The Cistercian Model? The Application of the Grange System by the Various Religious Orders in the Frisian Coastal Area, 1150-1400

The economic success of the reform orders in high medieval Europe is often linked with the application of the so-called grange-system. Monasteries would have financed their expansion with the surplus production of large farms operated by lay brothers. This paper tests the assumption that the Cistercian provided the model, by comparing data on the location, size and chronology of ca. 173 granges in the Frisian coastal area, belonging to monasteries of various orders. It is shown that the Benedictines of the Affligem-filiation were responsible for the introduction of the system here. They developed medium sized granges, some of which were attached to parish churches. The Cistercians were only interested in creating large outlying units, with building complexes surrounded by moats. Some monasteries of other orders did build up such large granges as well. Their usage of the ‘Cistercian’ term grangia suggests that they might have copied the Cistercian template in doing so