Botany, Herbals & Healing in Islamic Science & Medicine

 

Islamic medical botany gradually adopted an fairly advanced methodology & approach. In the Kamil al-Sina’a of Ali b. Abbas al-Madjusi (d. 994) treatise, the properties of the simple drugs are described in 57 chapters. Among the latter are included those on botanical simples, animal simples, mineral simples, medicinal oils, taste & odors of simples, odor, strength, constipating & opening qualities, deterioration, pain, decreasing ability, cicatrisation effects, diuretic effectiveness, sudorific qualities, strength of seeds, leaves, & roots, extracts, gums & humors of drugs; also stones, salts, galls, dungs, diarrheic simples, & dosages are explained in separate chapters. The descriptions are not given in alphabetical order nor are they always on simples. Frequently, prescriptions for a compound remedy are given so that the treatise does not effect a rigid separation between simples & compounded drugs. The compounded drugs are also described in a separate section but the entire book is full of interesting prescriptions, giving a very complete account of the medicine of the day in a well organized fashion.

The Muslims progressed well beyond their Greek predecessors in the use of plants for medicinal purposes & the Muslim list of drugs contained several hundreds of remedies unknown to the Greeks. Ibn Juljul, for instance, was conscious of the fact that medicine & botany had developed since the days of Dioscorides, & new items used for medication had come from the East, or were found in Al-Andalus. Muslims gave Arabic names to plants & medicines they came across for the first time, many such names are still used today. 

In the work of Ibn al-Awwam six hundred plants possessing medicinal properties are enumerated; in that of Ibn Al-Baytar more than three hundred, hitherto unclassified or unknown, are mentioned & described.

Al-Dinawri the founder of Arabic botany - Ābu Hanīfah Āhmad ibn Dawūd Dīnawarī (828 – 896) studied agriculture, botany & metallurgy, geography, mathematics & history. He was born in Dinawar (in modern day Western Iran, halfway between Hamadan & Kermanshah). He studied astronomy, mathematics & mechanics in Isfahan & philology & poetry in Kufa & Basra. He died on July 24, 896 at Dinawar. His most renowned contribution is Book of Plants, for which he is considered the founder of Arabic botany.

Al-Dinawari is certainly one of the earliest Muslim botanists. His work, largely confined to the flora of Arabia [61], is perhaps the most comprehensive & methodical philological work on herbs. His treatise Kitab al-Nabat is characterised as “the most comprehensive & methodically most superior work of this philologically-orientated botany.” Al-Dinawari’s work was long considered lost, but thanks to the particular attention of the German scholar Silberberg, it was made known in a thesis from Breslau in 1908. The thesis contains the descriptions of about 400 plants from the book of al-Dinawari. However, what is described by Silberberg is just a part of what has survived, & there have been editions of different parts of the work by different authors. In particular, Lewin has collated parts of the alphabetical section from the Istanbul manuscript; whilst the sixth volume has been reconstructed by Muhammad Hamidullah from citations collected from large dictionaries & monographs & contains the descriptions of 637 plants.

Al-Dinawari’s information is based on older written sources, on oral information from Bedouins, and, occasionally, on personal observation. His book Kitab al-nabat consists of two sections, one being an alphabetical inventory of plant names (and thus the first alphabetically-ordered specialised dictionary), the second section contains monographs on plants used for specific practical purposes: kindling; dyeing; bow-making. There also is a very interesting chapter on mushrooms & similar plants (to the latter belong the parasitic broomrapes Balanophoraceae). This chapter (included in Lewin’s edition) gives important information on the gathering, use, & growth of a number of mushrooms. Al-Dinawari also devoted one chapter to the classification of plants (tajnis al-nabat) which he mentions in one of the volumes that have survived. ... In his exposition on the earth, Al-Dinawari describes a variety of soils, explaining which is good for planting, its properties & qualities, & also describes plant evolution from its birth to its death, including the phases of growth & production of flower & fruit. He then covers various crops, including cereals, vineyards & date palms. Relying on his predecessors, he also explains trees, mountains, plains, deserts, aromatic plants, woods, plants used as dyes, honey, bees, etc.

Roman Physician Galen (131 AD–200) introduced Several New Plant Drugs

The Roman scholar, Galen (131 AD–200), compiled the 1st list of medicinal plant drugs with similar or identical action (parallel drugs); well, except as time wore on, not all of them were exactly parallel, causing a few surprises & perhaps disappointments along the way. Galen also introduced several new plant drugs, that Dioscorides had not described like the bearberry leaf (Uvae ursi folium,) which is still used as a mild diuretic today. Galen had many more successes than failures.

Galen was a physician & philosopher, probably the most well-known doctor in the Roman Empire,  whose theories dominated European medicine for 1,500 years. Claudius Galen was born in Pergamum (modern-day Turkey) to Greek parents. He studied in Greece, in Alexandria & other parts of Asia Minor & returned home to become chief physician to the gladiator school in Pergamum, gaining practical experience of treating the wounds from the often bloody warrior sport.

In the early 160s AD, Galen moved to Rome to work; & with the exception of a brief return to Pergamum, spent the remainder of his life in the Roman capital. There he became physician to emperor Marcus Aurelius & would later serve in the same role to Aurelius's successors, Commodus & Septimius Severus.

Galen introduced the experimental method of medical investigation in the Roman empire. Throughout his life dissected animals in his quest to understand how the body functions. His most important discovery was was not in the field of medicinal plants, but that arteries carry blood, although he did not discover circulation.

Galen was prolific, with hundreds of treatises attributed to his name. He compiled the significant Greek & Roman medical thought to date, & added his own discoveries & theories. His influence reigned over Western medicine for 15 centuries after his death. It was not until the Renaissance, that many of his theories were refuted. 

Pliny the Elder (23 AD-79) wrote about 1,000 Medicinal Plants in his Natural History

Pliny the Elder (23 AD-79), a contemporary of Dioscorides, who travelled throughout Germany & Spain, wrote about approximately 1000 medicinal plants in his Natural History “Historia naturalis.” Pliny's & Dioscorides’ works incorporated all knowledge of medicinal plants at the time.

Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 – 79), called Pliny the Elder was a Roman author, naturalist & natural philosopher, a naval & army commander of the early Roman Empire. He wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia (Natural History), which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, & investigating natural phenomena in the field.

His major work, Natural History is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire & purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. It encompasses the fields of botany, zoology, astronomy, geology, & mineralogy & remains a standard work for the Roman period & the advances in technology & understanding of natural phenomena at the time.

Loredana Marcello Mocenigo (d 1572) Developed Medical Formulas using Plants at the Biological Garden in Padua.

1573 Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto, Doge Alvise Mocenigo & Family Before the Madonna This combination of devotional painting & family portrait may have been intended originally for the ancestral hall of the Mocenigo family in Venice. The Doge's wife had just died in 1572, so it may have been commissioned to honor her memory. Flowers are scattered at the feet of the Madonna & on the floor between the Doge & his recently deceased wife. The Doge, who ruled Venice from 1570 to 1577, is shown kneeling on the left, wearing the traditional cape and horned cap of the office. Two young angels play music between the Doge & his recently deceased wife.

Loredana Marcello (d 1572) was a Dogaressa of Venice by her marriage to the Doge Alvise I Mocenigo (1570-1577). She was an author of letters & poetry, & was regarded as an educated & cultivated renaissance woman in contemporary Venice.  She was the daughter of Giovanni Alvise Marcello & married Mocenigo in 1533.

Loredana Marcello (c1516-1572)  Dogaressa of Venice  Portrait from The Dogaressas of Venice : The Wives of the Doges (1912)  Edgcumbe Staley, T.W. Laurie, London.

She was a student of a professor of the Biological Garden in Padua, Melchiorre Giuliandino. She was known for the medical formulas & for recipes she developed for use against plagues. The world's first university botanical garden was created in Padua in 1545, which makes the Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico), Padua the oldest surviving example of this type of cultural property. Botanical gardens have played a vital role throughout history in the communication & exchange not only of ideas & concepts but also of plants & knowledge. The Botanical Garden of Padua is the original of botanical gardens in Europe, & represents the birth of botanical science, of scientific exchanges, & an understanding of the relationship between plants & medical cures.  Her work is lost, but her botanical research it is noted to have been consulted & put to good use during the epidemic which appeared in Venice few years after her death (1575).  She became dogaressa upon the election of her spouse as doge in 1570, but died 2 years later.

Her husband Alvise I Mocenigo, doge of Venice from 1570 to 1577, was an admirer of antiquities.  Mocenigo was a diplomat of the Republic of Venice at the court of emperor Charles V, to pope Paul IV & again at the imperial court. He was elected as doge of Venice in 1570. At the time of his accession, the Ottoman Empire was preparing to wage war against Venice, the conflict broke out in 1570, & Venice lost the fortresses of Nicosia & Famagusta in Cyprus. Despite the victory of the Christian coalition in the Battle of Lepanto, Venice was forced to sign a treaty of peace with the Turks. During his reign Venice was visited by the new King of France, Henry III.  Alvise I Mocenigo died on November 27,1577 of suicide by hanging, although he was a religious man, many had thought he was severely depressed. The Doge was interred in the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo, a traditional burial place of the doges.

Medicinal Plants of the Bible & the Holy Land

This excerpt is from a longer article by Dafni, A. & Boeck, B. (2019) Medicinal Plants of the Bible - revisited. Journal of Ethnobiology & Ethnomedicine 15: 57.

The Medicinal Plants of the Bible & the Holy Land

"The Holy Land, an area between the Jordan River & the Mediterranean Sea that also includes the Eastern Bank of the Jordan, is synonymous with the biblical land of Israel & Palestine. This was an ancient botanical crossroad, enjoying an active trade in spices, incense & medicines from Egypt to Mesopotamia & beyond. Its flora includes about 2,700 species, some of medical value.

"Among the early written records of plants in this region are Egyptian medical papyri. Ebers’ papyrus (1550 BC) contains 700 magical formulas & prescriptions, including the medical uses of plants. In the ruins of Assyrian Nineveh (Mesopotamia), thousands of cuneiform documents (cuneiform is a writing system invented in ancient Mesopotamia that is recognizable by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets) from earlier than 500 BC were found that mention over a thousand plant species. Many of the medical cuneiform texts (including texts only on plants) remain to be translated.

"In the original Hebrew version of the Bible (8th-3rdC BC), plant names are often unclear. Modern books showcasing assumed biblical plants draw conclusions that are frequently questionable. For example, in these books, the biblical lily is variously taken to be seven different plants, including cyclamen. Such confusion is understandable, partly because the same plant may have several names even in one country: Cyclamen persicum has at least 30 Arabic names.

"The tree most mentioned in the Old Testament is the Date Palm – it occurs 34 times, mainly as a place name or a person’s given name, & only six times meaning the plant itself. Date Palm has been proposed as the Tree of Life but since neither the Tree of Life nor the Tree of Knowledge is given a specific name in the Bible, their true identities continue to be the subject of speculation.

"Most of the plants in the Bible are only mentioned in passing, with reference to medicinal use occurring even less. Most of the plants in the Bible are only mentioned in passing, with reference to medicinal use occurring even less. Examples of biblical medical application are the use of ‘balm’ to treat sores (Jeremiah), Fig as a cure for a boil (Isaiah), & Mandrake as a fertility remedy enabling Jacob & Leah to have a fifth son (Genesis). Mandrake had around 88 different medicinal uses in the ancient world; some of which continue to this day.

"Translators of the Bible, such as the King James Version (1611), were unfamiliar with the original Hebrew & knew little of the flora of the Holy Land. To get around this they sometimes chose names from their local floras to make the plants seem familiar to their readers. There are similar problems of identity for plants mentioned in medical contexts in the Talmud (text of Rabbinic Judaism, with versions dating from the 3rd to 8th centuries BC)...

"Only five species are mentioned explicitly as medicinal plants in the Bible: Fig (Ficus carica), Nard (Nardostachys jatamansi), Hyssop (Origanum syriacum), ‘Balm of Gilead’ (Commiphora sp.), & Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum). Plants mentioned in the Bible & known as medicinal in Egypt & Mesopotamia include: Myrtle (Myrtus commnis), Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), Cumin (Cuminum cyminum), Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera), Pomegranate (Punica granatum), Garlic (Allium sativa), Black Cumin (Nigella sativa) & Cedar (Cedrus libani).

"Pomegranate is mentioned in the Bible & known as medicinal in Egypt & Mesopotamia. Plants not cited in the Bible but mentioned as medicinal in post-biblical sources and/or Egypt and/or Mesopotamia include: Safflower (Carthamus tinctoria), Henna (Lawsonia inermis), Aloe (Aloe sp.), Asafoetida (Ferula assafoetida) & Water Cress (Lepidium sativum). Other possible inclusions are Lentisk (Pistacia lentiscus; Egypt, Mishna, archaeology), Fennel (Ferula sp.; Egypt-Mesopotamia), Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum; Egypt-Mesopotamia) & Carob (Ceratonia siliqua; Egypt).

"The proposed biblical medicinal plants...are all known as such in the ancient civilizations of the region. All have been in continuous medicinal use in the Middle East down the generations & are used in the Holy Land today." 

Columella (c. 40–90 AD) Roman Agriculture, Garden & Landscapes

 Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella

A Bit of Roman Garden & Landscape History - 

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella,  (c. 40–90 AD) On Agriculture (1st Century)

During this period, a villa was the locus of 2 separate & distinct activities – otium, meaning leisure time, but also time for study & reflection, & business.  In the late 1st century BCE, Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, building on the work of Cato the Elder & Varro, published De Re Rvstica, a 12-volume work on agriculture. In it, Columella defined the 3 main elements of the villa. These include the pars urbana, where the owner lived together with his familia; the pars rustica, where laborers, animals & farm tools were located; & the pars fructuaria, which held the equipment for processing & preserving the harvest. Columella uses the term circa villam to describe the surrounding area, thus emphasising that the villa was associated with agricultural lands. A villa rustica may be thought of as a simple farm, & a villa urbana as a manor – the master's residence.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, On Agriculture

Book I

I am of the opinion, therefore, that land should be purchased nearby, so that the owner may visit it often & announce that his visits will be more frequent than he really intends them to be; for under this apprehension both overseer & laborers will be at their duties. But whenever the chance offers, he should stay in the country; & his stay should not be an idle one nor one spent in the shade. For it behooves a careful householder to go around every little bit of his land quite frequently & at every season of the year, that he may the more intelligently observe the nature of the soil, whether in foliage & grass or in ripened crops, & that he may not be ignorant of what may properly be done on it. For it is an old saying of Cato that land is most grievously maltreated when its master does not direct what is to be done thereon but listens to his overseer. Therefore, let it be the chief concern of one who owns a farm inherited from his ancestors, or of one who intends to buy a place, to know what kind of ground is most approved, so that he may either be rid of one that is unprofitable or purchase one that is to be commended. But if fortune attends our prayer, we shall have a farm in a healthful climate, with fertile soil, partly level, partly hills with a gentle eastern or southern slope; with some parts of the land cultivated, & other parts wooded & rough; not far from the sea or a navigable stream, by which its products may be carried off & supplies brought in. The level ground, divided into meadows, arable land, willow groves, & reed thickets, should be adjacent to the steading. Let some of the hills be bare of trees, to serve for grain crops only; still these crops thrive better in moderately dry & fertile plains than in steep places, & for that reason even the higher grainfields should have some level sections & should be of as gentle a slope as possible & very much like flat land. Again, other hills should be clad with olive groves & vineyards, & with copses to supply props for the latter; they should be able to furnish wood & stone, if the need of building so requires, as well as grazing found for herds; & then they should send down coursing rivulets into meadows, gardens, & willow plantations, & running water for the villa. And let there be no lack of herds of cattle & of other four-footed kind to graze over the tilled land & the thickets. But such a situation as we desire is hard to find and, being uncommon, it falls to the lot of few; the next best is one which possesses most of these qualities, & one is passable which lacks the fewest of them...

Let there be, moreover, a never-failing spring either within the steading or brought in from outside; a wood-lot & pasture near by. If running water is wanting, make a search for a well close by, to be not too deep for hoisting the water, & not bitter or brackish in taste. If this too fails, & if scanty hope of veins of water compels it, have large cisterns built for people & ponds for cattle; this rain-water is after all most suitable to the body’s health, & is regarded as uncommonly good if it is conveyed through earthen pipes into a covered cistern. Next to this is flowing water which, having its source in the mountains, comes tumbling down over rocks as on Mount Gaurus in Campania. The third choice is well-water which is found on a hillside or in a valley, if not in its lowest part. Worst of all is swamp-water, which creeps along with sluggish flow; & water that always remains stagnant in a swamp is laden with death. But this same water, harmful though its nature is, is purified by the rains of the winter season & loses its virulence; from this fact water from the heavens is known to be most healthful, as it even washes away the pollution of poisonous water, & we have stated that this is most approved for drinking. On the other hand, bubbling brooks contribute greatly to the alleviation of summer heat & to the attractiveness of places; & , if local conditions will allow, I think that they, by all means, should be conducted into the villa, regardless of the quality of the water if only it is sweet...

The size of the villa & the number of its parts should be proportioned to the whole inclosure, & it should be divided into three groups: the villa urbana or manor house, the villa rustica or farmhouse, & the villa fructuaria or storehouse. The manor house should be divided in turn into winter apartments & summer apartments, in such a way that the winter bedrooms may face the sunrise at the winter solstice, & the winter dining-room face the sunset at the equinox. The summer bedrooms, on the other hand, should look toward the midday sun at the time of the equinox, but the dining-rooms of that season should look toward the rising sun of winter. The baths should face the setting sun of summer, that they may be lighted from midday up to evening. The promenades should be exposed to the midday sun at the equinox, so as to receive both the maximum of sun in winter & the minimum in summer. But in the part devoted to farm uses there will be placed a spacious & high kitchen, that the rafters may be free from the danger of fire, & that it may offer a convenient stopping-place for the slave household at every season of the year. It will be best that cubicles for unfettered slaves be built to admit the midday sun at the equinox; for those who are in chains there should be an underground prison, as wholesome as possible, receiving light through a number of narrow windows built so high from the ground that they cannot be reached with the hand.

Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus. On Agriculture. Transl. Harrison Boyd Ash. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941.

1000 BC A History of Botanic Gardens written in 1915

Ancient Egyptian Botanical Garden. Relief in the Karnak Temple Complex in Luxor, Egypt.

The Journal of the American Medical Association Volume LXV July-December, 1915 Chicago

A HISTORY OF BOTANIC GARDENS 

One of the stock figures of ancient & primitive medicine is the herb gatherer, the £ifoT6fios (rhizototnus) of the Greeks & Romans, who made his living by wandering about through forest & meadow, collecting medicinal roots & herbs & selling them. The herbal medicine of primitive man was, in fact, the origin of our therapeutics, & was frequently delegated to the so-called "wise women." These beldames, as the old dramatists show, would sometimes enlarge the sphere of their activities to embrace the triple functions of fortune teller, procuress & abortionist. 

The word "drug" is derived from the Anglo Saxon verb drigatr, to dry, referring to the dried collections of simples which were for a long time a medical commodity. The herbalists & drug sellers were naturally concerned to monopolize their business, & in order to frighten away the ignorant from collecting such plants for themselves, they encouraged & even invented superstitions to impose on the masses. 

To protect the doctor & the apothecary from these abuses, there arose the necessity of growing plants in special gardens set apart for the purpose, & these naturally clustered around the monasteries. From these monastic gardens it was but a step to the botanic & physic gardens of the medieval & Renaissance universities.

The earliest garden known & represented was that of Thotmes III (1000 B. C), planned by Nekht, head gardener of the Temple of Karnak; but the modern idea of a botanic garden, for economic & scientific purposes, seems to have originated with the Chinese & was known to the ancient Aztecs... 

The earliest European botanic garden on record was the hortus at St. Gall (9C), with its herbularis or physic garden, the former of which was an oblong enclosure containing 18 rectangular beds, while the herbularis was square & near the doctor's house. Here the monks cultivated their fruits & vegetables, gathered their medicinal simples & studied them. The epoch-making work of Abbot Mendel in the monastic garden at Briinn was an offshoot of this idea. 

The earliest botanic garden attached to a university was that at Pisa (1544), which owed its origin to the suggestion of Francesco Bonafede, who held the chair of simples (lectura simplicium) at the University of Padua (1533), that a botanic garden be started there. This came to pass in 1545, & among the prefects of the Paduan garden were the eminent botanists Anguillara & Prospero Alpini. About 1561, there was added to the Paduan teaching an ostensio simplicium or demonstration of living plants for the students. 

John Ray, the English botanist, visited both these places, describing the Paduan physic garden as "well-stored," the Pisan as "meanly stored" with simples. Zurich acquired a botanic garden in 1560, & was followed by Bologna (1568), Leiden (1587), Leipzig (1579) & Paris (1597), the latter being the original of the Jardin des Plantes (1635). 

In 1587 the young University of Leiden asked for permission from the mayor of Leiden to establish a hortus academicus behind the university building, for the benefit of the medical students. The request was granted in 1590, & the famous botanist Carolus Clusius (1526–1609) was appointed as prefect. Clusius arrived in Leiden in 1593. His knowledge, reputation, & international contacts allowed him to set up a very extensive plant collection. Clusius urged the Dutch East India Company to collect plants and (dried) plant specimens in the colonies. The original garden set up by Clusius was small (about 35 by 40 meters), but contained more than 1000 different plants.

John Gerard, of the famous "Herball" of 1597, catalogued in his physic garden at Holborn in 1596, listing 1,030 plants, the first catalogue printed. The Jardin des Plantes had about 1,800 species under cultivation in 1636, & 4,000 in 1665. Heidelberg had a garden before 1600, and, in the seventeenth century, gardens were established at Giessen (1605), Strassburg (1620), Oxford (1621), Jena (1629), Upsala (1657), Chelsea (1673), Berlin (1679), Edinburgh (1680) & Amsterdam (1682).

Private physic gardens were owned in England by Thomas Johnson at Snowhill (1633), by John Parkinson, apothecary to James I, & John Tradescant, whose private collection of curiosities became the present Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The land for the Oxford garden was given by the Earl of Danby, & a greenhouse or conservatory was put up in 1670. 

The Edinburgh garden was founded by the physicians Sir Robert Sibbald & Sir Andrew Balfour, "to safeguard the Practitioner against the Herbalist & to enable him to have a correct knowledge of the plants which were the source of the drugs he himself would have to compound." 

Painting of the Elgin Botanic Garden (c 1810, artist unknown) founded by David Hosack (1801), which became the Botanic Garden of New York State (1810). In 1811, David Hosack, noted the establishment of the Elgin Botanic Garden, New York, NY “Accordingly, in the following year, 1801, I purchased of the corporation of the city of New York twenty acres of ground...At a considerable expense, the establishment was inclosed by a well constructed stone wall...The whole establishment was enclosed by a stone wall, two & an half feet in breadth, & seven & an half feet high.”

The Chelsea Physic Garden, founded as the Garden of the Society of Apothecaries in London (1673), was originally at Westminster, but was moved to Chelsea in 1776, the freehold having been purchased for the society by Sir Hans Sloane in 1712 & conveyed to it by deed in 1722.  The heating arrangement of its greenhouses by a vaulted subterranean plant was an innovation, noted by Evelyn in his diary in 1685. 

Berlin Botanic Garden (1679 & 1801) The Berlin garden of 1679 was reorganized in 1801, & was removed from the heart of the city to Dahlem in 1909. Its splendid collections, institute & museums make it a respected school of botany.

At the end of the 18C, there were about 1,600 botanic gardens in Europe, including Petrograd (1713), Vienna (1754), Kew (1759), Cambridge (1762), Madrid (1763), Coimbra (1773) & the Glasnevin Garden of the Royal Dublin Society (1790). Tropical & subtropical gardens existed at St. Vincent (1764), Calcutta (-1786) & Sydney (1788). 

Glasnevin Botanical Garden of the Royal Dublin Society (1790) The poet Thomas Tickell owned a house & small estate in Glasnevin &, sold to the Irish Parliament in in 1790, & then it was given to the Royal Dublin Society to establish Ireland's first botanic gardens. A fantastic double row of yew trees, known as "Addison's Walk" survives from this period. The gardens were the 1st location in Ireland where the infection responsible for the 1845-1847 potato famine was identified.

The lovely Kew Gardens was originally a royal preserve first in charge of William Aiton, & afterward of Sir Joseph Banks, who made it an unrivaled center "of botanical exploration & horticultural experiment." 

Arnold Arboretum (1872)

The first botanic garden in America was established by John Bartram at Philadelphia in 1728. It was followed by the Elgin Botanical Garden, founded by David Hosack (1801), which became the Botanic Garden of New York State (1810), acquiring the celebrated herbariums of Torrey, Chapman & Meisner; & the fine & complete Botanic Garden of Harvard University (1805), which, with the Gray Herbarium (1864) & the Arnold Arboretum (1872), is "a Mecca for botanists all the world over." 

Missouri Botanical Garden at St. Louis 1889 

Also from the 19C, the tropical & subtropical gardens at Penang (1801-1884) & Singapore (1823-1878), which are associated with the name of Sir Stamford Raffles were founded, also those of Rio de Janeiro (1808), Buitzenorg, Java (1817), Cape Town (1848), Durban, Natal (1853), the restoration of the St. Vincent garden (1890), the National Botanic Garden of South Africa at Kirstenbosch (1913), & many flourishing gardens in Australia, Tasmania & New Zealand. 

Medicinal Plant Garden of the College of Pharmacy of the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis (1910-1911)

In addition to the American gardens already mentioned, those at Berkeley, Cal., University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), Smith College, Northampton, Mass., the Michigan Agricultural College (1877), the Medicinal Plant Garden of the College of Pharmacy of the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis (1910-1911), & the Wisconsin Pharmaceutical Experiment Station (1913) are of special interest in university teaching. The Missouri Botanical Garden at St. Louis, founded by Henry Shaw in 1889 is closely connected with the Shaw School of Botany of Washington University.

National Botanic Garden of South Africa at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town (1913)

Rembert Dodoens (1517-1585), Flemish Physician & Botanist's Book comes to America on the Mayflower

Rembert Dodoens (1517-1585), a Flemish physician & botanist.

When the Mayflower landed on the Massachusetts coast in 1620, on board was a botanical book belonging to Elder Brewster, A Brief Epitomy of the New Herbal etc. written in Dutch by Rembert Dodoens (1517-1585), a Flemish physician & botanist. In English, the herbal was popularly known as " Lyte's Herbal." This edition was probably the popularly known Flemish Herbal or " Cruydtboeck" Dodoens published at Antwerp, 1554.  (A new herball, or, Historie of plants: wherein is contained the whole discourse and perfect description of all sorts of herbes and plants ... their names, natures, operations and vertues ...by Rembert Dodoens.)  In those days, Cruydeboeck was the most translated book after the Bible. It became a work of worldwide renown, used as a reference book in Europe & the North American colonies for 2 centuries.

An image of William Brewster Published in The Romantic Story of the Mayflower Pilgrims: And its place in the life of to-day, 1911 by A. C. Addison

William Brewster (1568 –1644) was an English official & Mayflower passenger in 1620. In Plymouth Colony, by virtue of his education & existing stature with those immigrating from the Netherlands, Brewster, a Puritan Separatist, became senior elder & the leader of the community. As the only university educated member of the colony, Brewster took the part of the colony's religious leader until a pastor, Ralph Smith, arrived in 1629. Thereafter, Brewster continued to preach irregularly until his death in April 1644. "He was tenderhearted and compassionate of such as were in misery," William Bradford wrote, "but especially of such as had been of good estate and rank and fallen unto want and poverty."

After William Brewster's death in 1644, this book or one like it, turns up in the death inventory of another Mayflower passenger from the Netherlands, Myles Standish.  In Massachusetts, Myles Standish owned A new herball, or, Historie of plants: wherein is contained the whole discourse and perfect description of all sorts of herbes and plants ... their names, natures, operations and vertues ... by Rembert Dodoens.  Myles Standish (1593-1656), commander of the Plymouth colony's militia, had served as a soldier in the Netherlands prior to his passage to America. He was the governor's assistant in Plymouth, as well as the colony's treasurer. He moved to Duxbury in the mid-1630s. Married first Rose --, who died early in 1621, and second Barbara --, with whom he had seven children. Standish's library is documented in the probate inventory of his estate, taken 8 December 1656 and presented 4 May 1657.

In the late 15C & early 16C, Renaissance commentators "‘rediscovered" ancient botany. They produced editions of the works of some of the most famous ancient writers on botany: Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny the Elder, & Galen. Dodoens' great herbal, " Stirpium historice pemptades sex," in which were gathered all his writings on this subject, together with the additional matter he had accumulated, became the foundation of the most popular of English herbals, that of Gerard, 1597.

Dodoens was the foremost botanist of his own country, he was born at Malines about 1517, and after studies at Louvain and the universities and medical schools of France, Italy, and Germany, he graduated M.D., and became physician to the Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II. Later he was Professor of Medicine at Leyden. His interest in the science of botany, and the opportunities he enjoyed for its study, made him one of the most industrious of European botanists.

808 CE European Monastery Gardens & Benedictine Walafrid Strabo's (808-849 CE) Hortulus

Walafrid Strabo (808-849 CE) from The Wonder of Numbers in Strabo's Hortulus

Walafrid Strabo, was a Benedictine monk, a Carolingian Imperial Tutor, gardener, & theological writer who lived on Reichenau Island, & who left one of the very few first-hand descriptions of an early medieval garden.  As a child, Walafrid was sent to the island monastery of Reichenau located in Lake Constance, north of the border between Germany & Italy. A gifted student & writer, at the age of 18 Walafrid went to Fulda to study. 

From there, he was called to the court of King Louis, son of Charlemagne, to tutor 6-year-old Prince Charles. When young Prince Charles reached adulthood, in 842 Strabo returned to the monastery at Reichenau, where he was made abbot. There, for the next 7 years he lived, he encouraged the production & exchange of manuscripts which made the library famous. 

Among Walafrid's writings, renowned throughout the Middle Ages for their distinguished Latin is the poem Hortulus, an account of a little garden that he tended with his own hands. Written in Latin verse, it begins with an explanation of how Walafrid gained his knowledge of gardening: "I myself learned this, not solely from opinion, common report, nor from searches of books & early writings, but by work & hands-on study to discover proven methods - which considerably postponed my leisure at the end of each day!"

The poem Hortulus begins in his monastery garden in early spring, listing the plants in his little garden. A drawing in the Plan of St. Gall, a manuscript created at Reichenau at about the time that Walafrid arrived there as a boy, shows 2 monastery gardens there. 

Plan of Saint Gall. Simplified view of structures & garden areas.

A drawing in the Plan of St. Gall, a manuscript created at Reichenau at about the time that Walafrid arrived there as a boy, shows 2 monastery gardens. One, the physic garden, lies just beyond the door of the monastery infirmary. It is laid out in orderly rows of rectangular beds, each labeled in the manuscript. The Plan of Saint Gall is a medieval architectural drawing of a monastic compound dating from 820–830 AD. It depicts an entire Benedictine monastic compound, including churches, houses, stables, kitchens, workshops, brewery, infirmary, & a special house for bloodletting. It is theorized that the complex was meant to house about 110 monks, 115 lay visitors, & 150 craftmen & agricultural workers. The Plan was never actually built.

Walahfrid Strabo only lived to be 40. He wrote everything in poetry. After the fall of Rome, the knowledge of the ancients was preserved by Catholic monks, mainly in the area we now know as Poland & Germany. He wrote a manual of herb gardening Hortulus which means "little garden." He writes a first-hand description in his early medieval garden in Latin verse.

Walafrid's Hortulus begins in early spring, when Walafrid is dismayed by rampant nettles "pushing up everywhere in my small plot." After hours of weeding, he carefully "surrounds the oblong beds with planks, slightly raised" to keep the rain from washing away the soil. He grows some plants from seed, some from cuttings. He hauls water in a bucket, pouring it "drop by drop, careful not to float the seeds away." One part of his garden is beneath the edge of the roof where it gets little rain; another is deeply shaded by a high wall. But even so, "the garden traps no plant beneath its soil" & soon new growth pokes through.

"Winter, image of age, who like a great belly, eats up the whole year's sustenance & heartlessly swallows the fruits of our unstinted labor".... "Some plants we grow from seed, some from old stocks.. We try to bring back the youth they knew before."

In the Hortulus, Walafrid describes 25 of these plants. Walafrid also kept a journal in which he documented the medicinal uses of plants. For every plant in his garden except the rose, he provided at least one therapeutic use. The materia medica of early medieval times were primarily botanical, & many of our modern drugs are still derived from plant materials. Walafrid studied the medicinal uses of plants, & for all of the plants he described, except the rose, he provided information on their uses in healing. His translated Latin comments are summarized below.

Agrimony, Agrimonia eupatoria: Mashed & taken in drink, Walafrid tells us, it sooths the stomach; made into a poultice with vinegar, it heals wounds from steel weapons.

Ambrosia, probably mugwort, Artemesia vulgaris: When taken as a drink, Walafrid tells us, “tantum quae sanguinis hausta absumit, quantum potus ingesserit almi” it removes as much blood from the body as it has added in liquid. (In other words, it balances the humors in the body).

Betony, Stachys betonica: Fresh or dried, it is an excellent tonic to prevent ill health; you can heal a septic wound by applying crushed fresh betony.

Catnip, Nepeta cataria: Mixing its juice with oil of roses creates a salve that closes wounds & reduces scarring; it also smoothes skin & restores hair lost due to infection.

Celery, Apium graveolens: Ground celery seed is good for painful urination; eating the plant & its roots will speed digestion; taken in water with vinegar can cure nausea.

Chervil, Anthriscus cerefolium: Used in moderation, prevents inflammation; a poultice of this with pennyroyal & poppy leaves eases belly pain.

Clary sage, Salvia sclarea: In hot water sweetened with honey, it is like a potion of strong spices.

Costmary, Tanacetum balsamita: Its roots help digestion & ease constipation.

Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare: Eases gas & relieves constipation, & is also good for coughs.

Gladiola, Iris germanica: Dried, pulverized iris roots in wine are good for bladder pain; they are also used to stiffen linen cloth & make it smell sweet.

Horehound, Marrubium vulgare: Good for chest pains, & as an antidote for aconite poisoning.

Lily, Liliam: As a remedy for snake venom, macerate lilies & mix with Falernian wine; rubbing mashed lilies on snakebite, & on bruises, is healing.

Lovage, Levisticum officinale: Seeds & leaves are thought to cause eye injury, but seeds blended with other herbs are apparently safe.

Melon or cucumber, Pepones: The shining white flesh is easy to chew, & cools the body when it is eaten.

Mint, Menta: One kind is a remedy for hoarseness; another, harsher tasting, & larger, resembles ebulus, danewort.

Pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium: Used as a drink or as a poultice can heal a sick stomach; & to turn to local folklore, Walafrid tells us, stick a twig of pennyroyal behind your ear & the hot sun won’t make you dizzy.

Poppy, Papaver somniferum: Can relieve the pain of a stomach ulcer; poppies, he tells us, take their name from the sound the seeds make as they are chewed.

Radish, Raphanus sativus: Radish root eases heavy coughing, as do crushed radish seeds.

Rue, Ruta graveolens: Relieves pain caused by poison & expels harmful toxins.

Sage, Salvia officinalis: Provides a tonic drink. Walafrid calls sage Lelyfagus, from elelisphakos, the Greek name for cultivated (as opposed to wild) sage.

Southernwood, Artemisia abrotanum: Heal fevers, stitches, & gout.

Gourds, Lagenaria siceraria: The inner flesh can be eaten, or if the fruits are allowed to dry, the gourds can be used as containers for wine.

Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium: Can lower fevers; relieves headaches & dizziness when made into an extract used to rinse the hair & cool the scalp, & the head should also be wreathed in fresh leaves.

From the Ancient Greeks & Romans Herbal Healing moved to the Monestaries in the Dark Ages

The Greek & Roman civilizations mixed scientific knowledge of healing plants & folk wisdom before the decline & fall of the Roman Empire, leading to the Dark Ages in the West. However, horticultural information & technology survived in monastic gardens in the early medieval period. The classical documents were preserved by the Arabs, & many were translated by Jewish scholars. In Europe, life increasingly revolved around the church & the clergy & the monastery became the glue holding togther groups of people in villages & towns.

In the early centuries of the Christian era & in the Middle Ages, monasteries functioned as local hospitals, which meant that the herb garden was an essential part of the surrounding community’s well-being. When barbarian tribes invaded the collapsing Roman Empire 476 CE, monasteries were the primary organizations that preserved medical knowlege.The monks preserved knowledge of medicinal plants & their uses, in order to minister to the community. The church preached that God had imbued certain plants with healing powers at the time of creation. Many believed that sin led to illness, & only through the combined forces of belief & the ingestion of herbs prescribed by the monks could one be absolved of sin & healed.

From the scant information that survives, we believe that much like gardens in ancient civilizations, the typical medieval garden was a walled square or rectangular, drawn into quadrants. Many had a central fountain or water basin, similar to the river described in Genesis 2:10 that “flows out of Eden to water the Garden; & from there it divides & becomes four branches.” Within the cloister of monasteries & abbeys, there typically would be a hortus conclusus or garden of medicinal plants. 

The plan for the Benedictine Monastery at St. Gall, from around 816, which also reveals much about the physical layout of monastic life. It included a main cloister, a vegetable garden divided into separate beds, & an orchard used as a burial ground. There was a physic garden where plants with healing possibilities were grown in rectangular beds. 

Another well-recognized early monastic garden was Reichenau in Germany whose prior, Walahfrid Strabo (808–849), had been the teacher of Charles the Bold at Aix-la-Chapelle & whose verses extolled the virtues of learning about plants by working daily with them. 

The hortus conclusus or physic garden was originally intended to treat monks who were ill or declining with age. Typically, decoctions were made from the medicinally active plants (“simples”) within the garden. But as important as the physic garden was in this

culture, the monks’ knowledge of the use of simples was even more essential. Monasteries were vital storehouses of healing traditions that dated back to ancient times.  Latin translations of De Material Medica by Dioscorides & of Qanun by the Persian polymath, AbūAlı̄ al-Husayn (980–1037) known in the West as Avicenna, became standard medical texts for use by the monasteries. The monks, however, did not rely exclusively on the classics. It is said that pilgrims & travelers who sought sanctuary at the monasteries often brought with them new plants & new uses. Unfortunately, the only mechanism for sharing this the early knowledge was through handwritten texts, a laborious & expensive process which some monks dedicated their lives to dong.

See: Western Botanical Gardens: History and Evolution Donald A. Rakow Section of Horticulture School of Integrative Plant Science Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ithaca, NY USA & Sharon A. Lee Sharon Lee and Associates Swarthmore, PA USA

Ancient & Classical Herbals

Ancient Egyptian Herbals

According to a papyrus in the British Museum, (number 10051, Salt) 825 vegetable substances were considered divine in origin. The blood, sweat & tears of Horus, Ra, Osiris & other Deities, upon falling on the ground, turn magically into plants - especially those held in reverence as medicines or used to make incense.

The Egyptians were known to use plant oils at least as early as 2500 BCE. The names of 7 holy oils are listed on tablets in the British Museum & the oils were used in tombs of the Old Kingdom (around 2500 BC.)

Several oils are mentioned in the Ebers papyrus, including olive oil, however the exact identity of the others appears to have been lost. The use of medicated oils appears to have been well known at this period - & the Ebers mentions over a dozen prescriptions for salves & ointments. Herbs were boiled in honey & oil, or in oil alone in order to extract their ingredients. Also, both men & women of the period used perfumed oils to anoint their bodies.

"Ebers Papyrus" (c.1550 BCE) Egyptian Papyrus. The largest known record of ancient Egyptian medical practice. Astonishingly, some of the remedies advised by the Ebers Papyrus are still in use today - although some sound quite strange to us. Not only herbal treatments are covered but also remedies of various other kinds. Other ancient Egyptian papyri, some even older, also contained plant-based medical prescriptions. 

Extant versions:

The great medical papyrus at Berlin [number 3032].

The medical papyrus in the British Museum [number 10059].

The Hearst papyrus, published by Wreszinski in 1912.

The Kahun papyrus, published by Griffith.

The Edwin Smith papyrus (described at length in Recueil d'Etudes Egyptologiques, Paris, 1922, p.386 ff.

Sumerian & Assyrian Herbals

A medical tablet, found in the library of Ashurbanipal, & now in the British Museum (K 4023), includes a footnote stating that it was copied from a tablet which had been written "in the 2nd year of the reign of Enlil-bani, King of Isin, circa 2201-2177." There is also a reference given to a medicinal plant tradition from the time of "the ancient rulers before the flood which was in Shurippak."

 British Museum 

Copies of medical tablets have also been found at Ashur - & these are reported to be several centuries older than those of Nineveh. There is no way of knowing whether the Sumerians were indeed the discoverers of the medical arts which they were using. There could be the possibility of an earlier civilization whose works have been lost in the mists of time.

Many of the clay tablets found at Nineveh by Layard appeared in both Sumerian & Assyrian forms. Ashurbanipal was a great scholar & boasted that he had "even learned the ancient language of the Sumerians" - which by his day was considered antique & rare. Much of our knowledge of these ancient people rests upon the lifetime of devoted scholarship of Ashurbanipal.

In the early part of the 20th century various attempts were made to translate the numerous Assyrian tablets found at Nineveh.  Assyrians used around 250 plants in medicine. To this number is added around 120 mineral drugs, alcohols, honey, various kinds of milk & around 180 other substances not identified.

The Assyrians made an attempt at botanical classification of plants, grouping for example grasses together. Examples of plants used in herbalism by the Assyrians include apricot, asafoetida, saffron, galbanum, turmeric, flax, mandrake, almond, poppy, sesame & many more. In those times however the herbalist was also a magician-priest who drove out evil spirits from the bodies of the afflicted.

Mesopotamian people probably had herb gardens: A tablet in the British Museum (# 46226), describes 73 aromatic plants in the garden of King Merodach-Baladan II of Babylon (721-710 & 703-702 BC.)

See:

Assyrian medical texts from the originals in the British Museum (PDF)

Sourcebook for Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine (Writings from the Ancient World) - JoAnn Scurlock (2014)

Ancient Greek Herbals

Not only for Sumerians & Egyptians considered their medicine systems to have been given to them by their Gods, but the Greeks held a similar view. The original Greek god of medicine was Asklepios, reported to be the son of Apollo & Coronis. Asclepius is said to have lived around 1250 BC. He carried a staff with a serpent coiled around it. This symbol of life was known as the Rod of Asclepius & is still associated with medicine.

Many of the ancient Greek physicians learned their craft from the Egyptians. Most notable among them was Hippocrates (c.460-370 BCE) who has been called the father of Western medicine. He was the first to separate the craft of medicine from the magical & ritual elements which had always been intertwined with the practice up until that time. He is credited with the concept that diseases were of natural cause, as opposed to being influenced by deities & other spirits. Hippocrates' methods were methodical, precise & gentle where possible. Between 300 & 400 medicines were known to Hippocrates - & that most of these well plant-based.

Crateuas' Herbal (c.80-63BCE) Craeuas was body physician to Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus (120-63 BC). He was a herbalist & rhizomist ("root cutter") & created his own illustrated herbal. This work has now been lost, though it is reported that Crateuas' illustrations of plants were the most lifelike of his time: He has been called the "father of plant illustration." It was mentioned by Dioscorides in the preface to his De Materia Medica (see below), & also quoted in the Codex Vindobonensis, which includes illustrations believed to be copies of those of Crateuas.

Dioscorides (40CE - 90CE) - "De Materia Medica" (c.65 AD). One of the most famous of all herbals, Pedanius Dioscorides' De Materia Medica is considered by many to be the most influential herbal ever written. It was the principal source drawn upon by herbalists for some 1500 years. The original has been lost, however numerous translations exist. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is the highly illustrated Byzantine copy of around 512 A.D., known as the Codex Vindobonensis. 

Pedanius Dioscorides  

In mediæval times, manuscripts were hand-copied (printing had not yet arrived). Notes extended commentaries were often added to Dioscorides.: Copies were working manuals for physicians of those times. In some editions of Dioscorides, commentaries became long & elaborate - often including the opinions of several other herbalists. Some of these may never have been translated into English.

Dioscorides was first translated ino English by John Goodyer, who between 1652 & 1655 hand-wrote the entire Greek text with an interlinear translation. This ran to 4,540 quarto pages. This translation was never printed & lay forgotten at Magdalen College, Oxford until 1933, when it was edited & printed by Robert T. Gunther. 

Pliny (23 CF - 79CE)

Pliny - "Naturalis Historia" (c.77-79 AD). Pliny's Natural History is comprised of 37 books, of which seven describe medicinal plants. Pliny's work has been famous & widely consulted ever since, & is very often cited by mediaeval writers. Pliny's work was first translated into English by Philemon Holland (1552-1637). Several books of Pliny's N.H. deal with plants & trees; books 20, 24,26 & 27 deal in particular with plant remedies.

Galen (129-c.199 CE) 

Galen (129-c.199 CE) is known to have written on the subject of plant remedies. A 10th century copy of one of 129 works of Galen translated into Arabic by Hunayn ibn Ishaq (c.830-870) contains descriptions of over 150 formulations of both herbal & animal origin. 

Hippocrates did not leave us a herbal, however a body of work comprising some 70 medical texts from around the 3C BC has come to be known as the Hippocratic Corpus. It was attributed to him in antiquity, & its teachings followed his principles. Greek herbals & medical works of this period (300-30 BC.) were based on lists of plants & medical works made by the Egyptians.

Diocles Carystius (c.400-c.450 BCE) The earliest recorded Greek Herbal was said to be that of Diocles Carystius. it was a list of plants & their habitats together with short statements describing their medicinal properties. 

Roman Bust of Aristotle-Greek 

Aristotle, the famous philosopher, is thought to have created a list of over 500 plants ("De Plantis") but it may been the work of a later writer.

Theophrastus (c. 371 - c. 287 BCE) 

Theophrastus - "Enquiry into Plants".  Theophrastus (c. 371 - c. 287 BCE) was a Greek philosopher of the time of Plato & Aristotle. Theophrastus wrote 2 books on botany. Over 500 plants are described in his Historia Plantarum. Some of his statements are based on first-hand knowledge of the plants, others are based on information supplied by traveling merchants. His work was ( at the time of Budge) considered the earliest extant Greek herbal. Considered the most important contribution to botany of ancient times, this work systemized & classified plants according to locality, size & uses. Herbs & some medical uses of plants are mentioned although this was primarily a botanical work. 

Herophilus (C. 300-250 BC).

Herophilus, a native of Chalcedon in around the 3rd century BC created a work on plants which was mentioned by Pliny (XXV #5) but seems to no longer exist. Having spent most of his life in Alexandria, Herophilus gave lectures that attracted a large number of medical students, and his research and work as a doctor brought him great prestige. Herophilus is considered the first scientist to lay the foundations of the scientific method.

Andreas of Carystus, physician to Ptolemy IV, also wrote a work on plants in the early 3rd C BCE. He is was a physician of ancient Greece who is supposed by some to be the same person as Andreas of Carystus. Other scholars have concluded this to be a mistake which has arisen from earlier writers reading "Andron" in the works of Pliny the Elder instead of "Andreas." - also lost.

Niger (the Sextius Niger of Pliny), alive around 30 BC, wrote a Herbal - also lost.

Galen Said to have been the author of nearly 400 works. 83 extant. De Simplicibus - Concerning the simples. 

Ethiopian Herbal

This work, in the British Museum, consists of only 14 folios. (MS Add. 20741) James Bruce, travels, London 1805. ( Book 7) describes some plants of Abyssinia.

742 Charlemagne's (742-814) On Gardening & Farming including Plant Lists

 The Capitulare de Villis - On Gardening & Farming

Charlemagne (Charles I, Carolus Magnus, Charles the Great) (742-814) was King of the Franks from 768 until his death. He expanded small Frankish kingdoms into an Empire that covered much of Western & Central Europe. 

Charlemagne BLMedieval Egerton 3028 f. 83v c
He conquered Italy & was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800, as a rival of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople. Charles I, was the 1st Holy Roman Emperor, & the 1st emperor in western Europe, since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire 3 centuries earlier. Under his influence, society, art, culture, gardening, religion, & farming underwent a Renaissance.

Pope Leo III crowning Charlemagne emperor, miniature in the Grandes Chroniques de France, manuscript illuminated by Jean Fouquet, 1460 in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris (MS. fr. 6465).

Charlemagne (742-812) experimented with plants in his own garden & oversaw plantings on his royal estates. He issued imperial edicts, or capitularies, to guide civil, military, & ecclesiastical affairs. The Capitulare des Villis specified a list of plants to be grown on royal estates, as well as farming guidelines. 

Charlemagne receiving the oath of fidelity and homage from a baron, coloured engraving after a 14th-century manuscript miniature.

The Capitulare de Villis - On Gardening & Farming

This document dates to the end of the 8C & survives in a manuscript of near contemporary date. It describes, in an idealized form, the management of royal estates. The terminology & types of plant listed suggest that it describes estates in Aquitaine (i.e. western France, south of the Loire) which in the late 8C was ruled by Charlemagne's son Louis, later the Emperor Louis the Pious. 

Pope Leo III crowning Charlemagne emperor on Christmas Day, 800 from Chroniques de France ou de Saint-Denis, vol. 1, second quarter of the 14th century.

Whether the text was created under Louis' instruction or his father's is not known. Louis I (778-840), or Louis the Pious, was king of the Franks & emperor of the West from 814 to 840. This document provides a unique insight into the social & economic worlds of the landed & the peasants. 

Charlemagne & his son Louis Grandes Chroniques de France, France, Paris (BnF Français 73, fol. 128v) 

Charlemagne's Edicts On Gardening & Farming

8. That our stewards shall take charge of our vineyards in their districts, & see that they are properly worked; & let them put the wine into good vessels, & take particular care that no loss is incurred in shipping it. They are to have purchased other, more special, wine to supply the royal estates. And if they should buy more of this wine than is necessary for supplying our estates they should inform us of this, so that we can tell them what we wish to be done with it. They shall also have slips from our vineyards sent for our use. Such rents from our estates as are paid in wine they shall send to our cellars.

13. That they shall take good care of the stallions, & under no circumstances allow them to stay for long in the same pasture, lest it should be spoiled. And if any of them is unhealthy, or too old, or is likely to die, the stewards are to see that we are informed at the proper time, before the season comes for sending them in among the mares.

14. That they shall look after our mares well, & segregate the colts at the proper time. And if the fillies increase in number, let them be separated so that they can form a new herd by themselves.

15. That they shall take care to have our foals sent to the winter palace at the feast of St Martin.

17. A steward shall appoint as many men as he has estates in his district, whose task it will be to keep bees for our use.

18. At our mills they are to keep chickens & geese, according to the mill's importance—or as many as is possible.

19. In the barns on our chief estates they are to keep not less than 100 chickens & not less than 30 geese. At the smaller farms they are to keep not less than 50 chickens & not less than 12 geese.

20. Every steward is to see that the produce is brought to the court in plentiful supply throughout the year; also, let them make their visitations for this purpose at least three or four times.

21. Every steward is to keep fishponds on our estates where they have existed in the past, & if possible he is to enlarge them. They are also to be established in places where they have not so far existed but where they are now practicable.

22. Those who have vines shall keep not less than three or four crowns of grapes.

23. On each of our estates the stewards are to have as many byres, pigsties, sheepfolds & goat-pens as possible, & under no circumstances arc they to be without them. They are also to have cows provided by our serfs for the performance of their service, so that the byres & plough-teams are in no way weakened by service on our demesne. And when they have to provide meat, let them have lame but healthy oxen, cows or horses which are not mangy, & other healthy animals; &, as we have said, our byres & plough-teams must not suffer as a result of this.

Pope Leo III crowning Charlemagne emperor, December 25, 800

24. Every steward is to take pains over anything he has to provide for our table, so that everything he gives is good & of the best quality, & as carefully & cleanly prepared as possible. And each of them, when he comes to serve at our table, is to have corn for two meals a day for his service; & any other provisions, whether in flour or in meat, are similarly to be of good quality.

25. They are to report on the first of September whether or not there will be food for the pigs.

32. That every steward shall make it his business always to have good seed of the best quality, whether bought or otherwise acquired.

34. They are to take particular care that anything which they do or make with their hands—that is, lard, smoked meat, sausage, newly-salted meat, wine, vinegar, mulberry wine, boiled wine, garum, mustard, cheese, butter, malt, beer, mead, honey, wax & flour—that all these are made or prepared with the greatest attention to cleanliness.

35. It is our wish that tallow shall be made from fat sheep & also from pigs; in addition, they are to keep on each estate not less than two fattened oxen, which can either be used for making tallow there or can be sent to us.

36. That our woods & forests shall be well protected; if there is an area to be cleared, the stewards are to have it cleared, & shall not allow fields to become overgrown with woodland. Where woods are supposed to exist they shall not allow them to be excessively cut & damaged. Inside the forests they are to take good care of our game; likewise, they shall keep our hawks & falcons in readiness for our use, & shall diligently collect our dues there. And the stewards, or our mayors or their men, if they send their pigs into our woods to be fattened, shall be the first to pay the tithe for this, so as to set a good example & encourage other men to pay their tithe in full in the future.

Albrecht Durer (1471-1548) Charlemagne - Holy Roman Emperor (742-812) called 'The Father of Europe.' Detail.

37. That they shall keep our fields & arable land in good order, & shall guard our meadows at the appropriate time.

38. That they shall always keep fattened geese & chickens sufficient for our use if needed, or for sending to us.

39. It is our wish that the stewards shall be responsible for collecting the chickens & eggs which the serfs & manse-holders contribute each year; & when they are not able to use them they are to sell them.

40. That every steward, on each of our estates, shall always have swans, peacocks, pheasants, ducks, pigeons, partridges & turtle doves, for the sake of ornament.

44. Two thirds of the Lenten food shall be sent each year for our use — that is, of the vegetables, fish, cheese, butter, honey, mustard, vinegar, millet, panic, dry or green herbs, radishes, turnips, & wax or soap & other small items; & as we have said earlier, they are to inform us by letter of what is left over, & shall under no circumstances omit to do this, as they have done in the past, because it is through those two thirds that we wish to know about the one third that remains.

45. That every steward shall have in his district good workmen — that is, blacksmiths, gold- & silver-smiths, shoemakers, turners, carpenters, shield-makers, fishermen, falconers, soap-makers, brewers (that is, people who know how to make beer, cider, perry or any other suitable beverage), bakers to make bread for our use, net-makers who can make good nets for hunting or fishing or fowling, & all the other workmen too numerous to mention.

46. That the stewards shall take good care of our walled parks, which the people call brogili, & always repair them in good time, & not delay so long that it becomes necessary to rebuild them completely. This should apply to all buildings.

47. That our hunters & falconers, & the other servants who are in permanent attendance on us at the palace, shall throughout our estates be given such assistance as we or the queen may command in our letters, on occasions when we send them out on an errand or when the seneschal or butler gives them some task to do in our name.

48. That the wine-presses on our estates shall be kept in good order. And the stewards are to see to it that no one dares to crush the grapes with his feet, but that everything is clean & different.

58. When our puppies are entrusted to the stewards they are to feed them at their own expense, or else entrust them to their subordinates, that is, the mayors & deans, or cellarers, so that they in their turn can feed them from their own resources—unless there should be an order from ourselves or the queen that they arc to be fed on our estate at our own expense. In this case the steward is to send a man to them, to see to their feeding, & is to set aside food for them; & there will be no need for the man to go to the kennels every day.

62. That each steward shall make an annual statement of all our income, from the oxen which our ploughmen keep, from the holdings which owe ploughing services, from the pigs, from rents, judgement-fees & fines, from the fines for taking game in our forests without our permission & from the various other payments; from the mills, forests, fields, bridges & ships; from the free men & the hundreds which are attached to our fisc; from the markets; from the vineyards, & those who pay their dues in wine; from hay, firewood & torches, from planks & other timber; from waste land; from vegetables, millet & panic; from wool, linen & hemp; from the fruits of trees; from larger & smaller nuts; from the graftings of various trees; from gardens, turnips, fishponds; from hides, skins & horns; from honey & wax; from oil, tallow & soap; from mulberry wine, boiled wine, mead & vinegar; from beer & from new & old wine; from new & old grain; from chickens & eggs & geese; from the fishermen, smiths, shield-makers & cobblers; from kneading troughs, bins or boxes; from the turners & saddlers; from forges & from mines, that is, from iron- or lead-workings & from workings of any other kind; from people paying tribute; & from colts & fillies. All these things they shall set out in order under separate headings, & shall send the information to us at Christmas time, so that we may know the character & amount of our income from the various sources.

65. That the fish from our fishponds shall be sold, & others put in their place, so that there is always a supply of fish; however, when we do not visit the estates they are to be sold, & our stewards are to get a profit from them for our benefit.

66. They are to give an account to us of the male & female goats, & of their horns & skins; & each year they are to bring to us the newly-salted meat of the fattened goats.

70. It is our wish that they shall have in their gardens all kinds of plants: lily, roses, fenugreek, costmary, sage, rue, southernwood, cucumbers, pumpkins, gourds, kidney-bean, cumin, rosemary, caraway, chick-pea, squill, gladiolus, tarragon, anise, colocynth, chicory, ammi, sesili, lettuces, spider's foot, rocket salad, garden cress, burdock, penny-royal, hemlock, parsley, celery, lovage, juniper, dill, sweet fennel, endive, dittany, white mustard, summer savory, water mint, garden mint, wild mint, tansy, catnip, centaury, garden poppy, beets, hazelwort, marshmallows, mallows, carrots, parsnip, orach, spinach, kohlrabi, cabbages, onions, chives, leeks, radishes, shallots, cibols, garlic, madder, teazles, broad beans, peas, coriander, chervil, capers, clary. And the gardener shall have house-leeks growing on his house. As for trees, it is our wish that they shall have various kinds of apple, pear, plum, sorb, medlar, chestnut & peach; quince, hazel, almond, mulberry, laurel, pine, fig, nut & cherry trees of various kinds. The names of apples are: gozmaringa, geroldinga, crevedella, spirauca; there are sweet ones, bitter ones, those that keep well, those that are to be eaten straightaway, & early ones. Of pears they are to have three or four kinds, those that keep well, sweet ones, cooking pears & the late-ripening ones.

 Charlemagne by Caspar Johann Nepomuk Scheuren (1810-1887)

See:
Manuscript: The extant copy of the Capitulare de Villis survives in Wolfenbüttel, Cod. Guelf. 254 Helmst. (fols 12v-16r) which dates to c. 800. Translation: H.R. Loyn & J. Percival, The Reign of Charlemagne. Documents on Carolingian Government & Administration Documents of Medieval History 2 (London 1975) pp. 64-73.