a pulpit above them. Since no other words were allowed to be spoken, monks developed communicative gestures. Abbots and notable guests were honoured with a seat at the high table, while everyone else sat perpendicular to that in the order of seniority. This practice remained when some monasteries became universities after the first millennium, and can still be seen at Oxford University and Cambridge University. Monasteries were important contributors to the surrounding community. They were centres of intellectual progression and education. They welcomed aspiring priests to come and study and learn, allowing them even to challenge doctrine in dialogue with superiors. The earliest forms of musical notation are attributed to a monk named Notker of St Gall, and was spread to musicians throughout Europe by way of the interconnected monasteries. Since monasteries offered respite for weary pilgrim travellers, monks were obligated also to care for their injuries or emotional needs. Over time, lay people started to make pilgrimages to monasteries instead of just using them as a stopover. By this time, they had sizeable libraries that attracted learned tourists. Families would donate a son in return for blessings. During the plagues, monks helped to till the fields and provide food for the sick. A Warming House is a common part of a medieval monastery, where monks went to warm themselves. It was often the only room in the monastery where a fire was lit. Catholic A number of distinct monastic orders developed within Roman Catholicism: Camaldolese monks Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross, priests and brothers, all of whom live together like monks according to the Rule of St. Augustine; Carmelite hermits and Carmelite nuns (from the Ancient Observance and Discalced branch); Cistercian Order, with monks and nuns (both of the Original Observance and of the Trappist reform); Monks and Sisters of Bethlehem Order of Minims, founded by Francis of Paola Order of Saint Benedict, known as the Benedictine monks and nuns, founded by Benedict of Nursia with Scholastica, stresses manual labour in self-subsistent monasteries. See also: Cluniac Reforms; Order of Saint Claire, best known as the Poor Clares (of all the observances); Order of Saint Jerome, inspired by Jerome and Paula of Rome, known as the Hieronymite monks and nuns; Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, known as the Pauline Fathers; Order of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Sisters of