Benedictine monasteries, and the chronicles of Evesham have provided
him with some of his most valuable information. In addition to the
daily services which occupied much of their time, we find every member
of the community busy with some work specially entrusted to him. In a
well-regulated monastery idleness was impossible; the limited time
permitted for leisure was usually occupied by recreation, gardening
and bowls both being favourite pastimes. Of course writing and
illumination were in constant demand, and Dr. Jessop has pointed out
that in addition to the production of church service books, of music,
and educational work in connection with the school, "a small army of
writers" must have been needed in the "business department of the
scriptorium." The Benedictine rule would appear to have been framed
with the idea of giving full employment to every inmate of the
monastery.

Considering the wealth of the institution, consisting for the most
part in land, and the responsibilities consequently incurred, we are
not surprised to read that before the dissolution the Abbey of Evesham
contained eighty-nine monks and sixty-five servants. The property did
not all lie in the near neighbourhood. In the fifteenth century the
Abbey of Alcester came into the hands of the Monastery. At an earlier
period the Priory of Penwortham in Lancashire was granted to this
wealthy body, and in the time of William Rufus monks were sent to a
religious house at Odensee in the island of Fuenen, in the Baltic sea,
to instruct the members in the Evesham usage of the rule of Saint
Benedict. This Priory became a little later a cell of the great Abbey.

Life in the Monastery of Evesham seems to have been sustained at a
high standard throughout its long career. If all the "religious
houses" had kept true to their vows and aims as that at Evesham did we