CHARTERHOUSE
634
CHARTIER
Pierre Charron, De la Sagesxr (Paris, 1632); Ad. France,
in Dictionnaire des sciences philosophiques ; G. Lanson in La
Grande Encyclopedic
Charles B. Schrantz.
Charterhouse. — From the fact that St. Bruno founded the first house of his austere order at Char- treux. near Grenoble, the institution has ever since been known by the name of that place. By lingual corruption, just as each house of that order is known in Spain as cartuja and in Italy as certosa, so in Eng- land the corruption of Chartreux took the form of charterhouse. The first English house of the order — the first charterhouse — was founded by King Henry II at Witham in Somersetshire, in 1181 (with a cell on Mendip) ; the last was the celebrated charterhouse of Sheen in Surrey, founded in 1414 by King Henry V. The other charterhouses were those of Hethorpe,
the large cloister, within which is generally found
the cemetery. From this cloister open out the
monks' cells, each of which is a complete dwelling by
itself. Besides the garden allotted to each recluse,
which he cultivates according to his taste, he has a
corridor where he may walk in the recreation hour.
On the ground-floor a workroom stocked with tools
affords him the necessary relaxation from his spirit-
ual exercises, which fill up a considerable portion
of the day. Above are two rooms: one, for sleeping,
furnished with a board covered with a blanket : the
other containing a stall and prie-Dieu, a work-table,
bookshelf, two chairs, and a "refectory" set in the
window recess.
The Carthusian's habit is white; his food consists of bread, fruit, herbs, and vegetables, varied on feast days by fish and cheese; once a week, at least, the
&.
i Entrance. B Small CloBti
C Offices. D Kitchen.
E Prior'sCell. F Refectorj
O Church. H SacrUtS
I Clock Tower.
K Chapter Boose.
L Honks' Cells,
M Breat Cloister ^^^
X Fountain.^*
or Locus Dei, in Gloucestershire (1222), removed to
Hintcn in Somersetshire (1227); Beauvale, or Gresley
Park, Nottinghamshire ( 1343); St. Anne's near Cov-
entry, Warwickshire (13S1); Kingston-upon-Hull,
Yorks, East Riding (1378) ; and Mountgrace, Yorks,
North Riding (1390); but the most renowned of these
houses, because of the fate meted out to its prior,
Blessed John Houghton, in 1535, and to its com-
munity by Henry VIII, was thai of London. It was
founded in 1371 by Sir Walter Manny, one of
Edward the Third's most illustrious knights.
As all Carthusian houses follow the same plan in the main outlines of their disposition, though there may be variations in detail, one description stands for all. There are two court-yards, an outer and an inner. The outer one is Banked by long buildings containing the cells of the lay brethren, and such offices as the kitchen, pantry, bakehouse, forge, and carpenters' shop. Adjoining these buildings is the guest-house. The inner court-yard gives on to the chapter house and the refectory, which is divided into two portions, our for the choir-monks, the other for the lay brethren. At the further end is the ehurch, which has no aisles, and, lik<' the refectory,
is divided into two puts. Beyond the church is
Carthusian fasts on bread, water, and salt ; flesh he
never touches, even when ill. The chief feature of
the life in a charterhouse is its complete solitude,
which has served to preserve intact in all its austerity
the original spirit of the order; so that the saying that
it has never been reformed because it never grew
lax is justified — "Cartusia nunquam reformats, quia
nunquam deformata." See i
Tractates Statutorum Ordinis Cartusiensis pro Noviciis, etc. (Mi. [i Arm! . VI. pp v, \u ; Gasqi et, Enoitsh Monastic Ltfe < I.iniilim, l'.I oil , liioii; Hi.miriks. The London Charterhoiae (London, issy); Thompson, A History of the Somerset Cartlui- sians (London, 1895).
Henry Norbert Birt. Chartier, Alain, a French poet, b. about 1390.
at Baycu\;d. between 113(1 and 1410. It is believed
he studied at the University of Paris, as did his brother Guillaume, Bishop of Paris, who died in 1172. Alain was considered an eminent writer during his life, and a century later he was still re- garded l>\ die best men of letters as a "noble poet and orator" (.lean Leinaire de Beiges' 1 , and as "the father of French eloquence" (.lean Bouchet). He is better known to us by the famous story of Margaret of Scotland, who is said to have kissed his lips while
