Blurb:

The essence of monasticism is regulation: a prescribed rule is followed. The essence of a monastic settlement is also regulation: monastic buildings follow a consistent spatial pattern. The submission of individuals to regulated life is intrinsically interesting, and is made more interesting by evidence of the strategies – the sign language in silent orders, for example – that monastics adopted to survive, even subvert, regulation. This chapter considers the concept and reality of regulated community life through the lens of anthropological theory.