PETRUS DE CRESCENTIIS (C. 1230–35–C. 1320)
Ruralia Commoda
c.1490-5RCIN 1057436
This is Henry VIII’s copy of the first and most important garden manual of the Renaissance, a book which had transformed princely attitudes to garden making. This practical guide to estate management included a chapter on gardens with a section devoted to gardens for ‘kings and other illustrious and rich lords’. This gave instruction on how to lay out a royal garden with walks and bowers ‘where the king and queen can meet with the barons and lords when it is not the rainy season’.