800 Years a Barn — From Knights Templar to Modern Seedsman

The care of a farmer changes not a jot down the centuries

13th century Cressing Temple Barns. Left: Barley Barn; Right: Wheat Barn. Image by © Linda Acaster

One Pope’s over-enthusiasm for the protection of Christian shrines caused the raising of the Knights Templar military-religious order. Another Pope’s timidity caused its bloody demise.

In the intervening 193 years the “Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon” revitalised production of food and ancillaries across much of Europe, streamlined their marketing through local fairs and international trade, and inaugurated the first international banking system — all in an effort to fund its primary role of protecting Christian pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem.

Seal of the Knights Templar. Image in Public Domain via Wikimedia

The original nine knights of 1119 were under-funded, to say the least, as emphasised by the Order’s seal of two knights sharing one horse. Neither was it helped by the Order’s oath of poverty, chastity and obedience.

However, a nephew of one of its founders was Bernard of Clairvaux, the French abbot responsible for establishing the Cistercian Order of monks. He became so vocal on behalf of the Knights Templar that ten years later the Order…