Lavender has been used since the time of the ancient Egyptians who utilized it for perfume and in the mummification process. The Persians and Phoenicians also used it, and it was Phoenician merchants travelling throughout the Mediterranean region circa 600BC that were responsible for introducing it into Europe along with the grape vine and olive tree.
The Romans used lavender during bathing and in their cooking as well as for an air freshener. Roman soldiers knowing of lavender’s value in wound healing, planted seedlings wherever they travelled during their many military campaigns.
The name ‘lavender’ comes from the Latin ‘lavare’ - to wash, and the botanical name ‘lavendula’ is derived from ‘livendula’ – bluish.
Medieval and Renaissance peoples used lavender to purify the environment and protect against infections and there is evidence from the 16th century that glove makers who used lavender to scent their gloves, were less likely to suffer from cholera and other diseases including the Black plague.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the growing popularity of perfumes led to a great increase in demand for lavender essential oil which was used as a floral top/middle note in formulations created by the perfumers of Grasse.
As a result the cultivation of lavender allowed numerous areas of derelict agricultural land on the high plains of Provence to return to productive use.
By the 1920's the first large lavender plantations or "lavanderaies" began to appear. This was the époque when Provence started to become covered by the immense lavender-blue fields that today, are an unmistakable image of the region.
In the beginning the lavender was cut with scythes and the harvesters paid according to how much they cut. A good harvester could cut around 600 kilos of lavender a day. Today with very few exception harvesting is done by machines which cut and bundle the lavender to be left to dry in the fields in preparation for distillation.
The story of Lavenders of Provence continues in Part 2