Medieval Gardens: Cloister of SS. Quattro Coronati
Title
Medieval Gardens: Cloister of SS. Quattro Coronati
Description
The restored garden in the cloister at SS. Quattro Coronati is a beautiful, private, natural space tucked within the walls of a monastery. This type of garden would have been much more common in the Middle Ages in a variety of settings.
In the late 13th and early 14th century, an Italian lawyer from Bologna named Piero de Crescenzi wrote a twelve-book treatise on gardens at the time, including pleasure gardens and agricultural practices. Crescenzi names three types of pleasure gardens: small herb gardens, “medium-sized gardens for large and moderate landowners,” and gardens for extremely wealthy individuals, such as kings and wealthy lords.
Small herb gardens would probably have been the most prominent type based on the number of people who had space for them and could afford them rather than larger gardens. A small herb garden, according to Crescenzi, is built on a flat piece of land and is surrounded by aromatic and flowering plants and herbs. There would have been at least some seats around the edges of the garden. Cresenzi also recommends including a stream through the center of the garden, which would be both decorative and functional as a cooling element for humans and a hydrating feature for the plants.
These gardens were popular not only because they could provide refreshment for the senses as a very different kind of vista than an urban area would usually be able to offer, but also because they were a place with an abundance of fresh air. The health benefits of fresh air were a significant part of medieval medical dogma, and a small pleasure garden’s primary responsibility was to supply that kind of air to its patrons. In this, it was slightly different from larger pleasure gardens, which had room for orchards of fruit trees or large game for hunting. The small gardens were meant more for walking and sitting.
Visitors who would like to get a feel for small medieval herb gardens should visit cloisters—keep an eye out for walking paths, streams and fountains, and flowering plants.
In the late 13th and early 14th century, an Italian lawyer from Bologna named Piero de Crescenzi wrote a twelve-book treatise on gardens at the time, including pleasure gardens and agricultural practices. Crescenzi names three types of pleasure gardens: small herb gardens, “medium-sized gardens for large and moderate landowners,” and gardens for extremely wealthy individuals, such as kings and wealthy lords.
Small herb gardens would probably have been the most prominent type based on the number of people who had space for them and could afford them rather than larger gardens. A small herb garden, according to Crescenzi, is built on a flat piece of land and is surrounded by aromatic and flowering plants and herbs. There would have been at least some seats around the edges of the garden. Cresenzi also recommends including a stream through the center of the garden, which would be both decorative and functional as a cooling element for humans and a hydrating feature for the plants.
These gardens were popular not only because they could provide refreshment for the senses as a very different kind of vista than an urban area would usually be able to offer, but also because they were a place with an abundance of fresh air. The health benefits of fresh air were a significant part of medieval medical dogma, and a small pleasure garden’s primary responsibility was to supply that kind of air to its patrons. In this, it was slightly different from larger pleasure gardens, which had room for orchards of fruit trees or large game for hunting. The small gardens were meant more for walking and sitting.
Visitors who would like to get a feel for small medieval herb gardens should visit cloisters—keep an eye out for walking paths, streams and fountains, and flowering plants.
Abstract
Small herb gardens were meant for walking and sitting. These gardens were popular not only because they could provide refreshment for the senses, but also because they were a place with an abundance of fresh air.
Creator
Clare Hiyama (2016)
Source
Bauman, Johanna. "Tradition and Transformation: The Pleasure Garden in Piero de' Crescenzi's 'Liber ruralism commodorum'." Studies in the History of Gardens and Landscape Design 22 (2002): 99-137.
Calkins, Robert G. "Piero de' Crescenzi and the Medieval Garden." In Medieval Gardens, edited by Elisabeth Blair MacDougall, 157-173. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1986.
Calkins, Robert G. "Piero de' Crescenzi and the Medieval Garden." In Medieval Gardens, edited by Elisabeth Blair MacDougall, 157-173. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1986.
Identifier
medievalgardens_2015
Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Via dei SS. Quattro, 20, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Description
The restored garden in the cloister at SS. Quattro Coronati is a beautiful, private, natural space tucked within the walls of a monastery. This type of garden would have been much more common in the Middle Ages in a variety of settings.In the late 13th and early 14th century, an Italian lawyer from Bologna named Piero de Crescenzi wrote a twelve-book treatise on gardens at the time, including pleasure gardens and agricultural practices. Crescenzi names three types of pleasure gardens: small herb gardens, “medium-sized gardens for large and moderate landowners,” and gardens for extremely wealthy individuals, such as kings and wealthy lords.
Small herb gardens would probably have been the most prominent type based on the number of people who had space for them and could afford them rather than larger gardens. A small herb garden, according to Crescenzi, is built on a flat piece of land and is surrounded by aromatic and flowering plants and herbs. There would have been at least some seats around the edges of the garden. Cresenzi also recommends including a stream through the center of the garden, which would be both decorative and functional as a cooling element for humans and a hydrating feature for the plants.
These gardens were popular not only because they could provide refreshment for the senses as a very different kind of vista than an urban area would usually be able to offer, but also because they were a place with an abundance of fresh air. The health benefits of fresh air were a significant part of medieval medical dogma, and a small pleasure garden’s primary responsibility was to supply that kind of air to its patrons. In this, it was slightly different from larger pleasure gardens, which had room for orchards of fruit trees or large game for hunting. The small gardens were meant more for walking and sitting.
Visitors who would like to get a feel for small medieval herb gardens should visit cloisters—keep an eye out for walking paths, streams and fountains, and flowering plants.
Creator
Clare Hiyama (2016)Coverage
1200sSource
Bauman, Johanna. "Tradition and Transformation: The Pleasure Garden in Piero de' Crescenzi's 'Liber ruralism commodorum'." Studies in the History of Gardens and Landscape Design 22 (2002): 99-137.Calkins, Robert G. "Piero de' Crescenzi and the Medieval Garden." In Medieval Gardens, edited by Elisabeth Blair MacDougall, 157-173. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1986.