Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. S5 



190. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, agriculture suffered greatly by the English 

 wars and conquests, and by political regulations relative to the export and market price 

 of corn. 



191. About the middle of the sixteenth century, the first agricultural work produced in 

 France made its appearance. It was entitled, Les Moyens de devenir riche, and was com- 

 posed by Bernard de Pallisy, a potter, who had written on various subjects. It is a very 

 short tract, composed of economical remarks on husbandry, or rural and domestic 

 economy. Towards the end of this century, under Henry IV. , and liis virtuous minister 

 Sully, considerable enterprise was displayed. Canals were projected, and one begun, and, 

 according to Sully, France in his time abounded with corn, grain, pulse, wine, cider, flax, 

 hemp, salt, wool, oil, dying drugs, cattle great and small, and every thing else, whether 

 necessary or convenient for life, both for home consumption and exportation. [Mem., 

 xvi. 225. J Rankens Hist, of France, i. 433.) 



Sect. III. Of the Agriculture of Germany and otJier Northern States, from the Fifth to 

 the Seventeenth Century. 



1 92. The nations north of the Rhine and the Danube, during the first half of these 

 centuries, were chiefly employed in making inroads or conquests on their southern neigh- 

 bours ; and during the whole period they were more or less engaged in attacking one 

 another. Under such circumstances, agriculture must either have remained in the state 

 which we have already described (178.), or it must have declined. In some states or 

 kingdoms it may have been less neglected than in others, or may even have improved ; 

 but, during the whole of this period, nothing was effected wliich demands particular 

 attention. 



193. The earliest German author on husbandry is Conradus Heresbachius, who was 

 born in 1508, and died in 1576. His work, De Re Rustica, was published after liis 

 death. It is an avowed compilation from all the authors who had preceded him, and 

 contains no information as to the state of agriculture around him. It is a dialogue in 

 four books, and also includes gardening. The persons are Cono, a gentleman retired 

 into the country ; Rigo, a courtier ; Metelea, wife of Cono ; and Hermes, a servant. 

 The conversation is carried on in Cono's house, and on his farm, and the different 

 speakers are made to deliver all that has been said by all the Greek and Roman writers, 

 from Hesiod to Pliny, by Crescenzio and other Italians, and by various writers on 

 general subjects : they converse on the advantages of agriculture as a pursuit ; on its 

 general maxims and practices ; on the culture of particular plants j and on the economy 

 of the house and garden. 



1 94. No other books on agriculture, of any note, appeared in Germany during the period 

 under revieiv. About the middle of the sixteenth century, the Elector ef Saxony, 

 Augustus II., is said to have encouraged agriculture, and to have planted the first vine- 

 yard in Saxony ; but, from the implements with which he worked in person, which are 

 still preserved in tlie arsenal of Dresden, he appears to have been more a gardener than a 

 fanner. It is to be regretted that the histories of the arts in the nortliem countries during 

 the middle ages are very few, and so little known or accessible, that we cannot derive 

 much advantage from them. 



Sect. IV. History of Agriculture in Britain, from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century. 



1 95. Britain, on being quitted by the Romans, was invaded by the Saxons, a ferocious 

 and ignorant people, by whom agriculture and all other civilised arts were neglected. 

 In the eleventh century, when the Saxons had amalgamated with the natives, and con- 

 stituted tlie main body of the English nation, the country was again invaded by the Nor- 

 mans, a much more civilised race, who introduced considerable improvement. Tliese 

 two events form distinct periods in the history of British agriculture, and two others will 

 bring it down to the seventeenth century. 



SuBSECT. 1. History of Agriculture in Britain during the Anglo-Saxon Dynasty, or from 

 the Fifth to the Eleventh Century. 



196. At tlie arrival of the Anglo-Saxons this island, according to Fleury {History, 

 vol. iv. p. 97.), abounded in numerous flocks and herds, which these conquerors seized, 

 and pastured for their own use ; and, after their settlement, they still continued to follow 

 pasturage as one of the chief means of their subsistence. This is evident from the great 

 number of laws that were made in the Anglo-Saxon times, for regulating the prices of all 

 kinds of tame cattle, for directing the manner in which they were to be pastured, and 

 for preserving them from thieves, robbers, and beasts of prey. {Wilkins, Leges Saxon., 

 passim. ) 



1 97. The Welsh in this period, from the nature of their country and other circum- 

 stances, depended still more on their flocks and herds for their support ; hence their laws 

 respecting pasturage were more numerous and minute than those of the Saxons. (Leges 



D 2 



