Locus Amoenus provides a pioneering collection of new perspectives on Renaissance garden history, and the impact of its development. Experts in the field illustrate the extent of our knowledge of how the natural world looked and how humans related to their environment. A ground-breaking collection of new perspectives on garden history Essays demonstrate the extent of our knowledge of how the natural world looked and how humans related to their environment The book's broad coverage includes botany and herbals, literary reflections of changing ideas of landscape and nature, and human's place within it Contributors come from a wide range of experts, including archaeologists, scholars and the librarian and archivist to the Royal Horticultural Society Reflects the growing emergence of this field, which has been assisted both by archaeology and ideas from green studies and environmental criticism Richly illustrated throughout

Locus Amoenus provides a pioneering collection of newperspectives on Renaissance garden history, and the impact of itsdevelopment. Experts in the field illustrate the extent of ourknowledge of how the natural world looked and how humans related totheir environment.* A ground-breaking collection of new perspectives on gardenhistory* Essays demonstrate the extent of our knowledge of how thenatural world looked and how humans related to theirenvironment* The book's broad coverage includes botany and herbals, literaryreflections of changing ideas of landscape and nature, and human'splace within it* Contributors come from a wide range of experts, includingarchaeologists, scholars and the librarian and archivist to theRoyal Horticultural Society* Reflects the growing emergence of this field, which has beenassisted both by archaeology and ideas from green studies andenvironmental criticism* Richly illustrated throughout

Notes on contributors ixIntroduction Locus amoenus: gardens and horticulture inthe RenaissanceAlexander Samson 11 The world of the Renaissance herbalBrent Elliott 242 Clinging to the past: medievalism in the English'Renaissance' gardenPaula Henderson 423 River gods: personifying nature in sixteenth-centuryItalyClaudia Lazzaro 704 Dissembling his art: 'Gascoigne'sGardnings'Susan C. Staub 955 'My innocent diversion of gardening': MarySomerset's plantsJennifer Munroe 1116 Outdoor pursuits: Spanish gardens, the huerto and Lopede Vega's Novelas a Marcia LeonardaAlexander Samson 1247 Experiencing the past: the archaeology of some RenaissancegardensBrian Dix 151Index 183