Showing posts with label Templar mills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Templar mills. Show all posts

Water Power at Douzens - How the Templars Harnessed the Aude

The chateau of Douzens in the Aude. Douzens was seat of a Templar commandery from 1133
Between Carcassonne and Narbonne, the Templars of the commanderie de Douzens turned the river Aude into flour, cloth and cash. Their charters, the Cartulaires des Templiers de Douzens, let us follow them weir by weir and canal by canal. How did a military order become a miller, and who did the real work?