14C Beyond Umbrella-shaped Trees - Toward More Natural Landscape Images

Charles V enthroned between Le Songe du Vergier (British Library Royal 19 C IV, fol. 1v), c 1378 painted by the Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy (formerly known as the Master of Copses–‘Le maître des boqueteaux’–because of his trademark use of grouped trees), who illuminated a number of French royal manuscripts during the reign of Charles V.

The Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy (fl. in Paris, c. 1350-1380) is named after the illumination he contributed to a Bible (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 15397) translated by Jean de Sy. Previously, he had been known as the Boqueteaux Master from the conspicuous umbrella-shaped trees (boqueteaux, in French) that feature in his landscapes. This appellation is, however, misleading as he was not alone in using this motif which had perhaps first been introduced by the Master of the Remède de Fortune (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 1586). The Jean de Sy Master’s style moves toward a greater naturalism, especially in the representation of nature. Small figures are set into verdant landscapes, often enlivened by animals (innocent bunnies here), garden flowers, plus those characteristic umbrella trees.

15C Flowery Meade & Mille Fleurs Tapestries

The Unicorn in Captivity (from the Unicorn Tapestries) 1495-1505 South Netherlandish Met acc. # 37.80.6


Fourteenth century poet Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) in his Decameron of 1348 painted a vivid picture of what a villa & garden of a wealthy Florentine was like. The Cocharelli Manuscript from the late 14C shows members of the nobility standing beside a marble fountain in a garden planted with figs, oranges, pomegranates and grape vines resembling Boccacio’s description "in the midst of the garden a lawn of very fine grass, so green it seemed nearly black, colored with perhaps a thousand kind of flowers……shut in with very green citrus and orange trees bearing, at the same time, both ripe fruit and young fruit and flowers so that they pleased the sense of smell as well as charmed the eyes with shade." This description echos the tapestries of this period…known as the mille fleurs or thousands of flowers.

A Mead is a medieval garden designed to imitate a small meadow or sometimes a larger, natural meadow. A Flowery Mead is a medieval term for a lawn rich in wild flowers. A flowery mead is often one of the essential components of a medieval garden. The flowery mead depicted is seldom within a distinct, geometric, larger garden.  

Albertus Magnus (c 1200-1280), a German Dominican friar & a Catholic bishop, was a great admirer of lawns & flowery meads "For the sight is in now way so pleasantly refreshed as by fine and close grass kept short." Most writers recommend digging out the original 'waste' plants, killing the seeds in the soil by flooding with boiling water, then laying out the lawn with curves laid in and pounded well. Another writer recommended mowing them twice a year; lawn mowing would have been done with scythes or primitive shears. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art suggests that Unicorn in Captivity may represent the beloved tamed. The animal is tethered to a tree & constrained by a fence; but the chain is not secure & the fence is low enough to leap over. The unicorn could escape if he wished, but his confinement seems to be a happy one, to which the ripe, seed-laden pomegranates in the tree—a medieval symbol of fertility & marriage—testify. The red stains on his flank do not appear to be blood, as there are no visible wounds like those in the hunting series; rather, they might represent juice dripping from the bursting pomegranates above. Many of the other plants represented here, such as wild orchid, bistort, & thistle, echo a theme of marriage & procreation, as they were acclaimed in the Middle Ages as fertility aids for both men and women. Even the little frog, nestled among the violets at the lower right, was cited by medieval writers for its noisy mating.

1300s - A Picnic in the Garden

Manuscript BNF Français 343 Queste del Saint Graal Tristan de Léonois Dating 1380-1385 From Milan, Italy Holding Institution Bibliothèque Nationale

15C Shearing Sheep in an enclosed garden area

Manuscripts  The Hague, KB, 133 D 11

The semi-natural, unfertilized pastures formed by traditional European agricultural methods, were managed & maintained by the grazing of livestock. Because the ecological impact of this land-management strategy, the centuries-old agricultural system usually shared many beneficial characteristics with a natural habitat including the promotion of biodiversity. This strategy is rapidly declining in Europe due to the intensification of plant agriculture, & the mechanized, chemical-based methods which gained prominance from the industrial revolution on.

Tips from Henry VIII's personal 14C gardening manual

From tasty lettuce to prize pumpkins - top tips from Henry VIII's own gardening manual.

Illustration from Ruralia Commoda.

Henry loved jousting, he dissolved monasteries, and he got married a lot of times; but Henry VIII was also a keen gardener. Here are five top tips for horticultural success from his personal gardening manual:

1 Planting lettuce and radish seeds inside a ball of goat manure will result in the tastiest crop

2 Make sure your grafting knife has a ring or hole in it so you can hang it from your girdle

3 The garden should be surrounded by suitably high walls to keep out unwanted visitors

4 The best garden seat is one formed of turf, that's flowering and most pleasant

5 The trick to growing prize pumpkins and gourds is to use the ashes of human bones as a fertiliser

Henry's manual actually was written during the 14C and given to him by his chaplain. Known as Ruralia Commoda it is presently on display at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace.

From the BBC here

Henry VIII uses Piero de’Crescenzi’s c 1306 Liber ruralium commodorum (On the Rural Arts) to plan his gardens

From The Telegraph UK By Gordon Rayner, 23 Jan 2015

Henry VIII's horticultural manual revealed

The world's oldest gardening manual, part of Henry VIII's library...

Portrait of Henry VIII at the National Maritime Museum

"He was certainly an expert on dead-heading, but Henry VIII’s gardening tips would also have included fertilizing squashes with the ashes of cremated humans and planting lettuce in a ball of goat manure, a new exhibition reveals. The Tudor king’s personal copy of the world’s first gardening manual, believed to be the inspiration for the lost garden of Whitehall Palace, is to go on display at Buckingham Palace. Written more than 700 years ago, the Latin text includes instructions on how to lay out a “royal garden,” including instructions on building walks and bowers “where the king and queen can meet with the barons and lords when it is not the rainy season.”

"The leather-bound volume was part of the king’s library, which acquired it on the death of its previous owner, Richard Rawson, the king’s chaplain and advisor on his divorce from Catherine of Aragon in 1543. Written between 1304 and 1309 by Petrus de Crescentiis, a lawyer from Bologna, the Ruralia Commoda contained advice on how to grow giant leeks, how to produce cherries without pits and growing different colored figs on the same tree.

"It tells gardeners that “cucumbers shake with fear at thunder,” while a squash will bear fruit after precisely nine days if planted in the ashes of human bone and watered with oil. To get the tastiest lettuces, the manual recommends planting lettuce seed together with a radish, nasturtium and colewort inside a ball of goat manure.

The leather-bound manual is illustrated with woodcuts 

"Its instructions for planning a royal garden are equally precise. It should occupy a plot of at least 20 acres, its size and perfection an expression of a king’s status, wealth and mastery over the environment. It should include fragrant herbs because they “not only delight by their odour, but…refresh the sight.” A bench made out of turf and flowering plants, a highly fashionable feature at the time, was a must. The overall effect was that “the king will not only take pleasure, but…after he has performed serious and obligatory business, he can be renewed in it.”

"The book was acquired by Henry at around the time he built the Great Garden at Whitehall Palace, which burned down in 1698. A portrait of Henry, Jane Seymour and their children Edward, Mary and Elizabeth by an unknown artist, which shows the newly-planted garden in the background, is to be displayed next to the book. Vanessa Remington, curator of the exhibition, said: “This is no coffee-table book, but a real, thumbed-through and annotated gardening manual, showing that its various owners referred to it time and time again. Although it is impossible to know, it is tempting to think that Henry VIII may have sat in his library and looked through it for inspiration.”

The Maze at Hampton Court

"Henry laid out the gardens at Hampton Court (pictured) and Whitehall Palace at the time he acquired the book. Neither Tudor garden survives. The hedge maze in this photo is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges. Hedge mazes evolved from the knot gardens of Renaissance Europe. Early garden mazes began to appear in the 16C. These initial mazes were constructed from evergreen herbs, but, over time, box became a more popular option due to its robustness. Italian architects had been sketching conceptual garden labyrinths as early as 1460, and hundreds of mazes were constructed in Europe between the 16C-18C.  Initially, the hedge maze was not intended to confuse, but to provide a unicursal walking path. Puzzle-like hedge mazes featuring dead ends and tall hedges arrived in England during the reign of King William III of England. It was possible to get lost in the much-admired labyrinth of Versailles, built for Louis XIV of France in 1677 and destroyed in 1778. This maze was adorned with 39 hydraulic sculpture groups depicting Aesop's fables. The oldest surviving puzzle hedge maze, at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England, was built for King William in the late 17C. Its distinctive trapezoidal shape is due to pre-existing garden paths running alongside the maze. 

"The 11in x 16in volume is illustrated with woodcut prints, including a drawing of the supposedly deadly mandrake root, resembling a naked man with leaves growing from his head. Ms Remington said: “What is really appealing about it is that on the one hand it is full of sensible advice about how to prevent soil drying out, about grafting and pruning, that we still do today, and on the other it contains quirky tips that are very much of that era. It shines a new light on Henry, a different aspect of his king-making, one that we haven’t really got any other evidence of.”

"The manual, which has never been translated into English, stayed in the royal library until 1757, when it was transferred to the British Library, and later went through several private owners before being re-acquired for the Royal Collection by Queen Victoria."

Pietro de' Crescenzi (c 1233-1320) Gardens - Illuminated Manuscripts

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 6 On herb gardens (folio 157)   These workers are maintaining raised beds. De Crescenzi noted that these hot beds were constructed by putting fresh dung in a pit & either putting soil over it & planting in the soil, covering over the plants with a shelter in inclement weather.

Piero de’Crescenzi’s 12 book treatise, the "Liber Ruralium Commodorum" (On the Rural Arts) is the most important work on agriculture & gardens written during the middle ages. Piero de Crescenzi wrote "Liber Ruralium Commodorum" in 1305.
Book 1 - the best location & arrangement of a manor, villa, or farm
Book 2 - the botanical background needed to raise different crops
Book 3 - building a granary & cultivation of cereal, forage & food 
Book 4 - on vines & wine-making
Books 5 & 6 - arborculture &horticulture, including 185 plants useful for medicine & nourishment
Book 7 - meadows and woods
Book 8 - on gardens
Book 9 - animal husbandry & bee-keeping
Book 10 - hawking & hunting
Book 11 - a general summary of the book
Book 12 - a calendar of duties and tasks, month by month. 

Italian attorney & land-owner Crescenzi relied heavily on Roman agricultural principles, although he supplemented these traditions with contemporary medieval ideas natural sciences & medicine. Crescenzi took much of his information from Roman authors, such as Cato, Columella, Varo, & Palladius. Crescenzi’s treatise surveys building, managing, & maintaining an agricultural estate & even devotes an entire book of his treatise to pleasure gardens, before the development of villa gardens in the Renaissance. By the late 15C, his work was widely available in manuscript & print editions & was owned by many in the lavish villas around Rome, Florence, & Venice. 

Manuscript copies of Ruralia Commoda were popular (over 100 copies are known), making it an excellent candidate for the new technology of printing. The editio princeps appeared in 1471- in Latin, un-illustrated, it was printed by Johann Schüssler of Augsburg. Another 36 incunable editions exist, most printed in Germany. The treatise remained one of the most popular works of its kind until the 17C, when the Aristotelian precepts on which it was based were nearly smothered by the empirical methods of more recent developments in science.

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French.  Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 5 On trees (folio 112v)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 5 On trees (folio 112v) b   Crescenzi advised: "Trees are to be planted in their rows, pears, apples,  & palms, & in warm places, lemons. Again mulberries, cherries, plums, & such noble trees as figs, nuts, almonds, quinces, & such-like, each according to their kinds, but spaced twenty feet apart more or less."

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 7 On meadows and groves (folio 201v) For decorative features using trees, Crescenzi suggests willow & popular trees, densely planted with other plants & vines, "cut out into the shape of towers & crenellations." 

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 8 On pleasure gardens (folio 205v)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 10 On hunting (folio 265r)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 11 On regulating a rural operation.  Piero de' Crescenzi gave advice on breeding pheasants, which he believed were more noble & more beautiful than any other bird in the garden or farm.  He also wrote that garden parks often were stocked with wild beasts. 

He advised, "Of the gardens of royal personages & powerful & wealthy lords. And inasmuch as wealthy persons can by their riches & power obtain such things as please them & need only science & art to create all they desire. For them, therefore, let a great meadow be chosen, arranged, & ordered, as here shall be directed. Let it be a place where the pleasant winds blow &  where there are fountains of waters; it should be twenty 'Journaux' or more in size according to the will of the Lord & it should be enclosed with lofty walls. Let there be in some part a wood of divers trees where the wild beasts may find a refuge. In another part let there be a costly pavilion where the king & his queen or the lord & lady may dwell, when they wish to escape from wearisome occupations & where they may solace themselves."

"Let there be shade & let the windows of the pavilion look out upon the garden but not exposed to the burning rays of the sun. Let fish-pools be made & divers fishes placed therein. Let there also be hares, rabbits, deer & such-like wild animals that are not beasts of prey. And in the trees near the pavilion  let great cages be made & therein place partridges, nightingales, blackbirds, linnets, & all manner of singing birds. Let all be arranged so that the beasts & the birds may easily be seen from the pavilion. Let there also be made a pavilion with rooms & towers wholly made of trees...”

14C Italian manuscript Treatise on Rural Economy by Pietro de' Crescenzi (c 1233-1320)

14C Italian manuscript Treatise on Rural Economy by Pietro de' Crescenzi (c 1233-1320)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09  Title page of a vernacular translation of the De agricultura of Piero Crescentio, printed by Capcasa in Venice in 1495

15C In the Gamepark - Hunting for Romance or Game?

14C-15C Manuscripts  The Hague, MMW, 10 F 33

14C-16C Courtyards & Gameparks - Ladies on Horseback Hunting, Fighting, Celebrating

1338 Ambrogio Lorenzetti (or Ambruogio Laurati) (c. 1290-1348) Lady & Her Dog

 La Fleur des Histoires by Jean Mansel, 1450-80

Les anciennes Histoires des Romains  gallica.bnf.fr Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Français 64, fol. 73r.

 Hunt with Hawks from the Hours of Duke de Berry, detail 1412-16

 Life of  Saint Jacques de Compostelle, 1386

Joan of Arc depicted on horseback, 1505 manuscript.

 Penthesilea as one of the Nine Female Worthies, 1460-70

  Roman du Chevalier, Tristan and Isolde, 15C.

Royal, Military and Court Costumes from the time of James I Folger Shakespeare Library

  Bodleian Alexander manuscript (MS Bodl. 264)

Bodleian, MS. Douce 195, detail of f. 109v Watched by Pity, Frankness, a woman on horseback, attacks the male Danger (Reserve) with lance Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung, Le roman de la rose. France, 15C

Saint Helena & Heraclius taking the Holy Cross to Jerusalem by Miguel Ximenes, 1481

Table Ronde 13C Universitätsbibliothek Bonn and the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.  Folio 489, ii F.

Celebrating the month of May from the Breviarium Grimani by Gerard Horenbout, Alexander & Simon Bening (1483-1561)  c. 1510

 Celebrating The Month of May from the Hours of Duke de Berry 1412-16

Illustration from a Book of Poetry by Christine de Pisan,14th c. French School

Barbara of Celje from Manuscript  Bellifortis by Konrad Kyeser, c. 1405

 Venus and her children, the Wolfegg Housebook, c. 1475-1485

Lady probably hunting with hawks, mid 15C The British Museum playing cards printed by the German Monogrammist PW

 Lady on Horse by the German Monogrammist PW mid 15C The British Museum 

Lady on horse depicted on playing cards printed by the German Monogrammist PW mid 15C The British Museum 

Hunting Birds in Gameparks - Illuminated Manuscripts

Master of Girart de Roussillon, The Book of King Modus and Queen Ratio (after 1455)

During Medieval times, local lords strove to maintain & monopolize the forest reserves & the taking of big game in those forest reserves, & small game in warrens. They were most successful in England after the Norman Conquest, & in Gascony from the 12C. These were large sanctuaries of woodland — the royal forest — where populations of game animals were kept & watched over by gamekeepers. The peasantry could not hunt in these gameparks, poaching being subject to severe punishment: the injustice of such "emparked" preserves became a common cause of complaint in vernacular literature. The lower classes mostly had to content themselves with snaring birds & smaller game outside of restricted forest reserves & gameparks.

Master of Girart de Roussillon, The Book of King Modus and Queen Ratio (after 1455)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) wrote of Hunting in Book 10 of his Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. He advised that the gamepark should be stocked with hare, roe deer, red deer, wild boar, & rabbits.  He recommended the English, French, & Spanish hare specifically.  He wrote of hunting dogs & their dietary recommendations for each season & even times of the day to feed them.  Those participating in "the hunt" lived with unique vocabularies, customs, & ancient rituals.

Master of Girart de Roussillon, The Book of King Modus and Queen Ratio (after 1455). You might be interested in comparing this last image with the one below painted about 300 years later...

As time passed, the invention of the terms & rituals of Medieval hunting for nobles was attributed by Malory & others to the Arthurian knight Sir Tristram, who was seen both as the model of the noble huntsman, & the originator of its rituals: As he (Sir Tristram) grew in power & strength he laboured in hunting & hawking - never a gentleman that we ever heard of did more. Reportedly, he devised good methods to take beasts of venery, & beasts of the chase & all kinds of vermin, & all the terms used in hawking & hunting. And therefore the book of venery, of hawking & hunting, is called Sir Tristram's. Therefore all gentlemen who bear old (coats of) arms ought to honour Sir Tristram for the goodly terms that gentlemen have & use, & shall until Doomsday, that through them all men of respect may distinguish a gentleman from a yeoman & a yeoman from a villein. See: du Fouilloux, Jaques (1561). La Venerie de Jaques du Fouilloux  &  Turbervile, George (1575). The Noble Art of Venerie or Huntyng (A translation of du Fouilloux)

1775 Francisco Goya (Spanish artist, 1746-1828) Hunting with a Decoy

By the 16C, areas of European land reserved for breeding & hunting of game were of 3 kinds, according to their degree of enclosure & being subject to Forest Laws: 
Forests, large unenclosed areas of wilderness; 
Chases, which normally belonged to nobles, not the crown; &
Game Parks, which were enclosed, & not subject to traditional Forest Laws.

May - Falconry - Using a bird to help hunting other birds. Agricultural calendar from a manuscript of Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) written c. 1306. Illumination from The Boccaccio Master Geneva (active between 1448-75) Illustration 1470-75

 Falconry French Miniaturist, c. 1180, illumination on parchment (Koninklijke, The Hague)

 Frederick II and his falconers

Codex Manesse Markgraf Heinrich von Meißen

 A Falconer and a Gamekeeper c. 1600.

Manesse Codex (UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 848) Der Kol von Nüssen (fol. 396r) Zürich, ca. 1300 bis ca. 1340

 Emperor Frederick II and Falcon

Manesse Codex (UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 848) Kunz von Rosenheim (fol. 394r), Zürich, ca. 1300 bis ca. 1340

 Falconer at his stand from De arte venandi cum avibus, 1240s 1250 – Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II wrote a treatise on The Art of Hunting with Birds

Manesse Codex (UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 848 König Konrad der Junge (fol. 7r) Zürich, ca. 1300 bis ca. 1340

 Falconers from De arte venandi cum avibus, 1240s 1250 – Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II wrote a treatise on The Art of Hunting with Birds

 Falconers with horse from De arte venandi cum avibus, 1240s 1250 – Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II wrote a treatise on The Art of Hunting with Birds

King William I and King Harold II of England, Bayeux Tapestry.

Falconer San Baudelio de Berlanga