The Little Garden of Walahfrid Strabo: A Carolingian Poem in Verse Translation

Introduction: Little Garden, Deep Roots  

The World of Walahfrid Strabo

A Poet in His Garden  

A Legacy for Later Gardeners  

Hints, Implications, and Things Left Unsaid  

About the Translation  

Walking through Walahfrid’s Garden 

A Caution about Walahfrid’s Remedies

The Little Garden of Walahfrid Strabo  

i. On the Cultivation of Gardens  

ii. The Difficulty of Undertaking the Labor

iii. The Perseverance of the Gardener and the Fruits of His Labors  

iv. Sage 

v. Rue 

vi. Southernwood  

vii. Bottle Gourd  

viii. Melon  

ix. Wormwood  

x. Horehound

xi. Fennel 

xii. Iris 

xiii. Lovage  

xiv. Chervil  

xv. Lily 

xvi. Poppy 

xvii. Clary (and Costus)  

xviii. Mint  

xix. Pennyroyal  

xx. Celery 

xxi. Betony  

xxii. Agrimony 

xxiii. Tansy  

xxiv. Catmint  

xxv. Radish 

xxvi. Rose  

xxvii. The Commending of the Little Work  

Notes 

Further Reading

Bibliography 

Index 

• Composed in the tumultuous decades following the reign of Charlemagne, the garden poem of Carolingian monk Walahfrid Strabo (c.809–849) has long charmed readers with its timeless descriptions of late-winter labors and its suggestions for the medicinal uses of various plants. This new translation, rendered in engaging metrical verse printed alongside the original Latin text, makes Walahfrid’s best known work fully accessible in English for scholars and casual readers alike. A concise introduction provides background and context, while extensive notes offer interpretation and commentary for those who wish to explore the poem further. A glimpse into the mind of a monk who was deeply entangled in the politics of his day, Walahfrid’s “Little Garden” may be tantalizingly brief, but as a trove of classical learning, Christian allegory, ninth-century plant lore, and charming personal observations, it overflows with the great human complexity of its era.

• “The Little Garden of Walahfrid Strabo is a treasure-trove of wisdom and allegory. This facing-page edition and translation renders the text into poetry that finally enables the medieval garden to flourish in English.” -  Henrike Lähnemann, University of Oxford

• “Walahfrid’s little garden poem is a genuinely charming text of the early Middle Ages, which in our ecologically conscious times deserves to be read by poets and gardeners alike. Almost a century ago, M. L. W. Laistner described the poem in a standard work on early medieval letters as that ‘of a young man who loved fresh air and the simpler beauties of nature,’ and this new text and translation conveys its appeal admirably. Latin metrical verse is never easy to translate effectively into English, but Sypeck’s fluent and elegant rendering allows us to appreciate the sense and the style of the original. His introduction and detailed notes are clear and useful, with an appropriate final caution about not trying the medicinal recipes; but the modern reader will have no difficulties relating to the text, and gardeners will certainly appreciate the comment that one is never short of a copious amount of mint.” -  Brian Murdoch, University of Stirling

• “Walahfrid Strabo’s Hortulus is an intimate, diligent and often charming verse description of medieval garden-lore, a labour of love by a leading scholar of the ninth century. It was respected and admired in its day but later forgotten, and is not widely known even today. Sypeck’ s fresh translation, rendered in four-foot alliterative verse, honours the original and yet stands on its own merits as a lively and inventive modern text.” -  Stephen Pollington, author of Woden: A Historical Companion and Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plantlore, and Healing

Walahfrid Strabo, Carolingian, Gardening poem, Charlemagne, Hortulus

• Jeff Sypeck taught medieval literature at the University of Maryland University College from 1999 to 2009. His other books include Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of A.D. 800 and an annotated translation of a Carolingian calendar poem by Wandalbert of Prüm.