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12/7/2015

Good habits...

7 Comments

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PicturePraise the Lord... my new habit. © Christopher Monk 2015.
Once in a while an Anglo-Saxon monk needs a new habit.  According to the Benedictine Rule, he's allowed both a winter-weight one and a summer version, which can actually be an old threadbare one. 

Not one for excess, I've finally got around to getting a new habit (and linen under tunic and trousers) after living forty plus years in my monastery.  Admittedly, blessed readers, I have had a few changes of clothing in that time: you didn't expect me to still be in the clothes I had as a seven-year-old oblate, did you? 

Being a trans-historical monk, I managed to find a twenty-first century craftsman to produce my garb for me.  So a great big thank you to Aidan Campbell for exercising one of his many talents in providing me with an excellent fitting outfit. 

Remarkably, he was able to work from only a set of measurements and a couple of manuscript images.  Please enjoy, beloved, the results of his labours: 


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My instructions to Aidan Campbell. These did not appear on the original manuscript, which is from the eleventh-century Arundel Psalter: British Library, Arundel 155 (Canterbury, 1012-1023), fol. 10r. Image PUBLIC DOMAIN: click on it to go to source.
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Please, Saint Benedict, may I have a new habit? The monk-scribe Eadui Basan on his knees before the author of the Benedict Rule. British Library, Arundel 155, fol. 133r. Image PUBLIC DOMAIN: click on it to go to source.
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The Anglo-Saxon Monk and an authentic eleventh-century patio heater. © Christopher Monk 2015
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The cameraman was rather shocked by this: apologies. © Christopher Monk 2015
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It's back-breaking work for the Anglo-Saxon Monk. © Christopher Monk 2015
Let us know what you think of the new look Anglo-Saxon Monk. 
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It's all too much! © Christopher Monk 2015

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7 Comments
Carol W
13/7/2015 12:33:34 pm

Absolutely Fabulous Darling !! So retro chic!! I suspect the linen undergarments protect against the scratchy wool- 10th century sheep wool I think may not have the "comfort" of 21st C fabric softeners- I've used "natural" wools - those produced by "traditional" methods - and it's like working with barbed wire sometimes! Certainly you are blessed for your brave penitential endurance of the mortification of the flesh!!

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Chris *The Anglo-Saxon Mok
14/7/2015 06:11:21 am

Thanks, Carol. The linen certainly helps to counter the itching. There are worse things I could do as penance... perhaps SHOULD do!

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Patricia Bracewell link
23/7/2015 02:06:29 pm

Monkish, verily. I wonder if they ever had to put patches at their knees. I hope you're not going to go so far as to submit to the annual bleeding. (Did the Anglo-Saxons do that?)

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Chris *The Anglo-Saxon Monk
24/7/2015 08:42:42 am

I'm sure there was plenty of patching that went on... and not just for knees. I bet there was some kind of moth/bug that enjoyed Anglo-Saxon wool too!

As for bloodletting... not my thing. It's hard to say how extensively it was practiced in Anglo-Saxon England. I know about continental texts called customaries, I think, that specify regular bloodletting to maintain monks' good health (and keep the heat of desire at bay, tut, tut), but I would need to re-read my Benedictine Rule to check to see if it was a requirement of all Benedictine monks, and therefore if I'm being neglectful.

Certainly there are plenty of Anglo-Latin prognostic texts that mention the good and bad days for bloodletting, and there may be one or two that actually give more advice on the practice.

You know this means I will have to do a blog post on the subject now!

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April
6/7/2022 03:08:28 am

I am searching for a pattern so I can make a fellow pastor a St Francis Habit. Is this similar to your habit?

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Christopher Monk
6/7/2022 07:00:05 pm

Hello. Based on the contemporary portrait shown here in this Wikipedia entry on Franciscans https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciscans#/media/File%3AStFrancis_part.jpg, I would suggest the cowl is detachable from the tunic, whereas it appears as part of the whole habit in Anglo-Saxon art work. I hope that helps.

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L
8/8/2024 10:07:56 pm

Foolishly, I never realised medieval monks wore long underthings with their habits! Much more sanitary and less chilly.

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