MONASTIC GARDENS 



55 



purposes, or the simplest form of well, like the one 



9 



reproduced from an early manuscript ; at a later period 

 this was replaced by a more elaborate, carved stone well- 

 head, or a fountain of drinking water, which became 

 the most important architectural feature and ornament 

 of the courtyard, whether designed in the Gothic or 

 Renaissance style. The water 

 was drawn up in a bucket 

 suspended by a rope rolling on 

 a pulley ; this involved an iron 

 support to the pulley, which 

 was often ornamentally forged, 

 as appears in the illustration 

 of a well in the cloisters at 

 the Certosa near Florence. 



The plan of the ancient monastery of St. Gall in Plan of the 



monastic 



Switzerland, familiar to Charlemagne, still exists, and gardens at 



St. Gall. 



supplies much information as to the arrangement of a 

 large religious establishment belonging to the Bene- 

 dictines in the ninth century. Probably few altera- 

 tions were made, except in details, during the later 

 Middle Ages. Its name commemorates the Irish mis- 

 sionary before whom, at a still earlier time, " the 

 spirits of flood and fell fled wailing over the waters 

 of Lake Constance." The monastery was placed in a 

 valley, and the cultivated grounds within the walls 

 consisted of four divisions: the cloister-garth, the 



