Oldcook : medieval garden with photos from Salagon Museum

The plants in this imaginary garden are representative of the different parts of a symbolic medieval garden: garden of magic plants, garden of medicinal plants, garden of textile plants, garden of condiments, garden of pulses and green vegetables, garden of aromatic plants.

This symbolic garden was created with pictures from the medieval garden of Salagon, which was conceived by Pierre Lieutaghi for the "Musée-Conservatoire ethnologique de Haute-Provence", in Mane near Forcalquier (France).

Pierre Lieutaghi's books (Garden of knowledge, garden of history and The garden of good herbs) often inspire the comment on each plant. The sayings come from the Platearius, the Book of simple medicines.

Translator : Jean-Marc Bulit

Garden of aromatic plants

The Mesopotamians used coriander, dill, mint and rue. Roman cooking used a lot of aromatic herbs with only a few spices (black pepper, ginger). Medieval gastronomy used a lot of spices and little aromatic herbs (though 11 varieties appear in the garden of the Ménagier de Paris). The hand on spices was lightened and herbs were rediscovered, starting in the 17th century (when the bouquet garni was invented).

In 1420, Maître Chiquart used only saffron, marjoram, sage, parsley and hyssop but in 1604, Lancelot de Casteau also used aniseed, basic, chervil, fennel, coriander, laurel and rosemary. The Liber de Coquina and the Tractatus de Modo are the only medieval books that make use of many indigenous seasonings. The elite thought that spices from the Orient were more efficient than the local aromatic herbs, the spices of the poor.

---> Click on the photography to access the garden of aromatic plants.

Garden of condiments

The condiment plants were the spices of the poor. For being indigenous plants, they were of less value to the elite than spices from the East: no condiment plants were grown in the garden of the Ménagier de Paris.

But mustard, garlic, garden cress and welsh onions were found in recipes of medieval gastronomy. Rue, horseradish and black radish usually made for mustard in everyday meals.

---> Click on the photography to access the garden of condiments.

Garden of textile plants

In the Middle Ages, Europeans would use fabric made of plant fibres, flax, and cotton (from India), or animal fibres, sheep wool and silk from the silkworm (China), for their clothing. The fairs in Champagne would see Italian merchants and Flemish drapers exchange wool cloth for spices and silk sheet.

The Chinese monopoly on silkworm ends around the 6th or 7th century. In the Middle Ages, silk was made in Sicily and in Arabic Andalusia, before spreading to Italy, then France. Lyon became a silk capital in the 17th century.

Vegetable dyes (pastel or madder, lichens and also onions or birch) and more expensive animal dyes (kermes, cuttlefish, murex) were available for dyeing the fabrics.

---> Click on the photography to access the garden of textile plants.

Garden of pulses

Pulses are the seeds from leguminous plants. In Latin, the word legumen designates any seed enclosed in a pod. After having been picked, the pods are opened and the seeds gathered. The seeds are then dried for preservation. As of today, with everyone in a hurry, pulses are often let down because they must often be soaked in water for rehydration and because of the following long cooking time. But in the past centuries, when being able to preserve food was a great benefit, pulses, apart from bread, were the staple food of the lower classes. The upper classes, basically wary of pulses, would mostly eat green peas and broad beans.

---> Click on the photography to access the garden of pulses.

Garden of magic plants

Wizardry was very present in the minds of the Middle Ages in spite of being strongly fought against by the Church. Let's just remember that witch hunting was not medieval (16th and 17th centuries). The scholars and the doctors were at odds with the two views and had trouble holding forth a rational discourse. Platearius speaks of the "medical" effects of plants in his Book of simple medicines, but some of them were used for white or black magic. Superstitions were just as well about simple vegetables, like leek, supposed to protect from lightning, or garlic and fennel, supposed to guard against evil spirits, as pertaining to plants with proven hallucinogen effects, like henbane or poppy.

We have selected 6 plants with a strong magical tinge from the secret medieval garden.

---> Click on the photography to access the garden of magic plants.

Garden of medicinal plants

The "remedy-plants" of the medieval pharmacopoeia originated from an intuitive and empirical knowledge mingled with the popular beliefs. The plants were to be used alone (Platearius' simple medicine) or combined with other plants, spices or even mineral products (composed medicine of the Nicolas antidote book). Medicinal herbs were prescribed by the doctor, the apothecary, the herbalist or the barber-surgeon. Many faith healers also knew how to use the plants with the power of healing.

Pierre Lieutaghi said : The remedies carry the signatures of the sickness or the part of the body for which they are meant. There were beliefs regarding the analogy between the distinctive features of a plant and the symptoms of a sickness: lungwort, a plant with leaves spotted white, would treat the lungs.

---> Click on the photography to access the garden of medicinal plants.