Agriculture’s Prayerful Pioneers – People/Events

Agriculture’s Prayerful Pioneersby Rex Gogerty of Hubbard, IAMonks of the Middle Ages nurtured the roots of modern farmingThe monks of New Melleray Abbey produce some of the best corn and soybean yields in Dubuque County, Iowa. They use proven technology, good conservation practices, and a Christian work ethic to get the most from good Iowa soil.New Melleray Cistercians adopted some best management practices from medieval monks, who were among Europe’s first farmers. Historians say these hard-working husbandmen played a unique role in the development of basic agricultural practices that laid the groundwork for family farms. The long term result was a better, more independent life for peasants.Monks of St. Patrick’s in 5th century Ireland developed primitive systems for raising livestock, primarily sheep and cattle. Early Irish hermits also planted small garden plots to be self-sufficient. In Italy, followers of St. Benedict were the first to embrace agriculture as an organized way of life. By the 6th century, during the so-called “Dark Ages,” Benedictine monks were demonstrating the dignity of hard work in the field and in the barnyard. In addition to their traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, many Benedictines took an informal vow to treat farming as a vocation. Their pledge was based on The Rule of Saint Benedict, which stressed the importance of prayer, reading, and the arts as well as the value of labor in the field. “Idleness is the enemy of the soul; therefore the brethren ought to be employed at fixed times in toiling with their hands,” is how St. Benedict put it.The monks took the Rule of St. Benedict beyond monastery walls, to show peasant farmers better ways to sow and hoe. For example, they demonstrated the use of caves to store perishables. Abbey craftsmen showed farmers how yokes and harnesses could improve oxen and horsepower. (Peasant farmers had previously used the inhumane practice of tying a rope from the animal’s tail to a cart or tillage tool.) According to monastery library journals, the innovative friars also designed better saddles and stirrups to expedite movement of people, grain and forage.Moreover monks lived in communities resembling large Christian families. They encouraged peasant families to share ownership and management of farm animals, including cooperative herding of sheep and cattle grazing on open range.Medieval monasteries pioneered the use of rock and rail fences to enclose fields and pastures. This led to the use of boundaries to mark more fertile fields, establish land ownership, and show family farmers the importance of enclosures and property lines.During the 11th and 12th centuries, the Cistercians (Trappists), Augustinians, and Franciscans, established self-supporting monasteries in Ireland, England and across much of continental Europe. Abbey historians recorded friar participation in traditional monastic studies such as philosophy, calligraphy, and theology as well as agronomy and engineering. Besides spending hours at their desks and in the chapel, the brothers cleared and cultivated land, built barns and bins, drained swamps, designed irrigation systems, and set up crop rotations to include more manure and less fallow.These God-driven men transformed uninhabited and uncultivated areas into productive crop and grazing land. They replaced swamps and forest with valuable fruit and hardwood trees. In the 13th century, a network of monasteries brought windmill technology from the Middle East and passed it along to farmers who harnessed wind power to pump water, saw lumber, grind stones, and press oil from crops such as flax seed.As one historical account described it: “Through the use of monastery technology, vast beds of reeds, sedge, fern, scrub trees, and peat bogs were cleared and planted to oak, ash and fir trees. In addition, establishment of vineyards and cropland helped keep yeoman farmers on the land rather than working on estates.”Monastery managers assigned farm crews to herd sheep, milk cows, tend poultry, and cultivate crops. Similarly, woodlands, fruit orchards, even beekeeping were cared for by abbey crews, often working in silence, pausing for meals, praying the Angelus and vespers. Peasants who attended monastic religious and informational gatherings adopted these specialized work systems that divided responsibility for various farmyard and field activities. They also adopted monastic practices such as blessing of the fields and observing Rogation Days.The farming friars continued to improve agricultural technology through the centuries. During Europe’s warm period from 900 to 1300, their better farming practices helped peasant farmers better their production and lifestyle. When Europe’s little ice age began in 1300, average temperatures dropped 4 degrees during a rainy decade. The climate change prompted the monks to pioneer a switch to cool-hardy crops such as wheat, barley, rice and rye.Medieval monks used selective breeding of cattle and sheep, making meat and milk more available in European homes. Local monasteries further improved diets by hosting food fairs for local people that featured tasty meat and vegetable dishes. In Scandinavian countries, monks are credited with introducing fisheries and cheese making. In France, Benedictine monasteries produced the first champagne as well as a system of using bees to pollinate crops. (Honey was a common substitute for sugar.)By the 12th century, Cistercian monks had improved metal tools such as scythes to make it easier to clear brush and harvest grain and hay. They helped peasant farmers build and share watermills to grind wheat, process wool and tan leather.During the 16th century, monastery records show monks were using metallurgy to make better farm tools ranging from sickles to plows. To supply the fledging industry they mined iron ore deposits and built forges to extract the iron. They recycled slag from the furnaces and spread it as fertilizer, which was mainly phosphate. The monks also mined salt, lead, and gypsum and quarried marble.In the 16th century, monks helped peasant farmers grow other crops such as grapes, turnips and potatoes. Potato production was especially valuable during wartime because invading armies couldn’t easily trample or burn root crops such as potatoes, which they often did with grain-heavy cereal crops.European monks shared their innovative agricultural technology and their Christian work ethic with serfs and princes alike. Information about abbey research and development was routinely publicized by a network of monasteries, which by the 14th century numbered nearly 700 across Europe. Inter-monastery travel was common and their widespread locations made it possible to test crop and livestock species under diverse conditions. As one historian put it: “Every monastery was an agricultural college for the whole region in which it was located.”Medieval monks also experimented with early medical and veterinary remedies, such as analgesic salve, disinfectants, and treatment for parasites. Beefing up animal husbandry allowed peasants to increase food production and reduce intensive labor requirements. Through the centuries, the monks’ evolving farming practices demonstrated the importance and dignity of working with plants and animals.