What do we know today
about medieval horticulture in Sweden? Actually, not a
lot.
The reason being that in Sweden and Scandinavia, there
are few written sources that tell us what and how they
grew in our country before the 16th century. Another reason
is that, up until now, no archaeological excavations that
could answer this question have been made.
Nydala Monastery was founded in 1143 by French Cistercians
and is, together with Alvastra, one of our first Cistercian
monasteries. According to the rules of order, the monasteries
were to be self-sufficient in the production of vegetables,
fruits, herbs and spices, however today we don’t
have any written sources that could tell us about Nydala’s
monastery gardens during the time when monks lived there
or after the destruction of the monastery during the Reformation
in the 16th century.
Today Nydala is a small village situated about 20 km northeast
of Värnamo in the middle of the forests of Småland.
Here, the old monastery ruins have been lying relatively
undisturbed for several hundred years. Can they perhaps
today tell us more about our medieval garden history?
Welcome to take part in project Nydala Monastery Garden,
which through lectures, study circles, exhibitions and,
not least, archeological excavations tells us about medieval
horticulture.
|
|
Translation of the homepage to English
- Finnveden's Upper
Secondary School, Värnamo
This homepage
- Project Nydala Monastery Garden- has been translated
by 9 last-year-students at the Social Science Programme
(SPSA2a and SPSA2b) during October 2004.
The work has been part of the History C-course which
is held in English, a special feature of this school,
and has been carried out under the guidance of their
teacher, Eva Lindholm. The students who have participated
are Emelie Andersson, Madeleine Andersson, Henrik
Grahn, Daniel Ihreborn, Tobias Martinsson, Simon
Norrsveden, Karin Schifferl, Ida Svensson and Erika
Unbeck. They started their work by studying English
texts about monastery gardens before making their
own translations. Their work has been read and checked
by two native English teachers.
This translation will supplement the homepage and
can also serve as a foundation for future information
material.
For information please contact:
Eva Lindholm, 0370 - 37 76 58,
fig-lh@edu.varnamo.se |
|
For information in Swedish
or English, please contact Hanne Romanus,
the leader for project Nydala Monastery Garden.
Tel:
+46 (0)370-37 72 46
Fax: +46 (0)370-37
72 00
E-mail: hanne.romanus@varnamo.se
Address: Miljö- och stadsbyggnadskontoret,
S-331 83 Värnamo, SWEDEN |
|
Text: Hanne Romanus, Translation:
Finnveden's Upper Secondary School
Project Nydala Monastery Garden
Project Nydala Monastery Garden began in the winter of
2004 and is a cultural heritage project that, among other
things, comprehend garden archeological examinations of
the Nydala monastery ruin precincts. After these, a small-scale
medieval garden will be constructed on that spot. Simultaneously
several activities will take place such as lectures, seminars,
exhibitions and study circles about medieval monastery
life and horticulture. The purpose is to spread knowledge
and create an interest in our cultural heritage and also
to form a foundation for later discussions on how it should
be managed in the future. Within the framework of the
project, non-profit associations, the municipality, National
Boards, different educational authorities and others,
should be able to co-ordinate their activities. The
idea for the project developed in 2002 and in 2003 a
pre-study was accomplished to point out what existing
requirements there were. Proposals for guidelines were
also decided.
In 2004, the project started and is today a co-operational
project between the Municipality of Värnamo, the
County Council Board of Jönköping, the County
Museum in Jönköping and the local associations
Nydala Village Community, Nydala Local Folklore Society
and the Parish of Nydala. From the very beginning of
the project, archaeological examinations were undertaken
at Nydala. A more detailed project description was launched
during the autumn of 2004 for the subsequent work.
|
 the
monastery garden |
|
The monastery garden today
Today there is an area at Nydala monastery called  ”The
monastery garden”. From what we know of the archeological
excavations and our present knowledge about the medieval
gardens, this will probably be the place where a new medieval
garden will be situated in a couple of years. But what
do we genereally know about these medieval monastery gardens?
What plants did the monks grow? What were they used for?
You can find some of the answers here. |
|
To the west of the monastery church of Nydala and with
a direct connection to the former gate chapel, later called
the Peasant Church, and the remnants of the cloister wall
is the monastery garden. As early as in 1943 the area
west of the church is called the monastery garden and
is described as an open field between the road to Nydala
manor and the elevation south of the church. Lesser plantings
were made in the monastery garden in 1992 which meant
that the lawn was complemented with fruit trees in the
south and that a plantation of medicine- and ornamental
plants was laid out by the Peasant Church in connection
to a seating ground.
On the 21st of May 2004, a plant inventory for the monastery
garden was made by the botanist Lennart Persson. The inventory
area was divided into four smaller areas which covered
today’s monastery garden, the area around the ruins
and the area next to the ruins to the east of the church. |
|
The first cultivation
When agriculture was established in our country around
4000 BC, people also came to introduce culture plants.
The first kinds of corn, like wheat and barley, now came
together with peas. Man has since then both consciously
and unconsciously added different species to the list
and today we believe that maybe 10 000 culture plants
have been introduced in our country. Around 7000 of these
are being grown today; outdoors and indoors. The definition
of a culture plant can vary. Some of these plants have
spread and are now wild and are therefore considered to
be a part of our domestic flora. Among these you can mention
the introduction of goutweed in the pre-historic time,
chicory and elder from the time of the Vikings, caraway
and mezereon from the medieval times and finally reed
grass and sycamore which were introduced in the 18th century.
Some plants have occurred naturally, but have been supported
and grown by man. The longer you go back in time the harder
it is to find out how and when a plant came to be grown
or when man started to use it.
|
|
Behind fence, wall and bank
To find a beginning for Swedish garden history, you generally
need to go back to the Middle Ages. The conception garden
existed in the meaning of an
enclosure where fruit-trees were planted. The enclosure
itself was central, and on the same theme our provincial
laws from the 14th and 15th centuries mention apiaries,
hop gardens, cabbage gardens and herb gardens. The medieval
garden was accompanied by the conception –yard (in
Old Swedish called –garper or –gardher) with
the meaning of an enclosed piece of land. The medieval
garden can then rather be seen as a conception that includes
all horticulture during the medieval era.
|
|
With the help of the provincial laws,
you can divide the medieval horticulture into different
types of gardens, such as the garden of trees (fruit-trees
etc.) the garden of herbs (spices and healingplants, flowers)
the cabbage garden (cabbage, peas, beans and other vegetables)
and the garden of hops. So far we haven’t any written
sources or archaeological traces that can tell us what
the medieval gardens in our country looked like or exactly
what was grown there. What is known is that monasticism
in many fields was a bearer and spreader of culture and
so also in the fields of gardening. The monks brought
for instance knowledge of grafting technique, necessary
knowledge in order to produce new species of fruit. |
| Inside the monastery establishments
all the plantations needed for the monks to satisfy their
own and their visitor’s requirements of food, drink
and medicine should be at hand. The monastery of Nydala
which was founded in 1143 by French Cistercian monks,
was together with Alvastra Sweden’s earliest monastery.
Most likely there have been gardens with influences from
the continent, but adapted to the Nordic climate. |
|
The hunt for
traces
What complicates knowledge of the medieval gardens from
older facilites is mostly the lack of preserved material
and concrete remnants of gardens. To be able to imagine
and describe the medieval garden, you have to collect
information from many different figurative and literary
sources, as no document in itself can give a clear picture
of what these gardens really looked like. Physical traces
have to rely on archeological studies and the presence
of so called relict plants in the place of a medieval
facility.
From the second half of the 1300s, we have St. Bridget’s
directions to her squire and gardener Johan Päterson
before the founding of the monastery of Vadstena. From
there we know that there for example existed an apple-garden.
For the nuns of the Cistercian Order, the monastery of
Vårfurberga was built in 1240 in Södermanland.
From here we know the name Botilda who was the garden
sister at this convent. She was responsable for the herb
garden during abbess Kirmundi’s time in the 1300s.
Sister Botilda had been on a pilgrimage to Rome. During
that time she also stayed in France and Germany. This
probably inspired her work with the herb garden in Vårfurberga.
Together with Johan Päterson she is our most famous
gardener from this time.
When Gustav Vasa in 1527 withdrew the Swedish monastery
land to the state, several monastries fell into ruin,
even in Nydala. The gardens of the monastries decayed
and vanished, but with the help of the archeological excavations
that are being performed in Nydala, we hope to find traces
of the monastery horticulture. Above all it is a question
of finding traces of seeds and pollen, which will tell
us which plants grew there.
|
|
Stubborn plants
Besides pure archeological traces, you sometimes talk
of so called plant relics. Those are species that have
managed to establish themselves successfully and stay
on one location during a long period of time and by its
presence can tell us if an earlier plantation existed
there. |
|
One example is the spring snowflake
which flourishes at the monastrey of Vadstena. It probably
came there during medieval times and has managed to remain
through the centuries.
Today at Nydala you can find greater celandine and columbine.
These are possible plant relics that maybe came with the
monks.
|
 archaeology |
|
Background
The archaeological commission will be accomplished in
three phases. The first phase, which includes a test-pit
examination, has been accomplished. The question of
whether there are any intact earth layers left from
the monastery time has been investigated.
This examination will probably be supplemented with
a georadar examination to indicate possible constructions
(walls etc.) under the ground. With a bit of luck one
can be able to locate remains of possible garden paths,
with a georadar. The second phase, that can actually
be done at any time, is a pollen- analysis where you
try to find traces of culture- plants from the monastery
time.
The purpose of this is to find information about which
plants were cultivated in the area.
The last phase is the archaeological preliminary examination,
where you concentrate on areas that the test- pit examination
and the georadar examination have pointed out as the
most interesting sites. The aim is partly to be able
to confirm possible traces from gardens, partly to avoid
areas with monastery remains that can make it impossible
to construct a garden.
As by- products we can obtain new knowledge of Nydala
monastery in general and develop methods for garden-
and monastery archaeology.
| The purpose of the
archaeological work is: |
| - |
To produce archaeological
and scientific material, which can serve as a basis
for the construction and rebuilding of a medieval
monastery garden. |
| - |
To make a new garden possible
within the ancient monument territory. |
| - |
In connection with the archaeological
examinations at Nydala spread knowledge of and
interest in archaeological work.
|
|
 the
history of nydala monastery |
|
Text: Jan O.M.
Karlsson © 1992/93,
Translation: Finnveden's
Upper Secondary School
Almost 900 years ago, the monks who would found Nydala
monastery arrived to Sweden. Ever since, the monastery’s
destiny has been framed with both joy and tragedy.
The founding of Nydala by the bishop of Linköping
In the year of 1143 a group of monks came wandering from
the monastery of Clairvaux in Burgundy to the place, by
the lake Rusken, which would become their new home. In
memory of their mother monastery Clairvaux, in Latin Clara-Vallis
(The Clear Valley), they called their new home Nova-Vallis
(The New Valley), Nydala. They founded their monastery
in the middle of Småland on the land they had received
from Gislo, the bishop of Linköping. The bishop’s
donation was enlarged through other donations made by
king Sverker the Old (died in 1156). Later on Gislo gave
away the farms Sunnerby, Lundby and “Witanzby”
in the parish Vrigstad, one farm (Hubbestad?) in the parish
Svenarum, Linneryd in the parish Tofteryd, Nöthult
in the parish Byarum and finally Järnboda in the
parish Hagshult.
Donations from far and near
During the reign of Karl Sverkersson (1161-1167), the
monks also obtained fishing rights from the two brothers
Peter and Germund, “the headmen” of the district.
Even the Archbishop of Lund, Absalon, and his successor
Andreas Sunesson were friends of the monastery. They issued
gifts and safety acts in Nydala’s favour during
the late 12th century and early 13th century.
During the remaining Middle Ages, the monastery received
an even flow of donations, both large and small, from
noble families, burghers, priests and farmers with large
holdings in Göta- and Svealand. The properties were
mainly located in Småland but a few estates were
situated in faraway places like Strängnäs and
Öland. People donated everything from farm- and woodland,
fishing rights and mills to personal property and money.
Quite often it was a matter of donations resulting from
legacies, which were linked to requests for masses and
prayers for the donators as well as burial plots in the
monastery church or in the monastery cemetery.
Senior citizen of the monastery
If you were wealthy you could in your later years become
a senior citizen of the monastery. By giving a large donation
to the monastery you could obtain the monks’ permission
to build a house on the grounds of the monastery where
you later lived until you died. The monks saw it as their
duty to take care of the senior citizen until the end
of his/her life and after the death of the donator his
house and personal property were left to the monks.
The monks build in stone
After their arrival to Nydala, the monks immediately started
on the work to build a monastery structure in stone. It
took about one hundred years to complete the centre part.
The whole monastery structure was completed by the middle
of the 14th century.
Monks from Nydala establish a monastery on Gotland
After only twenty years in Småland, when the monks
were still busy building the eastern part of the monastery
church, a group of monks were sent to Gotland to found
a new monastery. In the medieval chronicles, the 8th of
September 1164 is mentioned as the founding date of the
Roma monastery.
Alvastra, which in course of time was regarded as the
main Cistercian monastery in Sweden, had already between
1140 and 1160 founded its first daughter monasteries.
The fact that the monks in Alvastra and Nydala after such
a short time were able not only to cultivate the soil
and build splendid stone architecture but also establish
their own daughter monastery during the construction phase
of their order in Sweden, shows the strength of the Cistercian
“revivalism” during the 12th century.
Kristian II and the murders in Nydala
At the end of the Nydala monastery period, only a couple
of years before the Reformation and the dissolution of
monasticism in Sweden, a tragical event that caused a
sensation all over Scandinavia took place. The following
is told in different chronicles from the 1520s: “On
his way back to Denmark after the blood-bath of Stockholm,
the union king Kristian II passes Nydala. The king and
his company are all well received by the monks and the
king demands to have the best wine of the monastery with
his supper. The morning after, just as morning mass is
held in the monastery church, the Abbot, Arvid Håkansson,
and his monks are taken prisoners by the king. Several
of the monks are taken out on the ice of lake Rusken,
bound, and thrown into a hole in the ice. The Abbot Arvid,
who manages to sever the ropes, gets out of the hole,
but is attacked by the soldiers who force him back into
the hole with their
swords and keep him under water with their lances until
he drowns.”
The stories of what happened in Nydala were written down
by the monks themselves in a short note in the register
book of the monastery. The whole event is described in
more detail in a statement issued by the Swedish Council
of the Realm in June 1523 when the Parliament in Strängnäs
had just chosen Gustav Vasa King of Sweden. In some of
the written sources, the 25th and 27th of January or the
2nd of February is mentioned as the time of the murders.
The number of monks who were murdered varies in the different
stories between 6 and 12.
Gustav Vasa closes the monasteries
Only a few years after the murders of abbot Arvid and
his monks, the history of the medieval monasteries in
Sweden comes to an end. It was not primarily Martin Luther’s
reformation that caused the closing of the Swedish monasteries,
it was rather Gustav Vasa who took the opportunity to
expropriate the money and possessions of the churches
and the monasteries at the time of the reformation. It
all began at a parliamentary session in Västerås
in the year 1527, by posterity known as the Västerås
Recess, when the King provided himself with the right
to dispose of all church property. The very same year
the King nominated worldly administrators to many monasteries
in the country and these bailiffs collected the profit
of monastery farming, precious metal objects and money
to the treasury.
Nydalas property is conferred
In the autumn of 1527, Gustav Vasa conferred the farms
and incomes of Nydala to Peter Skrivare, who he earlier
that year had nominated the administrator of the monastery,
its farms and revenues. In the fief document Peter was
ordered to support the monks. In March 1529 the property
of Nydala was bestowed upon the bailiff Gottfrid Sure
and he was also instructed to provide for the monks. When
the inhabitants of Småland later that year started
their uprising against Gustav Vasa they simply killed
Sure because of the crimes he had committed by order of
the king, or in the name of the king.
The monks are forced away from the monastery
When Gustav Vasa had crushed the uprising in the autumn
of 1529, he conferred the property of the monasteries
to Gudmund Pedersson Slatte. Gudmund was allowed to keep
the property until 1536. The rebels had supported Catholicism
and monasteries and since many priests had been involved
in the uprising, the monks were probably driven away from
the monastery as early as in 1529. The fact that Slatte’s
two fief document letters from 1529 and 1533 no longer
mention provisions for the monks, can be considered as
proof that the monks had to leave the monastery at that
time.
Aristocratic owners
From the 1530s until the end of 1610, the King conferred
the properties of the monastery to 6-7 different aristocratic
owners, until the end of 1610. Some of the possessors
during the 16th century are members of the families Leijonhufvud
and Stenbock. During the second part of the 17th century
the family
Ridderhjelm owned Nydala and they built the first manor
in the southern part of the monastery area. During the
1670s and 1680s, Hans Isaak Ridderhjelm had the ruins
of the eastern part of the monastery church restored.
Here, he established the present parish church which was
inaugurated in 1688 by the bishop of Växjö,
Samuel Wiraenius.
The new estate
A new building for Nydala estate was built during the
1790s, by the owner of that time, Claes Stedt, south of
the old 17th century- manor building.The plastered timber-
house in two floors was finished in the year 1800. During
the 19th century the ownership of Nydala estate often
changed. In 1946 the main building was sold to the local
authorities who rebuilt it as a school. In 1969 the school
was closed.
|
 the
cistercians - a short background |
|
Text:
Jan O.M. Karlsson © 1992/93,
Translation: Finnveden's
Upper Secondary School
International monastery order.
Together with Alvastra in Östergötland, Nydala
was the oldest Swedish medieval monastery. The monasteries
were both founded in 1143 and they belonged at the time
to the 50-year-old Cistercian order. This order arose
at the end of the 11th century in Burgundy (the wine
region Bourgogne) in northeast France, as a protest-
and reform movement within the Christian monastic-system.
The first monastery built in the name of the order was
founded in the wilderness outside the city of Dijon
on a spot called Cîteaux (Latinized to Cistercium).
Robert, the founder of this order, gathered a crowd
of monks who wanted to return to that simple life of
prayer and hard work, which is described in the classical
Christian monastery order from the year 500, the rule
of the Holy Benedict of Nursia. What they protested
against was the worldly riches and the good life in
the monasteries of their time.
Five main monasteries
After the first ten years of hardships and setbacks,
the monastery in Cîteaux was able to found its
first daughter-monastery (La Ferté) in the year
1113. The year after it was followed by the monastery
of Pontigny and in 1115 by Clairvaux and Morimond. Together
with Cîteaux, these four monasteries were regarded
as the main monasteries of the order.
The Cistercian idea about a simple life together with
hard work was met with great sympathy in the Christian
world and you can actually talk about a revivalist movement
for simplicity and orthodoxy in the monastic movement
during the 12th Century.
A big monastery family
At the end of the 1110s, an almost explosive expansion
started for the Cistercian monastery family. Between
the years 1110 and 1153, almost 350 new Cistercian monk
monasteries were founded in all four corners of Europe,
from Portugal and Ireland in the west, Sicily and Cyprus
in the south, via Hungary and Poland in the east to
Sweden and Norway in the north. Most of these monasteries
emanated from Clairvaux, which from the founding in
1115 until 1150 was led by the charismatic abbot Bernard
of Clairvaux (†1153 and canonized in 1174). The
largest number of Cistercian monasteries existed during
the first part of the 16th century when the order included
almost 700 monasteries and 900 convents.
Alvastra and Nydala are regarded as nos 40 and 41 of
the monasteries under Clairvaux and the first Cistercian
monks in Sweden were sent out from Saint Bernhard himself
to work among “the raw and wild peoples of the
north”. |
|
|
