Medieval Herbs Are Still Useful Today

Cultures across the globe have cultivated herbs for several millennia, but nowhere were herb gardens elevated so high as an art form as in Medieval Europe. The healing qualities of Medieval herbs were crucial to the Middle Ages while people lived without the medical advancements and technology of the Greeks. While much of what they knew came from practice by mixing fact and fiction, quite a bit of what they did actually worked.

The Medieval herb garden was both beautiful and functional, providing herbs for medicinal purposes and cooking as well as a setting for calm reflection. These gardens have been reincarnated in New York's Cloisters. Constructed in the 1930's, it was carefully planned based on its Medieval predecessor. The result of the planners' attention to detail resulted in a stunning accomplishment of that goal.

The Cloister's many sections most notably feature herb gardens. In spite of New York's harsh frigid winters, humid and stifling summers, and unpredictable rainy Fall and Spring, over 250 species thrive there.

This was loosely based on many sources but does not follow any of them perfectly. This resulted in elevated beds, wattle fences and a central wellhead which are all common traits of any Medieval herb garden model. Encompassed by orchards and a number of other plants, the Medieval herbs form the centerpiece of the garden, which any home practitioner would be envious of.

Herbs are typically hardy; however, many fragile herbs can not make it through a New York winter when subzero temperatures and snow are frequent. Hence, these delicate herbs are planted in period appropriate pots so that they can be brought inside during these frigid winters.

Herbs cultivated during Medieval times could be used for silly reasons like trying to ward off evil ghosts. It was believed that dill held magical powers. People also thought that they could be protected from the plague by rosemary. To try to treat epilepsy, sage was used.

The herb garden is arranged in nine sections. They are grouped according to their use in medieval times. One group is for household plants such as Thistles and Absinthe, next those used for healing or medicinal purposes like Liquorice and St. John's Wort, and the third for such aromatics as Lemon Balm and Lavender.

Some types of herbs were used for art and purposes such as encouraging love and marriage. These were thought to be 'magic' plants. The final group contains cooking herbs like Caraway, Fennel, Parsley, and Borage.

Despite the availability of the same plants, modern day herbalists are using medieval herbs less than in past times when their use was wide-spread. The medicinal properties of these herbs is more publicly discussed and correlates with similar uses of those in ancient times.