Lavatorium
{{for|the toilet facilities of a monastery|Reredorter}}
File:Gloucester Cathedral lavatory.JPG]]
A lavatorium (plural lavatoria), also anglicised as laver and lavatory, was the communal washing area in a monastery, particularly in medieval abbeys and cathedral cloisters. Monks were required to wash before meals; thus the lavatorium was typically adjacent to the refectory.
Description
File:Much Wenlock, priory latrines - geograph.org.uk - 1627227.jpg]]
All monastic orders required handwashing before meals. A lavatorium was therefore provided near the refectory,[https://books.google.com/books?id=tuk-AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22A+small+building+in+a+monastery,+in+which+the+monks+washed+their+hands+before+and+aftera+repast.+%22+An+Illustrated+Dictionary+of+Words+Used+in+Art+and+Archaeology%22&pg=PA191 "Lavatorium"], John William Mollett, An Illustrated Dictionary of Words Used in Art and Archæology: Explaining Terms Frequently Used in Works on Architecture, Arms, Bronzes, Christian Art, Colour, Costume, Decoration, Devices, Emblems, Heraldry, Lace, Personal Ornaments, Pottery, Painting, Sculpture, &c, with their Derivations, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1883, {{OCLC|4423466}}, p. 191. either against one wall of the cloister with a long trench basin, or as a free-standing building with a circular or octagonal basin in the centre.J. Patrick Greene, Medieval Monasteries, Archaeology of medieval Britain, Leicester/New York: Leicester University, 1992, {{ISBN|9780718512965}}, repr. Continuum Studies in Medieval History, London: Continuum, 2005, {{ISBN|9780826478856}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oWYPiRBkkicC&dq=lavatorium+monastic&pg=PA8 pp. 8–9], [https://books.google.com/books?id=oWYPiRBkkicC&dq=laver+monastery&pg=PA116 116]. An example of the first type, dating to the 14th century, survives at Gloucester Cathedral, and has a towel cupboard nearby. At Durham Cathedral, the lavatorium was a square building with a circular basin which was replaced in 1432–33 with one of marble.Greene, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oWYPiRBkkicC&dq=laver+monastery&pg=PA116 p. 116]. At Wenlock Priory, the octagonal lavatorium, now ruined, was decorated with late-12th-century carved panels including one of Jesus with the apostles at the Sea of Galilee.Greene, p. 116 and Figure 51, p. 117.Lucinda Lambton, Temples of Convenience and Chambers of Delight, New York: St. Martin's, 1995, p. 9, plate p. 31. There were sometimes taps;John E. Crowley, The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities and Design in Early Modern Britain and Early America, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 2001, {{ISBN|9780801864377}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Igomu7mUbIC&dq=Medieval+Monasteries+lavatorium+clothes&pg=PA6 p. 6]. at Wenlock Priory, the water spouted from animal heads mounted on the central pillar.Lambton, caption p. 30.See Frederick Herbert Crossley, The English Abbey: Its Life and Work in the Middle Ages, 1935, repr. Huddersfield: Jeremy Mills, 2007, {{ISBN|9781905217878}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UHFzGrPfXvQC&dq=%22The+English+Abbey%22+lavatory&pg=PA51-IA16 p. 51] for more English abbeys where there are ruins of lavatoria of both types.
Running water was supplied in lead pipes, and where there were taps they were bronze, although in most cases in England metal fittings have been removed since the dissolution of the monasteries.Greene, pp. 115–16. The monks' towels were kept nearby in cupboards called aumbries (derived from the Latin armarium or from Medieval Latin almarium).Francis Aidan Gasquet, English Monastic Life, The Antiquary's Books, London: Methuen, 1904, {{OCLC|4014493}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ux5AAAAAYAAJ&dq=English+monastic+life+aumbries&pg=PA19 p. 19].[https://books.google.com/books?id=w00sAAAAIAAJ&dq=English+monastic+life+aumbries&pg=PA107 "aumbry"], The Catholic Encyclopedia ed. Charles George Herbermann, Edward A. Pace, et al., New York: Encyclopedia Press, 1913, {{OCLC|1391341}}, Volume 2 Assize – Brownr, p. 107. The Refectorian was responsible for keeping the lavatorium clean and ensuring it contained sand and a whetstone for the monks to sharpen their knives, and for changing the towels twice a week.Gasquet, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ux5AAAAAYAAJ&dq=English+monastic+life+supply+of+sand+and+a+whetstone&pg=PA78 pp. 78–79].
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Gallery
File:Carving,_Wenlock_Priory.jpg|Jesus calling the fishermen; 12th-century carving from the lavatorium at Wenlock Priory, Shropshire
File:Carved arcade in the Lavatorium - geograph.org.uk - 1226728.jpg|Arcade in the former lavatorium, Kirkham Priory, North Yorkshire (12th–13th century)
File:SintBaafsGent 27-07-2008 16-52-24.JPG|12th-century lavatorium at the Abbey of St Bavo, Ghent, Belgium
File:Thoronet Lavabo.JPG|12th-century lavatorium at Thoronet Abbey in Provence, France
File:Rueda - Claustro - Lavatorio con sala de calefacción al fondo.jpg|13th-century lavatorium at Rueda Abbey, Aragon, Spain
File:Maulbronn Kloster Kreuzgang Brunnenhaus 5.jpg|14th-century lavatorium at Maulbronn Monastery, Germany, exterior
File:Maulbronn Kloster Kreuzgang Brunnenhaus Innen Brunnen 2.jpg|Maulbronn Monastery lavatorium, interior
File:Caen abbayeauxdames lavatorium est.JPG|Lavatorium at Abbaye aux Dames in Caen, France
See also
{{Portal|Christianity}}