S A HISTORY OF GARDEXIXG IX EXGLAXD. 



Etheldreda ^vas cured. '" The Saint died in 679, and, although 

 of no historical value, surely such a curious legend is worth 

 relating. 



Few records of a very early date have come down to us, but 

 monastic life did not quickly change, and probably the gardens 

 of the fourteenth century differed httle from those of the twelfth. 

 To gain a fuller knowledge of these gardens, we must pass 

 over two centuries to the time when written accounts begin. As 

 we get into the fourteenth century there is more material on 

 which to work. The outlines of the management of these 

 gardens is clear, although the details can only be fihed in by 

 imagination. 



Each department within the monastery was directed in a 

 regular and ordcrl}- way, and was presided over by an officer, 

 with set duties to perform : who had to keep the accounts 

 of his office, and was responsible for its management. There 

 was a Gardener, or Hortulanus or Gardinarius, or Garden 

 Warder, just as much as there was an Almoner, Sacristan, 

 Precentor, or any other officer. 



In some instances the accounts of the Hortulanus have been 

 preserved, and further references to gardening matters are 

 scattered throughout various chartularies. Two very perfect 

 series are those of Norwich Priory and Abingdon Abbey,"^ and 

 they are doubtless fair examples of the Gardener's accounts in 

 the majority of monasteries. There are four accounts at Abing- 

 don, the earliest for the year 1369-70. The Norwich series is 

 far more numerous, there being some thirty rolls, the earliest 

 1340, the last 1529 ; the first years of the fifteenth century being 

 well represented. 



These accounts show the receipts and expenses of the office, 

 the cost of repairs, the money received from the few products 

 sold, but they throw no light on the processes of cultivation, nor 

 do they particularize the plants which were grown. 



Like the other officers, or obedientiars, the Hortulanus had 



* Those at Norwich are only in MS. Those at Abingdon are printed by 

 Carnden Soc, Accounts of the Obedientiars of Ahiiigdoi/ Abbey, R. K. G. Kirk, 

 1892. 



