Benedictine and Franciscan Monks: Forgotten Inventors

  

Usually, when we think of religious orders, these things come to mind: a cloister, an abbey, a library, prayer in solitude, detachment from the world…

All this in the cradle of a period defined as "dark" by historiography up to Romanticism: the Middle Ages. In this period the monks - especially the Benedictines of the various orders - were the custodians of Judeo-Christian but also classical culture, since thanks to their patient and meticulous transcriptions as scribes we have received almost all of the Greek and Latin works which we study today. Today we are grateful to them first of all for this.

 However, many do not know that many products - material and immaterial - that we consume and use every day, come from monks who, using their ingenuity nourished by a profound spirituality, invented them due to practical necessities.

  Personally, I find it amazing!

  Let's begin…

 The heavy plow

 

Plows were a primary agricultural tool in the Middle Ages, because they allowed the soil to be broken up and mixed to make it fertile and capable of absorbing water. However, when the soil was too hard, the traditional plow could not function properly. Here the Cistercian monks, or Benedictines of strict observance, intervened, adding the plowshare - a blade that sinks obliquely into the ground - the wheels and the tethers to attach it to oxen and horses. It was very important because it allowed greater productivity and a significant reduction in human effort.

 Beer 

  

  This time the protagonists are the Trappist monks, deriving from the Cistercian Benedictine order.

 Beer already existed in Mesopotamia about 4000 years ago under the name “sikaru” or "kasu", and was obtained from the fermentation of cereals and wheat.  However, it soon spread to ancient Egypt and neighboring areas, reaching Europe first with the Greeks and then with the Romans, who called it “cervisia” or “scythum”.

The Romans made it by fermenting barley, which grew in abundance in Italian territory.  However, it was not a refined drink, and in fact it was mainly drunk by the military because the fermentation had an antiseptic function, that is, it eliminated most of the bacteria from the water and made it drinkable.

 The Trappist monks innovated it by fermenting hops or barley malt, improving it to the point that it was bought by many sovereigns, especially from northern Europe.

 Even today, Trappist beer is considered an artisanal masterpiece! 

Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

 

The birth of this cheese, defined as the "king of Italian cheeses" in Boccaccio's Decameron, dates back to the early 1100s, and it is today a fixed food on the Italian table.

It was so called because it was first produced in a monastery between Reggio Emilia and Parma. The monks needed a type of cheese that would keep for a long time and would not lose its nutritional properties.

Some historians maintain that its birth is due to the Etruscans, but even if this were the case, we must thank the monks for passing down the recipe! 

Accounting

 

Portrait of Luca Pacioli (1495), attributed to Jacopo de' Barbari, national museum of Capodimonte

The modern accounting system that every business needs today, descends from the invention of Luca Pacioli: a Franciscan monk, mathematician and economist. 

 In the second half of the 15th century, in addition to writing treatises on arithmetic, geometry and divine proportions, he was the first to introduce double-entry accounting into the recording of financial transactions: assets and liabilities.

 Musical notes

 

 Musical notation was invented by the Benedictine monk and music theorist Guido d'Arezzo in the 11th century. 

Before him, monks were forced to make a great effort to read the "neumes", i.e. signs that imprecisely indicated raising or lowering the tone of the melody.

He thus invented the notes - which precisely indicated the tone and duration of the note, like today - and the pentagram.

He also gave a name to the notes, now used only in Italy, taking them from the first syllables of the first six verses of the hymn dedicated to Saint John, the famous patron saint of singers: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. 

 

Later the seventh note - si - was introduced, as an abbreviation of the Latin Sancte Ioannes (St. John) and the ut, not particularly melodic, was replaced by today's do. 

These are just a few of the monks' inventions that we still use today.

 And you? Did you already know any of them?

Today's Blogger

  I'm Luca Malagesi, a student in the 5th Liceo Classico. I have a deep passion for both mathematics and music, and I enjoy indulging in various hobbies, including reading books, listening to music, playing the flute, and even juggling with balls. I find great joy in sharing my interests with others, and I'm excited to contribute to this blog in the hopes of introducing you to new and beautiful discoveries.