CHAPTER II. 



" Tlie rose vayXeth hire rode 

 The leues on the lyhte wode 

 Waxen al w'ltJi wille 

 TJie mone ma.nde.tli hire bleo 

 Tlie HHe is lossom to seo 

 The fenyl and the fille." 



Sfyriagfinic, MS., c. 1300. 



TOURING the \ears which succeeded the Norman Conquest, 

 -^ the country was constantly plunged in wars abroad and 

 troubles at home. There could be little thought of the quiet 

 pleasures of a garden while William I. and his sons ruled 

 the conquered English with a rod of iron : while Stephen was 

 fighting for the crown against "the Empress Maud"; while 

 men's minds were occupied by Crusades to the Holy Land ; 

 or while the Constitution of England was being slowly built 

 up, and her liberties gradually secured by bloodshed and 

 ceaseless struggles. 



It was necessar}', in these troublous times, for security 

 of life and property, to live in as inaccessible a position as 

 possible. Castles were built on the tops of hills, or protection 

 was sought by placing the dwelling behind some river or 

 marsh, when no high ground or escarpments of steep rocks 

 afforded a suitable defence. This was the opposite course 

 from that pursued by the monks, who, as a rule, chose a 

 fertile valley in which to place their cloister, and plant their 

 orchards, gardens and vineyards. There was no room for 

 much garden within the glacis of a feudal castle, and as it 

 was not safe for an\' of the inmates to venture beyond, it was 

 scarcely worth while making any garden or orchard outside, 

 merely to see it plundered by some turbulent neighbour. 



