42 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



" Two loves of benes and bran 

 Y baked for my children."^ 



In picturing the utter destitution of the patient Griseldis, 

 Chaucer lays stress on the fact that she was dependent on 

 vegetables for food, and being without a garden, had resort to 

 the wayside herbs : 



" Whan she homward cam she wolde bringe 

 Wortes or othere herbes tyme of te 

 The which she shredde and seeth for her livinge."* 



At the beginning of this period there was great distress, as the 

 country was swept by a scourge worse than war, the fearful 

 plague known as the Black Death. As if to add to the horrors 

 of the time, and the sufferings of the survivors, there were bad 

 seasons, and many crops failed. Even what harvest there was 

 could not be gathered, labourers were so scarce. Doubtless 

 many orchards and gardens suffered much from the neglect of 

 those years. But in spite of this, they were increasing, and 

 by the end of the fourteenth century every small manor and 

 farm could boast of a garden. For " that londe bereth fruyt 

 & corn good ynoughe, that londe is well at ease as longe as 

 men lyue in peas."^ This was certainly true, for while men 

 lived in comparative peace, there was a revival in gardening 

 and husbandry. This progress was again checked by the 

 Wars of the Roses, and the next step in advance did not come 

 till the restoration of peace in Tudor times. 



In the Middle Ages, what would now be called the kitchen 

 garden was in most cases the only one attached to a house. 

 The idea of a garden solely for beauty and pleasure was quite 

 a secondary consideration. In early cookery-books, various 

 recipes for serving up vegetables are given, though only a few 

 of these dishes are vegetables cooked alone. But the wealthy, 

 who could afford to get all the ingredients of these many 

 recipes, had so much meat, and such an immense variety of 

 game — cranes, herons, curlews, and other birds, besides those 

 still in use — that they did not care for vegetables served 



^ Piers Plowman. ^ Clerk's Tale. 



^ Trevisa. description of Britain in his translation of Higden's Poly- 

 chronicon, cir. 1387 (printed by Caxton, 1482). 



