MONASTIC GARDENS 49 



walls of the feudal castles; who found solace for their 

 moral and physical sufferings within the great estab- 

 lishments, where all was well ordered, where prayers 

 and charity were never wanting. Religious houses 

 were the place of refuge for sick souls, for great repen- 

 tances, for hopes deceived, for work and meditation, for 

 feebleness and poverty, at the time when the first con- 

 dition of earthly existence was a strong arm and a shoul- 

 der capable of carrying a coat of mail." 



After the Norman Conquest, William and his fol- Norman 

 lowers brought with them, from across the Channel, new 

 styles in architecture for the castles and monasteries 

 which they established to promote the subjugation of 

 England. The rage for founding monasteries, then at 

 its height in Normandy, spread all over the conquered 

 country. William himself began this movement by 

 erecting and richly endowing several superb abbeys, 

 and many of his subjects followed his example. 



Again the Benedictine order was the first to flourish, Benedictine 

 and this time far more extensively than ever before. In 

 order to avoid any unnecessary contact with the outside 

 world, its rule prescribed that each community should 

 contain all the essentials of life within its precincts. 

 Since the flesh of no four-footed animal could be eaten, 

 the raising of fish and fowl was customary, while that 

 of vegetables was indispensable. Fish and duck ponds, 

 poultry yards, orchards, vineyards, kitchen and physic 



