This week's blog is going to discuss Roman gardens and their uses a little more and then I want to jump into Medieval gardens and discuss their characteristics as well as some of their influences. This week's blog will be a little shorter than the rest for two reasons. One, I will not be including pictures like I have done for my previous blogs, primarily due to the fact that the sources I have looked at do not include any and I do not want to pull random pictures from the Internet. Two, I have started gathering my information now and am now in the process of starting my paper this weekend. As the semester is entering its final month, I will be working more and more on my paper and website. The rough draft to my paper is due next week so I hope I pull through!
The first source I looked at this week was K. D. White's Roman Farming, and the second source I looked at was Elisabeth B. MacDougall's Medieval Gardens.
As with one of the sources I looked at earlier in the semester, White looks at the drainage and irrigation systems used by the Romans to hydrate their gardens. There was no way anyone in the Mediterranean could do without water and later irrigation because of the hot climate. Another reason irrigation was necessary was the fact that most crops grew when the temperature was the hottest and the rainfall was the least. At the same time, however, it was difficult to conserve water due to the fact that it oftentimes did not rain enough in the winter. Conservation of water can actually be attributed to the Mesopotamians who were the first ever to create a system that kept in water, and also the first to take action in terms of flood control. The Egyptians had also set up irrigation systems along the Nile so that they could hydrate their gardens. (1)
In terms of actual records regarding Roman drainage and irrigation, not much has been recovered, primarily due to the fact that the Romans were considerably poorer in folklore than there Greek counterparts, for example. This does not mean that they did not have irrigation systems. In general the Mediterranean is abundant when it comes to tuberous plants and herbs. For instance, marrows and gourds require a lot of water. So as the Romans worked to create and then improve their irrigation systems, the better irrigation allowed for an increase in the amount of vegetables available to each family. (2)
White explains that three key things were needed for a market-gardener in the Roman world to produce in abundance: manure, water, and patience. White refers to Cato and how Cato believed that during the 2nd century an irrigated produce garden was the second most profitable business after a vineyard. In some cases, growing certain crops like bulbs and legumes, were a year round business. Water being one of the most important parts of gardening, was brought in several ways. One method was channeling it in through natural springs (fons), and another way was gather it from wells (puteus); the second method was preferred by the Romans. A third, but even less popular method was to build furrows that would lead water down hills and into gardens. (3)
The kitchen garden (hortus) was a big part of the lifestyle of early Romans. The reason for this being that the Roman diet was primarily vegetarian during this time. Early Romans ate porridges instead of baked breads, various beans, roots (carrots and radishes), and greens (peas, cabbage, lettuce). According to Virgil's Georgics, the soil of the hortus should be "friable and permeable" and placed near a stream for a ready water supply. (4)
While White discusses many aspects of Roman irrigation, he does not go into great detail about it as a whole. Other sources I have looked at focus on the Roman garden in general, but White does not. Elisabeth MacDougall's book on the other hand focuses on Medieval gardens as a whole and talks in great detail about them. Today I will be focusing on MacDougall's discussion of the alimentary and medicinal uses of Medieval gardens, the garden types, and the types of species planted in these gardens.
MacDougall makes it clear that there are several sources and records of plants and tress that have been "grown, maintained, and collected" to be used for food and/or medicine. Before she gets into that she explains that it is important to study the Greco-Roman roots for three reasons. (5)
The first reason is the actual connection between the plants grown in the Roman West and those grown during the Middle Ages. One of the explanations for this could be the territorial overlapping of both; i.e. Italy, southern Germany, most of France, and much of Britain, all during the Pax Romana (Roman Peace). During the Middle Ages they even used the classical Greco-Roman names that were used earlier to identify plants. Going along with that, classical botanical knowledge was an "extension" of classical botanical knowledge. (6)
The second reason is the fact that the same plant species were used for almost a millennium for the same purposes. As mentioned earlier, plants were used for their nutrition, but also for medicine. The only background information that can be acquired for plants was through Greco-Roman texts; if they did not have a plant, nothing was known about it. The uses and purposes for some species are still unclear to us today. (7)
The third reason is to discover exactly why those species were used for specific conditions. Since garden space was limited, it was only appropriate for those that served more than one purpose to have the "upper-hand" and be prioritized. All the medicinal plants we have records of did serve two or more purposes. The plants used during the Roman times help expand Medieval civilizations; 350 species were used in Roman times for alimentary and medicinal purposes, all of which were known by name by the 12th c. One group of species, referred to as salsamenta, was used for seasoning or flavoring. Some of these plants included dill, garlic, marjoram, rue, and sage. (8)
Next MacDougall discusses the different garden types and explains that gardens were designed based on their purposes and varied in size and appearance.
The first garden type and probably most popular was the kitchen garden. Its main purpose was the "raising of food stuffs" and growing things for nourishment. Depending on its location near the cottage or home, the size and shape of the garden varied. The other purpose of this type of garden was to provide as much produce as possible in the limited space given. Some of the main plants grown were cabbage, onion, some root veggies and certain legumes like beans, peas, or lentils. (9)
The second garden and perhaps second in popularity was the medicinal garden. Its purpose was to provide medicinal plants that were to be used individually or as ingredients in compounds. MacDougall argues that this garden must resemble our modern-day herb garden and may have contained anise, coriander, fennel, hyssop, and savory. (10)
The third garden was the Patrician garden that was usually associated with prosperous householders, in both rural and urban areas. Contained both alimentary and ornamental plants, but it also had a medicinal role. All the species grown in this garden also played a symbolic role in Medieval society. (11)
The fourth garden was the cloister garden that was set within a "religious establishment" and used mostly for meditation, but could also be used for other things. We do not know much about this garden because not much is written about it. The one thing we do know is the three main species planted in this garden: red rose, the white, lily, and the humble violet. (12)
The fifth and final type of garden was the pleasure garden used, well, for pleasure. It contained flowering plants, ornamental shrubs, and fruit trees, and usually had a grassy lawn (viridarium). Unlike cloister gardens, we have good records that discuss the species planted in these gardens. Some of the most popular species were lavender, fennel, or mint, and fruit trees. (13)
The next topic discussed by MacDougall and the final topic I will be discussing in this blog is that of Medieval garden species. According to MacDougall, there are probably 275-300 known species from the Medieval period. Even though I emphasized earlier that many of the species were grown for alimentary and medicinal purposes, that was not the case for all plants. MacDougall discusses that there are six different sources from which we get our information on Medieval plants species from.
The first group of sources are primary sources like those of Charlemagne (Capitulare de Villis), the Plan of St. Gall, and Walahfrid Strabo's Liber de cultura hortorum. The second group of sources comes from descriptions of individual private gardens. (14)
The third source comes from literature, specifically passages, chapters, or sections from the works like Boccacio, Petrarch, and Chaucer. The fourth source is from philological means from Medieval Latin and vernacular nomenclature. (15)
The fifth source of information comes from "the chemical and physiological activity of many temperate zone species" that have been worked out and help confirm the identification of various plants whose identities were not finalized previously. The sixth and final source or sources are that of paintings, miniatures, tapestries, and other art objects. The only problem with this is that if there is not enough detail plants may not be identified. Also, just because a plant was depicted in Medieval art, it does not meant that it was grown in the Greco-Roman world. (16)
MacDougall's book is an amazing representation of Medieval gardens, but I would have appreciated if her and White would have added some pictures, just to give readers a visual sense of what they are talking about. Within the next couple of weeks I hope to learn more about Medieval gardens and also to get my paper done so that I could set up the website! Happy Easter to all those celebrating and God bless!
1. K. D. White, Roman Farming (New York: Cornell University Press, 1970), 146.
2. Ibid., 147-154.
3. Ibid., 154.
4. Ibid., 246-247.
5. Elisabeth B. MacDougall, ed., Medieval Gardens (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University, 1986), 71.
6. Ibid., 71-72.
7. Ibid., 73.
8. Ibid., 74.
9. Ibid., 75.
10. Ibid., 76.
11. Ibid., 76.
12. Ibid., 76-77.
13. Ibid., 77.
14. Ibid., 80-81.
15. Ibid., 81.
16. Ibid., 81-82.
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