A History of Women in the Garden (eBook)

A History of Women in the Garden

Dr Twigs Way (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2005 | 1. Auflage
320 Seiten
The History Press (Verlag)
978-0-7524-9578-1 (ISBN)

Infos

From the early misfortunes of Eve, condemning her descendants to a dubious reputation for fruit management, to the acclaimed successes of plant breeders such as the eccentric Ellen Willmott who combined bankruptcy with iris breeding, the fortunes of the female gardener have been as varied as their roles. Telling the tales of the sixteenth-century housewife, who neatly sidestepped accusations of herbal witchcraft while working her plot, and the unconventional Ladies of Llangollen, who eloped together and created their gothic garden and many other women besides, A History of Women in the Garden showcases female horticulturists through the centuries. An enlightening and entertaining read that will allow the reader to gain fresh enthusiasm for even the most menial of garden tasks, and realise that hundreds of women have trod the garden path before.

Twigs Way has also written Virgins, Weeders & Queens. She is a garden historian and lecturer, and her media work includes Channel 4's 'Lost Gardens' Look East Series (BBC East), guest presenting for Radio 4 and various newspaper commissions including Cambridgeshire Evening News and The Independent on Sunday.

Textauszug

TWO

QUEEN BEES

E     mpresse of flowers, tell me where away

L     ies your sweet Court this merry May,

I     n Greenewich garden allies?

S     ince there the heauenly powers do play

A     nd haunt no other vallies. . . .

R     oses and lillies did them draw,

E     re they diuine Astraea saw;

G     ay flowers they sought for pleasure:

I     nstead of gathering crownes of flowers,

N     ow gather they Astraea’s dowers,

A     nd beare to heauen their treasure.

John Davies, Hymnes to Astraea, extract from
Hymn No. IX (c. 1600). The first letter of each
line spells Elisa(Betha) Regina1

Whether nurturing plants from every corner of their empires or occupying their empty hours by embellishing the royal grounds, Queens of England were rarely out of sight of a garden. For some the flower garden was a cult, for others it was a retreat. Arriving on England’s plant-impoverished shores many a foreign princess saw her immediate mission in life not to provide heirs and princes, but to improve the island with new plants and gardens. From Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–1204) to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1719–72), none could resist the temptation to add to Britain’s native flora. In a country always open to changing fashions, the arrival of French, Dutch, Danish and German royals meant constant changes. These were played out not only in royal gardens but also in those of the court and the country, as they ‘followed the leaders’. A monarch interested in gardens could influence a whole nation; witness the mania for kitchen gardens during the reign of Queen Victoria (1819–1901), whose own 22-acre walled plot was laid out by her beloved Albert.

Even those who showed little interest in the creation of their own gardens might inspire the efforts of those around them, as did Elizabeth I on her courtly progressions. Leaving a trail of impoverished courtiers and splendid landscapes she led her court from the crescent lakes of Elvetham (Hampshire) to the fountain at Kenilworth (Warwickshire). Contentment in the gardens of others has not, however, been a hallmark of queenly virtue, and the royal palaces and homes of England are surrounded by remnants of hothouses, grottoes and terraces, where each consort or monarch has in turn made their imprint. Kew alone bears witness to at least three gardening queens as Caroline, Augusta and Charlotte each out-fashioned and out-gardened their royal mothers-in-law. Henrietta Maria (1609–69) went one better than most when she took on the mantle of the ‘rose and lily queen’ bringing a summer to follow on from Elizabeth’s everlasting spring, but few have rested content without enriching the garden of England.

Three Eleanors commence our story, each from warmer shores and each making her own contribution to an island just setting out on its gardening career: Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–1204), Eleanor of Provence (1223–91) and Eleanor of Castile (1241–90). Eleanor of Aquitaine had the dubious pleasure of being married both to a king of France (Louis VII from 1137 to 1152) and then to a king of England (Henry II from 1152 until his death in 1189), as well as being rumoured to having a long-standing affair with her uncle, Raymond, Prince of Antioch. Educated in the manners and ways of the French courts, Eleanor had created a garden at her Cité palace in Paris, while married to Louis. In the warm air of Paris, acanthus, poppies, lilies and roses grew in beds shaded by pear, fig, cypress and willow: a haven of colour and scent in a crowded city. She had followed her husband to the Crusades in the 1140s and would have seen the gardens of the Near East, which she was to visit again with her son. Her arrival in England, following the annulment of her French marriage, heralded the creation of an enclosed garden at Winchester (then the principal royal seat). Known as the Queen’s Garden, this small courtyard garden was enclosed within the high castle walls. Rose-covered trellis and perhaps a raised turf seat and a bubbling water feature would have distinguished it from the more functional courtyards of the castle. Many of the plants that grew in the Cité may have flowered again under English skies. Whether they kept Eleanor’s mind from straying to the courts of Paris we cannot know, but perhaps they were some consolation for the grey skies of England and Henry’s affair with Fair Rosamund Clifford. A return to French courtly life in Poitiers in 1168–73 led to the promulgation of the rule of ‘Courtly Love’ with its complex codes and manners, itself linked to symbolism of gardens and plants. Eleanor’s life was not destined to be one of garden repose and she joined the cut and thrust of European court politics, some might say with a vengeance. The years 1174–1204 saw this formidable woman first imprisoned by her husband and then reinstated to court life as Queen Mother before life on the run again and a final few years as a nun at Fontevraud Abbey. Patron of literature and familiar with the texts of courtly love, Eleanor outlived her husband and her son Richard, dying at the grand age of 82. Her tomb in Fontevraud Abbey depicts her clasping a book, an unusual addition for a woman of this period.

Eleanor of Provence (1223–91) led a slightly less turbulent life, being married to Henry III from 1236 (at the tender age of 13) until his death in 1272. Of legendary beauty and religious inclination, she, too, was to become involved in the rule of the country first through her husband and then her son. As with Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eleanor of Provence came from the background of courtly love and courtly gardens of continental Europe and spent lavishly on developing the arts in England. It is no surprise that in 1250 we find a reference to the Queen’s Garden at the royal palace of Woodstock. The bailiff of the palace was instructed to encircle the Queen’s Garden with two walls, ‘well built and high with a good herbary in which the same Queen may be able to disport herself; and a gate from the herbary next the chapel of Edward our son, into the aforesaid garden’.2 The herbary would have been a private garden for the use of the Queen and her attendants only, full of sweet-smelling flowers. Two years later the ‘great herbary’ was being returfed, perhaps with the sweet close-cropped turf of sheep downlands. In 1277 Eleanor, by then Queen Mother, petitioned the priory of Llanthony (Gloucestershire) that she and her ladies-in-waiting should be allowed to enter the priory gardens for their delight and exercise. They were to enter via a bridge between the castle and the priory that was to be newly made for the Queen, no doubt adding further pleasures to the outings. After Henry’s death Eleanor took the veil and joined the prestigious priory at Almesbury (Wiltshire), perhaps encouraged by the gardens we know existed there.

Eleanor of Castile (1241–90) might have been presumed to have matters other than gardening on her mind when she arrived at the court of Henry III in 1255, again only 13 years of age. Her recent marriage to Henry’s son, Edward, does not however appear to have taken up all her thoughts, for she is said to have brought with her quinces with which to make the Spanish confection of mermelada, or quince jam. Quince (Cydonia oblonga) was a luxury fruit in the thirteenth century, being priced as much as 4s a hundred (as opposed to 3d a hundred for apples and pears), while quince tree saplings were 2s for four in 1292. An orchard of quinces was planted in the royal garden at Westminster in the 1280s, supplying one hopes enough mermelada for the entire court.3 There may have been more to the introduction of the quince than merely a sweet tooth. The Castilian court would have known that the quince was also regarded as the golden love apple of Aphrodite4 and Eleanor was perhaps intimating at more than breakfast when she arrived as a teenage bride. When Edward departed for the Crusades, Eleanor elected to travel with him, following in the footsteps of Eleanor of Aquitaine. From her travels in the Middle East she is supposed to have brought back the hollyhock (from –hoc meaning mallow, literally the holy mallow), while from her native Castile came the sweet rocket or summer lilac (Hesperis matronalis). Other sources also credit her with the introduction of wallflowers and lavenders.5

Eleanor of Castile (1241–90) are both commemorated in the re-creation of Queen Eleanor’s Garden at Winchester. Little is known of the original Winchester Castle gardens and so this garden reflects fragmentary descriptions of several royal residences in the last part of the thirteenth century. Planting includes the hollyhock, wallflower, wild strawberry, violets, roses and gillyflowers. A trickle fountain of water adds sound to the scents of the herbs and roses, and the chamomile lawn. A tunnel arbour allows one to walk in the garden without fear of browning one’s milk-pure complexion, a garden feature essential in Spain but perhaps less necessary in the English climate. To complete...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.1.2005
• Verlagsort: London
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Garten
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft
• Schlagworte: A History of Women in the Garden • Garden • Garden design • herb wives • Horticultural • horticulture • medieval illuminations • Middle Ages • new plants • Queen • Queens • royal garden • Tudor • tudor royal garden • turf seat • virgin • Weeder • weeding women • Witchcraft • Women • Women in History • Women's history • women, women's history, women in history, garden, garden design, horticulture, horticultural, virgin, weeder, queen, turf seat, medieval illuminations, middle ages, weeding women, tudor royal garden, royal garden, tudor, queens, new plants, herb wives, witchcraft • women, women's history, women in history, garden, garden design, horticulture, horticultural, virgin, weeder, queen, turf seat, medieval illuminations, middle ages, weeding women, tudor royal garden, royal garden, tudor, queens, new plants, herb wives, witchcraft, A History of Women in the Garden
• ISBN-10: 0-7524-9578-X / 075249578X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7524-9578-1 / 9780752495781