Devotional life  |  The art of healing and skeletons

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The daily life

It is only too seldom that the daily life is described in words. Therefore the many small finds are important as they reflect the exciting and sometimes surprising aspects of the daily life in a monastery from the Middle Ages. The majority of the finds from the monastery’s daily life relate to food; cutlery and tableware. In the monastery the 30 monks lived on a special diet as both the intention and content of their food was regulated. In the rules of the Benedictines there is a description of how the day’s first meal is sufficient with two warm courses. In addition to these the monks should eat one pound of bread, but it is emphasized that with the exception of the very weak and the sick everyone must abstain from the enjoyment of meat from any four-legged creature. Thus a lot of poultry and fish were eaten in the monasteries.

 Finds of gaming pieces and dice show that life in the Monastery of Øm was not only serious. Games and play were not restricted to children alone, but could also provide a diversion from daily chores for adults, children and maybe even monks.

A large number of locks and keys have also been found in the monastery.
This is surprising as monks were meant to live a life of poverty and were not  allowed to own private things.                                    The only person needing keys was the cellar-master, a trusted and very important position

Another surprising collection of artefacts was the weapons. The exhibition includes swords, daggers and crossbow bolts.
The monasteries were meant to be peaceful societies but in some periods of the Middle Ages there was widespread violence and that was also reflected in monastic life.

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