More on monasteries...

I drew some diagrams showing how monasteries grew from a collection of huts into something more elaborate. This first diagram shows what these early religious communities would look like:

This second diagram shows the basic layout for a typical medieval monastery, which has not really changed since. The main space had the largest chapel, the abbot's house, guesthouses for the important guests, and the dining hall. Later additions would be similar, but not as fancy. These additions would have smaller chapels, more housing, and many of the abbey's utlilitarian functions. The land surrounding the abbey would usually be farmland, often farmed by the monks themselves.

I think this one is considered the granddaddy of them all. This was the plan for Cluny Abbey in France (from my architecture textbook). You can see that closer to the main church were the cloisters that held the highest-ranking functions. The outlying cloisters were more for the day-to-day labor. I think this is interesting because they kept copying the same basic layout just about every time they added onto the complex.