On the Cultivation of Gardens: A Ninth Century Gardening BookWalafrid Strabo was born in the later years of the reign of Emperor Charlemagne, in 808 or 809. He came from the area in southwest Germany then called Alemannia, which included the modern province of Baden-Württemberg, and which bordered areas of Switzerland and France located around the Bodensee, or Lake Constance. Destined for a career as a churchman, he was dropped off by his parents at the age of eight or nine in the monastery at Reichenau, and island in the Bodensee. Here he learned to read and write Latin in the monastery school, and prepared for a life to be spent in monastic orders. He went on to become abbot of the same monastery in 838, and it was possibly during this period that he wrote his gardening book, "On the Cultivation of Gardens," widely regarded since Renaissance times as one of the great books of the early Middle Ages. |
Common terms and phrases
alliteration Apollo appear Area arte betony blood body boys branches bushes called Carolingian celery centuries Church color crushed CULTIVATION OF GARDENS death dedicated described drink early earth edition flowers forte fragrance fresh fruits garden garden book genus gourd growing Haec hands herb honor horehound Hortulus Huius Hyacinth illa Indian inside inter Iris kind labor Latin leaves lies Lilia lilies look manuscripts medieval mention monastery muse odor Opium poppy pains peaches pennyroyal person plants poems poppy produces published quae quam quickly quod quoque Reichenau restored roots Rosa rose San Francisco seeds shadows shoots soil student tamen taste things tibi translated tree turn verses vires virtues Walafrid Walafrid Strabo wormwood writing