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Fountains Abbey: History
Fountains Abbey: Buildings
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Bartholomew the Englishman on woodland
Bartholomew the Englishman’s thirteenth-century account of woodland in his encyclopaedic work, ‘On the properties of things’, ch. cxliii: Woods are wild places, waste and desolate, that many trees
growin without fruit, and also few having fruit. In these woods
there are often wild beasts and fowl; herbs, grass, leas and pastures
grow here and medicinal herbs
are found in woods. In summer woods are beautied with boughs and branches, with
herbs and grass. But woods are also places of deceit and hunting, for wild beasts
are hunted here, and watches and deceits are ordained and set of hounds and hunters.
They are also places of hiding and lurking, for often thieves hide here and lay
wait for men to pass,
whom they rob and often kill. And so for many various ways strangers
often take a wrong turn and find themselves on the wrong path, and come to places
where thieves hide out, and not without peril. Therefore knots are often made
on trees and bushes, in boughs and in branches of trees, in token and mark of
the highway, to show the certain and sure way to travellers; but
thieves often turn and change these knots to
mislead them, and lead them off the right path by false tokens and signs. |
