All Topics  
Chapter house

 
Chapter House

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Chapter house
 
 
  Topics Chapter house Topic Home

A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room attached to a cathedral
Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
 or collegiate church
Collegiate church

In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canon ; a non-monastic, or secular clergy community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a Dean or Provost ....
 in which meetings are held. They can also be found in medieval monasteries
Monastery

Monastery , a term derived from the Greek language word ???ast?????, neut. of ???ast????? - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of Monk, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in Cenobium or alone ....
.

When part of a monastery, the chapter house is generally located on the eastern wing of the cloister
Cloister

A cloister is a covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church usually indicates that it is part of a monastic foundation....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Chapter house'
Start a new discussion about 'Chapter house'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Lincoln Cathedral Chapterhouse
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room attached to a cathedral
Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
 or collegiate church
Collegiate church

In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canon ; a non-monastic, or secular clergy community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a Dean or Provost ....
 in which meetings are held. They can also be found in medieval monasteries
Monastery

Monastery , a term derived from the Greek language word ???ast?????, neut. of ???ast????? - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of Monk, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in Cenobium or alone ....
.

When part of a monastery, the chapter house is generally located on the eastern wing of the cloister
Cloister

A cloister is a covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church usually indicates that it is part of a monastic foundation....
. It comprises a large space, in order to hold all the monk
Monk

A Monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the unconditioning of mind and body in favor of the realization of one's true nature, and does so living either alone or with any number of like-minded people, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose....
s of the monastery, and is often highly ornamented. In some Romanesque
Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which evolved into the Gothic architecture style beginning in the 12th century....
 or Gothic
Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
 monasteries, the entrance to the chapter house constitutes a veritable façade
Facade

A facade or fa?ade is generally one side of the exterior of a building, especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. The Word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
 in miniature, with a door surrounded by highly decorated archivolts
Archivolt

An archivolt is an ornamental molding or band following the curve of the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental Molding s surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a rectangular opening....
.

The community of monks would meet in the chapter house with the abbot
Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery....
 to "hold chapter
Chapter (religion)

Chapter designates certain corporate ecclesiology bodies in the Catholic Church, Anglicanism and Nordic Lutheranism churches.The word is said to be derived from the Chapter of the rule book: it is a custom under the Rule of Saint Benedict that monks gather daily for a meeting to discuss monastery business, hear a sermon or lecture, or rec...
"; that is, to read aloud from the rule book and bible and discuss matters concerning the monastery and its inhabitants. The meetings generally took place in the morning, after mass
Mass

In physical science, mass refers to the degree of acceleration a body acquires when subject to a force: bodies with greater mass are accelerated less by the same force....
; the monks would sit along the length of the walls in strict age-order. At the end of the meeting the monks would publicly confess their sins or denounce others' (anonymously).

The side of the cloister on which the chapter house was located was usually the first to be constructed; it would have begun to be built shortly after the church’s frame was erected.

When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter

In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a body of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy in the bishop?s seat, to govern the diocese in his stead....
 meets there. When attached to a collegiate church, the dean
Dean (religion)

A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church....
, prebendaries
Prebendary

A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglicanism or Roman Catholic Church cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon . Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral....
 and canon
Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christianity clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule .Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergyhouse or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct or close of a cathedral and ordering his life according to the orders or rules of the church....
s of the college meet there.

Examples of chapter houses can been seen at:
  • Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze
    Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze

    The Basilica di Santa Croce is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 metres south east of the Santa Maria del Fiore....
  • Beauchief Abbey
    Beauchief Abbey

    Beauchief Abbey is a former abbey in Sheffield, England....
  • Elgin Cathedral
    Elgin Cathedral

    Elgin Cathedral sometimes referred to as The Lantern of the North is an historic ruin in Elgin, Moray, north-east Scotland. The cathedras of the early bishop of Moray alternated between the churches of Birnie Kirk, Kineddar and Spynie Palace....
  • Westminster Abbey
    Westminster Abbey

    The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to popularly and informally as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic architecture Church , in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster....
  • Exeter Cathedral
    Exeter Cathedral

    Exeter Cathedral, full name Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, is an Anglican cathedral in the city status in the United Kingdom of Exeter, Devon, in the South West England of England and the seat of the bishop of Exeter....
  • Gloucester Cathedral
    Gloucester Cathedral

    Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Undivided Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river....
  • Lincoln Cathedral
    Lincoln Cathedral

    Lincoln Cathedral is a historic Anglican cathedral in Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England and seat of the Diocese of Lincoln in the Church of England....
  • Margam Abbey
    Margam Abbey

    Margam Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located in the village of Margam, a suburb of modern Port Talbot in Wales....
  • Rievaulx Abbey
    Rievaulx Abbey

    Rievaulx Abbey is a former Cistercians abbey, headed by the Abbot of Rievaulx, located in the small village of Rievaulx , near Helmsley in North Yorkshire, England....
  • Salisbury Cathedral
    Salisbury Cathedral

    building_name= Salisbury Cathedral|year_built=|year_end=|year_highest =|location= Salisbury, England|antenna_spire= 123m/404ft*|construction_period = 1220-1258 ...
  • Southwell Minster
    Southwell Minster

    Southwell Minster is a Minster and cathedral, in the England town of Southwell, Nottinghamshire in Nottinghamshire, six miles away from Newark-on-Trent and thirteen miles from Mansfield....
  • York Minster
    York Minster

    York Minster is a Gothic architecture cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral....
  • Wachock Abbey
    Cistercians Abbey in Wachock

    Cistercians Abbey in Wachock is a monastery in Wachock, Poland. Located near the larger town of Starachowice in the Swietokrzyskie Mountains of south-eastern Poland, Wachock is best known for the architecture of this Roman Catholic site....