Meals were taken in the refectory.
Outside this was the Lavatorium, a row of washbasins with running water, so that the monks could was before meals. |
Meals were eaten in silence, while one of the monks read aloud from the Rule of St. Benedict or from the life of a saint. |
The Rule said that monks should eat vegetarian food only, but by the 15th century, many abbeys allowed meat. |
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