ABSTRACT

While the presence of ginger in a woman’s garden in Holland might come as a surprise, the involvement of women in gardening is not. We have already come across several examples of elite female interest in the collection of naturalia and

46 Th e World of Carolus Clusius

gardening, and there is a tradition of references to late medieval and early modern noblewomen who personally took care of their herb gardens and supervised the preparation of medicines based on ‘simples’ for their households.1 Were these women mainly interested in medicinal plants or were wealthy women collectors and garden owners in their own right, and did they actually create, plan or design gardens? Were those laid out along the lines of the ‘hortus conclusus’: private domains that were only open to a restricted circle? Did women cultivate plants themselves and instruct their gardeners, or were they only watching on the sidelines while their male relatives did so? Did they collect or buy plants, and perhaps even take part in botanizing trips? Did women describe or depict plants? And especially, what kinds of expertise did they have? Was their knowledge of plants and gardens taken seriously at the time, and did they play a part in the community of experts in natural history?