io6 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



summer with rushes or green leaves, fresh gathered ; 

 and this reason is given for it, that such knights as the 

 benches could not contain, might sit on the floor without 

 dirtying their cloaths." ^ The contrast between the pomp 

 of so large a following, and the simplicity of their 

 accommodation affords an odd picture of the mingled 

 stateliness and bareness in the great man's household. 



In the reign of Edward I., "Willielmus iilius 

 Willielmi de Aylesbury tenet tres virgatus terrse . . . 

 per serjeantiam inveniendi stramen ad lectum Domini 

 Regis et ad straminandum cameram suam et etiam 

 inveniendi Domino Rege cum venerit apud Alesbury in 

 estate stramen ad lectum suam et procter hoc herbam 

 ad juncandam cameram suam."^ (William, son of 

 WiUiamof Aylesbury, holds three roods of land ... by 

 serjeantry, of finding straw for the bed of our Lord 

 the King and to straw his chamber . . . and also of 

 finding for the King when he should come to Aylesbury 

 in summer straw for his bed, and, moreover, grass or 

 rushes to strew his chamber.) Though grass is the 

 literal translation of herbam, it is quite possible, judging 

 from old customs generally, that hay or sweet herbs, 

 may be intended here. " It may be observed further 

 that there is a relique of this custom still subsisting, for 

 at Coronations the ground is strewed with flowers by a 

 person who is upon the establishment called the Herb- 

 Strewer, with an annual salary." From this it appears 

 that there were persons regularly appointed to strew 

 herbs for the royal pleasure, but for what length of 

 time the Herb-Strewer was an official actually living 

 at Court, it is very difficult to discover. At 

 the time of the Coronation of James II. and his 

 Queen, Mary Dowle was " Strewer of Herbes in 

 Ordinary to His Majesty," and among the instructions 

 issued before the ceremony were the following: "Two 



1 " Pegge's Curalia..'' ^Blount's "Jocular Tenures," 1679. 



