the east, forming three chapels.
The church at Bayham was destitute of aisle either to nave or choir. The latter terminated in a three-sided apse. This church is remarkable for its exceeding narrowness in proportion to its length. Extending in longitudinal dimensions 257 feet, it is not more than 25 feet broad. To adopt the words of Mr Beresford Hope—"Stern Premonstratensian canons wanted no congregations, and cared for no processions; therefore they built their church like a long room."
The Carthusian order, on its establishment by St Bruno, about A.D. 1084, developed a greatly modified form and arrangement of a monastic institution. The principle of this order, which combined the cœnobitic with the solitary life, demanded the erection of buildings on a novel plan. Phis plan, which was first adopted by St Bruno and his twelve companions at the original institution at Chartreux, near Grenoble, was maintained in all the Carthusian establishments throughout Europe, even after the ascetic severity of the order had been to some extent relaxed, and the primitive simplicity of their buildings had been ex changed for the magnificence of decoration which characterises such foundations as the Certosas of Pavia and Florence. According to the rule of St Bruno, all the members of a Carthusian brotherhood lived in the most absolute solitude and silence. Each occupied a small detached cottage, standing by itself in a small garden surrounded by high walls and connected by a common corridor or cloister. In these cottages or cells a Carthusian monk passed his time in the strictest asceticism, only leaving his solitary dwelling to attend the services of the Church, except on certain days when the brotherhood assembled in the refectory.
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Carthusian Monastery of Clermont.
A. Church. B. Monks' Choir. C. Prior's Garden. D. Great Cloister. E. Chapter-House. F. Passage. G. Prior's Lodgings. H. Dovecot. I. Cells. K. Chapel of Pontgibaud. L. Sacristy. M. Chapel. N. Stables. O. Gateway. P. Guest-Chambers. Q. Barns and Granaries. R. Watch Towers. S. Little Cloister. T. Bakehouse. V. Kitchen. X. Refectory. Y. Cemetery. Z. Prison. a. Cell of Sub-prior. b. Garden of do.