DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0055
CHAPTER II.
THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
“ The rose raylez7z hire rode
The leues on the lyhte wode
Waxen al wizTz wille
The mone mandeCz hire bleo
The lilie is lossom to seo
The fenyl and the fille.”
Springtime, MS., c. 1300.
J^URING the years which succeeded the Norman Conquest,
the country was constantly plunged in wars abroad and
troubles at home. There could be little thought of the quiet
pleasures of a garden while William I. and his sons ruled
the conquered English with a rod of iron ; while Stephen was
fighting for the crown against “ the Empress Maud ”; while
men’s minds were occupied by Crusades to the Holy Land;
or while the Constitution of England was being slowly built
up, and her liberties gradually secured by bloodshed and
ceaseless struggles.
It was necessary, in these troublous times, for security
of life and property, to live in as inaccessible a position as
possible. Castles were built on the tops of hills, or protection
was sought by placing the dwelling behind some river or
marsh, when no high ground or escarpments of steep rocks
afforded a suitable defence. This was the opposite course
from that pursued by the monks, who, as a rule, chose a
fertile valley in which to place their cloister, and plant their
orchards, gardens and vineyards. There was no room for
much garden within the glacis of a feudal castle, and as it
was not safe for any of the inmates to venture beyond, it was
scarcely worth while making any garden or orchard outside,
merely to see it plundered by some turbulent neighbour.
3
THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
“ The rose raylez7z hire rode
The leues on the lyhte wode
Waxen al wizTz wille
The mone mandeCz hire bleo
The lilie is lossom to seo
The fenyl and the fille.”
Springtime, MS., c. 1300.
J^URING the years which succeeded the Norman Conquest,
the country was constantly plunged in wars abroad and
troubles at home. There could be little thought of the quiet
pleasures of a garden while William I. and his sons ruled
the conquered English with a rod of iron ; while Stephen was
fighting for the crown against “ the Empress Maud ”; while
men’s minds were occupied by Crusades to the Holy Land;
or while the Constitution of England was being slowly built
up, and her liberties gradually secured by bloodshed and
ceaseless struggles.
It was necessary, in these troublous times, for security
of life and property, to live in as inaccessible a position as
possible. Castles were built on the tops of hills, or protection
was sought by placing the dwelling behind some river or
marsh, when no high ground or escarpments of steep rocks
afforded a suitable defence. This was the opposite course
from that pursued by the monks, who, as a rule, chose a
fertile valley in which to place their cloister, and plant their
orchards, gardens and vineyards. There was no room for
much garden within the glacis of a feudal castle, and as it
was not safe for any of the inmates to venture beyond, it was
scarcely worth while making any garden or orchard outside,
merely to see it plundered by some turbulent neighbour.
3