The Crusader Gift & The Round Church of Little Maplestead

How did a 12th-century noblewoman helped fund the Knights Hospitaller and build a piece of Jerusalem in Essex. If you travel through the quiet countryside of Essex today, you might stumble upon the village of Little Maplestead. At first glance, it looks like a typical English country parish. But step inside St. John the Baptist Church, and you are immediately struck by something extraordinary: the nave is completely circular. Out of thousands of medieval churches in England, only fourround churches survive today. And we owe the creation of this architectural treasure directly to the family featured on our Week 4 Master Chart —the Doisnells. The Order of St. John & The Holy Land In the late 12th century, all of Western Europe was gripped by Crusader fervor. Knights, barons, and noble families sought ways to support the military orders defending pilgrims in the Holy Land—most notably the Knights Hospitaller (The Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem). While some knights took up the cross and rode east, noblewomen and landholders back home supported the cause by gifting manors, mills, and churches to fund the Hospitallers' hospitals and fortresses in Jerusalem and Acre. Around the year 1186, Juliana Doisnell and her husband, William de Hastings, made a monumental pious grant. They bestowed the entire manor and parish of Little Maplestead directly upon the Knights Hospitaller. Building a Miniature Jerusalem When the Knights Hospitaller took possession of the Doisnell land, they established a Preceptory—a regional headquarters for managing their estates and recruiting knights. To honor their mother-house in the Holy Land, the Hospitallers built their church in the exact shape of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Instead of the traditional rectangular cross shape of Western European churches, they constructed a circular nave surrounded by six elegant pointed arches. Walking into the round church at Little Maplestead was intended to give 12th-century worshippers the feeling that they were standing directly inside the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem without ever leaving the Essex countryside. The Legacy of the Gift For over 300 years, until King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in the 1530s, the Preceptory at Little Maplestead served as a crucial supply chain hub for the Knights Hospitaller. Rents and crops collected from the former Doisnell lands funded medical care and military defense across the Mediterranean. Today, the round church at Little Maplestead stands as a striking physical testament to the faith and generosity of the Doisnell family. It reminds us that our ancestors didn't just farm land or fight local feuds—they were connected to global movements, monumental architecture, and ideas that spanned from the quiet hamlets of Wiltshire all the way to the gates of Jerusalem.