History A garden that healed
Monasteries cared for the sick, and their gardens were their pharmacy. Monks and nuns grew herbs in small, neat beds and made them into drinks, ointments and medicines. A famous plan for an ideal monastery, drawn around 820 and kept at the abbey library of St. Gallen in Switzerland, shows a medicine garden with 16 beds, each labeled with a plant, next to the doctor's house.
The abbess Hildegard of Bingen, who lived from 1098 to 1179, wrote books about plants, animals and healing, as well as music and visions.
History Bees
Most gardens had beehives woven from straw, called skeps. Honey was the main sweetener before sugar became common, and churches needed beeswax for candles.
Art In this artwork
The walled garden with herb beds, a stone path, beehives and a bench is the artist's design, much like real monastery gardens.
Look closer
- Find the beehives.
- Count the herb beds.
Think about it
- Why might a garden be the first place to look for medicine?
- Which herbs do you know? What are they used for?
- Why were bees so valuable?
Key words
- Herb
- A plant used for flavor, scent or medicine.
- Skep
- A woven straw beehive.
- Infirmary
- A place in a monastery for caring for the sick.
Sources
The history on this page is a short summary based on these sources:
- The Plan of Saint Gall (about AD 820), Abbey Library of St. Gallen, Cod. Sang. 1092
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, "Abbey of St Gall"
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Saint Hildegard"
