Image Map
This image is from http://www.osb.org/osb.gen.bendct.html which was
created by Jerome Theisen.
This is a picture of St. Benedict in a monastery. There are a couple
of guesses on what he might be doing in this picture. He could have
just finished studying the book in his hand or he could have just finished
writing the rules for the monastery. The relationship between this image
of St. Benedict to the Chaucer's monk is that St. Benedict wrote the rules
of the monastery that the Monk chose to ignore.
In the Middle Ages monks wore
robes with hoods such as the St. Benedict is wearing here.
St. Benedict is holding a book
in his hand. This may be the book he used to write the monastery rules
or it may symbolize part of his rule: that monks should study.
These books symbolize the
part of the rules that monks should study everyday.