THE GARDENS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 



m 



^VS'-o^Sx- L 







r~^ ^ 



HAZEL-NUTS 





^n 



^VvS/'Sr^^s- 



of Monte Cassino the Benedictines created the earliest school of medicine, 

 the forerunner of the great botanic gardens of the sixteenth century. 



The tenth century was an age of great depression over the larger part 

 of Europe, and horti- • 

 culture passed through 

 a period of decline, from 

 which it did not emerge 

 until the beginning of 

 the next century when, 

 owing to the great reli- 

 gious revival and the 

 stimulating effects of the 

 crusades, gardening, in 

 common with all the 

 arts, made considerable 

 progress. 1 It was much 

 to the advantage of 

 Western Europe that at 

 this crisis it should have 

 become acquainted with 

 the marvels of the East, 

 of Egypt, and the North 

 of Africa. Many hither- 

 to unknown plants and 

 fruits were brought back 

 by the Crusaders and 

 acclimatized in Europe, 

 adding a new impetus 

 to gardening, such as it 

 had not experienced for 

 centuries. 



Some of the archi- 

 tectural features, such 



as the bathing-pools (illus., p. i6) that are so frequently met with in 

 mediaeval drawings, can be directly traced to oriental influence ; they were 



^ See Leopold Delisle, Etuie agricole en Normandie au moyen age. Evreux ,1851. 



I 



25 



o 



i 



ABBEY of SraALL 9™CENXlM0NKS GARDEN 



