§ 67.
In the later middle ages the Cistercian
plan underwent some modification. The disappearance
of lay brothers from the convents caused the
disuse of a large part of the western range, which at
Hayles was converted into the abbot's lodging. In
some instances, as at Furness and Hayles, new processional
doorways were made into the church from
the west walk of the cloister, so that the course of
the Sunday procession no longer differed from the
Benedictine usage. At Waverley, on the other hand,
after the destruction of the old cellarer's building,
the procession still returned to the church outside
the cloister, through a narrow passage between the
cloister and an outer wall on the west. A further
approximation to Benedictine use is seen in the
fifteenth-century rebuilding of the frater at Cleeve
upon a plan parallel to the church and adjacent
cloister walk. Relaxation of discipline and the
diminished number of monks allowed for more
individual privacy: thus at Jervaulx some bays of the
sub-dorter were cut off to form small rooms, each
with its own fireplace. An important change was
introduced in some houses owing to the removal of
restrictions upon flesh-diet, which went so far that in
the fifteenth century flesh was eaten on three days a
week
[12]. Hitherto a special flesh-frater or misericord
(
misericordia, i.e. indulgence) for monks undergoing
bleeding had been provided in connexion with the
infirmary buildings and kitchen. It now became
convenient to place the misericord in closer communication
with the cloister, and at Ford and Kirkstall
this was done by dividing the frater into an
upper and lower floor, the lower floor being probably
used as the misericord. A new and smaller two-storied
frater was built at Furness. In such cases
meat was never cooked in the old kitchen, but a special
meat-kitchen was provided; and the south end of the
destroyed frater at Furness may have been kept for
this purpose. At Jervaulx a new misericord was built
at right angles to the east end of the frater, and a
meat-kitchen was made about the same time on the
other side of the sub-dorter.
