Plants in the Early Medieval Cosmos: Herbs, Divine Potency, and the Scala natura
Peter Dendle
When the Carolingian Abbot of Reichenau Walafrid Strabo wrote in a celebrated poem on his “Little Garden” (Hortulus, ca. 840s) that “the earth is as one house, whole through each its parts,” we may at first think are presence refreshingly sensitive and modern unified systems approach toward cosmos component parts. The increase ecological awareness has blossomed since 1960s gives us fresh appreciation for such holistic Alexander Pope’s, who writes An Essay Man “All but parts stupendous whole, / Whose body Nature is, God soul.” evolving Late Antique notion “Great Chain Being” – originally theological claim tied with Emanation doctrine Neo-Platonists, much later driving scientific principle Renaissance Enlightenment can find facile resemblance to some ideologies consider human disruptions natural cycles violations predisposed, inherent order. Pope cautioned against presumptuous humans wishing step beyond their boundaries, however, he was thinking moral boundaries rather than ones: