Regulant Court

First Appearance and Context

The court is presented as the setting for penance: a cell opens directly onto an inner walkway that circles the space. From here, bell-ropes can be seen moving during rites and sound carries up from the chancel, while activity in the meadow is visible through a narrow exterior window. The court is also used as a thoroughfare when avout with permitted business ascend toward the upper works.

Description and Layout

An interior level of the Mynster at the Concent of Saunt Edhar, the Regulant Court is associated with the inward-facing authority of the Warden Regulant. A parapeted inner walkway makes a full circuit, trafficked by lesser hierarchs on errands. Doorless penance cells open directly onto this circuit through pointed arches; on the outer side, narrow windows look over the meadow. The court lies beneath the Fendant Court, and the overhanging works above limit the view of the sky from this level.

Access and Movement

• Approach includes a small interior bridge controlled by a portcullis; the inner circuit leads round to a stair that rises toward the Fendant Court.
• During a period of tightened controls, the portcullis was kept down, the buttress stair was inaccessible, and the upper works were off limits. The bells could still be reached via a ladder up from the Fendant level that dead‑ended at a maintenance room below the carillon, without permitting further ascent.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Domain of the Warden Regulant: staff circulate here and check on those assigned Book penances; cells at this level are used for copying, memorizing, and examination tasks.
• Paired wardens’ courts: the Regulant Court connects vertically to the Fendant Court, associated with the Warden Fendant; avout move between these levels when permitted.
• Before formal observances, the court can become crowded yet quiet as Regulant staff move between nearby offices in preparation.

Relationships

• Office: administered under the authority of the Warden Regulant.
• Current holder: Suur Trestanas has been seen moving between offices on this level and clarifying expected conduct during exceptional rites (see Suur Trestanas).
• Counterpart: complements the outward‑facing watch centered on the Warden Fendant above.

Current Status

Active and in use as the Warden Regulant’s court within the Mynster. At the time described, access upward was under strict control: the portcullis stood locked and movement beyond the bell level was restricted.