Everyday life at La Trappe under Armand-Jean de Ranc - David N. Bell

This is an annotated translation of the classicDescription de l'abbaye de La Trappe, the most important eye-witness account of life at the abbey of La Trappe under Armand-Jean de Ranc. The work includesa mapshowing the physical layout of the abbey and detailed discussions of the monks' daily life and practice. It was written by Andr Flibien des Avaux for Jeanne de Schomberg, duchess of Liancourt, in 1671, with a new and enlarged edition being published in 1689. That is the edition translated here, with copious notes to help the reader appreciate Flibien's account.