Today's blog will probably be one of the last informative blogs in terms of discussing sources. The work I dealt with this week was The History of Gardens by Christopher Thacker. While the book looks at the history of all gardens in general, Thacker divides it by different time periods and regions. Of course the only part I was interested in was that on Medieval Gardens. What I enjoyed from this particular work was how straightforward and simple it was; it was definitely an easy read. I also liked that Thacker provided many pictures that make it easy to comprehend what Medieval Gardens look like.
Thacker opens up this chapter by talking about herb gardens which were very popular in the medieval period. Let us not forget that these same gardens were also popular in the Roman world. He explains that gardens were generally important in the Roman West, but basically disappeared after the fall of the empire and did not reappear for another seven or eight hundred years until the late Middle Ages. For example, not much was known on these gardens until the years of Charlemagne (9th c. AD) from which three documents have been discovered. (1)
While I will not be discussing all three documents, I have chosen to discuss one which is the poem by Walafrid Strabo, a monk. Strabo's poem called Hortulus is written in Latin and is 444 lines long. In it Strabo provides various instructions about a gardeners life, how to make a garden, and the appearances, quantities, and uses of the plants that one grows in these gardens. He also includes the plants that were grown in these gardens which include sage, rue, penny-royal celery, radish, gourd, chervil, lily, poppy, iris, and rose; the rose was popular in Roman gardens. Strabo makes sure to differentiate the various plants for particular gardens. For instance he mentions that the iris, lily, and rose were used in ornamental gardens, but also had uses in cuisine, herbs, and medicine. The lily for example was used to cure snake bites. (2)
Next up, Thacker discusses the features of Medieval gardens. Most, if not all, were square shaped and enclosed. In general, everything was geometrically shaped in these gardens. What differentiates these gardens from Roman ones is that during the Medieval period, people set up gardens for religious purposes. In the Roman Empire people just incorporated religion into their home gardens. The gardens had hedges and trellis work, but unlike Roman gardens, they also had grass! The earliest record of instructions for making a grassy lawn is in Albertus Magnus' (1193-1280) De Vegetabilibus written in 1260. Gardens also included turf seats (raised banks with turf), which reminded me of the benches that were in Roman gardens. The difference here being that these seats were located at the edges of the grass, or by a tree or wall. (3)
In terms of what was actually grown in these gardens, Thacker mentions some of the trees and plants. He says that trees were used for their beauty and pleasure, and were usually grafted and very productive. The main plants that were grown were to be used as herbs, which were also the most important. After herbs came fruit trees and vegetables, and finally were flowers. Thacker maintains that Medieval gardens also had small hills in them, either located in the center or by the side. The whole purpose of these hill were so they could be used as a vantage point from where the beautiful features of the garden could be seen. Below is an illustration of a Medieval Garden. (4)
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| Medieval Garden from 5th c. manuscript of Roman de la Rose from The History of Medieval Gardens. |
The last and final area Thacker discusses, and the one I find very interesting is that of fantasy Gardens. These gardens start off as simple, but increasingly become more "ambitious, colorful, and extravagant." These gardens had many exotic species of trees like pomegranates nutmegs, almonds, figs and dates. Next were more native fruits tress like laurels, pines, olives, and tall timbers. Lastly, there were also animals, some of which were squirrels, does, rabbits, and a variety of birds. (5)
This concludes my discussion of Thacker's book, but I would like to say a bit about what else I am working on. As mentioned in the last blog, I have already started working on my paper and have emailed that to my instructor. While I am waiting for feedback on that I am going to continue working on the rest of my paper. Hopefully I will get all of it done by the end of this week so I can start working on the website! Till next time!
1. Christopher Thacker, "Medieval Gardens," in The History of Gardens, Christopher Thacker et al. (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1979), 81.
2. Ibid., 81-82.
3. Ibid., 83-84.
4. Ibid., 84-87.
5. Ibid., 89.
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