An introduction to American history, European beginnings . by beautifully carved pillars. Thefloor was paved with big flagstones, and along the wallswere benches and seats for the comfort of the monks,who spent much of their time there. The rest of the cjuadrangle was either a plot of greengrass, or was planted with flowers and shrubs, with per-haps a plashing fountain in the middle. Here, on thesunny side, the monks might often be seen reading, orteaching a group of boys from the neighborhood toread or to chant the Church service. Besides the various other buildings in which themonks ate and
An introduction to American history, European beginnings . by beautifully carved pillars. Thefloor was paved with big flagstones, and along the wallswere benches and seats for the comfort of the monks,who spent much of their time there. The rest of the cjuadrangle was either a plot of greengrass, or was planted with flowers and shrubs, with per-haps a plashing fountain in the middle. Here, on thesunny side, the monks might often be seen reading, orteaching a group of boys from the neighborhood toread or to chant the Church service. Besides the various other buildings in which themonks ate and slept and carried on their occupations,there was one called the scriptorium, where an importantpart of the work done by the monks was performed. • THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 205 The scriptorium, as its name implies (derived from theLatin scribo, to write ), was a writing room. The printingpress had not yet been invented, and all books and docu-ments had to be copied by hand. The only persons whowere sufficientlv educated to do this, and who had the. A Monastery Kitchen, Marieneukg, Germany time for it, were the monks. Besides the continual copy-ing of books, some of the monasteries kept a sort ofchronicle, running on year after year, of the chief eventsof their time. Then, as the monasteries owned greatestates, with numbers of peasants and tenants rentingvarious plots of land, large and small, there were manydeeds and business contracts to be drawn up and ac-counts to be kept. 2o6 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY Many of the books copied by the monks of this ageare very beautiful. The black letters, in the style calledGothic, are wonderfully clear and distinct. On the mar-gins of the pages there are often charming borders offlowers and birds, vines and leaves and little animals. ^^
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