#31 "The Court Jester, The Silk Trade, Medieval Gardens"

The European Silk Trade
by By Kevin Filan
Whether imported or locally produced, silk found a ready market in renaissance Europe. Supplying the European demand for silk, however, was difficult. By the time that Marco Polo's memoirs were published in 1298, the Great Silk Road caravans, which had brought Chinese silks and Indian spices to Europe since the early days of the Roman Empire, had already been in decline for centuries.

Labyrinths, Water Jokes, and the Medieval Garden
by Lynne Ertle
While Roman gardens have been explored and well-documented, medieval gardens still remain a mystery to us. No garden of the period exists into modern times, and in medieval artistic renderings few actual gardens were represented. Furthermore, horticultural writing from the Middle Ages is scarce. Even so, some insight into the practice and pleasures of medieval gardening may be gleaned from early evidence.

Medieval Gardens
by Lynne Ertle

In Praise of Folly: the Fool's Role
by Lynne Ertle
From the time that their silly antics and witty reparteé first caused laughter, fools have existed to amuse mankind. Traced to most countries throughout antiquity, these buffoons, jesters, and clowns have performed their tomfoolery at taverns, barbershops, festivals, banquets, and on stage with their jokes, flattery, insults, mimicry, songs, juggling, mock-sermons, and rough-housing, all to the delight of their audiences.