Food and Eating in Medieval Europe

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Food and Eating in Medieval Europe

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Food and Eatin g i n Medieval Europ e Edited by Martha Carlin and Joel T. Rosenthal

The Hambledon Pres s London and Rio Grande

Published by The Hambledo n Pres s 1998 102 Gloucester Avenue, London NW 1 8HX (UK) PO Box 162, Rio Grande, Ohio 45674 (USA) ISBN 1 85285 14 8 1 © The Contributor s 199 8 A description o f this book is available from the British Library and fro m th e Library of Congress

Typeset by The Midland s Book Typesetting Company, Loughboroug h Printed o n acid-free paper and bound in Great Britain by Cambridge Universit y Press

Contents

Figures vi Introduction i Abbreviations xii

i x i

1 Th e Feast Hall in Anglo-Saxon Society 1 Marjorie A. Brown 2 Pilgrim s to Table: Food Consumption in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 1 Elizabeth M. Biebel

5

3 Fas t Food an d Urban Living Standards in Medieval England 2 Martha Carlin

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4 Di d the Peasants Really Starve in Medieval England? 5 Christopher Dyer

3

5 Cannibalis m as an Aspect of Famine in Two English Chronicles 7 Julia Marvin

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6 Drive n by Drink? Ale Consumption and the Agrarian Economy of the Londo n Region , c. 1300-1400 8 James A, Galloway

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7 Makin g Sense of Medieval Culinary Records: Much Done, But Much More to Do 10 Constance B. Hieatt

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8 Feedin g Medieva l Cities: Some Historical Approaches 11 Margaret Murphy

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vi Food

an d Eating in Medieval Europe

9 Th e Household of Alice de Bryene, 1412-13 13 ffiona Swabey

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10 Queu d u Roi, Roi des Queux: Taillevent an d th e Profession o f Medieval Cooking 14 Alan S. Weber

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11 Medieva l and Renaissanc e Weddin g Banquet s and Other Feasts 15 Susan F. Weiss

9

Index 17

5

Figures

1 Movemen t of barley and malt prices compared to carpenters' wages , 1300-1400 9

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2 Percentag e o f sown grain acreage occupied by individual crops on demesnes in the London region , 1290-1315 and 1375-140 0 9

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3 Percentag e o f all demesne grain sold (b y volume) represented b y individual crops in the London region , 1290-1315 and 1375-140 0 9

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4 Th e ‘Feeding the City’ project study area 12

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5 Simplifie d representatio n o f Von Thünen’s model of land-use zones 12

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The editors record wit h sadness the death of Marjorie A. Brown in the autum n of 1997. This volume is dedicated t o her memory.

Introduction

Medievalists have been slow to turn their professional eyes toward certain aspects o f ‘everyday life ’ that invariabl y engage mos t o f u s fa r mor e frequently an d deepl y tha n d o th e familia r academi c an d course oriented concentrations that lean toward the complexities of constitutional government or the transmission of high culture. Among the noteworthy ‘events’ or focal points and institutions of ordinary life we can rank such long neglected commonplaces as food, clothing and sex (which we now talk of in terms of sexual activity and o f sexuality). In recent years students of the European middl e ages have moved to correct some of this long record of professional bias and oversight, and today we can say, with perhaps a touch o f pride, that there has been a significant swing of the scholarly pendulum in the direction of a serious investigation o f the commonplace . That such features of lif e a s food, clothing and sex are virtually universals, and that they are of concern to women as well as to men, and t o the poo r and relativel y silent as well as to the rich and privileged around whom the written sources have generally clustered, are certainly among the reasons why they were once ignored. However, these ar e - b y the dictates of our present agenda - th e very reasons why such concerns and topic s are no w so interesting and why they are being so avidly studied. The essay s here mor e tha n satisf y thes e criteria . Though abou t hal f the author s ar e i n Histor y Departments o r work as part o f historical research projects, and the others are mostly in departments of language and literature , such a simple distinction by conventional disciplines is far from a reliable guide to the work and ideas they have presented. The essays that can be categorize d a s falling within th e realm s of historical inquiry and historical methods go far beyond the ‘what happened’ menu of historical inquiry. They delve into questions of nutrition, of economic geography, of gender an d se x roles, and o f popular culture , and thei r various blends and melds of the records of medieval life illuminate our current interest in re-asking old questions, in reinterpreting old answers. Whether we are concerned with how wide an economic and geographi c

x Food

and Eating in Medieval Europe

arc of food productio n ha d t o be focused towar d London t o feed th e teeming metropolis , a s in th e wor k of Margaret Murphy and Jim Gal loway, o r ho w successfu l suc h foo d productio n an d distributio n mechanisms really turned ou t t o be, a s in Christopher Dyer' s essay, or in what people actuall y ate when the y finished work and had a chance to si t down, as Martha Carlin tell s us, we can se e th e rang e o f social, economic, political and cultural material that has to be introduced int o the equation. Questions once asked only by geographers or economists , if aske d a t al l for suc h a distan t period , ar e no w part o f th e working agenda o f historians. The ‘literature’ essays also diverge widely, and the y serve to carry us from som e o f the har d realitie s of food productio n an d consumptio n patterns int o what we can thin k o f as extra-nutritional aspect s of this basic human endeavour . Preparing food, at virtually all levels of society and o f the culinar y range, was a social process, and ver y often it was a social process that incorporated elaborat e elements of ritual, of prescribed and hierarchica l publi c behavior, and o f festival and carnival. Whether we are looking at the Anglo-Saxon hal l as a locus of eating an d drink ing and socia l intercourse, as in Marjorie Brown's essay, or at the music and ritua l tha t surrounde d festiv e eatin g o n ceremonia l occasion s in late medieval Europe, as in Susan Weiss’s study, we are impressed by the persistence an d ubiquit y of a few basic themes about social life. Medieval societ y certainly was one i n whic h categories o f skil l an d knowledge and mysterie s of crafts and guild s were taken very seriously. A magnate' s cook , who wa s responsible no t onl y for producin g th e elaborate meals that fed the household but also for organizing and controlling the labour and fuel and raw foodstuffs needed to keep a great kitchen running, was a powerful figure in the prestigious worlds of hearth and hall. Alan Weber offer s a case stud y of how a high positio n i n a royal kitchen and upward mobility could g o hand i n glove, while Constance Hieatt alert s u s t o th e intricacie s o f interpretin g an d classifyin g th e thousands of surviving medieval recipes that were collected and used in great households . From agricultura l decision s abou t which grains t o so w to th e fina l presentation o f fantastic pasties and arcane confections at the table, the steps of the food chain constitute a complex ladder of social and economic interaction. The final products - what was served at the table - can be thought o f as the edible en d product s o f a craft, o f the application an d embodiment o f specialize d knowledg e designe d t o giv e pleasure, t o enhance th e statu s of their makers , an d t o link a basic physical need with social display and symbolic representations. The whole tale of how

Introduction x

i

food was prepared an d eate n clearl y extends far beyond a simple bodily process in which we must engage in order to preserve life and strength . The ritua l an d symboli c aspects of consumption, beside or in additio n to those of sociability and hospitality, were hardly likely to pass unnoticed in a society whose basic ceremony of religious renewal and purification involved th e sacramen t o f th e Eucharis t an d th e ingestio n o f th e transubstantiated Host. Furthermore, days of plenty on earth were outward manifestations o f divine approbation, just as those of hunger spok e of heavenly anger an d a loss of grace; Julia Marvin' s essay relates biblical and medieva l readings about dearth an d starvatio n to the permissibl e ranges of human response . Not al l of th e symbolis m that surrounde d cookin g an d eatin g was spiritual, and a good man y of the messages about th e arrangements of this world - a s well as that to which men and women hoped eventuall y to come - were bound up with the hierarchy of the table. ffiona Swabey shows how a great lady's table, and the elaborate apparatu s on which it rested, can be read a s a text on household management , on the social role ope n t o a powerful widow , an d o n comple x rhythms of regiona l and provincia l culture. Sitting at tabl e an d feedin g others ar e readily seen a s an endles s cycle of social interaction wherein practical matters merged, with few visible seams, into the world of ceremony and status . Upper-class lif e an d courtl y life wer e partl y defined and se t apar t b y their framing of social eating. At the same time we should remember tha t what we can identify an d elaborate fo r the topmos t layers of society regarding th e links between eating and the social structure was also true, with appropriate variations for class and culture , for every man an d woman who drew a knife to cut bread an d who shared sal t or ale with another. Everyone came to realize, a t some earl y point in life , tha t dietary distinctions marked social class just as such distinctions were also part of the regular variations that marked the cycles of the seasons and of the ecclesiastical calendar. From a morbid or hypnotic fascination with dearth and famine, at one extreme, to the theatricalit y of the music- and poetry-bedecke d wedding feast or political banquet at the other, we have a broad spectru m of behaviour wherein th e table , with bot h it s food an d it s festivities, remaine d th e fixed star of the firmament . In a world that relied on humoural theor y to explain both th e unity of the cosmo s and th e nature o f individual temperament s an d health, ‘you are what you eat’ was a good deal more than a cliche. The essay by Elizabeth Biebel reminds us of the moral significance that was logically attached t o kinds of food eaten (o r rejected) as well as to occasions for

xii Food


eating (or fasting). Personality, gender distinctions and the line between purity and impurity could be traced, to some extent, by a study of consumption patterns and predilections. How one sought to blend personal style and choice into the larger rhythms of the world might be revealed, both in terms of health and o f moral disposition, by an examination o f one's shopping lis t and collectio n o f pots and pans . Martha Carlin Joe

l T. Rosenthal

Abbreviations

BL Britis EETS Earl OED Oxfor PRO Publi

h Library , Londo n y English Tex t Society d Englis h Dictionar y c Recor d Office , Londo n


1 The Feast Hall in Anglo-Saxon Society Marjorie A. Brown The Anglo-Saxon feast hall was at the heart of early English society. Here people met t o celebrate their victories , t o proclaim socia l bond s wit h one anothe r an d t o shar e th e product s o f the land . Feast-hal l scenes frequently appea r i n Ol d Englis h literature , notabl y i n heroi c poem s such as Beowulf, i n which much of the action occurs within a magnificent royal hall . I n poetr y adapte d fro m Christia n rathe r tha n Germani c legendary sources, the protagonists may also meet within the mead halls, but th e ton e of these meetings tends to be darker, even demonic. Th e shifting literary representatio n o f the feast hall invites an examinatio n of its multiple roles in the Anglo-Saxon world. Some physica l remain s o f feast halls hav e been foun d i n England . Archeological excavation s at Yeavering have uncovered the trace s of a royal hall eighty feet long and forty feet wide, with plank walls set eight feet into the ground to support a high roof. 1 At Cheddar, a hall seventyfive feet in length held gatherings in the ninth century.2 While the excava-

tions made at the Sutton Hoo site over the last half-century have disclosed a ship rather than a hall, archeologists have found kingly furnishings, including silver-gilt mounts for drinking cups and horns and a harp tha t could have been played at feasts. As important as the material evidence may be, however , the description s o f feast halls found in Anglo-Saxo n language and literature present a fuller picture of the hall's importance. The Old English language has an extensive vocabulary of terms to denote the feast hall and its furnishings. Terms for the feast hall's servants, provi-

sions, and eve n its decor are formed from th e roo t words œrne, reced an d heall. The wor d sele, meanin g ‘hall’ or ‘house’ , i s the basi s for severa l compound words . Some of these compounds describe the people of the hall, such as the selesecg or the seleðegn, the 'hall-retainer'.3 The noun sele1

James Campbell, ed. , Th e Anglo-Saxons (Oxford , 1982) , p. 57. Ann Hagen , A Handbook o f Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption (Pinner , Middlesex, 1992 ; reprinted 1993) , p . 79. 3 Th e Wanderer, lin e 34 ; Beowulf, lin e 1794 . 2

2 Food


dream, 'hall-joy, ' an d th e adjectiv e seledreorig, 'sa d a t th e los s of a hall', demonstrate th e emotions that communal feasting might evoke in poetic reminiscence. The wanderer, in the poem of the same name in the Exeter Book, remembers his happiness in terms of the hall and its generous lord: Hwær cwom mearg? Hwæ r cwom mago? Hwær cwom maÞÞumgyfa? Hwær cwom symbla gesetu? Hwæ r sindon seledreamas ? Eala beorht bune! Eala byrnwiga! Eala Þeodne s Þrym ! (line s 92-95a) (Where ha s gone the steed? Where has gone the man? Where has gone the giver of treasure? Where ha s gone the place of the banquets? Where ar e the pleasures of the hall? Alas, the gleaming chalice; alas, the armoured warrior; alas, the majesty of the prince! )

In a similar elegiac tone, the poet of ‘The Ruin’ characterizes the vanished joys of the city : ‘Many a mead-hall was full o f delights / unti l fate th e mighty altered it’. 4 A well-known episod e recounted i n Bede’s Historia eccksiastica als o depicts th e pleasure s of the hal l in compariso n t o th e harsh world beyond it s doors. A priest illustrates th e transitor y natur e of human existence by comparing life to a sparrow that, for a moment, flies into a warm, well-lit hall, where the king sits dining with his thegns, and the n vanishes again into the winter storm raging outside. 5 The words denoting the lord and the lady of the hall derive from th e duty of feeding their people. The Old English lord was a hlaford, a title deriving from the compound hlaf-weard, or ‘bread-guardian’. We use a related ter m toda y when we speak of the supporte r o f a family a s the ‘breadwinner’. Similarly, th e lad y was a hlafdige, o r ‘bread-maker’. An old English word for ‘dependant’, hlafœta, literall y means ‘bread-eater’. Servants' wages and land-rents might be paid in so many loaves of bread, a standard Anglo-Saxon unit of food. Bread was an important constituent of a feast, along with meat, fish and game.6 The bread-eaters at the 4

meodoheal l moni g mondream a ful l oÞÞæt Þæt onwende wyr d seo swiÞe.

(lines 23-24) ‘The Ruin’: George Philip Krapp and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie, eds, Th e Exeter Book (New York and London , 1936) , p . 228. Kevin Crossley-Holland, trans., Th e Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology (Oxfor d an d Ne w York, 1982), p. 60. 5 Bede, Historia ecclesiastica, ii, c. 13. 6 Hagen, Handbook o f Anglo-Saxon Food, p. 83. She notes in a section on ‘bread’, pp. 11-13, that loaves of bread might be sized: Edward the Elder left two hundred larg e and one hundred small loaves in his will. ‘Bread dough’ is one possible answer t o riddle 45 in the Exeter Book .

The Feast Hall in Anglo-Saxon Society 3

feast were th e lor d an d lady' s kin, their youn g warriors and seasone d fighters, and their counsellors . The name s o f intoxicating beverage s als o identif y th e hal l i n suc h compound term s a s beorsele, ‘beer-hall’, ealusele, 'ale-hall' , an d winsele, 'wine-hall'.7 Drinking was a major part of the festivities in the feast hall, where th e selegyst o r 'hall-guest ' migh t si t o n th e medubenc, 'mead bench', o r beorsetl, 'beer-seat'. Providing drink to the hall-guests was the mark of a king and th e duty of a queen. A set of gnomic verses from th e Exeter Book describes the queen's hospitable responsibilities, which begin with th e king : 'she mus t always and everywher e greet first the chie f of those princes and instantly offer the chalice to her lord's hand'.8 The noble lad y of the hal l appears i n a more symboli c fashion in the elegy called 'The Husband's Message'. The husband sends word to the woman 'who swore oaths together ' wit h him when they shared th e mead-hall s saying that he will lack for nothing, 'neither horses not riches nor joy in the mead-hall' , if she will join him. Presumably she will bring th e hall joy with her.9 Through share d eating and drinking the hall brings together society, with the kin g an d th e quee n a t its heart t o generate pleasur e with their gifts . 7

Beor was not th e hopped beverage drunk today, as hops were no t used in England until th e fifteent h century . Instead, bear probably was a typ e o f fermented frui t drin k (Hagen, Handbook o f Anglo-Saxon Food, p. 83) . 8 'Maxim s I': Krapp and Dobbie , eds, Exeter Book, p. 159 : for gesiðmæge n syml e æghwæ r eodor æðelinga

ærestgegretan,,

forman full e t o frean hon d ricene geræcan (line s 88-91a) Translation by S.A.J. Bradley , ed . an d trans. , Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Londo n an d Rutland , Vermont, 1982 ; reprinte d 1987), p. 348. Fo r commentary on the potential power a royal woman might wield throug h her forma l presentatio n of drink, see Michael J. Enright's 'Lady With a Mead-Cup: Ritual, Grou p Cohesion and Hierarch y in the Germani c Warband', Fruhmittelalterliche Studien, 2 2 (1988) , pp. 170-203 . 9 ni s him wilna gad ne meara ne maðma n e meododreama, ænges ofer eorÞa n eorlgestreon a Þeodnes dohtor gi f he pin beneah ofer eal d gebeot ince r twega . (lines 44b-48) (He wil l lack nothing , neither horses nor riches nor joy in the mead-hall nor any of the noble treasures on earth , O daughter of the prince , if he possesses you.) 'The Husband' s Message' , i n Krap p an d Dobbie , eds , Exeter Book, p. 227 ; Crossley Holland, Anglo-Saxon World, p . 58 .

4 Food


The best-know n literary example of the Anglo-Saxon feast hall is the hall named Heorot, or 'hart', built by the order o f King Hrothgar i n the opening verses of Beowulf. 'I t came into his mind', the Beowulf poet says , 'that h e would command me n t o construct a hall, a mead-hall larger than th e children o f men had ever heard of, and therei n h e would give to young and old such as God gave him' (line s 67-73).10 The hall rises rapidly, 'high and horn-gabled' (lin e 82a).11 Within the decorated walls, Hrothgar and hi s queen, Wealhtheow , preside ove r banquets, presen t lavish gift s t o their retainers an d pou r ou t mea d for their warriors and wise men. The peopl e in the feas t hall als o serve as an audience for the musi c and poetr y of the scop, literally the 'shaper' , who, like the Beowulf poet, presents tale s of famous heroes an d thei r deeds . Th e scop's storie s are powerful enough to compel his audience t o action. For instance, when the outcas t Grendel hear s th e soun d o f the scop singing the Creatio n story in the hall, the monster's hatred for the people of Heorot begins. Since th e scop commence s hi s son g shortl y afte r th e Beowulf poet ha s described the making of Heorot, th e two creation episodes connect the earthly hall with the garden of Eden, and the scop's ability with the Creator's. Therefore th e hall may be a manifestation of paradise on earth, a Christian concept supported b y Alvin Lee , who say s 'the newl y created hall is in paradisal harmony with heaven'.12 In this paradigm, Grendel, too, shares in th e Creatio n story , because th e poet identifies him as a descendan t of Cain who is doomed t o walk the earth under God' s curse. Grendel is the transgresso r exiled by God fro m paradise , which explain s his rage upon hearing the scop's descriptio n o f its beauties . The scop' s use of the Genesi s material recalls how the first recorded Anglo-Saxon poe t mad e hi s reputation b y turning th e Creatio n stor y into Old English verse. He was Cædmon, who, as Bede writes, was shamed 10

Hi

m on mod beam n wolde n gewyrcea n æfregefrunon,, Þon [n] e yldo beam ond Þær on innan eallgedælan geongum ond ealdum , swyl c him Go d seald (lines 67b-72 ) All Old Englis h passages of Beowulf ar e fro m Beowulf an d the Fight at Finnsburgh, 3rd edn, ed. F . Klaeber (Lexington , Massachusetts , 1950) ; trans . Bradley , Anglo-Saxon Poetry, p. 413. 11 'Hea h on d horngeap ' (Klaeber , Beowulf an d the Fight at Finnsburgh, line 82a). 12 Alvi n A . Lee , Th e Guest-Hall o f Eden: Four Essays o n th e Design o f Ol d English Poetry (New Haven, Connecticut and London , 1972), p. 181 . pæt healreced hata medoærn mice l me

The Feast Hall in Anglo-Saxon Society 5 by his inability to compos e song s a t th e feas t table. Instea d Cædmo n withdrew to his home whenever the harp was passed to him in the hall. One night , however, a heavenly messenger appeared t o Cædmon while he wa s tending animal s in th e stabl e an d commande d tha t Cædmo n sing about 'the Creation of all things'. From that time forward Cædmon turned scripture int o religious verses in Old English. 13 Although th e Beowulf poet compare s Heoro t t o a Christian paradise, in other ways the hall seems more Germanic than Christian. An important activity in the hal l is the sealin g of bonds betwee n royalty and thei r followers, the Germa n war-ban d or comitatus, through the giving of drink, gifts and pledges. When Wealhtheow first meets Beowulf, the hero who has come t o rid her husband' s hal l of the monster Grendel , sh e pours mead int o hi s cup an d bid s him welcome in a formal speech. H e als o replies formally , promisin g he r tha t ' I shal l achiev e a deed o f manly courage o r else have lived to see in this mead-hall m y ending day'.

eorlic ellen oÞðe on Þisse meoduhealle minn

Ic gefremman scea l endedæg e gebidan. (lines 636a-38)

Well-pleased, the queen seat s herself next to the king. Beowulf’s boasting, excessive as it might seem to contemporary readers , i s typical of the feast hal l an d represent s th e warrior's pledge t o his lord o r lady. After Beowulf himsel f become s a king, one o f his me n remind s th e other s that they owe loyalty to him by recalling 'that time we drank mead, when we promised ou r lor d i n th e beer-hall ' t o suppor t him. 14 The warrior Ælfwine use s a similar formula when, in th e hea t o f the battl e o f Mal-

13 Bede, Historia ecclesiastica, iv, c. 24 . 14 Ic ðæt mæl geman,. Þærwe medu Þegun,

Þonne we geheton ussu m hlaforde in biorsele Þeus pas beagas geaf ; Þæt we him ða guðgetawa gylda n woldon, Þearfgelumpe,, gif him Þyslicu helmas ond heard sweord . (line s 2633-38a) ('I remembe r tha t time we drank mead , when we promised ou r lor d i n th e beer-hall - him who gave us these rings - that we would repay him for the wararms if a need like this befell hi m - th e helmets and the hard swords. ' Trans. E. Talbot Donaldson, Beowulf, ed . Joseph F. Tuso (Ne w York and London, 1975), p. 46.

6 Food


don, h e ask s his comrades t o remembe r th e pledge s the y uttered t o their lord ove r their mead.15 Sharing mea d wit h th e comitatus in th e hal l i s not th e onl y way in which th e ruler secures loyalty. As the wanderer indicates, a good king distributes ric h gift s i n hi s hall . Th e greates t triumph s i n Beowulf are marked by the spectacular , public and lavis h presentation o f gifts fro m the king's throne in the feast hall, known as a 'gift-seat', gifstol. I n return for killin g Grendel , Beowul f receive s a golden standard, a helmet, a mail-shirt an d eigh t horse s wit h golde n bridle s and jewelled saddles . The horses are led into the feast hall by order of the king so that all may see the hero's rewards. Queen Wealhtheow also offers Beowulf precious gifts, including a rich necklace and a mail-shirt. In return Beowulf gives many of these treasure s to his own king when the hero returns home . The kin g then bestow s upon Beowul f an heirloo m sword , land an d a hall of his own. Once again, these exchanges take place in the feast hall. Thus th e hall is the sit e of the redistributio n o f wealth within the com munity as well as the locu s of societal bonds. Despite the rich gifts, the alcoholic pledging done by the hall's inhabitants may have a negativ e impac t on thei r relationships . A feast is sometimes referred t o as gebeorscipe, 'beer-drinking' , and drunke n me n maybe violent. The Beowulfpoet announce s that one of Beowulf s chief virtues is that he neve r slays any of his companions while drunk on th e mead benches . In contrast , th e poe t describe s a bad king , Heremod , who 'kille d hi s table-companions ' (lin e 1713). 16 A poem calle d 'Th e Fortunes of Men' also describes an 'irascible ale-swiller', irrum ealow osan (line 49) , who slay s a companion o n th e mea d benc h wit h his sword, and a man 'craze d by mead', meodugal, who commits suicide (line 52) .17 15

OE passage fro m Th e Battl e o f Maldon', i n Ol d English Handbook, ed . Marjori e Anderson and Blanche Colton Williams (New York, 1935; reprinted Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1963). e o n elle n spraec: Êlfwine p a cwaed , h 'Gemunad pa maela , p e we oft ac t meodo spraecon, ponne we on bence beo t ahofon, haeled on healle, ymb e heard gewinn; nu maeg cunnian hwacenesy. ' (lines 211-15) (Bradley, Anglo-Saxon Poetry, p . 525 : 'JElfwine, then , spoke out an d valiantl y declared: "Let us call to mind those declarations we often uttered over mead, when from ou r seat we heroes in hall would put up pledges about tough fighting; now it can be proved who is brave."') 16 'Breat bolgenmod beodgeneatas' (line 1713). 17 Krapp and Dobbie, eds, Exeter Book, p. 155 .

The Feast Hall in Anglo-Saxon Society 7 Drunkenness may contribute t o violent tendencies already present in the hall-guests. Images of the hall reddened with blood and strewn with bodies appea r i n man y Old Englis h poem s as evidence of the furiou s feuds that could tear apart royal families and their kingdoms. The poetic fragment know n as the 'Figh t at Finnsburgh' tell s of a blood-feud tha t erupts into a five-day battle, with one side valiantly defending the door s to a hall. Although bot h group s ar e relate d b y marriage, th e enrage d warriors fail to keep the peace in their shared hall because the y cannot forget their old enmities. 18 Beowulf predicts that Heorot will eventually fall in flames, wracked by the same sort of blood-feud that destroyed the hall at Finnsburgh. Th e most immediate threat to the hall, however, comes from Grendel's nightly attack on the sleeping warriors of the hall, whom he devours in a ghoulish parody of the feasts held by the king. Describing the horror, Hroth gar tell s Beowulf that fo r year s Hrothgar's warrior s had boaste d ove r beer how they would defeat Grendel, yet 'in the morning this mead-hall was a hall shining with blood', 'I>onn e wses JDCO S medohal o n morgen tid / drihtsel e dreorfah' (line s 484-85a). The shining blood contrast s grimly with the gleaming decorations of the hall. Grendel's attacks invert the pleasure s of the hal l in othe r ways as well. When Beowulf wrestles with th e monster , th e struggl e i s vividly shown in feast-related images: the gold-adorned mea d benches go flying and, rather tha n the song of the scop, th e buildin g resounds with Grendel's wailing, which the poe t calls 'terribl e drin k fo r th e Danes ' (literall y ealuscerwen, 'ale-sharing' , line 769). The Beowulfpoet als o contrasts the dwellings of the monsters with the feast halls of men. Grendel and hi s mother live in a cold, dark, deathly mere o n th e edg e o f civilisation. At the botto m o f the mer e Beowulf finds Grendel's mother in a nidseleor 'hostil e hall' (lin e 1513). Durin g the struggle , she sits on Beowulf, whom the poe t ironically terms a selegyst, 'hall-guest ' (lin e 1545). The 'guest ' rewards his 'hostess' by slaying her. Th e Grende l famil y keep s a n ancien t sword , carved with runes , hanging o n th e walls of their lair, like the treasure s kept in the halls of men. Beowul f uses th e swor d t o kil l Grendel' s mothe r an d t o cu t off Grendel's head, thu s turning the hall-treasure against its owner. In th e secon d sectio n o f the poem , Beowulf , no w a venerable king, fights a drago n tha t attack s his kingdo m afte r a golden cu p i s stolen from its hoard. The dragon's dwelling is described poetically as an eorbsele or earth-hal l (lin e 2410) , a hringsele or ring-hal l (lin e 3128) , an d a 18

See Klaeber, Beowulf an d theFight at Finnsburgh, pp. 245-53, for OE text and notes .

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dryhtsele dyrnne, a 'secret hall' (lin e 2320). At the end o f their fight, both opponents are dead. The dragon's body is pushed over the cliff into the sea, while Beowulf s corpse burns on a funeral pyre. The mourners build Beowulf a tomb on the cliff, burying the dragon's treasure with the king's remains. In contrast to the treasures that Beowulf had received earlier, no on e will profit from th e dragon's hoard, which has a curse set upon it. The construction of Beowulf s barrow, surrounded by a splendid wall devised by skilled workers, echoes the building of Heorot at the beginning of the poem. However, Beowulf s tomb exists to remind the people of his fame on earth, rather tha n to point to heaven. Beowulf s people, left withou t the protectio n o f their hlaford, predic t tha t thei r foe s wil l soon attack and disperse the kingdom, ending the hall-joys of the hero's people. Thi s endin g seem s mor e Germani c tha n Christian , mor e reminiscent of Ragnarok than th e Da y of Judgement wit h its hope fo r the future. The halls portrayed in Beowulf generally follow an Anglo-Saxon paradigm derived from Germanic myths of heroic warriors, enchanted swords and monstrous opponents. A different representation of the feast hall appears in the poem Judith, which is bound togethe r with Beowulf i n MS Cotton Vitellius A XV. Judith is derived fro m th e Ol d Testamen t boo k o f th e same name, which recounts the tal e of a brave and piou s Jewish widow who save s her cit y from a besieging Assyrian army. In th e biblica l version, Judith don s the festive clothing of a married woman, adorns herself with all her jewellery, and goes into the enemy camp, taking along a bag of kosher food so that she may keep the Jewish dietary laws. Her grea t beauty captivates the Assyrian general, Holofernes, at a banquet. He is so stupefied , in fact , tha t sh e i s able t o decapitat e hi m wit h his own sword an d t o take the hea d bac k to her city , using the ba g to smuggle the grisly trophy out of the camp. The demoralized Assyrian s flee from Israel, andjudith enjoys an honoured old age as the saviour of her people. The Old English poetic form of Judith's story begins abruptly, because some o f the manuscrip t is missing - ho w much i s not certain . As the poem commences, Holofernes invites his senior commanders to attend a banque t wit h spendidly prepared dishe s and bowl s brimming with intoxicating liquor. Judith, who has been in the Assyrian camp for several days, does not attend, but remains in a separate 'guest-hall', gysterne (line 40). Her absenc e marks a significant chang e from th e biblical version, in which she dresses in her most seductive clothing, sprawls on a pile of fur rug s and lies to the dazzled Holofernes about his chances of success with her an d with her besiege d city.

The Feast Hall in Anglo-Saxon Society 9 The presenc e o f noblewomen was certainly a feature o f the AngloSaxon hall , a s shown by Queen Wealhtheow' s appearance i n Beowulf. Why, then, exclude Judith from th e feast? An answer may appear in th e poet's descriptio n o f the banquet . H e characterize s the gatherin g as 'insolent men' who are the general's 'confederate s in evil'. They drink excessively, unaware that they are 'doomed' . Holofernes also behaves badly at the celebration : Hloh 7 hlydde, hlyned e 7 dynede, |)2et mihten fira beam feorra n gehyran , hu s e stidmoda styrmd e 7 gylede, modig 7 medugal manod e geneahhe bencsittende, Jâe t hi gebaerdon wel. Swa se inwidda ofe r ealne daeg dryhtguman sine drenct e mid wine, swidmod sinces brytta o 5 f>ae t hie o n swima n lagon, oferdrencte hi s dugude ealle swylc e hie waeron deade geslegene (lines 23-31 )19 He laughed and bawled and roared and made a racket so that the children of men coul d hear from fa r away how the stern-minde d man bellowe d an d yelled, insolent and craze d with mead, and frequentl y exhorte d the guests on th e benches to enjoy themselve s well. So the whole day long the villain, the stern-minde d dispenser of treasure, plied hi s retainers with wine until they lay unconscious, th e whol e o f his retinue drun k a s though the y ha d been struck dead.20 At the en d o f the banquet , Holoferne s command s tha t Judith, whom the poet calls a 'noble virgin' rathe r tha n a widow, should be brough t to his tent for hi s use. 21 By the tim e she arrives, Holofernes is, like his men, dead drunk and shortly thereafter dies when Judith, calling upon the Trinity for aid, decapitates him. The descriptio n o f the feas t shows Holofernes and his men to be debauched and lecherous drunkards headed for doom, whereas Judith, by staying apart from their uproarious banquet, remains virginal and undefiled . The sou l of Holofernes sinks under th e ground o n its way to hell, to be eternally wrapped in snakes and fiery torment. In another Old English 19

All Old Englis h quotation s fro m Judith ar e take n fro m Judith, ed . BJ . Timme r (London, 1952 ; revise d an d reprinted , Exeter, 1978) . 20 Trans. Bradley, Anglo-Saxon Poetry, p. 497 . 21 Trans. Bradley, ibid., p. 497 , from torhtan maegd (lin e 43) .

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poem base d o n the passio of St Juliana, th e villains suffer a similar fate . Juliana wins sainthood for her refusa l t o sacrifice t o pagan idol s and t o wed a pagan nobleman , Eleusius . Th e poet Cynewulf adds a new twist to the fate of Eleusius and hi s men. Rather than simpl y drowning, as in the Lati n version , the y go to hell, which Cynewulf compares t o a feast hall: Ne JDorfta n ja a Jaegnas i seo geneatscolu i to |)amfrumgaree witedra wenan, J)se ofer beorsetle beaga aspplede gold.

n jDa m jDystran ha m n {Da m neolan scraef e feohgestealde t hy in winsele s J)egon, (lines 683-88a)22

(The thane s in that dark dwelling, the flock of retainers in that deep pit, had no reason t o look expectantly to the overlord for the appointed treasures, or that they would receive upon the beer-bench rings and embossed gold in the wine-hall.) Cynewulf also credits the violence that often erupts in feast halls to demonic influence whe n a devil confesses to Juliana tha t h e ha s ofte n encour aged me n drun k wit h bee r t o rene w old grievances . The devi l boast s that 'I have served them strif e out of the wine goblet'.23 These example s of hellish feas t hall s and th e demon s who populat e them ma y be a logical development o f the 'hostil e halls' tha t Grende l and his mother occupy. In heroic poems such as Beowulf, however, evilhalls are balanced against the 'good' halls and the communal rituals HALLS ARE BALANCED AGANIST THE 'GOOD' HALLS AND THE COMMUNAL RITUALS

that take place in them. One reaso n fo r the demonization of the hall in Judith and Juliana may be that the Christian virtues of the time include d sobriety, fasting and chastity, all of which were codified in rules for churchmen an d laymen. The Ol d English poem Christ and Satan describes how Christ set an example of restraint for good Christians by fasting for forty days in the wilderness, eve n thoug h the devi l tempted him t o show his power by turning stones into bread.24 Christ's fast set the pattern for the forty-day Lenten fast, just as the Last Supper was the model for Christia n feasts. 22

All Old Englis h quotation s from Juliana ar e take n fro m Cynewulf's 'Juliana', ed . Rosemary Woolf (London , 1955; revised and reprinted , Exeter, 1977). Trans. Bradley, ibid., p. 318. 23 'Ic him byrlade / wroh t of wege' (line s 486b—87a). Trans. Bradley, ibid., p. 314. 24 'Christ and Satan' , in Thejunius Manuscript, ed . George Philip Krapp (Ne w Yor k and London , 1931), lines 667-74.

The Feast Hall i n Anglo-Saxon Society 1

1

By feeding hi s disciple s on brea d an d win e representing hi s body, Christ supplanted th e rol e o f the hlaford a s bread-provider and shifte d the settin g of the feas t from specifi c earthly locations to more spiritual sites, either the church , th e world i n toto, or heaven. Fittingly, the first Advent lyric of Christ /celebrates Christ as the 'cornerstone' of the 'great hall', locking it together in his strong arms. The hal l is the world that needs the car e of Christ, the master architect, to remain together. 25 In the conclusio n o f Th e Dream o f the Rood, th e dreame r ha s a vision o f heaven 'where the people of God are seated at the feast in eternal bliss'.26 In contrast to the heavenly feast, th e eigh t mortal Anglo-Saxon sins, including pride , glutton y and anger , migh t al l appear a t th e worldly dining table.27 In the Old English poem Daniel, for example, the peopl e of Israel lose their power because 'at their feasting, pride and drunke n thoughts invaded them with devilish deeds'.28 Alcuin of York, writing to Ethelred, king of Northumbria, after the Vikings had raided the monastery at Lindisfarne, accuses the English of bringing God's punishment upon themselves throug h thei r callou s behaviour. 'Som e labou r unde r a n enormity of clothes, others perish with cold; some are inundated with delicacies and feasting like Dives clothed i n purple, an d Lazarus dies of hunger a t the gate. Where is brotherly love? . . . Let your use of clothes and foo d b e moderate.' 29 Becaus e humanity' s first sin was the ac t of eating the frui t o f the forbidden tree , gluttony could, understandably, lead t o all other sins . The servant s of Christ in th e Anglo-Saxon monastic dining hall di d not lack for food, but the amount and type were strictly controlled, and 25

Trans. Crossley-Holland, Th e Anglo-Saxon World, p . 197 . You are the corner-ston e th e builder s once discarded. It becomes yo u well to stand a s the head of the great hall , to lock together the length y walls, the unbreakabl e flint , in your firm embrace. 26 bae r is dryhtnes fol c geseted to symle , bae r is singal blis (lines 140b-41) Trans. Crossley-Holland, ibid. , p. 204 . 27 Homily 2 0 of the Vercelli Book lists the eigh t capital sins : ofermodignes, 'pride' , gifernes, 'gluttony', forlyger, 'fornication', gitsung, 'avarice', yrre, 'anger', sleacnes, 'sloth', unrotnes, 'melancholy', and idelwuldor, 'vainglory' . 28 .. . hie wlenco anwo d ae t winpege deofoldaedum, druncn e gedohtas. (lines 17-18) 'Daniel', injunius Manuscript, ed . Krapp; trans. Bradley, Anglo-Saxon Poetry, p. 68. 29 Trans. Crossley-Holland, Anglo-Saxon World, pp . 187-88 .

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a devout monk might never eat meat or drink wine.30 Monastic eating habits ar e describe d i n jElfric's Colloquy, i n which a young novice says that he still eats meat 'for I am a child living under the rod'. He eats with moderation 'a s befits a monk . . . for I am no glutton', and drink s only water o r ale. 31 The account s o f saintly Englishmen an d wome n ofte n stress their abstemiou s behaviour. Wilfrid o f Ripon neve r drank a ful l glass at the dining table, even when alone; ^{Deldryd restricted herself to one mea l per day ; and Cuthbert , i n his last days, nourished himsel f by nibbling an onion. Bede says that Cuthbert 'was ready to suffer hunger and thirs t in this life in order t o enjoy th e banquets of the next'. 32 English legal codes specified fast days and th e penalties for breakin g them, marking the acceptanc e of fasting for th e lait y as well as monastics. Among the laws of Wihtred, a late seventh-century king of Kent, are these: 'If anyone gives meat to his household in time of fasting, he is to redeem both freeman and slave with healsfang [one-tenth of one's wergild]. If a slave eat it of his own accord [he is to pay] six shillings or be flogged' ,33 To d o penanc e fo r thei r sins , la y persons migh t fast o n water , green herbs an d coars e brea d o r restric t themselve s to one mea l a day and offer the rest to the poor. The wealthy might pay others to fast for them.34 Temperance seemed t o be particularl y important for women, who might lose their chastity otherwise. Ambrose, commenting on the story of Judith, credits her sobriet y for her escap e fro m th e Assyrians, 'for if she had drun k she would have slept with an adulterer' ('na m si Judith bibisset, dormisse t cu m adultero') . B y her moderation , h e adds , 'th e fasting of one woman defeated an innumerable army of drunken men'

30

The Benedictine Rule forbade meat-eating, except for sick brethren an d the children in the monastery. Monks and nuns were allowed to eat pinguedo, a type of meat drippin g or lard , bu t ha d t o abstain durin g Len t an d Adven t (Hagen , Handbook o f Anglo-Saxon Food, pp. 94-95). 31 Trans. Crossley-Holland , Th e Anglo-Saxon World, p . 227. 32 The commen t abou t Wilfrid's drinkin g habits appears in the Life o f Wilfrid, b y his biographer Eddiu s Stephanus, in chapter 21 . Wilfrid also distinguished himsel f by washing every night in holy water, winter or summer. Se e 'Eddius Stephanus: Life of Wilfrid', in The Age of Bede, ed. D.H. Farmer, trans. J.F. Webb, revised ed. (New York, 1988), pp. 105-82. Bede chronicles jEpeldryd's moderate eating habits in Historia ecclesiastica, iv, c. 19. Likewise, Bede mentions many food miracles performed b y Cuthbert as well as making this comment abou t the sain t in chapter 6 of his life: see 'Bede: Life of Cuthbert', in Th e Age of Bede, ed. D.H. Farmer, trans . J.F. Webb, revised ed . (Ne w York, 1988) , pp . 39-102. 33 Crossley-Holland, Th e Anglo-Saxon World, p . 27. 34 Hagen, Handbook o f Anglo-Saxon Food, pp. 136-43 .

The Feast Hall i n Anglo-Saxon Society 1

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('unius mulieris ieiunium innumeros stravit exercitus ebriorum').35 In the biblical version of her story , Judith fast s in accordanc e with Jewish dietary laws; in the Ol d English poem, her absenc e fro m th e feas t hall keeps her unpolluted . Even animals may feast differently in secular and Christia n poems. A well-known topos of heroic Old English poetry is the description o f the 'beasts of battle', usually the raven , the eagl e an d th e wolf , wh o lurk near the battle so that the y may feed on th e dea d bodies of the fallen warriors. In the Battle of Brunanburh, for example, the victorious English return t o Wessex, leaving behind th e 'horny-beake d raven', the 'grey coated eagle' and the 'wol f in the wood' to devour the corpses with relish.36 I n th e accoun t o f King Edmund's martyrdom , however, a wolf guards the king's severed head, not daring to eat it although he is hungry, 'and for the fear of God he did not dare to taste the head but guarde d it against wild beasts'.37 In heroic poetry the Anglo-Saxon feast hall, rich in treasure, food and joy, become s th e centr e o f communal celebration s tha t hol d societ y together a s well a s of th e devastatio n tha t ma y tear apar t kingdoms . Although the Anglo-Saxons enjoyed their feast halls, the Christian concept of si n seem s t o hav e altere d th e wa y in whic h som e poet s describe d banqueting scenes. Thus, even in manuscripts that may be contemporary, the shining halls found in Beowulf appear in contrast to the licentious banquet of doomed Assyrians in Judith. The hlafordv/ho guards the bread in Beowulf i s a secular lord , but i n Judith he ha s become Christ , who as part o f the Trinit y dispenses heavenly rather tha n secula r bread. Th e multiple interpretation s o f th e feas t hall i n Ol d Englis h literatur e demonstrate poeti c awarenes s of sourc e materia l an d a sens e o f th e appropriate use for the central paradigm of Anglo-Saxon society.

35

Ambrose, Liber de viduis, 7, Patrologia Latino, 16, col. 260: 'Nam si Judith bibisset, dormisset cum adultero' (Fo r if Judith had drunk, she would have slept with an adulterer). Liber de Elia et leiunio, 9, Patrologia Latino, 14, col. 741: 'Itaque unius mulieris jejunium innumeros stravit exercitus ebriorum' (Therefore the abstinence of one woman overcame innumerable [men ] o f an army of inebriates). 36 Trans. Crossley-Holland, The Anglo-Saxon World, p . 21. 37 Excerpt from Th e Passio n of St Edmund', trans. Crossley-Holland, ibid., p. 231 .


2

Pilgrims to Table: Food Consumption in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Elizabeth M. Biebel Food consumption plays a role in medieval society that extends far beyond the concepts of sustenance and survival. Bridget Ann Henisch's.Fas£ and Feast details th e splendou r and formalitie s that accompanie d celebra tory medieval dinners, a s well as the dietar y restrictions prescribed by the Catholi c Churc h fo r solem n observances. 1 Th e Medieval Health Handbook, compiled b y Luisa Cogliati Arano, reveals an interest during the middle ages in the natural benefits and detriments that certain foods bring about in the body.2 In the late thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries the importance of food was heightened due t o its increasing scarcity as a result of recurring famine. 3 Given this significant valuing of food, it is only fitting in Chaucer' s Canterbury Tales that Harry Bailly suggest th e reward for telling the best story should be 'a soper at oure aller cost' (A 799).4 While the Canterbury pilgrims are never depicted togethe r a t table, there is scattered mentioning o f food consumption throughou t Chaucer's work. The Mon k has a taste for roasted swan ; the friar i n the Summoner's Tale prefers capon liver. While the Franklin is a veritable gourmet, the widow in the Nun's Priest's Tale contents herself with a more humble 1

Bridget Anne Henisch, Fast an d Feast: Food i n Medieval Society (Universit y Park , Pennsylvania, 1978). 2 While some of the effects attributed to foodstuffs are far from accurate - The Tacuinum o f Rouen warns that cabbage i s 'bad for th e intestines' , Luisa Cogliati Arano, The Medieval Health Handbook: Tacuinum Sanitatis (Ne w York, 1976), p. 54. - certai n beliefs are concurren t wit h moder n nutritiona l remedies . Th e Tacuinum o f Vienna find s dil l 'brings relief to a stomach that is cold' (p. 49), and Dr H.C.A. Vogel notes that dill seeds 'have a warming affect an d ar e good for the stomach and intestines, especially in cases of chills', Th e Nature Doctor (New Canaan, 1991), p. 408 . 3 Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley , California, 1987) , p. 2. 4 That Innkeeper Bailly stands to profit financially from havin g an awards dinner at the Tabard is also significant motivation. All quotations of the Canterbury Tales are taken from Th e Riverside Chaucer, 3rd edn, ed. Larry D. Benson et al. (Boston, Massachusetts, 1987).

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meal o f 'milk and brou n breed ' (B 2 2844). Various critics have note d the relevance o f Chaucer's food references in relation t o an individual character; they analyse how diet may be used as an interpretive guidelin e for th e health , personality or morality of a particular consumer. Keeping in mind that Chaucer's cast of characters is making a religious pilgrimage, the concep t of physical food readily lends itself to that of spiritual nourishment. Suc h a movemen t can tak e tw o directions. While th e symbolic nature of the Eucharist highlights the positive elements of food, the si n o f gluttony is the resul t of th e abus e o f food. These disparat e functions tha t food ca n assume may incorporate many other polarized facets. The physicality of gluttony in its opposition t o the ascetic natur e of the Eucharist provides an illustration of the dichotomy of feast versus fast. The exclusion of meat in a fasting diet results in a juxtaposition o f animal versus vegetable. Out of this opposition, society has created gender associations for both o f these food types. 5 Men have been and stil l are associated with animals: they are the hunters, they are known for thei r physical strength. The high-protein content of meat has contributed to the traditiona l view that meat is the appropriat e food source for men . Conversely, women have been aligne d both wit h vegetatio n and wit h butchered animals . While the nurturing , gentl e an d othe r so-calle d feminine qualitie s are see n a s being reflecte d in plan t life , woman' s physical attractiveness to heterosexual man is at times described in meatlike terms. Woman does not benefit from her association with dead animals as man does from hi s link with living ones. For woman the analogy can be both debasing and victimizing. That Chaucer links woman throug h metaphor t o butchered animal s does result, however, in a sacred con notation o f her gender with the sacrificial nature of Jesus Christ. Chaucer achieve s thi s connection throug h th e proces s o f association. Th e awareness of the moti f in which Christ is given feminized attributes in the middle ages allows the incidents of food consumption found in the Canterbury Tales to be interprete d i n a religious light that is reverential towards woman, although it does stereotype her in the rol e of passive victim. Before the nature of food consumption in the Canterbury Tales can be examined as a whole, the significance of diet should be evaluated at the individual level. In the General Prologue, there are three pilgrims who are 5

In his Philosophy o f Right Hegel wrote, 'The difference between men an d women is like that between animals and plants . Me n correspond to animals, while women correspond to plants because their development is more placid', quoted in Carol J. Adams, The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory (Ne w York , 1993), p. 37 .

Pilgrims t o Table: Food Consumption i n Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 1 7 expressly linked with food consumption: th e Monk, the Summone r an d the Franklin. 6 What seem to be trivial details have generated a significant amount of critical commentary that enables the reader to understand mor e fully th e tru e natur e o f the characte r Chauce r ha s decide d t o present . Take, for example, Chaucer' s Monk . Among the many worldly pleasures this 'lord ful fat' ( A 200) enjoys, 'A fat swan loved he best of any roost' (A 206). As Heiner Gillmeiste r notes , th e sixth-century Rule of Saint Benedict does not allow members of monastic communitie s t o consume the meat of quadrupeds.7 History reveals, however, that clever logicians argued that Benedict's decre e could no t includ e two-legge d fowl. 8 Technically, then, the Mon k is not breaking a dietary law by indulging in this favourite dish. His specific preference fo r swan , though, doe s revea l certain trait s tha t one would not expect to find in a truly ascetic man. Among the medieva l prices for fowl that Ramona Bressie indexes, a chicken is valued at two and a halfpence, whereas a swan is priced at six or seven shillings.9 The Monk, indeed, has an expensive palate; he is not content with humble fare. Further flaws in the Monk' s morality are revealed i n the writing of Rabanus Maurus: 'Cygnus est superbia, ut in lege prohibetur, nequis manducet cygnem [Leviticus, 21:18], id est ne exhibeat se elatum . . .'10 Not only has the swan been associated with the sin of pride, but it has been linked to that of sloth as well. *1 Through the connotations that arise from an analysis of the Monk's diet, the reader witnesses this character mov e from the first of the Seven Deadly Sins to the last. His pride in worldly goods leads him into the spiritual desperation o f sloth. 12 With hi s appetit e fo r costl y swan, the Mon k fall s into both avarice and gluttony in his moral descent . 6

While much has been said about the Prioress and her courtly table manners, Madame Eglantyne neve r consumes a specific foo d item . The reade r i s only informed of what types of dainties are fed to her dogs . Also, the Cook' s portrait consists of the dishe s he knows how to prepare; it does not mention what Roger of Ware prefers on his own table. 7 Heiner Gillmeister, 'Chaucer's Monch un d di e "Reul e of Seint Maure or of Seint Beneit"', Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 69 (1968) , pp. 224-25 . 8 David Knowles, Th e Monastic Order in England (Cambridge , 1940), p. 462. 9 Ramona Bressie, 'A Governour Wily and Wys' , Modern Language Notes, 54 (1939) , p. 488 . 10 Quoted i n Beryl Rowland, Birds with Human Souls (Knoxville, Tennessee, 1978), p. 171. 11 In Birds, Rowlan d discusses the appropriatenes s o f th e likenin g of friar s i n th e Summoner's Tale t o 'Jovinya n / Fa t as a whale, and walkyng e a s a swan ' ( D 1929-30), 'because various proverbial expressions imply that the bird is always thirsty and exemplifies the sin of Sloth' (171) . 12 That th e Mon k has fallen int o th e disconsolat e throes of sloth is the premis e of David E Berndt, 'Monastic Acedia and Chaucer' s Characterization of Daun Piers', Studies in Philology, 68 (1971), pp. 435-50.

18 Food


Another character whose moral condition is revealed by dietary preference is the Summoner: 'Wei loved he garleek, oynons, and eek lekes' (A 634). In addition t o the state of his soul, the health o f the Summoner's body is also perceived through food analysis. Referring to the works of, among others, Bartholomaeus de Glanvilla and Bernardus de Gordon, Walter Clyde Curry diagnoses the Summone r as one who suffers fro m alopecia.13 Medieval medicine attributed the cause of this form of leprosy to impurities in th e blood . Connectin g the Summoner' s diet with his disease, Curry quotesJoannitius and Paulus Aegenita, who believed that indulging in th e bulbs and culinar y herbs listed above led to ill effect s in th e bloodstream. 14 Denni s Biggins adds a moral dimensio n t o th e Summoner's food consumption by noting the reported 'aphrodisiaca l qualities of garlic, onions and leeks'; 15 however, the scholar notes that the source he is using, Reginald Pecock's Reule ofCrysten Religioun, postdates Chaucer. 16 Biggins hypothesizes that 'the opinion expressed was doubtless current in th e fourteenth century', 17 and s o it would seem . Additional and slightly more timely support for this theory can be found in the late fourteenth-century Tacuinum ofViennawhich list s 'influences coitus' among the uses of leeks and 'facilitates coitus' among the benefits of onions.18 If a reader could possibl y be in doubt about th e nature of the Summoner' s characte r afte r reviewin g Chaucer's presentatio n o f him, dietary analysis should confirm suspicions of his lecherous personality.19 A seemingly endless critical debate revolve s around th e tru e natur e

13

Walter Clyde Curry, Chaucer and the Medieval Sciences (New York, 1960), pp. 38-43. Ibid., pp. 45-46. 15 Dennis Biggins, 'Chaucer' s Summoner: Wei Loved He Garleek, Oynons, and Eek Lekes', Notes and Queries, 11 (1964) , p. 48 . 16 William Cabell Greet, in hi s Introduction t o th e Reule ofCrysten Religioun (EETS 171, 1927) , notes that Tecock dates his work 1443' (p . ix). 17 Biggins, 'Chaucer's Summoner', p. 48. 18 Arano, Th e Medieval Health Handbook, pp . 76 , 124. 19 Two other noteworthy articles on the Summoner and his diet are R.E. Kaske, 'The Summoner's Garleek , Oynons, and Ee k Lekes', Modern Language Notes, 74 (1959), pp . 481-84; and Chauncey Wood, The Source s of Chaucer's Summoner's "Garleek, Oynons, and Ee k Lekes"', Chaucer Review, 5 (1971) , pp. 240-44 . Wood note s Garabaty's belie f that the Summoner is suffering from secondary syphilis (pp. 240-41) and finds a character analogous t o the Summone r in the thir d book of John Gower's Vox clamantis (p. 241). Kaske offers a moral interpretation o f the Summoner by comparing his favourite foods to the people of Israel's longing for the foods of Egypt in Numbers, 11:5. Such desire is symbolic of a person's longing for the lif e o f carnality in his/her past. 14

Pilgrims t o Table: Food Consumption in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 1 9

of the Franklin.20 Labelled as 'epicurus owene sone' ( A 336), the Franklin is the pilgri m by far the mos t associated with food consumption : Without bake mete was nevere his house, Of fissh and flessh , and tha t so plentevous It snewed in his hous of mete and drynke; Of alle deyntees that men coul d thynke, After th e sondry sesons of the yeer, So chaunged he his mete and his soper. Ful many fat partrich hadde he in muwe, And many a breem and many a luce in stuwe. (A 343-50) If food consumption may be relied upon a s a guide for interpreting th e Franklin's character , th e man' s adherenc e to a seasonal diet speaks of him in a positive light. Joseph Bryant comments upon Hippocrates' Regimen in Health, a work that was influenced by the Secreta secretorum, which advocates maintaining a diet that focuses on balancing the humours in one's body as a regimen fo r good health . Factors suc h a s 'age, season, habit, land and physique' are to be considered in this plan.21 The Franklin's adherence t o the wisdom of such a scheme is witnessed by 'the fact that a perso n o f hi s years i s able t o mak e th e two-da y pilgrimage t o Canterbury and back'.22 Bryant emphasizes the Franklin's ability to practise temperance i n a diet, despit e his being constantl y surrounde d by an abundance o f fine foods. 23 This depiction of the Frankli n as a temperate individual argues against Jill Mann's rendering of him as a glutton.24 Indeed, th e Franklin' s balanced an d seasona l die t no t onl y indicates good physical health, it also makes a decided statement about his spiritual 20

In A Commentary on the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (2nd edn, New York, 1967), Muriel Bowden builds a positive view of the Frankli n based on hi s 'sangwyn' (A 333) complexion. The Secreta secretorum offers a physiognomy-oriented interpretation of a sanguine personality: 'The sangyne by kynde sholde lowe loye and laughynge . .. he shal be fre and lyberall ' (quoted, p. 174). On the other hand, D.W. Robertson in his A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspectives (Princeton, New Jersey, 1962), finding a negative reference to Epicureans in Gower's fourteenth-century Mirourde Vomme, believes the Franklin i s 'blind to anything beneath surfac e appearance' because he is merely a possessor o f the 'Superficia l nobilit y of a wealthy man o f the middl e class' (p . 276). 21 Quoted in Joseph Bryant, The Die t of Chaucer's Franklin', Modern Language Notes, 63 (1948), p. 321. 22 Ibid., p. 319 . 23 Ibid. 24 Jill Mann, Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire (Cambridge, 1973) , pp . 153-56 .

20 Food


condition.25 Through hi s distinguishing the time to feast from th e time to fast, it may be seen that the Franklin adheres to the dietary laws of his faith mor e closely than does his fellow pilgrim the Monk. Chaucer's vivid image of it snowing food and drink in the Franklin's home provides additional commentary for both camps of the Franklin's critics. While Robert Miller believes the precipitatio n o f food is a material substitutio n fo r spiritual manna, Hug h Keena n finds no adultera tion of the mann a image Chaucer provides: 'The snowing of food as in the manna storyjoins his feast and the Mass'.26 Since the Old Testament's manna is seen as the forerunner of the Eucharist in the New Testament, there is an element of true communion and holy feast to be found within the Franklin's portrait.27 The 'sop in wyn' ( A 334) with which the Franklin break s hi s fast ma y also be see n a s a Eucharistic image.28 Because Chaucer's character s ar e makin g a hol y pilgrimage, it i s fittin g tha t Eucharistic imager y shoul d b e foun d withi n th e Canterbury Tales. Eucharistic imager y does not , however, always appea r i n th e positiv e context that it does in the Franklin's portrait. A corrupted representa tion of the Eucharist may be found in the Pardoner's Tale. Helen Cooper notes tha t th e bread an d wine that th e thir d riote r brings back t o his associates become transformed 'into the vehicle of bodily death' for the rioters, not th e means of their salvation. 29 While physical food assumes its most noble representatio n withi n a Christian context in the form of the Eucharistic feast, it is also reduced

25

In 'Carnival Food Imagery in Chaucer's Description o f the Franklin', Studies in the Age o f Chaucer, 1 6 (1994) , Frederic k Jonassen asserts : 'Th e Franklin's change i n die t which accompanies the change in seasons corresponds to the customary alteration between the meat diet typical for the season of Christmas and Shrovetide and the fish diet prescribe d by the church for fasting days, especially during Lent ' (p . 101). 26 Robert P. Miller, '"It Snewed in his House"', English Language Notes, 23 (1985), pp . 14-16; Hugh T. Keenan, The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, lines 345-46: The Franklin's Feast an d Eucharisti c Shadows' , Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 7 9 (1978) , p . 36. 27 Since 'Sein t Julian h e wa s in hi s contree' ( A 340), it ma y be assume d tha t th e Franklin, like the patron sain t of hospitality, shared hi s bounty with others. 28 While The Riverside Chaucer defines the 'sop in wyn' as 'A light breakfast consisting of bits of bread i n wine' (813) , th e Tw o Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (EET S 91, 1888) provide a detailed recip e of fine bread bein g steeped in wine and almond milk that has been generously laced with saffron, ginger , sugar, cinnamon, clove s and mac e (p . 11). 29 Helen Cooper , Th e Canterbury Tales (Oxford , 1989) , p . 269 . Thi s poin t ha s als o been mad e b y John Leyerle , 'Thematic Interlac e i n th e Canterbury Tales', Essays an d Studies, 29 (1976), pp. 107-21, and it is the focu s of Robert E. Nichols, 'The Pardoner' s Ale and Cake' , PMLA, 8 2 (1967), pp. 498-504.

Pilgrims t o Table: Food Consumption i n Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 2

1

to its basest connotation through the sin of gluttony.30 For Chaucer's Pardoner, gluttony replaces pride as the caus e of Original Sin in Eden: 'O caus e first of oure confusioun! / O original of oure dampnacioun' (C 468-69) .'31 Regardless of what the specific sin was that motivated Adam and Eve to eat the frui t of the Tree o f Life, th e Genesi s myths provided the Father s of the Churc h with ample fodde r t o construct a n allegorica l interpretatio n o f the Fal l of Man. A n example of such exegesis maybe found in the Parson's Tale (i, 322 49), in which it is explained that Eve represents the flesh or the senses and Adam portray s the intellect . It is through th e weaknes s of the sense s that man's reason may be persuaded t o succumb to temptation.32 This rationale of sin has generated the misogynistic tradition of viewing woman as a creature of extraordinary appetite. Using Eve's gluttony towards the forbidden frui t as a basis for his argument, Andreas Capellanus wrote: Woman is also such a slave to he r bell y that there is nothing she would b e ashamed to assent to if she were assured of a fine meal, and n o matter how much she has she never has any hope that she can satisfy her appetite when she is hungry . . . she usually likes to eat more than normal.33 Such attitude s wer e no t confine d t o literature . A mid fourteenth century sculpture of the Seven Deadly Sins in the Doge's Palace in Venice depicts Glutton y a s a woman wh o 'hold s a jewelled cu p i n he r righ t hand and gnaws a limb of a bird held i n her left'. 34 30

The medieva l conceptio n o f gluttony not onl y involved overindulgence i n foo d but als o the abus e o f alcohol. Chaucer' s Parso n supplie s suc h a definition: 'Glottony e is unmeasurable appeti t to ete or to drynke .. . ' (i , 817). This union of food and wine in sin further develops gluttony as a dark parallel of the Eucharist . 31 In his 'Aspects of Gluttony in Chaucer an d Gower' , Studies in Philology, 81 (1984), p. 43, R.F. Yeager notes that the Pardoner' s reorderin g o f the cardina l sins agrees with the fifth-centur y writing s of John Cassian . It was Gregory the Grea t who, in th e sixt h century, listed pride as the first of the sins . In hi s discussion o f the Seve n Deadly Sins, Chaucer's Parso n adhere s mor e closely , although no t exactly, to Gregory's ordering o f the sin s and indexes pride as the foremost of them. 32 This allegory originates from Augustine's De trinitate XII. In A Preface to Chaucer, Robertson offers a thorough explanation o f both Augustine's philosophy and Peter Lombard' s incorporation o f the Augustinian account of the Fall in his Sententiae (pp. 74-75). 33 Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love, trans. John Jay Parry (New York, 1959) , pp. 203-4. 34 Morton W . Bloomfield, Th e Seven Deadly Sins (Eas t Lansing, Michigan , 1952) , p . 104. In all due fairness, Gluttony has not been exclusively depicted a s a woman in medieval art. An illustration from a fourteenth-century manuscript of the Roman de la Rose, reprinted in Robertson , A Preface t o Chaucer, personifies the si n as a man gulpin g th e content s of the goble t i n his right hand (fig . 68).

22 Food


It is interesting t o note that, in the two discussions of gluttony in th e Canterbury Tales, there is no emphasis placed upon woman as a creature of inordinate appetite . Indeed , th e Pardoner's Tale uses male historical figures to illustrate the folly of gluttony, and the Parson's Tale only refers to the culpability of Eve in its discussion of the allegorical interpretation mentioned above. The absenc e of such traditional notions causes one to speculate that Chaucer sa w beyond th e standard conception s o f his day. If the food consumption that occurs in the Canterbury Tales is examined as a whole, a method doe s begin t o emerge. There is a pattern o f pure, balanced o r eve n vegetaria n intak e surroundin g the genuinel y good individuals i n bot h th e General Prologue and th e separat e tale s tha t is countered b y a meat-oriented diet evinced by a less upstanding cast of characters. Th e friar in the Summoner's Tale insists that no special attention should be given to the food that will be prepared fo r him. His requests, however, for 'na t o f a capon bu t th e lyvere . . . And after tha t a rosted pigges heed ' ( D 1838, 1841) , exhibi t a pampered natur e tha t desire s rich food. 35 Another noteworth y point i n thi s tale is found i n th e Summoner' s detailing o f a friar's begging. What begins as simple requests for grain and cheese escalates int o repeated petitions fo r 'brawn' ( D 1750), and 'Bacon o r bee f ( D 1753) . I n th e Reeve's Tale, Simki n ha s t o sen d hi s daughter ou t fo r al e and bread , bu t ther e i s a goos e o n han d t o be roasted for his guests. Symbolic of Simkin's lack of ethics and his misguided worldliness, the Eucharisti c symbol of ale and brea d i s absent from this man's house. As with the rioters in the Pardoner's Tale, the image of the key to salvation is not perceived, and the ale and bread contribute instea d to a gluttonous feat that climaxes in an evening of vengeful lechery and violence. In sharp contrast to these corrupt diets, the ever-patient Griselda maintains a vegetarian existence, sustaining herself with 'Wortes or other herbes . . . / Th e whiche she shredde an d seeth for hir lyvynge' (E 22627). The good widow of the Nun's Priest's Tale also lives simply, drinking no wine and eatin g mil k and brow n bread. Occasionally , she enjoys a treat of bacon and eggs . At this point, th e subtl e emergence o f a pattern tha t allies diet with gender should b e noted . Thos e character s who indulge i n mea t ar e 35

The Medieval Health Handbook inform s us that, while liver was believed to be hard to digest, the mea t of gelded animal s was considered t o be extremely tender (p . 126). Roasted meat contributed to a phlegmatic disposition (p . 122) and pork was considered to be 'very nourishing and quickl y transformed' (p. 106).

Pilgrims t o Table: Food Consumption i n Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 2 3 predominantly male; those whose diets are either vegetarian or almostvegetarian ar e female.36 Carol Adams has outlined the historical associa tion o f animals with ma n an d aggressivenes s and, conversely , that of vegetables with woman and passivity. 37 Thus it may be seen tha t Chaucer has not onl y refrained fro m personifying gluttony as a woman, but has associated his food-consuming female characters with a patient, even abstemious, temperament . In his negative representation of the more carnivorous food regimen , Chaucer i s not makin g any direct pro-vegetaria n statement ; however, there ar e trace s o f a humanistic sensitivit y in thi s dietary patterning . For, in addition to the alignment of disreputable natures with the consumption o f flesh, there ar e element s woven into certai n segment s o f th e Canterbury Tales that link women to meat, thereby suggesting a n association betwee n th e stereotypicall y feminine quality o f passivit y an d th e killing of animals for food. The primary example of the association o f women with meat is found in the Merchant's Tale. When January explains to his friends why he wishes to marry a young woman instead o f one close r to his own age, he cre ates a debasing analogy: I wol noon oold wyf han in no manere. She shal nat passe twenty yeer, certayn; Oold fissh and yong flessh wolde I have fayn. 'Bet is', quod he, 'a pyk than a pickerel', And bet than old boef is the tendre veel. (E 1416-20)

36

While the diets of Sir Thopas and the Summoner might initially seem to counter the abov e assessment, Carol J. Adams, i n Th e Sexual Politics o f Meat, note s the followin g social connotatio n concernin g die t an d sexuality : 'Me n wh o decide t o esche w mea t eating are deemed effeminate; failur e o f men t o eat meat announces that they are no t masculine' (p . 34). Thus, th e poin t o f having th e her o o f Chaucer's mock-romanc e munch on gingerbread and liquorice is to highlight his effeminacy. Also, if the hypothesis found i n Dennis Biggins, 'Chaucer' s General Prologue, A163', Notes and Queries, 6 (1959), pp. 435-36, is correct in its assumption that the Summoner is carrying on a homosexual affair wit h th e Pardoner , th e Summoner' s tast e fo r vegetable s als o serve s a s a commentary on hi s masculinity . 37 Adams, Th e Sexual Politics o f Meat, pp . 34-37 . This is not t o sa y that i n medieva l times the word vegetable or any of its derivation had the same extremely passive connotations as it does today. Th e sens e of positive growth surrounde d thi s word to the exten t that it was used in religious writing. In the OED the earliest listing under vegetative reads: '1398 - Trevis a BarthDeP.R. be [soule ] vegetatyf desyret h t o be' (p . 75). The human soul was conceived of as being female in nature during the middl e ages.

24 Food


Were thi s the onl y example o f equating woman with edibl e flesh , th e passage could be dismissed as a rejoinder to the Wife of Bath's insulting remark tha t refers to her three, old husbands: 'And yet in bacon hadde I never e delit ' ( D 418). Another pointe d exampl e o f linking women with slain animals is mentioned i n the Monk' s portrait. Thi s lusty man 'lovede venerie' ( A 166). The implications are that this passion is twofold: the Mon k not onl y loves to hunt animals but als o desires to prey upon women.38 This associatio n of women with mea t tie s in neatl y with the Parson's transitio n fro m hi s discussion o f gluttony t o tha t o f lechery: 'After Glotonye thanne comth Lecherie, for thise two synnes been so ny cosyns that ofte tyme they wol nat departe' (1836) . The Pardoner as well addresses 'the fyr of lecherye, / Tha t is annexed unto glotonye' (C 481 82). Women and animals are used t o slake these two strong appetites of men. Traces o f the notio n o f th e passiv e victimization of animals can b e found in the Pardoner's diatrib e against gluttony when he describes the violence of cooks in the kitchen: Thise cookes, how they stampe, and streyne , and grynde, And turnen substaunc e into accident To fulfille a l thy likerous talent! Out of the hard bone s knokke they The mary , for they caste noght awey (C 538-42)

The concept of breaking the animals' bones is particularly striking here because it falls sixty-four lines after a reference to the mutilation of Christ's own body: 'Oure blissed Lordes body they totere - / He m thoughte that Jewes rente hym noght ynough -' ( C 474-75). The combination of the cooks' action s with a reminder o f Christ's Passion recall s the words of Psalm 21; 15,18: 'I am poured ou t like water; and all my bones are scattered . . . They hav e numbered all my bones'. From thi s close associa tion, th e symbolis m of physical food consumption move s beyond bot h the genderizatio n of food and it s moral commentary until it comes to the spiritua l significance of Christ as passive victim, the sacrificial lamb. Just as eating for life entails the death of an organism, so too did Christian salvation require a death fo r spiritual life . As January liken s women to 38 Paull F. Baum, 'Chaucer's Puns', PMLA, 71 (1956), pp. 225-46, discusses the double entendre of this phrase, yet Th e Riverside Chaucernotes 'the OEDdoes not recor d the latter [sexual ] meaning until 1497' (p . 806).

Pilgrims t o Table: Food Consumption i n Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 2 5

meat, so too is Christ associated with flesh in Isaiah 53,7: 'He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth'. That ther e i s a strong connectio n betwee n butchere d animal s an d Christ i s also eviden t throug h th e Lord' s word s a t th e Las t Supper. 39 What remains t o be seen i s how woman fits into this religious connota tion. Caroline Walker Bynum has explored a twelfth-century movement among the Cistercians to write about Jesus Christ using maternal terminol ogy and imagery . It is believed tha t the Cistercians were inspired b y the work of the Benedictin e mon k Anselm of Canterbury.40 Anselm base d his Prayer 1 0 to St Paul o n th e words of Christ in Matthew 23:27: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, tho u tha t killest the prophets an d stonest the m tha t are sent unto thee , how often would I have gathered togethe r th y children, as the hen doth gather he r chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not.

From thi s nurturing image , Anselm progresses : But You, Jesus, good lord, are You not also a mother? Are You not that mothe r who, lik e a hen, collect s her chicken s under he r wings ? Truly, master, You are a mother. Fo r what others hav e conceived an d give n birth t o they have received from You . .. It is then You, above all, Lord God , who are mother.41

Because thi s theme wa s prevalent amon g severa l differen t writers , it is highly plausible tha t th e well-rea d Chauce r wa s familiar with some of these works. Even if Chaucer had no t encountere d th e Cistercian writings, the moti f o f describing Chris t in materna l term s did not remai n isolated withi n thi s specifi c religiou s community . Christ appear s i n a maternal light in the writings of Dante, Peter of Lombard an d Julian of Norwich.42 In ligh t of the popularit y of this theme, Chauce r ma y have indeed decide d t o incorporate i t into the Canterbury Tales. The significance of a feminized Christ, then, provides a key to how an audience ma y interpret th e variou s symboli c levels of food consumption i n the Canterbury Tales. Since Christ, the Word made Flesh, offered 39 Luke 22:20 reads, 'This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you'. 40 Bynum, Jesus a s Mother: Studies i n th e Spirituality o f the High Middle Ages (Berkeley , California, 1982) , p. 112. 41 Quoted, ibid., p. 114 . 42 Julian o f Norwich wrote: This is Jesus ou r tru e mothe r i n nature fro m ou r first making', i n Revelations o f Divine Love, trans. M.L . de Mast a (Garde n City , Ne w York , 1977), p. 190 .

26 Food


his own body as ransom in order to provide spiritual salvation, the foo d consumption within the Canterbury Tales stands as a reminder that Chaucer's colourful and entertaining personalitie s are actually on a spiritual pilgrimage. While the character s th e pilgrim s describe i n their storie s are not in the literal process of making a pilgrimage, they are journeying throug h thi s world an d movin g on toward s th e next . Thos e wh o seem mos t prepared for the spiritual afterlif e - Griselda , the Franklin and th e widow of the Nun's Priest's Tale- have either renounced meat completely or consume it only in its due season offcast. Those characters who ar e depicte d a s heavy meat eaters, th e Summoner' s fria r an d th e Monk, consequently live a carnal life . Thei r tast e for flesh, most often washed down with wine or ale, leads them toward the si n of gluttony. Chaucer deepen s the spiritua l significanc e of his food pattern s no t only through highlighting the contrast between the concepts of fasting, goodness and vegetation an d those of indulging, si n and meat, but also by establishing the associatio n o f women with meat. From thi s linkage Chaucer moves from the concep t of mortal female to spiritual mother. As a result of the motif of the later middle ages in which Christ is depicted in feminine terms, the identity of this spiritual mother is not the Virgin Mary, but her son. Thus, in Chaucer, the antifeminist traditions of depicting woman as glutton, and of emphasizing that the originating cause of the Fal l of Man was Eve's uncontrollable appetite , ar e absent. The pas sages that align women with meat do not emanate from Chaucer's voice; they are the opinions of his misguided characters. While the stereotype of woman as passive victim is, unfortunately, underscored throug h hi s methods, Chaucer doe s his best t o redeem th e connotatio n o f women as meat by subtle association with the Redeemer of Christians, who became the ultimat e foodstuf f o f salvation , when H e allowe d Himsel f t o b e butchered.

3 Fast Food and Urban Living Standards in Medieval England Martha Carlin I recently completed a book on the urban development of the medieval London suburb of Southwark in which the concluding chapter concerned urbanization and how one could identify and define it. After examining such classic urban signifiers as fortifications, street plans, societal stratification, occupational diversity, public services, and environmenta l pollution, I ended on a less serious note by suggesting that one unmistakable hallmark of urbanity in any era is traffic jams, which betoken a densely settled population, abundant commercial activity and a teeming volume of transport. When I was thinking about topics for this essay it occurred to me that another gauge of urbanity might be found in the diversity of foods available for sale, including ready-made or 'fast ' foods. An essential difference betwee n towns and village s is that towns cannot feed themselves. They are always dependent on the import of bulk food supplies from their immediate hinterlands or beyond. In the ancient and medieva l world, as in the modern world , two major constraints on the provisionin g of large towns were transport costs and foo d perishability. But, once the food was successfully imported into towns, how was it distributed, prepared, and consumed? And what can that tell us about urban populations , economies and standards of living? It is my contention, first, that the vending of fast food - tha t is, hot, ready-to-eat food, not food cooked to order - in medieval English towns flourished primarily not to serve well-to-do residents and travellers, but rather t o serve the urba n poor. And, second, that as a result, fast food probably was scarce in medieval England excep t i n large town s where the populatio n densit y was high, and especiall y where the numbe r of single-adult households was high. Ancient Roman citie s sa w exactly this kind o f development . Rome itself was a city of apartment blocks or insulae reaching up t o six storeys in height. In smalle r Roman cities, such as Ostia, Pompeii and Hercu laneum, such apartment houses had fewe r storey s but were otherwise similar. The groun d floor of an insula typically was occupied b y shops and the upper floors by successively cheaper flats, whose tenants had to

28 Food


carry their water, groceries, waste and rubbish u p and down the flight s of stairs. Suc h uppe r flats normally lacked not only running water but also ovens and hearths. Portable braziers probably were the usual means of heating an d cookin g in thes e flats. For example, one insula of this type in Rome, o n th e Vi a Giulio Romano, survives to a height of fou r storeys. The groun d floor was occupied by shops and the upper storeys by successively poorer flats, none of which had an identifiable kitchen.1 As a result of such living arrangements, and also because many of the urban poo r coul d no t affor d expensiv e fuel, bul k supplies of food o r elaborate cookin g equipment, poorer Romans seem to have eaten their hot meals in public eating houses and wine bars or from stand-up snack bars an d stree t stalls. The hom e meal s of the working poor consiste d largely of bread and vegetables, the bread bought or distributed at public doles already baked, and the vegetables - mostly beans and peas - ofte n already cooked and perhaps heated up at home on a brazier. Those who could afford it would supplement thes e with such cold ready-to-eat items as olives, lettuce, cucumbers, onions, fruit, cheese, pickled fish, sausage and boiled eggs. 2 In fact, the urban poor of ancient Rome seem to have been a s dependen t o n convenienc e food s a s man y moder n city dwellers. In the de-urbanized worl d of the early middle ages , ready-made food probably was a rarity, except for ale, wine, bread, butter and cheese.3 By the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, however, commercial cooks are recorde d i n England , especiall y in majo r pilgrimag e centres. 4 At Winchester, which reached its medieval peak in the first half of the twelft h century, surveys record thre e cook s c. 1110, and nin e in 1148. 5 In Paris J

John E . Stambaugh, Th e Ancient Roman City (Baltimore , Maryland, and London , 1988), pp. 176-78 . Stambaugh comments that the resident s of this insula 'mus t have used charcoal braziers for cooking or have gone out for hot meals'. On Roman insulae see also Jerome Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome, ed. Henry T. Rowell, trans. E.O. Lorimer (Ne w Haven, Connecticut, and London, 1940), pp. 23-28, 37-44. 2 Stambaugh, Th e Ancient Roman City, p . 200 ; see als o pp. 148-49 , 184 , 207 , 209; Roman Civilization, Sourcebook II : Th e Empire, ed . Naphtal i Lewi s and Meye r Reinhold (New York, 1955 , reprinted 1966) , p. 359 . 3 The fourt h law code of Êthelred II lists royal tolls at London on fish, wine, hens, eggs, cheese and butter; some other tolls there were to be paid in pepper and vinegar. The Laws o f the Kings o f England from Edmund t o Henry I , ed. an d trans . A. J. Robertso n (Cambridge, 1925), pp. 72-73. 4 Ann Hagen , A Handbook o f Anglo-Saxon Food Processing an d Consumption (Pinner , Middlesex, 1992), pp. 11 , 18-23, 49-50. 5 Frank Barlow et al. , Winchester Studies, 1 . Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, ed. Martin Biddle (Oxford , 1976), pp. 429 , 430.

Fast Food an d Urban Living Standards i n Medieval England 2

9

fast foo d wa s available in grea t variety by the mi d thirteent h century , when John d e Garlan d (c . 1195-1272) describe d suc h popula r item s there as waffles (gaufres), light pastries (nieuks) and wafers (oublies); boiled and roasted beef, veal, mutton, pork, lamb, kid, pigeon, capon and goose; spiced pasties , filled with choppe d pork , chicken or eel ; and tart s o r flans fille d wit h sof t chees e o r egg. 6 Th e street-crie s o f thirteenth century Paris, recorded b y Guillaume de la Ville Neuve, included references to such prepared food s as hot mashe d peas (pois chaus pilez), ho t beans (fives chaudes), garlic sauce (allie), chees e of Champagne and o f Brie, fresh butter (burrefres), ho t pastie s (chauspastez), ho t cake s (chaus gastiaus), hot wafer s (chaudes oublees), hot pancake s (galetes chaudes), rissoles (roinssoles), hot flans (jlaons chaus), hot tarts and simnels (chaudes tartes et siminiaus) .7 London, which was growing rapidly in the twelfth century , had a fastfood outle t by the earl y 1170s, when Thomas Becket's biographer William Fitz Stephen discusse d it at length in his 'Description of London'. According to Fitz Stephen's rather glamorized account, thispublica coquina was locate d o n th e riverside , between th e wine-ship s and th e wine cellars. It was open day and night, and offered ready-cooke d food to suit all tastes and purses, from thos e of rich knights and foreign travellers to those of the poor . Fit z Stephen describe d in detail its provision of ho t dishes o f meat, game, fish and poultry , which were available roasted, fried o r boiled. 8 Moder n scholar s generall y hav e assume d tha t Fit z 6

Alfred Franklin , Dictionnaire historique des arts, metiers et professions exerces dans Paris depuis le treizieme siecle (Paris, 1906; reprinted New York, 1968), pp. 242 , 359-60,500,528, 552; Urban Tigner Holmes , Daily Living in th e Twelfth Century: Based o n the Observations of Alexander Neckam i n London and Paris (Madison, Wisconsin, 1952), p. 80 . 7 There were also cakes called gastiaus rastis. Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS fonds francais, no . 837, fol. 246 , printed i n Franklin , Dictionnaire historique des arts, metiers et professions, pp . 748-51. Simnels were twice-cooked bread (possibl y first boiled, then baked, like modern bagels), made of the finest flour. See OED, s.v.; and Liber Custumarum, ii, ed. Henry Thomas Riley, Munimenta Gildhallae Londoniensis, II, ii (Rolls Series, 1860) , pp. 782-83 . 8 The text printed by Stow reads: Singulorum officiorum exercitores , singularum rerum venditores, singularum operarum suaru m locatores , cotidiano mane pe r s e sunt loci s distincti omnes , v t officiis . Praeterea est in Londonia , supe r ripa m fluminis , inte r vina et nauibus et cellis vinariis venalia, publica coquina. Ibi quotidie, pro tempore , est inuenire cibaria , fercula, assa, frixa, elixa , pisces , pisciculos , carne s grossiore s pauperibus , delicatiore s diuitioribus, venationum, avium, avicularum. Si subito veniant ad alique m ciuium amici fatigati e x itinere, ne e libea t ieiunis expectare , v t noui cib i emantur e t coquantur , 'Den t famul i manibus lymphas panesque', interi m a d ripa m curritur ; ibi praesto sunt omnia desid erabilia. Quantalibet militum vel peregrinorum infinitas intrat vrbem, qualibet die i vel noctis hora, vel ab urbe exitura , n e ve l hii nimiu m ieiunent, ve l alii impransi exeant ,

30 Food


Stephen's publica coquinavras a single establishment, but three later references (c . 1212-21) refe r to the 'cookshops ' (i n plural) on th e Thame s in th e Vintry. 9 This riverside location, betwee n th e haven s of Queenhithe and Dowgate, suggests that the cookshops there catered primarily to river boatmen and dockworkers, and to travellers who arrived by boat, all of whom would especially welcome a hot meal . By the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries a variety of specialist retailers of ready-to-eat foods can be identified in London and in the larger provincia l towns. The Norwic h leet roll of 1287-88 mentions a mustard-seller, an d sellers of pork sausages and puddings. 10 In 1312-13 there were at least nineteen cook s in one o f the four 'leets' (wards ) of Norwich;11 and ther e was a street there called 'Cockrowe' (Cook Row) continued

illuc, s i placet, diuertunt , e t s e pro mod o su o singul i reficiunt . Qu i se curare volunt molliter, accipiunt anserem, vel Afram auem , vel attage n lonicum ; non opu s u t qui d quaerant, appositis, quae ibi inueniuntur, deliciis. Haec equidem publica coquina est, et ciuitati plurimum expediens, et ad ciuilitatem pertinens. Hinc est, quod legitur in 'Gorgia' Platonis , iuxta medicina m ess e coquoru m officiu m simulacrum , et adulatione m quartae particulae ciuilitatis. John Stow, Survey o f London (1603 edn), ed. C.L. Kingsford (Oxford , 1908, reprinte d 1971), ii, pp. 222-23. Kingsford's notes list some variants among the surviving manuscripts of Fitz Stephen. Fo r translations , see Stow , Survey, ed. Kingsford , i , p. 79 ; Stow, Survey, ed. H.B . Wheatley (London , 1912, reprinte d 1956) , pp. 504-5; William Fitz Stephen, Norman London, trans. H.E. Butler, with an essa y by Sir Frank Stenton (London , 1934 ; reprinted New York, 1990), p. 52. 9 Stow himself translated Fitz Stephen' s publica coquina as 'Cookes row', but moder n translators have generally read it as 'cookshop'. See translations listed in note 8, above, and also Christopher Brooke and Gillian Keir, London, 800-1216: TheShapingofa City (London, 1975), p. 11 5 (where it is called a 'public kitchen'). The earlies t of the thre e late r refer ences is the Assize of Building drawn up after the great London fire of 1212, which ordered that all the cookshops on the Thames be whitewashed and plastered inside and out. A deed dating from c . 1219-20 describes a plot of land in th e paris h of St Martin Vintry as lying 'on the riverban k b y the cookshops ' (super ripam ad coquinas); and another deed , of 1221, mentions the 'cookshop s of the Vintry' (coquinae Vinetrie). Stow, Survey of London, ed. Kingsford, ii, pp. 322-23 (note citing Assize of Building and dee d of 1221); Cartulary ofSt Mary Clerkenwell, ed. W.O. Hassall, Camden 3r d series , 71 (London, 1949), no. 24 1 (dee d of c. 1219-20). The cartular y (British Library, MS Cotton Faustina B. II, fos 6-106) was owned by Stow, who underlined th e phras e super ripam (fol . 67). For 'cellars' (presumabl y winecellars) in this vicinity, see ibid., no. 258 (grant, c. 1198, of a cellar in the parish of St James (Garlickhithe), lying between two other cellars) ; and Stow , Survey, i, p. 238. 10 Leet Jurisdiction i n th e City o f Norwich during th e Xlllth an d XlVth Centuries, ed. William Hudson, Selde n Society, 5 (London, 1891) , pp. 6, 8. 11 This was the lee t called 'Over-the-Water', which also supported a t least fourteen butchers, thirtee n dealer s in cheese, butter and eggs, eleven dealers in oats, and seven poulterers. Leet Jurisdiction i n th e City o f Norwich, ed. Hudson , p. 60 .


1

by 1314. l2 York, which housed Edward Fs administration fro m 129 8 t o 1305, ha d thirty-fiv e commercia l cook s in 1304; 13 Leicester ha d com mercial cook s b y 1335. 14 I n Londo n b y the lat e thirteent h t o earl y fourteenth century there were specialist cooks, flan makers, cheesemongers, saucers, waferers, mustard sellers , and pie bakers. 15 An English treatise of the late thirteenth o r early fourteenth centur y lists the fas t food s to be foun d i n towns . Pastelers sold pastie s of meat and fish , wel l spice d (bene piperatos), a s well a s (cooked ) meats , gam e and poultry, both wild and domestic. Flan makers sold cheesecakes and flans (?opacos artocopos, flaones) mad e of eggs, bread, an d cheese ; at th e waferers on e woul d fin d wafer s o r griddl e cake s (?lagana) cooke d i n irons or ovens.16 Cooks would also put a customer's meat in dough and bake it; in London th e pric e regulation s o f 1350 forbade cook s to take more tha n a penny for putting a capon o r rabbit in a pasty, on pain of imprisonment.17 Langland's poem Piers Plowman gives fragments of the street-crie s of later fourteenth-century London, in which cooks and their knaves cried 'Hot pies, hot! Good piglet s and geese, go dine, go!', while the taverners offered 'Whit e wine of Alsace and red wine of Gascony, of the Rhine and Rochelle', to drink with the meat.18 The mid fifteenth-century poem London Lyckpenny als o report s some o f the stree t cries o f Westminste r 12

Serena Kelly, Elizabeth Rutledge and Margo t Tillyard, Men of Property: An Analysis of the Norwich Enrolled Deeds, 1285-1311, ed. Ursula Priestley, The Norwic h Survey (Norwich, 1983), p. 26. 13 Michael Prestwich, York Civic Ordinances, 1301, Borthwick Papers, 49 (York, 1976), pp. 22-24 . An inquest of 130 4 identified twenty-fou r whit e bread bakers, twelve black bread bakers, twenty-six taverners, thirty-five cooks, forty-nine butchers, fifty fishmongers, seventy brewers, thirty-seve n poulterers , nine forestallers o f fishmonger s an d twenty seven regrators who had been active in the city between 1301 and 1304. Ibid., pp. 21-28. See also Heather Swanson, Medieval Artisans (Oxford, 1989) , p. 17. 14 G.T. Salusbury, Street Life i n Medieval England (2n d edn, Oxford, 1945), pp. 73-74, citing Records o f Leicester, ii, p. 21 . 15 Calendar of Letter-Books . . . of the City o f London, 11 vols (A-L), ed. Reginald R. Sharpe (London, 1899-1912), Letter-Book A, pp. 31 , 99, 134 , 166, 168; Tw o Early London Subsidy Rolls, ed. EilertEkwall (Lund, 1951), roll of 1292, pp. 151,160; roll of 1319, pp. 234,268, 271, 336. 16 BL, Add. MS 8167, fos 88-90; printed by G. Waitz in 'Handschriften in Englischen Bibliotheken', Neues Archivder GesellschaftfuraltereDeutscheGeschichtskunde, 4 (1879), pp. 339-43.1 am grateful t o John Munr o for the suggested date of this treatise. 17 Memorials o f London and London Life, 1276-1419, ed. Henry Thomas Riley (London, 1868), p. 257. 18 B-text, Prologue, lines 225-29, printed in England from Chaucer to Caxton, ed. Henry S. Bennett (1928; reprinted New York, 1970), p. 144.

32 Food


and London, many of which concern ready-to-ea t food. At Westminster Gate the narrator of the poem, a poor countryman from Kent, is urged by cookshop proprietor s to sit down and partak e of bread, ale , wine, and fa t ribs of beef. I n Cheapside , stree t peddler s haw k ho t peascod s and fresh strawberries an d cherries ; i n Candlewick Street, hot sheep' s feet; an d i n Eastcheap cooks proclaim thei r beef rib s and mea t pies. 19 It is striking tha t among th e prepare d foods recorded in th e stree t cries of thirteenth-century Paris and fourteenth- and fifteenth-centur y London th e emphasi s seem s t o b e o n ho t dishes: hot vegetables , ho t breads, hot pies, hot ribs, hot sheep's feet, hot roasted meat and poultry, hot cake s and wafers , ho t pancake s and flans and tarts . This suggests that such foods were generally purchased fo r immediate consumption , like a McDonald's hamburger an d fries today. But by whom? The thre e main categories of potential customers would have been those described by Fitz Stephen: wealthy and well-to-d o residents, who could affor d t o pay a premium for ready-to-eat food; travellers, both wealthy and poor ; and poo r residents, who were unable t o buy food o r fuel i n bulk, and whose lodgings might have limited cooking facilities, o r eve n none a t all. Let us examine each of these possibilities in turn. The houses of wealthy residents normally included extensive kitchen offices, an d their household servant s included cooks and other kitchen workers. The notoriou s London vintne r Richard Lyons , for example , whose goods were seized and inventorie d in 1376, occupied a riverside mansion that included a pantry, buttery, larder, and kitchen. The metal pots and pans and utensils in his kitchen, valued at just under £6 10s. Od., included four-and-a-hal f hundredweigh t o f ironwar e an d si x hundredweight of brassware.20 No kitchenware of wood or pottery is 19

London Lyckpenny, in London is London: A Selection of Prose and Verse, ed. D.M. Low (London, 1949) , pp. 29-32. In th e mid nineteenth centur y Henr y Mayhe w recorded the cries and wares of the street-sellers of food in London. They included four men who sold hot boiled peas (made from dried green peas) to the cry of'Hot green peas! all hot, all hot! Here's your peas hot, hot, hot!' Mayhew added, however, that the hot peascod s described in London Lyckpenny wer e known in many other parts of the country , where, he said, 'it is, or was, customary to have "scoldings of peas", often hel d as a sort of rustic feast. The pea s wer e not shelled , but boile d in the pod , and eate n by the pod bein g dipped in melted butter, with a little pepper, salt and vinegar, and the n drawn through the teeth to extract the peas, the pod being thrown away'. Henry Mayhew, London Labour and th e LondonPoor, 4 vols (London, 1861-62) , i, pp. 158-21 2 (ho t peas, p. 180) . 20 Lyons' kitchenware consisted o f eight spits, three trivets, a gridiron, tw o andirons, two frying pans , tw o racks, two grease pans , two dressing knives, one othe r knife , on e iron flesh hook , tw o massive iron pestle s (weighin g 4r cwt), eight brass pots, a chafin g dish and a small basin, together weighing 2 cwt, six brass pails weighing - cwt, and thre e

Fast Food an d Urban Living Standards in Medieval England 3

3

listed, presumabl y because th e secondhan d valu e o f suc h item s was negligible, an d s o we cannot kno w if there wer e an y salting troughs , kneading trough s o r wooden ove n peels. However, it seems likely that Lyons' household bought rather than baked its bread, because the staple foods found in the larder did not include grain or flour.21 Also, there is no mention of a brewhouse or brewing vessels, which suggests that Lyons' household also bought rather than brewed its ale.22 A similar set of kitchen equipment was inventoried in 1373 in the house o f Thomas Mockying, a wealthy fishmonger, and these inventories are typical of the period. 23 In Franc e i n th e 1390 s a n elderl y householder, know n through hi s modern editor s a s 'the Menagie r o f Paris', wealthy but no t well-born, wrote a book of household managemen t for his fifteen-year-old wife.24 Unusually, he include d for her us e a large collectio n of recipes for all kinds of foods, including soups, sausages, vegetable dishes, stews, roasts, pasties, fish and eg g dishes, flans, jellies, crepes, mustard , sauce s an d preserves. There are even recipes for cooking frogs and snails. He also copied ou t a selection of sample menus for ordinary dinners and suppers, great feasts , smalle r parties and othe r occasions . It is clear fro m the Menagier's text that in his wealthy bourgeois household, as in wealthy households generally, meals were prepared fro m raw ingredients cooked at home, except for the bread, drin k and some of the condiments, and that only for large parties was it usual to employ caterers or to buy quantities of prepared foods . Travellers might be expected to have been amon g the chief consumers o f hot, ready-to-ea t food . However , the location s of cookshops i n towns suggest otherwise. In London, for example, the cooks had moved away from the Vintr y docks by the 1280 s to cluste r in Friday Street, to the sout h eas t of St Paul's, remaining there unti l the earl y 1300s. 25 By continued

brass mortar s weighin g 3 ^ cwt. A.R. Myers, The Wealt h of Richard Lyons', in Essays i n Medieval History Presented to Bertie Wilkinson, ed. T.A. Sandquist and M.R . Powicke (Toronto , 1969), pp. 317-18. 21 The staple s in th e larde r consisted o f honey, salt, vinegar, verjuice and almonds ; the spice s in th e wardrobe include d si x pounds o f gingerbread. (O n gingerbread, se e below, pp. 102-4. ) 22 Myers, 'Wealth of Richard Lyons' , pp. 315, 318-19. 23 Mockying's eight-room house contained furnishings valued at £238 16s. 3d., including kitchenware worth £4 8s. Od., Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls of the City of London, 6 vols (1323-1482), ed. A.H. Thomas (Cambridge, 1926-61) , 1364-81, pp. 154-56. 24 The Goodman o f Paris (Le menagierde Paris), ed. an d trans . Eileen Power (Ne w York, 1928). 25 Calendar o f Letter-Books, B, ed. Sharpe , pp. 4 , 104, 159 .

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the 1320 s the y had shifte d slightl y east t o Bread Street ; in the 1350 s both Brea d Stree t and Ironmonger Lan e were recognized cooksho p districts; an d b y 1410 th e centr e o f the trad e had move d t o Eastcheap.26 None of these streets lay near the gates or the waterfront. Across the river in Southwark the poll tax return of 1381 listed six cooks and four pie bakers among those assessed. None of these, however, seems to have lived near Londo n Bridge , the choices t commercial location for trader s hopin g t o sell to travellers crossing the rive r by bridge o r boat. Instead , thre e o f the ten , al l paying average o r above-averag e assessments, lived around the middle of the High Street; another three , all with average or below-average assessments, lived at the foot of the High Street , nea r th e Marshalse a an d King' s Bench prisons , whic h may hav e supplie d the m wit h customers ; an d four , al l with belowaverage assessments, were among a group of 174 poor householders , mostly single adults, who apparently were clustered within the precinct of St Thomas's Hospital. 27 The spendin g habit s o f poor visitor s t o medieva l town s are , o f course, almos t impossibl e t o document, bu t ther e ar e many surviving travel accounts that document th e expenditures of wealthy travellers, an d thes e revea l a positive aversion t o fast food . Fo r example , the earliest surviving English household account lists the daily expenses of an unidentifie d househol d i n Londo n an d Windso r durin g th e month of October sometime i n the late twelft h century . At Londo n the household' s food expenditure s consiste d o f daily purchases of ale, frequent purchase s o f bread and occasiona l purchase s o f modest amounts of pottage, eggs , fish, spices,28 wine, flour, apples, herbs, 29 mustard, pea s an d milk . N o mea t o r poultr y wa s purchased, an d there is only on e recorded payment, o f a penny, t o a baker.30 This suggests tha t the unidentified lord's household di d its own cooking 26

Calendar of Coroners Rolls of the City o f London, AD 1300-1378, ed. Reginald R. Sharpe (London, 1913) , p. 15 5 (1326) ; Calendar of'Plea an d Memoranda Rolls, 1323-1364, ed. Thomas, pp . 251 , 25 5 (1355) ; Chronicles of London, ed. C.L . Kingsford (Oxford , 1905 ; reprinted Dursley , Gloucestershire, 1977), pp. 268 , 341 (1410). 27 PRO, E 179/184/30; Martha Carlin, Medieval Southwark (Londo n and Rio Grande, Ohio, 1996), appendix I, figure 3, and table 7.3. The poll tax entry numbers (in appendix I) fo r the si x cooks and fou r pie bakers are: nos 390-91, 550, 604-5, 616, 631, 779-80, 802-3, 876, 930 and 960 . 28 The spice s purchased were salt, pepper, cumin , saffron an d sugar. 29 Garlic, onions and savory. 30 Household Accounts from Medieval England, ed. C.M. Woolgar, British Academy, Records of Social and Economi c History, new series 17 (Oxford, 1992), i, pp. 107-10 . At Windsor the household's foo d purchases consisted only of ale, bread and herring. From the


5

and supplie d much o f its own provisions. Ther e is no referenc e i n this accoun t t o an y purchases fro m th e riversid e publica coquina so extolled by Fitz Stephen. In the spring and summer of 1267 Sir Roger Leyburn was engaged in various military duties on behal f o f the crown , which entailed numer ousjourneys. While his expense accounts for a three-day stay in Canterbury at the beginning of Lent (6-8 March) record purchases offish and shellfish, almonds, rice, oil, dried fruit, and spices in quantity, the only prepared foods that he seems to have purchased there were wine, ale, bread, mustard, and vinegar. Even his sauces were made from scratch , from ginge r an d cinnamon bough t fo r that purpose. 31 Leyburn was back in Canterbury for on e da y at th e beginnin g o f June, afte r a week of negotiations in Calais and nearb y Wissant, to mee t a party of two French count s an d one hundred knights. He arrived from France on 1 June and travelled the sam e da y to Canterbury , where h e thre w a banque t fo r them . I t probably is due to this haste and the need to provide so immediately for a large party of hungry travellers that his expenses at Canterbury on 1 June included 16s . 2d. for sixty-eight capon pasties , the onl y hot foo d that he seems to have bought ready-made. 3'2 In the winter of 1337 a wealthy East Anglian widow, Dame Katherine de Norwich , travelled t o Norwich . She arrive d i n January an d staye d until April or beyond. Her accounts show that she supplied many of her household's provision s while in Norwic h from he r ow n Norfol k an d Suffolk manors . Bread was made from her own wheat and oatmeal from her ow n oats, although she paid to have the grain milled and the loaves baked in the city . Ale was brewed from he r ow n barley. Whole carcasses and ham s an d som e poultr y were supplie d fro m he r ow n manors. Additional livestock and liv e poultry, fresh meat , fish and shellfis h were purchased a s needed, a s were preserved fish and modes t amount s of

continued

style of the hand and the weekdays and feast days mentioned, Woolgar dates this account to one o f the followin g years: 1168 , 1174 , 1185, 1191, 1196 or 1202 . 31 In gingibor'canell'. . . ad salsationemfaciendamx s'. Alun Lewis, 'Roger Leyburn an d the Pacificatio n o f England, 1265-7' , English Historical Review, 54 (1939) , pp. 193-214 ; the accounts for 28 February-6 June 1267 (from PRO, E 101/3/9, m. 4) are printed on pp. 211-14. 32 His other kitchen purchase s o n that day were bread, wine, ale, almonds, rice, new beans, clove s an d ginger , one-and-a-quarte r carcasse s o f beef , bacon , mutton , geese , chickens, pigs , fis h (various) , porpoise, eggs, sauce an d tw o ells of canvas ad coquinam; he also served si x peacocks, which he had received as gifts. The kitche n expenses for the day totalled £ 9 15s. 7-d. Lewis, 'Roger Leyburn', p. 214.

36 Food

an d Eating i n Medieval Europe

wine, fresh an d drie d fruit, milk, eggs, spices , vegetables and herbs. 33 The only prepared foods that she purchased were the occasional halfpennyworth of pottage and small quantities of condiments (mustard , vinegar and galantine). On the anniversary of her late husband's death she held a great dinner at Norwich for which she purchased larg e quantities of meat, poultry and game-birds, 120 0 eggs, and th e necessary spices and condiments. Most of the food, as usual, was prepared at home, but evidently her kitchen facilities and staff had reached their limit, for the day's account also records th e purchas e of twenty-four baked hens and 15 7 pyes, an d of 200 loaves of wastel bread that were distributed t o the poor. 34 Later that same year, at Christmas time in 1337, the abbot of Ramsey (Huntingdon) wen t to London a t the behest of the king to meet som e visiting cardinals. 35 He an d hi s party travelled about fifteen to twenty five miles eac h day . The firs t tw o nights the y stayed a t Elswort h an d Therfield, whic h were Ramse y manors, th e thir d nigh t a t War e i n Hertfordshire an d on th e fourth da y they reached London , where the abbot stayed in his own town house. At Elsworth the abbot and his party consumed brea d an d wine carried fro m Ramsey , and herring from th e manor's larder , an d purchase d onl y ale. At Therfield the y consume d herring from stoc k and purchase d bread , ale , oysters, fish,36 garlic and mustard. At Ware, where they stayed at an inn or in hired lodgings , th e abbot purchase d bread , ale , mutton, pork , fresh fish , eggs , flour, salt , saffron an d mustard, and also kitchen fuel. Thus, although th e abbot' s party purchased quantitie s of ale, bread, mustar d and ra w foods along their route, no t once do they seem to have purchased any hot, ready-toeat food, even at Ware, which for centuries was the first major overnight stop north of London. Similarly, in London, where fast food was plentiful, th e abbot purchased almost n o prepared foods other than bread , wine, ale and condiments (mustard and galantine). The only hot foods he bough t were a pennyworth o f pottage eac h day , fifteen pasties fo r 4d., and 2d. worth of baked lampreys. Some of the food for his Christmas banquet - te n hens and capons and twenty-six pyes - wa s sent out to be baked, at a cost of 18d., but th e onl y hot food s that he purchase d 33

Caulibus, onions and garlic . Household Accounts from Medieval England, ed. Woolgar, i, pp. 203-2 7 (accounts fo r anniversary dinner, pp. 204-5). The account notes that ninety-two fercula (messes) were served a t this dinner . 35 His travel accoun t is printed in Sir William Dugdale , Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. John Caley, Henry Ellis, and Bulkeley Bandinel, ii (London, 1819) , pp. 583-86. For this reference I am grateful to Nigel Ramsay. 36 Smoked herring , fres h fish and stockfish. 34


7

on tha t occasio n wer e th e dail y pennyworth of pottage an d a pennyworth o f fritters. 37 A n equall y modest degree o f outside catering can b e see n i n th e account s of the abbo t o f Shrewsbury, who spent about three weeks in London a few months later, in February-March 1338. While he supplied his table with a variety of meats, seafood and poultry, and wit h modest amounts of vegetables, oatmeal, frument y and rice, he bought no prepared foods at all except for an occasional purchase of wastel bread, mustard and galantine, even having his bread baked in-house. 38 One might have expected that travellers along the Great North Road between London and Scotland would have purchased quantities of readyto-eat hot food at the major stopping-points along the way but, although they bought raw food in plenty, on this road also the fast food tha t they purchased seem s t o hav e been limite d to bread, pottag e an d condi ments. For example, when the ear l o f Ross travelled from Londo n t o Scotland in October 1303, 39 only once (at Nottingham, where he bought some cheese) d o hi s accounts record tha t he purchase d provisions to take alon g fo r th e road . H e seem s to hav e had n o difficult y buyin g substantial amounts of ale, bread, meat, fish, poultry and eggs wherever he stopped, although the selection clearly was greater in cities and large towns than in small towns. However, the only ready-to-eat foods recorded in his daily accounts, apart from al e and wine, were bread and pottage. Even at York, where he stoppe d for four nights , and where, as we have seen, ther e were dozens of cooks at this time, his meals seem to have been cooke d t o order , an d th e onl y prepare d food s recorde d i n hi s accounts there were bread, pease pottage and condiments. 40 37

The food s purchase d b y the abbo t in London , i n additio n t o th e pottage , bake d pasties (pastettis furnitis) and baked lampreys (laumpriisfurnitis), consisted of oysters, beef, mutton, whole sheep (skaldyng'), fres h fish, eggs, lampreys, shrimps, geese, gurnards, ginger, garlic and onions. O n Christma s Day the abbot's household consume d twenty-fou r hens, three capons, three partridges, one-and-a-half sheep and half a veal, and purchased bread , wine, ale, pottage, mutto n an d beef ; paid for the bakin g of ten hen s and capon s an d of twenty-six pyes; bought a bushel of salt for salting the meat; and also purchased apples and fritters (frutuyris), eggs , flour, skirwhittes (skirrets: water-parsnips) and verjuice. 38 J. Armitage Robinson, ed., The Househol d Rol l of Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury (1337-8)', in Collectanea, i, A Collection of Documents from Various Sources, ed. T.F. Palmer, Somerset Record Society , 39 (1924), pp. 134-57 . 39 PRO, E 101/365/9, mm. 2r-4r. 40 His purchases included bread, ale, red and white wine, pears, almonds, geese, pullets, doves, larks, herring, lampreys , perches, roach, sauces, pease pottage, sal t and fres h herring, haddock, codling, eels and dace (served with mustard, galantine, verjuice, and onions), beef, pork and mutton (seasone d with salt and garlic), apples and salmon.

38 Food


Seventy-five years later, in the summe r (May-June ) o f 1378, Edmun d Mortimer, earl o f March, travelled from London t o Scotland a s a commissioner t o discus s border issue s with th e Scots . Hi s trave l account s show that he an d hi s party had n o trouble obtainin g larg e supplie s of food an d drin k along the road, and indee d wer e so confident of being able to do so that the only foodstuffs tha t the earl carried with him from London were spices: three pounds of saffron, sixteen pounds of powdered ginger, and eigh t pounds of ground pepper . However , all the food tha t they purchased o n their journey, with the exception o f ale, wine, bread and sauces, was purchased raw and cooked from scratch. They purchased no ho t food s a t all , no t eve n a t suc h majo r stopping-place s a s Ware, Royston, Huntingdon , Stamford , Grantham, Newark , Doncaster, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle-on-Tyne. 41 Similarly, Chaucer's fictional pilgrims, wh o wer e travellin g alon g th e bus y roa d fro m Londo n t o Canterbury, evidentl y did not expec t t o be abl e t o find suitable readyto-eat food along the way, since they brought their own cook with them to prepare their food. 42 Yet we know that there were commercial cooks, sometimes dozens of them, in cities such as Canterbury, Norwich, York and London. Wealthy travellers would no t hav e been deterre d b y reasons o f economy from paying for the convenienc e o f getting fast , hot food , so why didn't they patronize thes e cooks ? An itemize d lis t of th e food s sol d b y Londo n cookshops i s recorded i n 1378 , when th e mayo r and alderme n se t the legal prices that cooks could charge for their wares. The most expensive items were gam e birds . A roast bitter n wa s priced a t 20d. , a heron a t 18d., and a pheasant at 13d. Next came roast s costing 6d . to 8d. each: pork (8d.) , lamb (7d.) , goose (7d. ) and curle w (6^d.) . The pric e o f a plain roasted capo n was 6d.; a capon baked i n a pasty was 8d. In the 3d. to 5d. price range were roast hen, at 4d. each, or baked in a pasty for 5d.; rabbit, at 4d. each; and mallards, at S^d. to 4^d. each (th e lower price for tame mallards, the higher for wild birds). For 2^d. one could buy a roast pullet, tea l o r woodcock , or thre e roas t pigeons . Th e cheapes t item s were small roasted birds: one could bu y three thrushes for 2d., a snipe or five larks for Igd. , an d te n finche s o r te n egg s for a penny. Thrifty customers who provided their own poultry for a pasty were to be charge d 41

BL, Egerton Roll 8728, printed i n Household Accounts, ed. Woolgar, i, pp. 245-58. The siz e of the part y is not given, but the numbe r o f horses employed fluctuate d fro m about seventy to about 150 . 42 'A Cook they hadde with hem for the nones/To boille the chiknes with the marybones' (etc.) . Geoffre y Chaucer , Th e Riverside Chaucer, ed . Larr y D. Benson (Boston , 1987), Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 379-87.


9

l|d. for the dough, baking, and 'trouble' for a capon, or 2d. for a goose.43 It is clear fro m thi s list that th e cook s of London ha d a t least som e well-to-do clients. It is likely that much of their more substantial custom came fro m caterin g fo r th e guil d feasts , dinne r parties , weddings and funerals of those who hosted thes e festivities but did not have their own large kitchens and staff.44 Why did wealthy residents and travellers routinely shun the cookshops? The answer seems to be, at least in part, that cooks in general had a reputation fo r dishonesty and uncleanliness. The Norwich leet roll of 1287-88, for example, cites men from nearby Sprowston for selling sausages and puddings (hillas etpudinges) in the Norwich market that were made of measled pigs (porcos superseminatos) an d were unfit for human consumption. 45 I n th e lat e thirteent h an d earl y fourteent h centuries th e cook s an d pasteler s (pastiliarii) o f Norwich were repeatedly accused o f reheating pastie s and meat that were two or three days old.46 In York , ordinances o f 1301 forbad e cooks to buy fresh meat in summertime tha t had bee n on sale for more tha n a day, or to sell pasties that were badly cooked or filled with unwholesome meat, but in 1304 the cooks there were said collectively to have been guilty on every count.47 In London i n 132 7 the cook s were among nine victuallin g companies

43

Memorials of London, ed. Riley, p. 426. In 1350 and again in 1362-63 London cooks had bee n forbidden t o charge more than a penny for putting a capon or rabbit into a pasty. Ibid., p. 157 ; Calendar of Letter-Books, G , ed. Sharpe , p. 150. 44 In 1355 a London chaplain invited some friends fo r supper, and serve d veal tha t he had purchased from a local cook. The supper evidently was a disaster and the chaplain sued the cook in the mayor's court, alleging that the veal had been reheated and unwholesome, 'stinkin g and abominable' , to th e dange r of himself and hi s friends. Th e cook , Henry de Walmesford , wa s acquitted o n th e testimon y o f six of his fellow-cook s wh o inspected the meat and pronounced it wholesome, a finding confirmed b y public inspection. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls, 1323-64, ed. Thomas , p . 251 . In 142 4 the cooks of York claimed that thenceforth the y were to have a monopoly over the catering offcasts, funerals and weddings (Swanson, Medieval Artisans, p. 17). The fifteenthcentury accounts of th e brewers ' an d goldsmiths ' companie s o f London recor d payments to cooks and thei r assistants for preparing dinners and feasts . Willia m Herbert, The History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London, 2vols (London, 1834-36), i, pp . 77-80 (Brewers , 1419 , 1425), ii, pp. 238-3 9 (Goldsmiths , 1474 , 1495, 1498, 1499). 45 Leet Jurisdiction i n th e City o f Norwich, ed. Hudson , p. 8 . 46 In 1312-1 3 they were also accused o f reheating fish . Leet Jurisdiction i n th e City of Norwich, ed . Hudson , pp . 13 , 15 , 16 , 1 9 (1287-88) , 3 2 (1288-89) , 4 9 (1295-96) , 5 4 (1299-1300), 6 0 (1312-13) . Cf. the amercemen t o f a coo k i n 1390-9 1 for sellin g a n unwholesome cooked goose, p. 71. 47 Prestwich, York Civic Ordinances, pp. 15-16 , 21.

40 Food


who were identified in a royal writ as 'lax in thei r work' an d wh o were ordered t o be punished.48 In 1380 a set of ordinances was imposed on the pastelers of London, because they had been illegally making pasties of unwholesome rabbits, geese and 'garbage' (offal),49 'sometimes stinking', and had also been baking beef int o pasties and sellin g it as venison. The ne w ordinances forbade th e pasteler s to bake rabbit s an d gees e int o pasties, or t o sell beef pasties as venison. We are not told where the pastelers had obtained their putrid rabbit s and geese, but they evidently purchased thei r offa l at the back doors of up-market cookshops and wealthy households. This is revealed by an additiona l injunction, which forbade the pasteler s to buy 'an y garbage ' o f capons , hen s o r gees e fro m an y cook o f Brea d Street, or from cook s at the privat e houses of great lords, to bake into pasties.50 Similar ordinances were promulgated i n fourteenth-century Winchester and Nottingham. 51 Much the same picture is to be found in Coventry, where in 1421 cooks were forbidden to sell reheated meat; to cast feathers, hair or pig entrails in the street ; to sell the best goose for more tha n 4d. ; or to buy dead pik e or eels to bake into pies.52 In York in 1424 the cooks' own company ordinances acknowledged that untrained women did much of the actual cooking, and ordere d tha t thenceforth 'the wives of any other artisans should no t bake, boil nor roas t food in public shops, for sale, unless they are competent to do so'. 53 Contemporary literature als o presents a picture of sleazy pie shops . Chaucer's Cook of London, Hodg e o f Ware, had a suspiciously ulcerated leg and was mocked by Harry Bailly, the Host of the Tabard Inn i n 48

Calendar o f Plea and Memoranda Rolls, 1323-64, ed. Thomas , p . 45 . Two fifteenth-century English cooker y books include recipe s for 'garbage ' tha t begin: Take fayre garbagys of chykonys, as the hed, the fete, the lyuerys, an the gysowrys'. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, ed. Thomas Austin, EETS, original series, no. 91 (London, 1888), pp. 9 , 72. 50 Memorials o f London, ed. Riley, p. 438; Calendar of Letter-Books, H, ed. Sharpe , p . 139. Bread Street evidentl y was known fo r it s respectable cookshops; cooks o f Bread Stree t were routinely empanelled to scrutinize the products sold by other cooks and pie bakers of London. Cf. cases in 1355,1373 and 1374 in Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls, 1323-1364, ed. Thomas, p. 251; ibid., 1364-1381, p. 163; and Calendar of Letter-Books, G, ed. Sharpe, pp. 332-33. 51 Keene, Winchester Studies 2, p. 274 and n . 8. 52 Th e Coventry Leet Book o r Mayor's Register, ed. Mar y Dormer Harris, EETS, origina l series, vols 134-35 (1907), p. 26. In 1474 the cooks of Coventry were forbidden t o seethe, roast or bake unwholesome mea t or fish, or to reheat it, on pain of 40d. for the first two offences, an d the pillory for a third. Ibid., pp. 398-99 . 53 Swanson, Medieval Artisans, p. 17. 49


1

Southwark, a s notorious fo r hi s sogg y pasties, hi s reheate d pies , hi s unwholesome parsley garnishes and his fly-filled shop.54 Hodge's identification with Ware may be intended t o reflect the unappealing character of the cookshop s there , which would explain why wealthy travellers did not patronize them. His unsavoury shop finds an earlier parallel in France in the early thirteenth-century sermons ofjacques de Vitry. 'I have heard', he said, 'of a certain butcher who used to sell cooked meats.' When one of the butcher's customers , hoping t o get a discount, said that he ha d bought mea t fro m n o on e els e fo r th e pas t seve n years, the butche r replied i n astonishment , 'you hav e done thi s for s o long a time , an d you're still alive?' 55 In Paris in the 1390 s the Menagier included recipes in his household boo k for making sausages, puddings and pasties, but did no t sugges t that his wife purchas e thes e fro m a commercial cook, although h e did recommend th e system used by Paris cookshops to fatten geese. 56 In England, the saying 'God sends meat, but the devil sends cooks' had become proverbial by the 1540s. 57 Since people of means evidently avoided cookshops, the cooks' main clientele mus t have been th e poor , for whom hot meat , and eve n ho t food, was a luxury.58 In Piers Plowman, Langland writes that poor townsmen wit h families lived on bread an d thi n ale, with perhaps a scrap of cold mea t o r stal e fish; while poor widows , who kep t themselve s and their children b y spinning, spent thei r meagre earnings on rent , mil k and oatmeal. 59 Francois Villon draws a very similar picture of the die t of the poor in mid fifteenth-century Paris. The friar s and nuns, he say s scornfully, enjo y flans, capons and fa t hens;60 the wealthy layfolk regale 54

Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 379-87, and Cook's Prologue. TheExempla . . . ofjacques d e Vitry, ed . Thomas Frederick Crane (1890 ; reprinted New York, 1971), pp. 70 , 201 . 56 Goodman of Paris, ed. Power , pp . 223 , 224 , 248-50, 269-70, 278, 282 , 291-92 , 308 . 57 John Simpson, Th e Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford , 1982) , p. 94 . 58 This was true even in the countryside. Langland asserts that during the lean months of the year, in late winter and spring, poor peasants made do with cheese, curds, oatcakes and loave s mad e of peas and beans. Lacking even eggs and bacon , their main hot foo d consisted of vegetables and bake d apples. After th e harvest , however , the y demanded not onl y fres h food , bu t hot food: mea t and fish, either fried o r baked, and serve d u p piping hot . Piers Plowman, B-text , passu s VI, lines 282-313 . Similarly , Chaucer' s poo r widowed dairywoman, who lived wit h he r tw o daughters in a little cottage, survived o n slender meals made up largely of cold food - mil k and brown bread - wit h bacon and an occasiona l egg as her mai n source of hot food . Nun's Priest's Tale, first 26 lines. 59 Piers Plowman, C-text, x , lines 71-97. 60 Villon, Th e Poems o f Francois Villon, ed. an d trans . Galway Kinnell (Boston , 1977) , The Legacy' , lines 249-52: '/temje laisse aux Mendians/Aux Filles Dieu et aux Beguines/ Savoureux morceaulx et frians/Flaons, chappons , grasses gelines' . 55

42 Food


themselves on goo d wines, sauces, stews , fat fish, tarts, flans, poached and fried eggs, cream, frumenty and rice; 61 while the poor make do with toast made of brown bread , eaten with onions , leeks , curd s (mathon) and soup (potee, a 'potful' o f anything), or starve all year round on a diet of barley bread or oat bread and water. When patrons need refreshment in the brothel where Villon lives and works, he offers them water, cheese, bread and fruit - al l cold foods. 62 The poor in medieval English towns, like the poor of imperial Rome, often ha d scant y cookin g facilitie s o r eve n non e at all . Purpose-built kitchens, with ovens as well as hearths or fireplaces, were largely restricted to the house s of the wealthy. 63 In Colcheste r in 1301 , onl y 3 per cen t (eleven out of 389) of the taxpaying households were described as having a kitchen.64 The row s of small houses built for rent to artisans typically lacked kitchens altogether.65 Those whose lodgings included a hearth, or perhaps the share d use of one, still might own little or n o cookin g equipment, nor migh t they be abl e t o buy staple provisions or fue l i n bulk. A number of inventories survive that allow us to look right inside the homes of individual householders to see not only what kitchen facili61

Villon, Poems, ed. Kinnell, The Testament' , lines 249-52: 'Bons vins ont, souven t embrochiez/Saulces, brouet z e t gro s poissons/Tartes , flans , oef s frit z e t pochiez / Perdus e t e n toute s facons' ; line s 1762-64 : ' . . . seigneurs o u dames/Soue f e t ten drement nourris/D e cresme, fromentee ou riz'. 62 Villon, Poems, ed. Kinnell, The Testament' , lines 1485-87,1493-94, 1595-97. 63 In the fourteenth centur y such kitchens were still frequently housed in detache d buildings. John Schofield, Th e Building of London from th e Conquest to the Great Fire (London, 1984), p. 91. 64 Rotuli parliamentorum, ed. Record Commission, 6 vols (n.d. , c . 1767-83; index vol. 1832), i, pp. 243-65. In London , on e detache d kitchen , datin g t o the lat e fourteenth century, was found i n excavation s in Abchurc h Lane , althoug h elsewher e i n th e cit y demand fo r spac e seem s mor e commonl y to have pushe d th e kitche n int o th e mai n house-building. John Schofield and Alan Vince, Medieval Towns (London , 1994) , p. 72. 65 For example, in 1335 in York a carpenter contracte d t o build a row of seven rental houses, eac h consistin g simpl y of a ground-floor roo m an d a jettied chambe r above , with a chimney. L.F. Salzman, Building in England down t o 1540: A Documentary History (rev. edn , Oxford, 1967) , pp. 430-32. There are surviving examples of such rows at York at Lady Row (60-72 Goodramgate), buil t c . 1316 a s a row of nine o r te n two-storeye d houses, eac h store y containing a single room o f about te n fee t b y fifteen feet; an d a similar row in Newgate, built in 1337. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, York Historic Buildings in the Central Area: A Photographic Record (London , 1981), p. 11 , pis 117, 135. These rows are discussed in Philip Short, Th e Fourteenth-Centur y Row s of York', Archaeological Journal, 13 7 (1979), pp. 86-136 . Archaeological evidenc e o f houses on e room dee p has been foun d in London (elevent h century), Winchester (thirteent h or early fourteenth century) , Norwich and Perth . Schofiel d an d Vince , Medieval Towns, p. 74.


3

ties they had, bu t eve n wha t cookware an d foo d the y contained. 66 For example, in th e fourteenth-centur y Londo n coroners ' rolls , man y of the men named fo r murder or manslaughter wer e said t o have had n o chattels; o f thos e wit h chattels , man y ha d n o cookin g equipmen t o r tableware.67 In fact , i n th e nin e survivin g rolls , onl y seve n entrie s list kitchen utensil s among the goods of accused felons. 68 The kitchen item s most commonly noted were brass pots, of which the cheapest was valued at about 6d., or more than a day's wages for most Londoners,69 while the most expensive cost 6s. or more.70 A man who killed his wife in 1339, fo r example, had chattel s wort h 15s . 5d., of which the onl y kitchen utensi l was a brass pot valued a t 3s.71 Similar level s of poverty can be documente d i n other English town s at this time. I n Oxford, th e coroner's rolls and the records of the eyre of 1285 record that , a s in London, man y of the accuse d felon s had n o 66 See, e.g., Christopher Dyer, Standards ofLivingin th e Later Middle Ages: Social Change in England, c . 1200-1520 (Cambridge, 1989), p. 206. 67 One suc h man was William de Grymysby , a shopkeeper of the paris h o f St Benet Fink who killed a man in 1322. His chattels consisted of three small pigs, a board (shippingbord), a broken chest and table , a pair of sheets, a blanket, a cloth and othe r small things, altogether worth only 6s. llrd. Of two men who killed a third i n 1323 , one ( a fishmonger) ha d no chattels, and th e other (whos e occupation is not given) had chattels worth only 21d., consisting of two worn sheets, a blanket, a cloak and a chest containing hal f a bushel of beans, but n o cookwar e or tableware. Calendar of Coroners Rolls, ed. Sharpe, pp . 70-71. 68 Other kitche n items recorded include d bras s and iro n pans , a brass bowl, a tin pitcher, trencher knives, basins and ewers, and a few items of tableware: costrels, wooden cups, a mazer, and som e posnets and dishes . Calendar of Coroners Rolls, ed. Sharpe , pp . 74-75, 75-76, 87-89,147-48,161-63,173-74, 245-47. Cf. Calendar of Letter-Books, B, ed. Sharpe, pp. 256-79 (Londo n coroner' s roll , 1275-76, an d rol l of felonies, 1278; many of these entries are given in ful l i n Memorials o f London, ed. Riley, pp. 3-20) . Similar lists of brasswar e occur amon g th e item s pledged b y defaulting Londo n debtor s i n 1303 . Memorials o f London, ed. Riley , pp. 48-50; see also pp. 199-200 . 69 The dail y wages of skilled building workers in southern England rose during th e fourteenth centur y from 3d . in the 1340 s to 5d. in the 1390s ; those of unskilled crafts men rose from l^d . to 3d. per day during the same period. Christopher Dyer and Simon A. C. Penn, 'Wages and Earnings in Late Medieval England: Evidence from the Enforcement of the Labour Laws', Economic History Review, 2nd series, 43 (1990), p. 305; reprinte d in Christopher Dyer, Everyday Life in Medieval England (London and Rio Grande, Ohio, 1994), p. 167 . 70 Before the fourteenth centur y clay pots were commonly used for cooking, bu t in the fourteent h century these were increasingly superseded b y much mor e expensiv e pots and pans of metal, chiefly brass. J.B. Ward Perkins, London Museum: Medieval Catalogue (London, 1940 , reprinted 1975), p. 220; Michael R. McCarthy and Catherine M . Brooks, Medieval Pottery i n Britain, AD 900-1600 (Leicester, 1988), p. 107 . 71 Calendar of Coroners Rolls, ed. Sharpe , pp. 245-47 ; cf . pp. 87-89, 183-84.

44 Food


chattels, those with chattels often had very little, and few had an y kitchenware.72 An especially full set of inventories was compiled at Colcheste r in the cours e of the assessment of a fifteenth in 1301 . The return gives details of personal property for 389 taxpayers in the town and its suburbs, listing all items of value, both domesti c and commercial. 73 Items relating t o food includ e metal cookware ; stocks of wheat, rye, barley, oats and oatmeal ; pigs , cattle an d sheep ; fres h an d preserve d meat; bean s and peas; and a few miscellaneous other foods, such as spices and lard . Stocks of malt are note d in thirt y households, bu t stock s of ale do no t appear; wine is noted in two entries, an d fish in only one. Poultry and dairy products are not mentioned an d evidently were not assessed. The overwhelming impression conveyed by this return is that the general standard o f living in Colcheste r i n 130 1 wa s low and tha t many of th e taxpayers, who after all represented the economically sufficient household ers,74 bought thei r food from da y to day, lacking the resources to buy it in bulk , and perhap s als o lacking the mean s t o coo k it a t home. Fo r example, of the 389 taxpayers, only 47 per cent (18 4 out of 389) owned any metal cookware . Despite th e fac t tha t this assessment was taken a t Michaelmas, just afte r the harvest , only about 4 4 per cen t (17 1 out of 389) ha d stock s of grain o r oatmeal . Forty-si x per cen t (177 ) owne d cattle or sheep, and 40 per cent (155 out of 389) owned pigs. Only 2 per cent of the households (nin e out of 389) had beans or peas; and abou t 1.5 per cen t (si x out of 389) ha d som e salt meat. Another strikin g feature of this list is the absenc e of prepared food s available at retail in the town. Two men sold mustard, and one had some vinegar, bu t n o othe r condimen t o r sauce; 75 one woman, a huckster , had 15d . worth of bread fo r sale. 76 Of the tw o identifiable cooks, on e

72

In 1298, for example, a man from Holywell, who fled after killing a man, had only a worn hanging and a pair of worn sheets, altogether worth 20d. Oxford City Documents, Financial and Judicial, 1268-1665, ed.J.E. Thorold Rogers, Oxford Historical Society , 18 (1891), pp. 145-236 (coroners ' roll s and eyre) , pp. 153-54 (chattel s worth 20d.). 73 Rotuliparliamentorum, \, pp. 243-65; see also a briefer assessment for Colchester in 1296 on pp . 228-38 . The fou r suburbs are Lexeden, Miland', Grenested, e t West Donyland infra libertatem ejusdem Burgi existent'. The assessment of 1301 is described in M.W. Barley, TheEnglishFarmhouse and Cottage (London, 1961), pp. 18-20; both assessments are discussed in Georg e Rickword , 'Taxation s o f Colchester , AD 129 6 and 1301' , Transactions o f the Essex Archaeological Society, new series, 9 (1906) , pp. 126-55 . 74 They included a handful of priests and head s of religious houses. 75 Rotuli parliamentorum, i, pp. 250 (Robert le Mustarder). 76 Rotuli parliamentorum, i, p. 254 (Agnes la Regratere). Her 15d . worth of loaves for sale (pane venal*) wer e the onl y taxable chattel s she possessed.


5

had 3s. worth offish; the other had no commercial stock on hand.77 The assessors listed no stocks of bread among the chattels of the seven identifiable bakers, and two of them also lacked any stock of grain.78 The nearabsence of commercial food stocks suggests that much of the commercial baking and cooking at Colchester was done with dough an d meat supplied by the customers. These inventories all date from the 1280s to the 1330s, when the population was at or near its medieval peak, and when poverty was widespread. In the century and a half following the Black Death the living standards of peasants generally rose, but Michel Mollat has argued that 'the scene of poverty shifted from th e countrysid e to th e cities'. 79 He found , for example, that among the agricultural labourers in the grain-producing areas of the Ile-de-France the poverty rate was only 10-12 per cent in the fifteenth century . In heavil y urbanize d Hainaut , Artois , Braban t an d parts of Holland, however, about 2 0 to 3 0 per cen t of the populatio n were poor, while in Basel, Genoa, Liibeck, Augsburg and Dijon the level of poverty was even higher, sometimes much higher. 80 There are a number of extant city-wide enumerations of population and food stocks for continental cities that support Mollat's grim picture. At Reims in Februar y 1422, for example , recent rise s in th e pric e of grain triggere d th e cit y authoritie s t o conduc t a censu s of residents ('mouths') an d thei r stocks of rye, wheat and oats . The return s of two of the city' s thirteen parishes survive, those for Saint-Hilaire and SaintPierre. They were among the wealthiest parishes in the city, at the heart of the main commercial district.81 Their returns yield a picture of urban 77

Thomas Cocus (Rotuliparliamentorum, i , p. 247) ha d chattel s wort h 18s . 8d., includ ing a cooking pot, a pan an d th e fish; Dyke Coquus (p. 254) ha d onl y 4s. worth o f chat tels, comprising a surcoat (2s. ) and tw o piglets (2s.) . 78 The seve n identifiabl e baker s are: John d e Geywoo d (Rotuli parliamentorum, i, p. 247; assessed for 63s. 5d. in chattels, includin g wheat an d rye) , William so n of Note (p . 256; 21s. 7d. in chattels, includin g wheat), Walter Moteky n (p . 257; 11s . 9^d. in chattels , including wheat and rye), Thomas Tynnot (p. 257; 44s. 8d. in chattels, including wheat), William Pistor de Schrebstrate (p. 258; 20s. 6d. in chattels; no grain), Peter Pistor (p. 258; his only chattel a tunic valued at 19d.), and Germanus Pistor (p. 263; 7s. 6d. in chattels, including wheat). 79 Michel Mollat , Th e Poor in th e Middle Ages: An Essay i n Social History, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Ne w Haven and London, 1986), p. 233. 80 Mollat, Poor in th e Middle Ages, 233-35; Bronislaw Geremek , Th e Margins o f Society in Late Medieval Paris, trans. Jean Birrell (Cambridg e and Paris , 1987), p. 81 n. 57. 81 Pierre Desportes, 'L a population d e Reim s a u XV e siecle', Moyen age, 77 (1966) , pp. 463-509 . The retur n fo r th e paris h o f Saint-Hilair e liste d 181 0 residents in 47 2 households; that of Saint-Pierre listed 136 5 residents (to which shoul d be added about twenty for eight blanks i n the MS) living in 381 households. Saint-Pierre definitely, an d

46 Food


provisioning strongly resembling that of Colchester in 1301. Almost half the households of Saint-Hilaire, and 4 1 per cen t o f the household s of Saint-Pierre, had no stocks of grain a t all.82 The return for Saint-Pierre also listed stocks of peas and beans (potage), an d bacon (lars) ; onl y about 10 per cent of the household s had these . In that parish almos t a third of the households , representin g 2 0 per cen t of the populatio n o f th e parish, had n o stocks of provisions at all, not eve n the least quantity of peas and beans. Not surprisingly, it was the richest households that had the largest stockpiles of food. In Saint-Pierre twelve households, representing 6 per cent of the residents, had more than 39 per cent of the stocks, and in Saint-Hilaire twelve households, representing only 5 per cent of the inhabitants, accounted for 44 per cent of the stocks. 83 In England, Christopher Dyer has found extensive evidence that urban living standards in general were rising during this period, exemplified by such indicators as increased consumption of meat and larger, betterbuilt housing.84 However, there clearly remained a large stratum of poor town-dwellers, whose needs were not met by public charity. In fifteenthcentury Worcester, fo r example , wit h a population o f about 4000 , h e found tha t th e municipa l charities could provid e for onl y abou t 120 paupers, representin g 3 per cen t o f the population, while the elderl y alone should hav e made up a t least 9.5 per cen t of the population, or close t o 40 0 people.85 The ful l numbe r o f paupers in Worcester may have been twic e that figure. David Shaw has estimated that the poor in late medieval Wells numbered u p t o 20 per cen t of the population, i n line with sixteenth-centur y figures for Coventr y (abou t 2 5 per cent) , Norwich (2 2 per cent ) an d Worcester ( 2 to 20 per cent). 86 Many of the urba n poo r in late medieval England, despite generally continued

Saint-Hilaire probably, included infants in these enumerations; both also included religious. The total population o f the city at this time probably was about 9000. Ibid., pp. 479-80, 495. 82 Of those with stocks, the principal grain was rye (listed for 55 per cent of households), followed by wheat (33 per cent ) and oats (12 per cent). 83 None of the latter twenty-four householders was a grain merchant. Desportes, 'La population de Reims,' pp. 504-8. Interestingly, ten out of the eleven bakers listed in the returns had no grain stocks themselves, and the eleventh only a modest supply, suggesting that the bakers were forbidden t o deal in grain themselves, and that their principa l work was baking dough furnished by their customers. Ibid., p. 505 and n . 112. 84 Dyer, Standards o f Living, chapter 7, pp. 188-210 . Cf. pp. 67-70 , below. 85 Dyer, Standards of Living, pp. 252-53. 86 David Gary Shaw, Th e Creation o f a Community: Th e City o f Wells i n th e Middle Ages (Oxford, 1993) , p. 229.


7

rising wages and falling food prices and rents, were unable t o afford th e rent o f an entir e house . Thi s wa s especially true o f single adults . Fo r example, th e accounts of the churchwarden s of the London churc h o f St Mary-at-Hill for 1483-85 list ten men, including three of the church' s stipendiary priests, who each rente d a single chamber fro m th e church , at annual rents ranging from 6s. 8d. to 12s. The same accounts also list two male tenants who shared a house.87 Some working men had meal s provided a s part o f their wages . In th e 1420s , some o f the carpenter s and othe r workme n doin g day-wor k at S t Mary-at-Hill were given , as part of their wage, noontime dinner s o f bread, ale and joints of mutton or ribs of beef.88 But many single working men did not receive meals as part of their wages, and would have had t o take their meal s out . Elderly and invalid men who lived alone seem generally to have been considered unabl e to cook for themselves. This is suggested by the regulations an d intak e record s o f almshouses , whic h heavily favoured mal e inmates. Of the 326 or so medieval hospitals and almshouses in England and Wale s tha t at some stag e in thei r existenc e house d th e non-sic k poor,89 the sex of the poor inmates is known for 169 houses. Mor e tha n half o f these (eighty-nin e houses; 5 2 per cen t o f 169 ) too k poo r me n only. A third (fifty-si x houses ; 3 3 per cen t of 169) too k bot h men an d women, and several of these took no single or widowed women, but only the wive s of almsmen. A mere 1 4 per cen t (twenty-fou r houses ) too k poor women only. 90 For example, a t the hospital of the Holy Saviour in Wells (founde d in 1436 ) Davi d Shaw has found that, of thirty-one almspeople whose sex is known, twenty-four (7 7 per cent ) were men. Only 87

The Medieval Records of a London City Church (St Mary at Hill), AD 1420-1559, ed.. Henry Littlehales, EETS, original series, 128 (London, 1905), pp. 112-13 , 115 . 88 These meals were described as nonsiens (nuncheons) or none mete. Medieval Records, ed. Littlehales, pp. 64,65,71 (1426-29). Forty-five years later, in 1479-81, the churchwardens were no longe r providing dinners for workmen, but the y did sometimes supply them with snack s of bread an d ale , and a n occasiona l breakfast (pp . 102, 104); this custom had largel y disappeared, however , by the 1490s . In Durham, the mason s hired in 139 8 and 140 2 to rebuil d th e dormitor y o f the cathedra l prior y were given thei r meal s in addition to a set fee for the work and a new gown each year. Salzman, Building in England, pp. 473-77. 89 David Knowles and R . Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales (rev. edn, London, 1971) , pp. 339-410 . In al l they list about 110 3 hospitals and aims houses (th e number is approximate becaus e ther e is uncertainty in some cases about the natur e of the foundation or the existence of the house). Many of these houses also had othe r inmates, such as poor wayfarers, local sick people or scholars, in addition to their staffs o f brothers and sisters. 90 The se x of the poo r inmate s is unknown in 15 7 of these houses (4 8 per cen t of 326).

48 Food


seven (2 3 per cent ) were women, and a t least two of these were admitted because thei r late husbands had been benefactor s of the house.91 Poor single women and widows, who were thus largely excluded fro m the almshouses, must have fared badly. Some shared a house with another; for example , th e renta l o f th e Londo n churc h o f S t Mary-at-Hill fo r 1483-85 lists two widows who shared a house at the annual rent of 8s.92 Some unmarried wome n boarded wit h families.93 But many must have lived in garret rooms and other cheap lodgings, lacking not only kitchens but eve n hearths . Widow s especially were ofte n identifie d a s a needy group. I n Coventr y in th e earl y 1520s, where ther e wer e almost nine times as many widows as widowers, about half of these widows lived alone, many o f them , accordin g t o Charle s Phythian-Adams , 'in extrem e poverty'.94 In London , widows of husbands who died seised in fee of a family hom e wer e entitle d t o thei r 'fre e bench ' fo r lif e o r unti l the y remarried. That is, they had the right to the exclusive use of the hall, the principal private chamber and the cellar, and t o share in the use of the kitchen, stable, privy and courtyard.95 However, this custom only protected the widows of home-owners, and was no protection for those who lived in rented accommodation . The latte r could have remained only for so long as they paid th e rent, and many must have ended u p moving into cold, cheerless rooms. Some evidence for thi s can be seen in the will s of poor widows, in which bequests of articles of clothing and beddin g are common , while furnishings, cooking utensils and tablewar e occur much les s frequently. This is the pictur e suggeste d b y Robert Wood's recent study of the archdeaconry court wills of forty-nine poor Londo n 91

Shaw, Creation of a Community, pp. 241-43 . Medieval Records, ed. Littlehales, p. 115. 93 Some single women boarde d with families. In the 1470s-80s the rates paid by poor women fo r bed an d boar d ranged from 6d. a week in Romford (Essex) , to 16d. a week in Exeter and London ; by contrast, th e board costs in Cambridge of a lawyer's fiancee and her maid came to 3s. 4d. a week. PRO, C 1/67/20 (Romford), C1/60/168 (Exeter), C 1/64/764 (London), C 1/61/584-85 (Cambridge). In 138 1 th e London widow who had bee n th e guardia n for th e previou s fou r years of the so n of Sir Thomas Salesbur y claimed cost s of 5s. a week for the meal s of the bo y and hi s servants. Memorials o f London, ed. Riley , p. 448 . 94 Charles Phythian-Adams, Desolation of a City: Coventry an d th e Urban Crisis of the Late Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1979) , p . 92. 95 Barbara A . Hanawalt, The Widow' s Mite: Provisions for Medieval London Widows', in Upon M y Husband's Death: Widows i n th e Literature and Histories o f Medieval Europe, ed . Louise Mirre r (An n Arbor , Michigan , 1992) , p. 23 . This was more generous than th e common la w of England, whic h allowed a widow to remain i n the capita l messuag e fo r forty days only (ibid. , p. 41 n. 5). For an Oxfor d lawsui t over free bench, se e Oxford City Documents, ed. Thorold Rogers, pp . 234—3 5 (eyr e of 1285). 92


9

widows for th e year s 1393-1415. 96 The thirty-fiv e women's wills surviving in the registers of the consistory court of London for the years 1514-47 give a similar impression: the bequest s of well-to-do women generally included kitchenware or tableware, as well as furniture, furnishings an d other househol d items . The poore r women , however, often lef t littl e beyond clothing and bedding. Their wills suggest that these women ended their days in cheap lodgings and bare rooms, unprovided with the means to make their own meals.97 Indeed, in 1541 one husband acknowledged this likelihood in his will, mourning that his estate was 'to little for the perfirmance o f my beriall and t o rendre m y wyfe a poore chambre'. 98 For all such households th e onl y source o f baked food, and ofte n o f hot food of any sort, would have been the commercial bakers and cooks. At least some municipal authorities sa w cookshops a s places intended specifically to provide hot foo d for the poor. London, a s we have seen, attempted t o legislate price controls on the foods sold by cooks in 1350, in 1362-63 and in 1378; in 1379 the pie bakers of London were specifically ordered t o 'bak e pasties of beef at one halfpenny , just as good as those a t a penny', on pai n o f a fine of half a mark.99 Other towns also tried to enforce the availability of such cheap, hot fare. In Coventry in 1427, for instance , the cook s also were ordered t o make halpeny pyes as other Townes doth on pai n o f half a mark for eac h default. 100 In fact it seems likely that cooks and cookshop s can serve as a rough gauge o f population and econom y in medieval towns. They are not, as we hav e seen, a n indicato r o f wealth: wealthy residents an d traveller s alike seem generally to have avoided cookshops, preferring to buy raw food in bulk and to have it prepared and cooked for them in their homes or lodgings , excep t when the y were entertaining suc h larg e number s that their own kitchens and staf f were insufficient. No r are cookshops a simple indicator of poverty: the poor in small or underpopulated towns lived i n meagre bar e dwellings , but ha d hearth s an d coul d boi l or fry 96

Robert A. Wood, 'Poor Widows, c. 1393-1415', in Medieval London Widows, 13001500, ed. Carolin e M . Barren an d Ann e F . Sutton (Londo n an d Ri o Grande , Ohio , 1994) pp . 59-69. (This essay gives an impressionistic rathe r tha n a statistical account of the provisions o f the wills of forty-nine 'poor' and 'ver y poor' London widows , making my commen t abou t th e relativ e reference s o f clothing/bedding an d kitchenware / tableware tentativ e rathe r tha n certain. ) 97 London Consistory Court Wills, 1492-1547, ed. Ida Darlington, London Record Society, 3 (London, 1967) . 98 London Consistory Court Wills, ed. Darlington, no . 128 . 99

Memorials o f London, ed. Riley , pp. 157 , 432 ; Calendar o f Letter-Books, G , ed. Sharpe , p. 150 . 100

Coventry Leet Book, ed. Harris , p . 111 .

50 Food


hot food at home, although the y must have carried thei r bread dough , pies and joints of meat to the ovens of the local bakers. Rather, I would suggest, as a rough rul e o f thumb, that in a town where the cooks were about a s numerous a s the baker s o r outnumbere d them , on e woul d expect t o find a high populatio n density , and probabl y a high rati o of single-adult households , where poor residents were crowded into cheap lodgings that were unprovided with the means to cook a meal. In a town where, by contrast, the bakers greatly outnumbered th e cooks, the population densit y probably was much lower , and th e percentag e o f singleadult households probabl y also was much lower. Population studie s for several towns provide some evidenc e for testing this model. Around th e year 1300, for example, Colchester , with a population of about 3000,101 had seven identifiable bakers and only two identifiable cooks;102 while York, which was much more densely inhabited, had some three dozen bakers and an equal number (thirty-five ) of cooks.103 In Winchester there were about twelv e bakers in 1300 . As the popula tion there fell in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, so too did the number of bakers: only about six or seven bakers were active in Winchester at any one tim e between c . 1360 and c . 1380, and only about three to five were working at a time in the first three-quarters of the fifteenth century.104 In the fourteenth centur y there were about as many cooks as bakers in Winchester, but as the city's population continue d t o erode in the fifteenth century the number o f cooks there dropped belo w the number o f bakers. Th e fe w remaining cooks als o sol d fres h mea t and fres h an d sal t fish,105 which suggest s that there wer e insufficient customer s for meat pies and cooked meat s to keep even the small number of cooks in business. The poll-ta x returns o f 1377 and 138 1 provide some comparativ e figures for Worceste r an d Southwark . Worcester had a population a t that time of about 2500-3000 people.106 Most of the householders ther e

101

p. 16.

102

Richard Britnell, Growth and Decline in Colchester, 1300-1525 (Cambridge, 1986),

Rotuliparliamentorum, i, pp. 243-65 (1301). Prestwich, York Civic Ordinances, pp. 21-2 8 (1304) . 104 Keene, Winchester Studies, 2, pp. 254-55. 105 Keene, Winchester Studies, 2, i, pp. 273-74 and table 26. (N.B.: the victualling entrie s in table 26 are mistakenly printed back to back, rather than on facing pages.) Winchester's population fell from a total of about 10,000-12,000 , c. 1300, t o c.5000-8000 in 1400 ; by the earl y to mi d sixteent h centur y it ha d falle n agai n t o about 3400-530 0 residents . Ibid., i, pp. 142-43, 366-68. 106 Caroline M. Barren, The Fourteenth-Centur y Poll Tax Returns for Worcester', Midland History, 1 4 (1989), p. 7. 103

Fast Food and Urban Living Standards in Medieval England 51

51

were married, and only about 13 per cent were single men or women.107 In contrast , Southwark , with a population o f about 2000-2100, 108 ha d an extremely high rati o of singletons: 4 1 per cen t of the householder s there wer e single adults. 109 Strikingly, the retur n fo r Worcester identi fies thre e baker s and n o cooks, 110 while the retur n fo r Southwark lists six bakers and te n cook s (si x cooks and four pie bakers).111 In conclusion, it seems to me that what we are seeing here is a pattern that wa s as familiar in th e pas t a s it i s today. Fast foo d flourishe d i n medieval English towns among those who could least afford it, but whose circumstances made it irresistible. For the working poor, especially those living alone , snatchin g a meal i n th e middl e o f the day , or returnin g exhausted t o a chilly room afte r th e market s were closed, 112 fast foo d vendors offere d a hot mea l that was ready to eat and required n o time consuming, laborious preparation an d clean-up. For the very poor and the homeless , who lacked acces s to cookin g facilities an d equipment , and wh o did no t hav e stocks of food and fuel , fas t food was often thei r only source o f hot foo d at all. Those colourfu l street cries of Paris an d London, s o vividly reporte d b y Guillaume d e l a Ville Neuve , William Langland and the unknown author of London Lyckpenny, therefore represent no t only the liveliness and opportunitie s of medieval city life, but als o its darker sid e of poverty, misery and hunge r for a hot meal .

107 For this tabulation I have used Barren's figures from 137 7 o f 845 total taxpayers and 31 3 wives (p . 3), 15 9 servants and seve n children (p . 14) , forty-eight single-person households (p . 13) , an d eleve n unmarrie d householder s wit h servant s o r childre n (P- 14) . 108 Carlin, Medieval Southwark, chapter 5, 'Population'. 109 Of the 57 6 householders in Southwark, 1 9 per cen t were single men an d 2 2 per cent were single women. Carlin, Medieval Southwark, table 5.4 . 110 PRO, E 179/200/27, printed in Barron , 'Fourteenth-Centur y Poll Ta x Returns for Worcester' , pp. 24-29. Worcester's 138 1 retur n largel y exclude s single men, singl e women and servants . Ibid., pp. 6-7. 111 PRO, E 179/184/30; Carlin, Medieval Southwark, appendix 1. 112 In London the cookshops, unlike the markets , were open at night. Fitz Stephen noted that the publica coquina near the river was open day and night (qualibet diei vel noctis hard). In 1410 the king's sons Thomas and John were eating supper in Eastcheap on midsumme r eve after midnigh t when the y became embroiled in a n affray ; thi s led to th e impositio n o f a nine o'clock curfe w o n th e cookshop s and taverns . Chronicles of London, ed . Kingsford , pp . 268 , 341 .


4 Did the Peasants Really Starve in Medieval England? Christopher Dyer My title i s taken from a chapter headin g fro m Th e World W e Have Lost. In that distinguished book on historical demography and social structures in earl y modern England , Peter Laslet t was anxious t o enquir e i f th e English had suffered th e same miseries as their French contemporaries , revealed in Goubert's work. In England, although Laslett felt that conditions were far from idyllic, and that in some years the harvests failed in successive years , as in th e 1590s , periodi c episode s o f hig h mortalit y were more likely to be th e product s of epidemic disease than crise s of food supply. In characteristically colourful fashion he produced an example of an individual wh o showe d tha t som e peopl e survive d the threat s o f th e period. This was Alice George, who encountered John Locke in Oxford in 1680 . She said that she was 108 years old, having been bor n i n Saltwich in Worcestershire, and remembere d a t the age of sixteen going to see Elizabeth I at Worcester in the year of the Armada in 1588. The ol d lady's claims make a good story, though sh e must have been misleading Locke, a s Elizabeth visited Worcester in 1575 . No r can she be denned as a peasant, if we use the term to describe a small-scale rural cultivator. Alice Georg e cam e fro m th e salt-makin g town o f Droitwich, an d ha d lived in an urban environmen t for al l of her life . But let us not b e to o pedantic abou t thi s example ; th e poin t i s that, althoug h sh e ha d experienced hunge r i n he r youth , sh e ha d live d t o a rip e ol d age . Incidentally, sh e attribute d he r longevity , not t o abstinenc e fro m th e pleasures of life of which centenarians normally boast, but to her avoidance of any medicines.1 1

P. Laslett, Th e World W e Have Lost (2n d edn , London , 1971) , pp . 115-16 ; reissue d as, The World We Have Lost, Further Explored (London , 1983) , pp. 124-25 . Various scholars have contributed information an d advic e t o this paper, includin g Mark Overton, Richard Smith and Christopher Thornton . Earlier versions of this essay were given as papers at th e universitie s of Birmingham, Exeter an d Kent . I have benefited fro m comment s and criticism s mad e o n thos e occasions . I am gratefu l to Joel Rosentha l an d Marth a Carlin fo r their subsequen t help.

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More recent research, using quantitative rather than anecdotal evidence, has served to confirm Laslett's belief that English people in the sixteenth and seventeent h centurie s di d no t suffe r majo r crise s of subsistence . Appleby argued that the people of the north suffered in bad years because, unlike their souther n an d midlan d contemporaries , the y did not have inferior grains on which to fall back when bread corns failed - there was nothing cheaper than the oats grown exclusively in much of the northern uplands. Eve n in th e nort h th e ris e i n agricultural productivity in th e seventeenth century , and the improvements in the marketing network, meant that the English rural population suffere d muc h less in the crises of the 1690s than did their French counterparts.2 More recent work has offered a n even more optimistic picture. If those relying on wages were most vulnerabl e a s food price s wer e drive n u p b y shortages, w e now understand tha t earlier calculations of real wages exaggerated the poverty of those wh o received them , because the y did not tak e sufficient not e of the earnings of the whole family, nor o f such benefits as payments in kind, nor o f the availabilit y of cheaper foo d tha n tha t recorded i n th e accounts o f institutions normally used as sources of data. Even our view of the plight of the unemployed o r partially employed has been raise d by new and mor e positiv e assessments o f the effectivenes s o f the poo r law system. 3 If th e peasant s di d no t starv e i n Englan d i n th e sixteent h an d seventeenth centuries , ho w far bac k mus t we look t o fin d a differen t situation? In the early middle ages there are plenty of chronicle accounts of famine deaths. Indee d fo r the Continen t Bonnassie has attempted a typology of such descriptions, picking out reports of cannibalism as indicating an especially severe episode. 4 English chronicles record famines in the elevent h an d twelft h centuries , an d th e pric e series suggest som e

2 A.B. Appleby, 'Die t i n Sixteenth-Centur y England : Sources, Problems , Possibili ties', in C. Webster, ed., Health, Medicine and Mortality i n theSixteenth Century (Cambridge , 1979), pp. 97-116; A.B. Appleby, Famine in Tudor and Stuart England (Stanford, California, 1978). 3 J. Walte r and R . Schofield, eds, Famine, Disease and the Social Order in Early Modern Society (Cambridge, 1989) ; S. Rappaport, Worlds Within Worlds: Structures of Life i n SixteenthCentury London (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 123-61; P. Solar, 'Poor Relief and English Economic Development befor e th e Industrial Revolution' , Economic History Review, 48 (1995), pp . 1-22. 4 P. Bonnassie, 'Consommation d'aliment s immondes et cannibalisme de survie dans 1'occident d u hau t moye n age' , Annales: economies, societes, civilisations, 44 (1989) , pp . 1035-56. Cf. Chapter 5, below.

Did th e Peasants Really Starve in Medieval England ? 5

5

very bad harvests at the end of the twelft h centur y and in 1201-4. 5 Our focus must be the period between 1204 and 1500 , with a view to discovering when the threa t of starvation receded . We could attemp t t o investigate the questio n o f peasant hunge r b y anecdote - m y exampl e i s Margare t Norto n o f Hartlebur y i n Worcestershire (no t far from Alic e George's birthplace , bu t Margare t lived in a village and ca n be regarded a s a real peasant). When she was buried on 12 September 1545 the compiler o f the parish register noted that she had died when she was sixteen days short of her 122n d birthday.6 Now we should b e as sceptical of this piece of folklore as of Locke's gullible account of Alice George, except that a widow called Margaret Norton appear s i n th e Hartlebur y records o f th e 1490s , and i f it was the same perso n wh o die d i n 154 5 she mus t have been ver y old. She ha d certainly survived the food shortages of the 1480s and 1520s, even though she may not have been old enough t o have experienced th e famine of the late 1430s. 7 These isolated individual s have an immediate interes t for us, but they cannot provide us with conclusive evidence to solve our problem. Instead I will turn t o more scientific evidence fo r peasant eatin g an d fo r their lack o f food, beginning wit h th e lat e thirteent h an d earl y fourteenth centuries, and then turnin g to the period afte r the Black Death and the supposed lifetim e of Margaret Norton. Peasant food in the decade s around 130 0 is recorded i n some detail by agreements t o maintain retired peasant s i n manoria l court rolls . A characteristic example was the record of the transfer of a five-acre holding in 1328 at Oakington i n Cambridgeshire b y Richard Valletus to John, son of John Sybily.8 Richard had made a contract with his successor that he should be provided with a retirement hom e converted from the former bakehouse o f the holding. His 'pension' was to come partly from access to a curtilage ( a garden) nex t to the hous e an d seve n selions of land; and partl y from an allowance each year of two bushels of wheat and two bushels of rye, both a t Michaelmas, and o f four bushels of barley and four bushels o f peas at Christmas. This could b e interpreted i n a commercial light - the purchaser of the land was providing an annuity the size of which was related t o market demand. While we should not ignore 5 D.L. Farmer, Trices and Wages', in H.E. Hallam, ed., Th e Agrarian History of England and Wales, ii, 1042-1350, pp . 717-18 , 722, 787-88. 6 Hereford an d Worceste r Count y Record Office , ref . 985/B.A. 5807, vol. 1, fol. 4. 7 Hereford an d Worceste r Count y Record Office , ref. 009:1 B.A . 2636/169 92372 . 8 Queen's College Cambridge , 7 (I am grateful to Richard Smit h who provided m e with a transcript of this document) .

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the shortag e o f land an d John's willingness to sacrifice a great dea l to gain a precious holding at that time, the wording of other agreement s makes i t clea r tha t non-commercia l considerations , suc h a s the loca l customary rules about what was decent and fitting for the support of an elderly person , playe d some par t i n th e fixin g o f th e amounts. 9 Th e allowances had bee n obtaine d fro m th e crops of the holding and were intended for the consumption of the retired peasant , not for sale. Richard Valletus was being provided with the raw materials for the baking of bread (from wheat and rye, and perhaps barley), and the major ingredients of a thick pottage (pea s and some of the barley). The tota l allowance of twelve bushels would not hav e provided muc h grai n fo r ale , as a good deal of the calorifi c value of the barley would be lost in brewing, and to obtain approximatel y 2000 calories per da y it would have been neces sary t o hav e consume d th e barle y i n soli d form . A good numbe r o f maintenance agreements did provide twelve bushels or thereabouts, suggesting that many retired peasants did not drink ale regularly.10 In Richard Valletus's case, ale consumption would have been possible becaus e he had crops from seve n selions - perhap s two acres. Above Valletus in the hierarchy of village society were prosperous peasants , often tenants of ayardland of thirty acres or so, whose allowances of sixteen or twentyfour bushels, or even more, would have contained enoug h food to feed a servant, and plenty of malting grains to allow them regular and abundant ale consumption. The maintenanc e contracts, as well as indicating the differen t levels of food and drin k consumption amon g peasants with varied resources, also tell us a good dea l about the marked regional difference s i n eating patterns, from th e wheat-eating peasants of the south east- the inhabitants of counties like Essex and Surre y enjoyed especially high level s of wheat-bread consumptio n - whil e quantities of rye were consumed in Norfolk an d Worcestershire . Norfolk grew limited quantities of wheat, and th e peasant s ther e ofte n at e barle y bread, a s they did i n part s of Suffolk. There were important differences also in the pottage and brewing corns - al e brewed from barley malt was available in many counties, but th e meagr e amount s o f barley and th e prominenc e o f oats in th e 9 The agreements are discussed in R.M. Smith, The Manorial Court and the Elderly Tenant in Late Medieval England', in M. Felling and R.M. Smith, eds, Life, Death and the Elderly (London, 1991), pp. 39-61; C. Dyer, Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages: Social Change in England, c . 1200-1520 (Cambridge, 1984), pp. 151-54 . 10 C. Dyer, 'English Diet in the Later Middle Ages', in T.H. Aston, P.R. Coss, C. Dyer andj. Thirsk, eds, Social Relations and Ideas: Essays i n Honour of R.H. Hilton (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 197-206.


7

allowances of Essex and Somerse t peasant s sugges t th e us e of malte d oats to brew an inferior ale. Similarly in Surrey, Norfolk and Hampshire, peasants were not allowed many pulses (peas and beans) an d their pottages would have been base d o n oatmea l o r barley. 11 A few contracts mention th e availabilit y of food an d drin k i n additio n t o cereals an d legumes. Some allow the retired peasant the use of a garden or orchard. A few make specific reference to supplies of cider. The keepin g of pigs, poultry and other animals imply that the diet included eggs, bacon and dairy products. Carcasses of salted meat were to be delivered annually to a few prosperous retired peasants . These maintenance agreements, summoning up as they do a picture of at least adequate quantities of bread, pottage and sometimes ale, give a rather favourable picture of peasant diet. First, they tell us only about the die t of those with land holdings that could be used a s the basis for a retirement contract. Some agreements specify such small quantities of grain - eigh t bushels or less - tha t they must have provided only a small proportion of the income of the retired peasant. The existence of poorer people wh o at e muc h les s well i s indicated by a comparison between contracts from Somerse t manors and tol l corn payments recorded fo r the mills of Taunton in the same county. The toll corn presumably reflects the balance of overall grain consumption in th e district, because most grain was ground by households or commercial food processors, whereas the contracts for maintenance relate to the retirement of the better-off peasants. While wheat accounted fo r almos t two-third s of the retire d peasants' grain allowances, and rye and maslin (a rye and wheat mixture) only about a tenth, the grain processe d b y the mills contained onl y 26 per cent wheat and 2 3 per cent rye and maslin. 12 We have negligible evidenc e for maintenance agreements fro m th e south wes t an d nort h wes t (Devo n and Cornwall , and nort h o f th e Derbyshire Peak), but we can be sure of the predominance o f oat cultivation i n thos e region s fro m mil l tolls , tithe receipts , carbonized grain from archaeologica l excavation s and othe r stron g indirec t evidence. 13 The inhabitants must have depended on oat cakes baked on hot stones or iro n plates , oatmeal pottag e an d al e brewed from oa t malt , which

11

Dyer, Standards o f Living, p. 153 . Hampshire Recor d Office , pip e rolls of the bishopri c o f Winchester, 1209-1342, from informatio n kindly supplied b y Christopher Thornton . 13 Hallam, ed., Agrarian History, ii, pp. 381,392-94,406; G. Beresford, Three Deserted Medieval Settlement s o n Dartmoor : A Report o n th e Lat e E . Marie Minter' s Excavations', Medieval Archaeology, 23 (1979), p. 143 . 12

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caused visitor s to vomit, according t o a sixteenth-centur y traveller to Devon.14 In th e ligh t of this evidence we must remember tha t the bulk of our direct information comes from sociall y and geographically advantaged sections of the population in the thirteenth and early fourteenth century, and tha t we should therefore be cautious in taking too favourable a view of peasant diet. 15 A further strand in our assessment of the quality of peasant food must relate to its nutritional balance - it s proportion o f protein for example, and the amount of vitamins and minerals consumed. Abundant evidence shows that peasants ate meat, fish, dairy products, fruit an d vegetables; although these appear rather inconsistently in the maintenance contracts, peasants were involved in pastoral husbandry and horticulture, and we would expect a t least a small proportion o f products from animal s and gardens to find their way onto the peasants' tables. Detailed inventories of peasants' possessions and tax assessments sometimes include the bacon and salt meat stored in the house.16 And excavations of deserted village sites yield th e bone s o f a variety of domesti c an d (mor e rarely ) wild animals and birds, and sometimes fish.17 In order to gain insights into the daily quantity of such foods, and th e proportion o f the die t tha t thes e represented , w e have to tur n t o th e food an d drin k give n a s part o f th e reward s of wage earners. Thes e employees belong t o the lowe r levels of rural society : they would ten d to be cottagers and smallholders, or entirely landless workers, many of them young people who might aspire to hold land later in life, but who in the meantime had t o accept a more precariou s standard tha n thos e with a holding. They had a lower standard of living than better-off peasants, and ar e representative of a large section of society. Often w e are tol d th e value of the differen t food s consumed, which alerts us to the very high proportions of cereal foods in the diet. Harvest 14

For an iron plate , see E.M. Jope and R.I . Thelfall, 'Excavations of a Medieval Settlement at Beere, North Tawton, Devon', Medieval Archaeology, 2 (1958), p. 138 ; o n ale, H.S.A. Fox, 'Devon and Cornwall' , in E . Miller, ed., Th e Agrarian History o f England and Wales, iii, 1348-1500 (Cambridge , 1991), p . 304 . 15 Cf. H.E. Hallam, The Worker' s Diet', in Hallam, ed., Agrarian History, ii, pp. 825 45, which gathers a great deal of data and draw s some optimistic conclusions. 16 P.D.A. Harvey, Manorial Records ofCuxham, Oxfordshire, circa 1200-1359 (Oxfordshire Record Society , 50, 1976), pp. 153 , 712-14. 17 E.g., M.L. Ryder, 'Animal Remains from Wharra m Percy' , Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 46 (1974), pp. 42-52; D.J. Rackham, 'AnimalRemains', inD. Austin, TheDeserted Medieval Village ofThrislington, County Durham (Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series, 12 , 1989), pp. 146-58 .


9

workers in the north Worcestershire manor of Bromsgrove in 1321-22, for example , received bread an d oatmeal which accounted for a half of the foo d payment s b y value. Ale accounted fo r anothe r 2 8 per cent , leaving meat, fish and dair y produce wort h less than a quarter o f the total wage in kind. 18 As the latte r group of foodstuffs wer e much mor e highly priced tha n th e grain , thei r meagr e quantit y can be assumed . When the quantities are indeed specified , as on the manors of Norwich Cathedral Prior y in Norfolk aroun d 1300 , the die t consisted mainly of barley bread and oatmea l pottage, supplemented b y herrings, salt cod, cheese and bacon, but with the latter foods in such small quantities that we can calculat e fo r ever y 2 pounds o f barley bread a harvest worker received 2 ounces o f cheese, 1 ounce of meat, and 4 ^ ounces offish. I f we quantif y thes e allowance s in term s o f calories, we fin d tha t 7 6 pe r cent were derived from bread an d pottage. 19 This heavy bias towards cereal foods of course relate s to an unusua l time of year, when demesne manager s were anxious to attract workers so as to complete th e harvest on time, and no doubt expecte d them to work hard, well fuelled with energy from a relatively full diet . This does not fill us with much optimism in estimating the quality of normal daily food consumption . A furthe r approac h t o th e estimatio n o f peasan t die t come s fro m reconstructing th e incom e an d outgoing s o f different households , in which th e productio n o f grain an d othe r foodstuff s ca n be calculate d within tolerabl e degree s o f accuracy, and w e can se e how much would be lef t fo r th e family' s consumptio n afte r rents , tithe s an d taxe s ha d been paid , and th e needs of the land in terms of seed and anima l feed deducted. Thi s lead s us to conclude tha t th e uppe r laye r of peasants, the yardlanders, with about thirty acres of arable and access to an appropriate share of common pastures, in midland or southern England , would have bee n abl e t o provid e fo r a family o f five to seve n (thei r families tended t o be rather large ) with ample quantities of bread, pottage an d ale. They would have had no difficulty in supplying themselves with dairy produce regularl y and preserved meat; and indeed would have had sufficient surpluse s of cash i n goo d year s to bu y fish, joints o f meat, an d prepared food s such as puddings and pies from retailers, whether in the village or the local market town. Maintaining an average food intake of c. 2000 calories per da y would have presented n o difficulties , an d thei r 18

Worcestershire Cathedral Library, C 545. C. Dyer, 'Changes in Diet in the Late Middle Ages: The Cas e of Harvest Workers', Everyday Life i n Medieval England (London, 1994) , pp. 77-99 . 19

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diet would have been quit e varied and palatable. 20 On the other hand, the halfyardlanders with about fiftee n acre s would have had difficultie s in supplyin g a family of five with ale or mea t in any quantity regularly, and smallholders , with insufficien t lan d t o feed thei r families , would have needed t o buy grain to supplement their own produce. Given the low rates of pay for unskilled workers around 1300, and the shortage of paid work outside the peak seasons, it is hard to conceive of the smallholders, who accounted fo r a substantial minorit y of the rura l population , as eating much more than basic rations of cheap cereals, with very small quantities and infrequent supplies of ale, meat and dairy produce . Peasant eating fluctuated much more than that of the more privileged groups in medieval society. Within each year there would be periods of relative abundance during and after the harvest and slaughter of animals - from August to December. Poorer peasants observed Lent out of necessity as well as piety - deprivatio n o f meat imposed n o great hardship on people who ate meat irregularly in any case. But the hardest time would have been i n th e earl y summer, as provisions began t o run out , grain prices rose, and the new year's crops were not yet ready to harvest. The provision i n villag e by-laws tha t th e poo r coul d pic k green pea s an d beans fro m th e end s of strips in th e fields would have been a valuable means of keeping families going at this difficult time. 21 In addition to the seasonal cycle, the annual harvest fluctuations made a large differenc e t o the well-being of all groups, depriving the better off of their surplus (and incidentally making it difficult t o employ other poorer neighbours , o r t o giv e much i n charity ) an d threatenin g th e health of the smallholders who depended o n the market for their staple diet. A longer-term cyclical fluctuation again affected all peasant households — the change s in the fortunes of the household as the parents aged an d children matured. Tenants of middling holdings must have encountered special hardship if they had man y children who reached maturity , and would have sought positions for them in households which needed servants and could afford t o feed them. We have seen that old age posed n o great threat to tenants who could trade off their land against a pension, but not all old people had enough acres to negotiate successfull y for an adequate allowance . In an y case not al l contracts were kept; they were 20

Dyer, Standards of Living, pp. 110-18; C. Dyer, 'Were Peasants Self-Sufficient? Englis h Villagers and th e Market , 900-1350', in E. Mornet, ed., Campagnes medievales: I'hommeet son espace (Paris , 1995) , pp. 660-62 . 21 W.O. Ault, Open field Farming in Medieval England: A Study of'Village By-Laws (London, 1972), pp . 38-40.


1

formally recorded because the retiring peasant suspected that the incoming tenant might no t kee p hi s or her word, and occasionall y dispute s appear in the court records or are mentioned in contemporary literature. At any time in any peasant community a sizeable minority of households were sufferin g from som e life-cycl e disadvantage, whethe r becaus e of old age or the premature death of an adult family member. Widows are conventionally regarded as a major deprived group, but a widower would also have encountered serious difficulties in managing the holding without his wife's contribution o f labour an d skills . All tha t thi s evidenc e fo r fluctuation s and variation s in th e foo d consumption o f peasants tells us is that some section s of rural society were poore r an d mor e vulnerabl e tha n others . Bu t it does no t prov e that they actually starved. That they did can be demonstrated simply enough. In the Great Famine of 1315-18 between 10 and 1 5 per cen t of the populatio n die d o n th e manors where there i s good evidenc e for th e siz e of the mal e population. There were in addition occasional bouts of high mortality in other bad harvest years in the same period-in 1293-95,1310-12 and 1321-22 for example - depending on the locality.22 As the population of England at this time stood i n the regio n o f six million, the Great Famine alone must hav e claime d a t leas t 600,00 0 lives , an d i f we add th e tol l fro m lesser episodes the tota l figure must amount to near a million people , who died at times of low grain yields and consequently high food prices between 129 0 and 1325. Now there ar e some important arguments that can be used t o question an d qualif y th e simpl e conclusion that th e peasant s di d starv e in the worst years of the decades around 1300 , and thi s resulted in almost a million deaths. I will deal with them in turn under six headings. First, th e theor y tha t th e peasantr y were poised o n a knife edge of subsistence at this time, which was advanced by Professor Postan and Dr Titow in the 1960s , has to some extent been discredited. They counted the heriots (death duties) paid by tenants on the estates of the bishopric of Winchester, and argue d tha t every time wheat prices rose above 7s. per quarter , ther e wa s an accompanyin g rise i n th e deat h rate . The y made th e mistake of presuming that every heriot represented a death, 22

L. Poos, The Rura l Population of Essex in the Late r Middl e Ages', Economic History Review, 38 (1985) , pp. 515-30 ; Z. Razi, Life, Marriage an d Death in a Medieval Parish: Economy, Society an d Demography i n Haksowen, 1270-1400 (Cambridge , 1980) , pp. 38-45 ; R.M. Smith , 'Demographi c Development s i n Rura l England , 1300-48 : A Survey', i n B.M.S. Campbell , ed. , Before th e Black Death: Studies i n th e 'Crisis' o f th e Early Fourteenth Century (Manchester , 1991), pp. 53-56.

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but it is much more likely that on the Winchester manors, as elsewhere, heriots were paid when a tenant surrendered a holding, and that high prices le d t o increase d activit y i n th e lan d market . Poorer peopl e i n considerable numbers sold lands in hard times, demonstrating a degree of social hardship, but not necessarily mortality.23 Granted that episodes of high mortalit y were not occurrin g as frequently a s Postan thought, we ar e stil l lef t wit h a numbe r o f ba d year s in additio n t o th e Grea t Famine, which by no means removes the idea that starvation was part of the medieval English peasants' experience. The notion that these years were just an acciden t of climate will not provid e an adequate explanation. As modern experienc e shows , disaster s happen everywhere , but floods or droughts in poverty-stricken societies like those of Bangladesh or Ethiopia cause much more suffering than an earthquake in California or inundation s i n th e Netherlands . The vulnerabilit y of th e English peasantry to episodes of bad weather tells us something about the peasants as well as about the climate. Secondly, anothe r lin e o f argument , associate d wit h th e Italia n demographer Livi-Bacci , would emphasize that peopl e d o no t di e i n large numbers from th e effect s o f hunger but from disease , and that in periods such as the fifteenth centur y there was no connection between nutritional statu s and 'crisi s mortality'. 24 A number o f the episode s of high deat h rate s in th e lat e thirteent h an d earl y fourteenth centuries were no doubt the result of epidemic diseases, because higher than average mortality is reported amon g the paris h clergy and gentry who cannot hav e been sufferin g fro m hunger. 25 But this still does not remov e the association between hunger and ill-health, as the coincidence between high grain price s and hig h mortality is clearly established in a number of local studies. We must presume that famine-related diseases such as typhus spread from the hungry poor to their better-nourished neighbours. A third argument would be to suggest that we have miscalculated the resources o f the peasan t population. For example, perhaps we are to o 23

M. M. Postan andj. Z. Titow, 'Heriots and Prices on Winchester Manors', in M. M. Postan, Essays on Medieval Agriculture and General Problems of the Medieval Economy (Cambridge , 1973), pp. 107-49 ; B.M.S. Campbell , 'Populatio n Pressure , Inheritance an d th e Lan d Market in a Fourteenth-Century Peasant Community', in R.M. Smith, ed., Land, Kinship and Lifecycle (Cambridge , 1984) , pp. 87-134; B.F. Harvey, 'Introduction : The "Crisis " of the Earl y Fourteenth Century', in Campbell , ed. , Before th e Black Death, pp. 7-9 . 24 M. Livi-Bacci , Population and Nutrition: An Essay o n European Demographic History (Cambridge, 1991). 25 RJ. Rowberry, 'Late Medieval Demography: A Study of Mortality among the Beneficed Clergy i n Wester n England ' (unpublishe d BA dissertation, University of Birmingham , 1974), pp. 9-15 .


3

fixated on the supply of grain from th e fields, and do not take sufficien t account of the peasants ' undocumente d gardens , o r th e foo d for fre e that could be found in woods and wastes - wil d fruits, smal l game and other supplements. Alternatively, the 'cottage economy' of the smallholders depended no t just on the meagre wages of the head of the household , but als o on th e whol e family' s earning s fro m employment , an d fro m activities such a s retail trade , o r fro m th e sal e of such commoditie s as rushes gathered fro m th e commons or peat dug in the local turbary. To some extent these items in the peasant economy are recorded an d can be quantified . It must be emphasize d initially that coasta l villages had ready acces s t o seafish , whic h gave thei r inhabitant s advantage s over inland peasants in thei r abilit y to consume cheap anima l protein. But for the majority of inland peasants the story looks less optimistic. There are tith e record s fo r garde n produce , an d th e siz e of garden plot s is recorded in both documents and the archaeological remains of deserted village sites. They do not sugges t that gardens were either large or very productive.26 Peasants probably ate more vegetables and fruits than th e aristocracy, but thi s was not a culture which put muc h value on th e fres h produc e which we regard as so important for a healthy diet, and th e upper classes seem to have survived on remarkably low levels of vitamin C.27 Nor would the bon e remain s fro m village sites support th e notio n tha t peasant s consumed much game. We should not ignore the ecological balance in the lowlan d districts where most people lived ; outside th e woodlands, uplands and wetlands , the arabl e acreag e was so extensive that only a fifth or less of the lan d was uncultivated, leaving a limited range of wild flora and faun a either fo r dietary supplements o r source s of revenue. We cannot escape from th e miserabl e wage rates of the period , which point to an abundance of labour priced at a very low level because of the lack of employment opportunities.28 The petty trading and manufacturing which helped many cottagers was very vulnerable to economic fluctuations - in periods of food shortage the market was depressed. As customers who normally drank ale saved their money to buy food, for example, the ale wives were deprived of a market for their products. Fourthly, another apparent assurance of an underlying prosperity among the peasants might be sought in the commercial growth of the thirteenth 26

C. Dyer, 'Gardens and Orchard s in Medieva l England', in Dyer , Everyday Life, pp . 116-21, 128-30. 27 B. F. Harvey, Living and Dying in England, 1100-1540: The Monastic Experience (Oxford, 1993), pp. 60-61,63. 28 Farmer, Trice s and Wages', pp . 760-79.

64 Food


century. Surely the proliferation of local markets and the rise in the urban population poin t t o a wealthy society? Many craftsmen and trader s were gaining a living from supplyin g the peasant s with their clothing, leather goods, housing, pots and pans, agricultural tools and so on.29 The problem here is that there has never been an y doubt about the spending power of the many thousands of households of the upper and middling sections of the peasantry, but they were not the direct victims of the hungry years. The commercialization o f the period should not be underestimated, becaus e it represented a fundamental social and economic shift in the late twelft h and thirteenth centuries. 30 But it did not always aid the plight of the rural poor. Short-term employmen t opportunities an d the expansion o f retail trade must have played a part in fuelling population growt h by tempting young peopl e who lacked stabl e resource s t o marr y and se t up a new household i n a cottage, but of course these were precisely the people who suffered from the high prices in hard years. They specifically were tempted to borrow money and food, and the n foun d that they could not repay. 31 They benefited from th e market but the n found that it offered n o mor e than an illusion of opportunity. And cottagers are the people who appear fully in our records - there was also a shadowy, semi-documented cohort of servants, subtenants and casual workers who sometimes owed small payments of cash or labour to lords, or who when they died were expected t o yield up patheti c heriots of old and nearl y worthless clothing, but whose precise number s remai n uncertain . Th e urba n populatio n containe d a proportion of traders and artisans prospering from the growth in demand, but als o a fringe o f migrants driven i n fro m th e countryside , who lived precariously from occasiona l earnings and marginal activities. A fift h interpretatio n tha t ha s emerge d fro m recen t researc h int o regional farming systems emphasized the productivity that could be gained from intensiv e exploitatio n o f th e fields. 32 Agraria n historian s hav e 29

R.H. Hilton, Th e English Peasantry in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford, 1975), pp. 76-94. R.H. Britnell, The Commercialisation of English Society, 1000-1500 (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 79-151; N. Mayhew, 'Modelling Medieval Monetisation', in R.H. Britnell and B.M.S. Campbell, eds, A Commercialising Economy, England, 1086 - c.1300 (Manchester, 1995), pp. 68-73. 31 On the problem of indebtedness, see Razi, Life, Marriage, andDeath, pp. 37, 81-82; on som e o f the trap s of commercialization, see R.H. Britnell, 'Commercialisation an d Economic Development in England, 1000-1300', in Britnell and Campbell, eds, ACommercialising Economy, pp. 19-23 . 32 B.M.S. Campbell, 'Land , Labour, Livestock , and Productivit y Trends in English Seignorial Agriculture, 1208-1450' , in B.M.S. Campbell and M . Overton, Land, Labour and Livestock: Historical Studies i n European Agricultural Productivity (Manchester , 1991), pp. 144-82 . 30


5

presumed tha t th e mediocre yield s of the midlands and the south between thre e and four time s the seed plante d - wer e universal, and that consequently production was inadequate to meet the needs of society. However, in densel y populated part s o f Norfolk, th e us e o f abundan t inputs o f labour allowe d much highe r grai n yield s per acre . Bu t thi s does not mean tha t the inhabitants of this region escape d from hunger, because th e ver y cheapness o f labour whic h allowed intensive cultivation method s gav e the workers a reduced diet. 33 The sam e researche r who discovered th e Norfol k farming system has now turned hi s attention to the rest of the country, and has to conclude that in normal years the subsistence requirements of the population were barely matched by total agricultural production , which must imply that bad harvests spelt danger for the poor. 34 Finally, there is the question of social institutions. Surely in this closely regulated, responsibl e and caring society, a variety of mechanisms would prevent mass impoverishment and starvation? Perhaps the most important of these institutions were the social customs and practices surrounding the decision to marry.35 Although the church maintained the legality of vows exchanged between couples as constituting valid contracts, in popular custom marriages still depended o n agreements between families, with proper provision of land and goods to give the new household a sound basis. If we look at the lists of tenants and holdings in surveys of manors in the twelfth an d thirteenth centuries, with their remarkably stable lists of customary tenements, we cannot imagine that peasants were marrying casually or hastily. There is, however, some evidence that during the thirteenth centur y customar y restraints o n marriag e ma y have been relaxed. W e find peasant father s taking advantage o f the lan d market, or the assarting of new land, to endow children with smallholdings who would no t ordinaril y have inherited an y land, enabling the m t o form new households. 36 As we have seen , th e openin g u p o f a mor e commercial society may have led thes e beneficen t fathers to believe that a living could be made without a substantial land holding . If the restraint s o n populatio n growt h were to some exten t pushe d 33

I owe this observation to Mark Overton. B.M.S. Campbell, J.A. Galloway , D. Keene an d M . Murphy, A Medieval Capital and its Grain Supply: Agrarian Production and Distribution in the London Region, c. 1300, Histori cal Geography Research Series, 30 (1993), pp. 37-45. 35 E. Clark, Th e Decisio n t o Marr y in Thirteenth - an d Earl y Fourteenth-Century Norfolk', Mediaeval Studies, 49 (1987), pp. 496-516. 36 Z. Razi, The Myt h of the Immutable English Family' , Past and Present, 140 (1993), pp. 7-10. 34

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aside by new economic developments in the period, the casualties would surely have found a safety-net i n th e variou s charitable organizations? We are aware of a wide range of methods by which charity was distributed - churc h institutions provided relief for the poor, from the almonries of great monasteries to the distributions made by the incumbent and th e laity of the paris h church. 37 Families looked afte r thei r own members, for example, by the type of maintenance agreement already mentioned, or b y providing non-inheriting children with parcel s of land or allow ances of grain. Villager s must have aided thei r poo r neighbour s wit h free meal s or offers o f employment. The village community in its more formal guis e allowe d gleaning and pea-picking to the genuine poo r the others had t o earn thei r living in the harvest. But doubts must surround the effectiveness of these measures, especially when they were tested by an extremely bad harvest. Many villages, and families, no matter how well disposed towards their neighbours, especially in many places which lacked a stratum of wealthy tenants, would simply not hav e enough spare capacity to feed the many poor. In addition we should not idealize excessively the medieval sense of responsibility. After all, the bulk of our information about the remedies for poverty during the Great Famine and other years of hardship relates to self-help, as the less well-off borrowed money and food or sold their land in order to pay debts. And in desperation man y people turned t o crime, or at least the statistics reveal a sudden ris e in accusations. 38 To complete the discussion of the period c. 1290-1325, we cannot escape the conclusion that large numbers of English peasants really did starve i n th e wors t years. Normal peasant eatin g o f th e perio d pu t a heavy emphasi s o n a n imbalance d intak e o f cereals , an d th e vulnerability of the poore r sections of the communit y was increased b y their dependence o n th e purchas e o f grain. The population s of the mainly oat-growing counties were in danger from bad harvests as no adequat e cheaper substitute was available to them. The mortalit y and th e suffer ing of those whose lives were disrupted by these years cannot be attributed simply to an accident of bad weather. We do not need to accept Postan's thesis o f overpopulatio n an d th e ecologica l damag e t o th e lan d t o recognize that thi s was a period o f crisis. But the crisi s had a s much to do with the overheating of the market and the various dislocations this caused as with the Malthusia n excess of people. 37

Dyer, Standards o f Living, pp. 234-57 . B. Hanawalt, 'Economi c Influenc e o n th e Patter n o f Crime i n England , 1300 1348', American Journalo f Legal History, 1 8 (1974), pp. 281-97 . 38


7

Peasant eating in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries went through a real transformation. All of the causes of earlier hardship were ameliorated as the population declined . The amoun t of land cultivated by each family increased. The number of smallholders was reduced as they found it possible to acquire more acres. Those who remained as wage labourers found themselves in a superior bargaining position; the tenants of larger holdings sough t t o emplo y them , an d th e deman d fo r craf t workers increased with the growth of rural cloth-making . In the late thirteenth century, a labourer woul d have needed t o work for forty-eigh t day s to pay for a quarter (eigh t bushels) of wheat. In fac t such a worker would not have aspired to buy so expensive a commodity as wheat. In the fifteent h century a comparable unskilled worker could acquire the cash to buy a quarter o f wheat in fifteen days' employment, and many of them could have afforded t o eat wheat bread, an d muc h else besides. The direc t evidenc e o f foo d allowance s to worker s shows a steady increase in the late fourteenth century in the quantities of ale and meat given t o workers. Norfolk harvesters in the early fifteenth century were allowed for every two pounds of bread, one pound o f meat and six pints of ale. 39 All over the countr y th e qualit y of foodstuffs give n to harvest workers improved - wheat bread was baked instead of that made from barley and rye. Fresh meat, including beef, was provided instead of bacon. In districts with a cider-drinking tradition such as Sussex, ale was preferred. And fresh fish was substituted for dried cod and sal t herrings. So much meat was provided for workers that cheese diminished in importance in the diet. Always we must remember tha t harvest workers were especially privileged, and that everyday production and consumption of preserved fish, bacon an d dair y products continued at a high level. The trend s in food consumption are confirmed by the comment s of contemporaries, who complained in particular that servants and labourers could demand wheat, white bread, good ale (instead of the secondbest brew, or water), and hot dishes of fresh meat, and despised cabbages.40 The prosecutions under the Statute of Labourers in the late fourteenth century show ploughmen refusing to accept employment without receiving fresh mea t (rathe r than salted ) and wheat bread.41 Developments in the food trades suggest a shifting demand. Butchers increased in numbers and prominence in both towns and country. Land 39

Dyer, 'Changes in Diet', pp. 83-85. E.g., G. Kane and E . Talbot Donaldson, eds, Piers Plowman: The B Version (London , 1975), passus 6, lines 303-11. 41 S.A.C. Penn and C. Dyer, 'Wages and Earnings in Late Medieval England: Evidence from th e Enforcemen t of the Labou r Laws', in Dyer , Everyday Life, p . 185. 40

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everywhere was converted from arabl e t o pastur e i n respons e t o th e market for meat - a more important and valuable commodity than the wool tha t has received most historical attention. In th e villages the ale house became a more permanent institution, where ale was sold regularly, often alongside prepared foodstuffs, which tended to replace the intermittent and short-term ale selling of the pre-plague era.42 This must reflect a more sustained demand, perhaps from better-off households who bought ale rather than brewing it themselves, and above all from groups of poorer people who had previously been unable t o afford t o drink ale regularly. Finally, the record s o f small-town courts contain reference s in the lat e fourteenth an d fifteent h centurie s to the enforcemen t of the assiz e of bread, which was bought by customers from th e surrounding villages as well as the townspeople themselves. Indeed w e know that urban baker s carried thei r wares into the countryside for sale. 43 The striking feature of the records is that even in a district not previously noted for its wheat consumption, such as Norfolk, the bakers were producing notjust wheat bread, but that made from th e finest white flour, the wastel loaf.44 We ca n detec t i n al l thes e change s a cultura l a s well a s a materia l dimension. A feature of the new peasant diet was a tendency to emulate the consumptio n an d styl e o f the aristocracy . The mode l provide d by the upper class must have been familia r to the peasantry. The sons and daughters o f peasants were recruited int o service in the households of the loca l gentry and clergy . Lords and ladie s (lik e Alice de Bryen e of Acton in Suffolk) woul d invite their tenants to special meals, often during the Christmas season.45 When village fraternities held their annua l feast they presumably hired a cook experienced in preparing meals for the gentry. 46 We should therefore not be surprised to find that, when peasants and rural workers gained th e opportunit y to improve their diet, they aped the standards o f their lords. In particular they aspired t o ample dishes 42

P. Clark, Th e English Ale-House: A Social History, 1200-1830 (London , 1983) , pp . 20-38. 43 E.g. PRO, SC2 210/71 (cour t roll of Pershore, Worcestershire, which shows 'cokett', 'treat' and 'wastell' loaves being sold in 1374); Hereford and Worcester County Record Office, 009: 1 B.A. 2636/169 9237 2 (i n 147 4 bakers from Bewdle y and Worceste r sold bread at Hartlebury, Worcestershire). 44 Norfolk Record Office, MCR/B/26 (wastels were sold in the market of Hingham, 1420, 1461). 45 M.K. Dale and V.B . Redstone, eds, The Household Book o f Dame Alice de Bryene (Suf folk Institut e of Archaeology and Natura l History, 1931) , p. 28 . See below, Chapter 9. 46 A.G. Rosser, 'Going to the Fraternity Feast: Commensality and Social Relations in Late Medieval England', Journalo f British Studies, 33 (1994), pp. 430-46.


9

of meat and fish, and doubtles s hoped t o drink the daily gallon of ale regarded as standard i n aristocratic household budgeting. They aimed also to be able to eat fine white wheat bread.47 They may also have shared the aristocratic disdain for fresh vegetables - contemporary writers thought that garlic, onions and leeks were typical poverty foods, and this prejudice may have influenced peasant tastes . There i s certainly no evidenc e of expanding peasant horticulture i n the post-Black Death period, rathe r the opposit e a s gardens an d orchard s were abandoned becaus e of the difficulty o f findin g labou r t o work them . The y would not hav e bee n able to afford muc h wine or spices, though th e presenc e o f 'spicers' in small towns and market villages might hint at a more general market for imported condiments, at least for special occasions.48 But then the lesser gentry an d paris h clerg y - th e most immediat e rol e model s fo r the improved peasant diet - di d not use large quantities of these expensive imports either. There are indications also that the prevalence of boiling as a means of food preparation was supplemented by more roasting and fryin g i n the style of the wealthy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 49 Not only were th e foodstuff s an d cookin g o f the aristocrac y imitated, bu t also thei r tabl e manners , judging fro m th e tabl e cloths , towels, ewers and basin s liste d i n th e inventorie s of peasan t households . Peasan t tableware - decorated jugs from the late thirteenth century, attractively glazed drinkin g cup s by the fifteenth - provid e further evidence for peasant meals as occasions for a little display and refinement. 50 We should note , however, the negativ e side of this emulation of the aristocracy because, althoug h peasant s were acquiring patterns of eating which added t o th e variet y and attractivenes s of meals, they were also adopting a diet unlikely in the opinion of modern nutritionist s to lead t o good healt h - a higher intak e of refined bread , fatt y meat and alcohol - whil e at th e sam e tim e reducin g th e amoun t o f fruit an d vegetables, cannot be regarded as an improvement according to modern fashion.51 But they undoubtedly felt happier with their new style of eating, and ca n we be certain that they were wrong? 47

On emulatio n in diet, see S. Mennell, All Manners o f Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from th e Middle Ages to the Present (Oxford , 1985) , pp. 54-61 . 48 For example , a t Fishlak e i n Yorkshire : Rotulorum collectorum subsidii (poll-ta x o f 1379), Yorkshire Archaeological Journal,6 (1879-80), p. 15. 49 M. McCarthy and C.M . Brooks, Medieval Pottery i n Britain, AD 900-1600 (Leicester, 1988), pp. 107-8 . 50 Ibid., pp. 110-14. 51 Harvey, Living and Dying, pp. 34-71.

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In fac t th e lif e expectatio n o f the peasantr y seems to have increased at this time, and on e dimensio n o f that development lay in th e virtual disappearance of life-threatening subsistence crises.52 After a concentration of bad years between the Black Death and 1375, grain prices became relatively low and stable . Som e shortfall s in harvest s returned i n th e early fifteenth centur y and culminate d i n a run o f very poor crop s in the late 1430s. After tha t there was little evidence of serious food shortage until the early sixteenth century . We cannot doubt tha t the famine of the 1430 s caused muc h disruption, especially in the north, and tha t it was a turning-point for the economies of some magnates' estates, and of some towns. But, except in East Anglia, where an epidemic coincided with the famine, there is little evidence for excess mortality.53 The general increase in wheat eating presumably meant that in hard times the cheaper cereals and pulses , ofte n use d i n thi s period a s animal feed, could b e consumed by humans once more. There may even have been accumulated stocks of corn hanging over from one year to the next, acting as a cushion against hunger . In addition , fo r thos e wh o di d suffe r deprivation , th e safety-ne t of charity would have been growing in effectiveness. Parish-base d suppor t for th e poor , with almshouses, and collectio n of money on th e basi s of rates or other local levies, managed b y churchwardens, constables and perhaps with contributions from the parish fraternities, had been developing from the mid fourteenth century, and supplemented or even replaced the mor e informal machinery of personal and famil y charity of earlier generations.54 If my analysis of eating and food shortage among the medieval peasants is right, an d th e historian s o f the earl y modern perio d ar e correc t i n their upbeat view of food crises in the succeeding centuries, an important turning-point in history occurred during the fourteenth century. Perhaps the yea r 1375, which ushered i n an er a o f cheap an d plentifu l food , is the key date. After the n th e peasants no longer starved , and th e era of hunger-driven mortality had ended. This takes us beyond the history of food, because it implies that English people could spend more on non52

Dyer, Standards o f Living, pp. 271-72 . A. Pollard, Th e North-Easter n Econom y and th e Agrarian Crisi s of 1438-1440', Northern History, 2 5 (1989) , pp . 88-105 ; R.S . Gottfried, Epidemic Disease i n FifteenthCentury England (Leicester, 1978) , pp . 96-97. 54 M.K. Mclntosh, 'Local Changes and Community Control in England, 1465-1500', Huntingdon Library Quarterly, 9 (1988), pp. 219-42; E. Clark, 'Social Welfare and Mutual Aid in th e Medieva l Countryside', Journal of British Studies, 33 (1994) , pp. 381-406 . 53


1

food items than ever before, and we can trace to this period th e growth of steady demand from a mass market for such goods as woollen cloth.55 And, furthermore, we can observe a divergence between the history of England an d tha t of mainland Europe . Fo r generations after Si r John Fortescue compared the well-nourished and independent-minded English population wit h thei r miserabl e Frenc h counterparts , th e continenta l peasants stil l occasionally went hungry.

55

The proportio n o f income spent on food in pre-industrial societies is discussed in C. Shammas, 'Food Expenditure an d Economi c Weil-Bein g i n Early Modern England', Journal o f Economic History, 43 (1983) , pp. 89-100 .


5

Cannibalism as an Aspect of Famine in Two English Chronicles Julia Marvi n From 131 5 t o 1318 Englan d - an d much o f Europe - suffere d thre e rainy years and si x ruined harvest s in a row. By 1316 famine had begun . Seed-corn rotted in the damp, mass malnutrition led to death from disease, and th e desperat e resorte d t o crime , all in tim e of war. A year or two after the rains stopped an d the harvests began t o improve, England was visited with the murrain , fata l epidemic s among suc h livestock as had survived the famine. In some places, prosperity did not return until well into the 1320s ; in others, th e famine seems to have marked the begin ning of the century's economic decline.1 Some manorial records indicate mortality of 10 per cen t or more over the course of the famine, and th e rate may have been highe r stil l in the towns : fourteenth- and fifteenthcentury English chronicles describe the dearth with language as potent as that of the Blac k Death of 1348. 2 Medieval account s o f the famin e address a set of common themes , including the rains that provoked the crisis, high prices, scarcity of goods, mass hunger, widespread mortality , murrain, corpses too numerous to bury, strange diet and the explicit attribution of the disaster to the wrath of God. 3 These topic s are by no mean s unique to 1316 ; many of them can b e foun d i n Josephus' first-century Jewish War, 4 an d i n report s o f 1

Ian Kershaw, The Grea t Famin e an d Agrarian Crisi s in England, 1315-1322' , Past and Present, 59 (1973) , p . 50 . 2 Michael M. Postan an d Jan Z . Titow, 'Heriots and Price s o n Winchester Manors' , Economic History Review, 2nd series , 1 1 (1958), p. 407, table 1 , graphs 1, 2; Kershaw, Th e Great Famine' , p. 11. 3 See the Appendix for a list of chronicles consulted , o n whic h thes e observation s are based. 4 Josephus' description of mass starvation i n the besieged city of Jerusalem circulate d through Eusebiu s an d the n (vi a Eusebius) th e Golden Legend. A version o f th e stor y appears in the late fourteenth-century Middle English poem Th e Siege of Jerusalem. Josephus, The JewishWar, Books 7V-V77, ed. and trans . H. St J. Thackeray (Londo n an d Cambridge , Massachusetts, 1928) , v. 424-25; vi. 193-213; Eusebius, Th e Ecclesiastical History, ed . an d trans. Kirsopp Lake, i (London and New York, 1926), 3.5.5-3.6.28; Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, trans. William Grange r Ryan (Princeton , New Jersey, 1993), c. 67 (o n

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other medieval famines, such as that of 1258 in the chronicle of Bury St Edmunds: Penuria omnium bonorum sequitur precedentis anni inundacionem; nam quartarium frumenti, quod raro inueniebatur, ad xv. solidos et eciam usque xx. solidos uendebatur. Vnde tanta fames orta est ut pauperes carnem equinam, cortices arborum, uel quod deterius est, comederent; innumerabiles fam e defecerunt. (There was a great shortage of everything because of the floods of the previous year, and corn , which was very scarce, cost from 15s . to as much as 20s. a quarter. Famine resulted so that the poor had to eat horsemeat, the bark of trees and eve n more unpleasant things. Many died of hunger.)5 Only a few chronicles o f the famin e o f 131 6 refer t o tha t stranges t o f strange diet, cannibalism, but their stories are striking, and some moder n readers have give n the m credence. 6 I n thi s essa y I examin e tw o suc h accounts, the fourteenth-century VitaEdwardi Secundi and the fifteenthcentury annals of Bermondsey, in order to analyse the immediate func tion o f cannibalism i n thei r representatio n o f famine, and t o conside r what these particular episodes demonstrate abou t their authors' method s of constructing history . One o f the mos t nearl y contemporary account s o f the famine , th e anonymous VitaEdwardi Secundi, dates from 1325 or 1326 and appears to b e a n entirel y origina l work , accordin g t o its modern editor , Noe l Denholm-Young.7 The chronicle a s a whole offers a detailed accoun t of the reig n o f Edward II, with careful attention t o the English campaign s continued

St James th e Apostle) , i, pp. 275-76 ; Th e Siege o f Jerusalem, ed. E . Kolbing and M . Day, EETS, origina l series , 188 (London, 1932) , lines 1063-96. 5 Chronicle of Bury St Edmunds, 1212-1301, ed. and trans . Antonia Gransden (London , 1964), p. 22. 6 Henry Lucas, for example, asserts in the first major article on the famine that cannibalism 'certainly was common:', The Grea t European Famine of 1315,1316 and 1317', Speculum, 5 (1930) , p. 355. Kershaw more cautiousl y suggests that report s 'ma y hav e been exaggerated bu t they testify to the stark horror . . . impressed upon th e memorie s of contemporaries', Kershaw , The Grea t Famine', pp. 9-10. William Chester Jordan's magisterial book, The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century (Princeton, Ne w Jersey, 1996) , appeare d afte r thi s essa y was written. See pp. 148-5 0 for hi s consideration o f accounts of cannibalism. 7 He believes that the surviving version lacks a final revision: the text ends with 1325, expressing hopes that would be crushed by the events of 1327, when Edward II was deposed and murdered, VitaEdwardi Secundi, ed. and trans. Noel Denholm-Young (London, 1957), pp. xiv , xvii-xviii.

Cannibalism as an Aspect o f Famine in Tw o English Chronicles 7

5

in Scotland, Wales an d Ireland , baronial politics and th e affair s of the church. It is opinionated and moralistic - th e author never hesitates to point out the lessons to be learned from th e bad ends of rebels - an d it speculates freely about the future, so freely that Denholm-Young considers the chronicler 'outspoken in a degree that would be madness in any rising man' an d conclude s that he mus t have retire d fro m publi c lif e before writing the Vita. 8 The chronicle' s account of the famin e extend s across three annals: that fo r 1315 , whe n th e rain s tha t cause d th e deart h began ; tha t for 1316, whe n governmen t price controls failed an d widesprea d hunge r set in; and that for 1318, when th e famine abated . Throughout, the text is in a vivid historical present. The write r begins , Per alia quedam sign a apparet manus Dei contra nos extenta. Nam anno preterite tant a fui t habundanti a pluuie quo d ui x licui t hominibu s frumenta colligere uel horreo salu a recondere. Anno uero presenti deterius euenit. Nam inundatio pluuiarum omn e fer e seme n consumpsit , in tanturn u t uaticiniu m Ysay e ia m uideretu r expletu m esse ; ai t eni m dece m iugera uinearu m faciun t laguncula m unam, e t trigint a modii sementis faciunt modios tres . . . Oues autem communiter perierunt et alia animalia subita peste ceciderunt . Valde autem nobis timendum est ne, si Dominus post hec flagella incorrigibiles nos inueniat, homines et pecora simul disperdat; et constanter credo quod, nisi intercederet Anglican a religio, dispersi fuissemus elaps o tempore multo. (By certain other portents the hand of God appears to be raised against us. For i n th e pas t year there was such plentiful rai n tha t men coul d scarcely harvest the corn or bring it safely to the barn. In the present year worse has happened. Fo r the floods of rain have rotted almost all the seed, so that the prophecy of Isaiah might seem now to be fulfilled; fo r he says that 'ten acres of vineyard shall yield on e littl e measur e an d thirt y bushel s of seed shall yield three bushels'. . . Sheep generally died and othe r animals were killed by a sudden plague . I t is greatly to be feared tha t if the Lord finds us incorrigible afte r thes e visitations, he wil l destroy at once bot h me n an d beasts; and I firmly believe that unless the English church had interceded for us, we should have perished long ago.)9 The chronicler alludes specifically to Isaiah and, appropriately , considering the endless rain and widespread mortality, uses the language of that

8

9

Ibid., p. xix.

Ibid., p. 64.

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great biblical catastrophe, th e Flood.10 Though he speaks of 'the present year', his past-tense referenc e t o the murrain shows that he was writing or at least revising his text after the fact: manorial records indicate tha t the murrain in most places began late r than 1315 and reached it s height in late 1316 and 1317. 11 The chronicler cannot be simply recording th e events as they happen. Instead , h e i s taking the authoria l stanc e o f an immediate eyewitness, using his foreknowledge to indicate the full scale of the disaste r a t the outse t an d t o emphasize its likeness to the Flood , another tribulatio n brough t o n b y human wickednes s and alleviated through God' s grace an d th e effort s o f the virtuous. The anna l for th e followin g year, 1316, als o sounds a t first as if it is written in mid crisis: the beginning of the dearth is past tense, England' s desperate situation present tense and the desired resolution future tense. Nevertheless, even at the start of the passage, the writer is quick to provide reassurance, describing the failure of the government's attempt to regulate prices but concluding, 'Na m licet raritas annonam faci t cariorem, habundantia subsequens reddet meliorem' (fo r although scarcity of corn raises the price, subsequent plenty will improve the situation) ,12 He then claims that the famine is the worst in a century, that many thousands have died of hunger and pestilence, an d tha t Aquibusdam etiam audiui relatum, quod in partibus Northumbrorum canes et equi et alia immunda sumebantur ad esum. Hii enim propter frequentes incursus Scotorum maior i tedi o laborabant, quos maledicti Scot i sui s uictualibus cotidie spoliabant. (I have even heard it said by some, that in Northumbria dogs and horses and other unclean things were eaten. For there, on account of the frequent raids of the Scots, work is more irksome, as the accursed Scots despoil the people daily of their food.) 13 10

Cf. Isaiah 5:10: 'decem enim iuga vinerarum facient lagunculam unam et triginta modii sementia facient modio s tres' (translate d in text), and Genesi s 7:18, 21 and 23: 'Vehementur inundaverunt [aquae ] e t omnia repleverunt in superficie terr a . . . consumptaque est omnis caro . .. et delevit omnem substantiam quae erat super terram ab homine usque ad pecus' (fo r they [the waters] overflowed exceedingly: and filled all on the face of the earth . .. and all flesh was destroyed . .. and he destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth , from man even to beast). All Latin quotations from th e Bible come fro m Biblia sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem (Stuttgart , 1975 ) an d al l translations from th e Bibl e from Th e Holy Bible, Douay version (New York, n.d.). 11 Kershawuses records of wool exports and manoria l sales of livestock to assess the timing and extent of the murrain, 'The Great Famine', pp. 20-29. 12 Vita, p. 69. 13 Ibid., pp. 69-70.


7

The chronicle r is cautious here, carefu l t o balance th e stor y with th e warning that he has only heard of these distant events from others , and he even offers an explanation of the circumstances that might have driven the Northerners to such an extreme. After bemoaning England's destitution, complaining of the wickedness o f the inhabitants of the land an d imploring God's mercy i n a passage tha t is a collage of biblical quotations, he makes another sudden, cheerful turn , bolstered by both astrology and th e Psalms: Saturnus enim securus et frigidus asperitates procreat inutiles seminibus; triennio iam regnans cursum consummauit, et sibi mitis Jupiter ordine successit. Porro Joue regnante cessabun t pluuiales unde, ualle s habundabunt frumento e t campi replebuntur ubertate ; eteni m Dominus dabit benignitatem, et terra nostra debit fructum suum. (For Saturn, cold and heedless , brings rough weather that is useless to th e seed; in the ascendant now for three years he has completed his course, and mild Jupiter duly succeeds him. Under Jupiter these floods of rain will cease, the valleys will grow rich in corn, and the fields be filled with abundance. For the Lord shall give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase.) 14 Again, such prophetic serenity in the face o f disaster does not speak for true contemporaneity , but i t prepares th e wa y for th e Vitas entr y for 1318, th e year the famine abated . The chronicle r takes the en d o f the famine as one of a series of signs that God's favour is returning to England: [Cessauit] sterilitas ilia que diu nos afflixit, et habundantia omni[um] bonorum terra m Anglorum multiplicite r foecundauit. Modius tritici, qui ann o preterito pro xl. denariis uendebatur, hodie pro sex denariis emptori libenter offertur. Si c olim tamdiu obsessa Samaria, ut mater filii carnibus uesceretur pro penuri a uictualium , recuperauit diuina gratia. Nam caput asini, quo d octoginta aurei s pridie uendebatur , omnibu s inmundu m i n crastino repu tatum erat , et modius simile pro stater e uno uenundatus , sicut predixerat uir Dei Heliseus. 14

Ibid., p. 70 and nn. 1-3 . Th e preceding passage runs, 'Terr a fructifera uertitur i n salsuginem; aeri s intemperies deuorat pinguedinem; seritu r frumentum e t procreatur lollium. Eueniunt aute m omnia a malitia habitantium i n ea. Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo. Subsannan t et derident nos qui sunt in circuitu nostro ' (Fruitfu l land is turned into a salt-marsh; th e inclemency of the weather destroys th e fatness of the land; corn is sown and tare s ar e brough t forth . Al l this come s fro m th e wickednes s o f th e inhabitants . Spare, O Lord, spare th y people! For we are a scorn and a derision t o them who are round about us). The writer quote s Vulgate Psalm 106:3 4 (also recalling Jeremiah 12: 4 and 13) , as well as Joel 2:17 and Vulgat e Psal m 43:14 , and i n th e followin g passage h e quotes Vulgate Psal m 64:1 2 an d 1 4 and Vulgat e Psal m 84:13 . The text' s shift s in ton e could also b e said t o reflect psalm structure .

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(The dearth that had so long plagued us ceased, and England became fruitful wit h a manifold abundanc e of good things. A measure of wheat, which the year before was sold for forty pence, was now freely offered t o the buyer for sixpence. Thus it once happened when Samaria was besieged for so long that for lack of food a mother fed upon th e fles h o f her son , that the land recovered through divine grace. For an ass's head, which had on e day sold for eight y pieces o f gold, was on th e morro w hel d unclea n b y all, and a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, according to the word of the man ofGodElisha.) 15 The stor y cited is that of the siege of Samaria in II Kings, 6 and 7. Though the writer recalls it as much for its happy ending a s for its desperation, it is one o f the mor e gruesome episode s i n the Bible . Here i s the story in part: a woman has called upon the king of the besieged city for help, complaining, 'Mulie r ista dixit mihi da filium tuum ut comedamus eum hodie e t filiu m meu m comedemu s era s coximus ergo filiu m meu m e t comedimus dixiqu e e i die alter a d a filiu m tuu m u t comedamu s eu m quae abscondit filium suum' (thi s woman said to me: Give thy son, that we may eat hi m today , and w e will eat m y son tomorrow . So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her o n the next day: Give thy son that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son) ,16 The author of the Vita sees the biblical dearth both as a genuine historical even t and as an analogu e for hi s ow n time , useful a s a means o f reinforcing the readin g o f th e fourteenth-century famine that he has already offered throug h his other scriptural citations and his use of prophecy. As a model story of desperation, sin and strange die t beyond even that of the Northumbrians - and of God's deliveranc e - th e Samarian famine lends moral resonance to the contemporar y account , an d s o emphasize s th e connection s th e chronicler see s between God's grace and the health of the entire realm of England. H e ends his list of good portents with a citation of Paul: 'Si Deus nobiscum, quis contra nos?' (If God be for us, who can be against us?).17 In her survey of English historical writing, Antonia Gransden character 15

Vita, p. 90. Cf. II Kings 6:25, 28-29; 7:1, 16 (IV Kings in the Vulgate): Tactusque est modius similae statere uno e t duo modii hordei statere uno iuxt a verbum Domini' (and a bushel of fine flour wa s sold for a stater, and tw o bushels of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord). 16 IV Kings 6:28-29. 17 Vita, p. 91 and n.l, quoting Romans 8:31. Among the other auspicious signs are the apparent reconciliation of Edward II and Thomas of Lancaster at the parliament of 1318 and a Host miracle in which a dove snatches the sacramen t from th e chaplain of the interdicted Robert Bruce (Vita, pp. 89-91).

Cannibalism as an Aspect o f Famine i n Tw o English Chronicles 7

9

izes the Vita Edwardi Secundi as 'not a chronicle in the stric t sense but a literary piece'. However, it is exactly those element s ofte n considere d 'literary' - biblica l plot, phraseology , and prophetic techniqu e - tha t constitute the anonymous author's basic narrative material.18 Although his prophecies ma y seem disingenuous t o modern readers, the y do not represent merel y compulsive or lapidary use of biblical language. They are his means of describing and explaining the recent past and putting it into context - a n activity we can recognize as the writing of history. Within a n understandin g o f history as a series of exemplary, morally comprehensible tales , the write r may see the relatio n o f the event s of the ancient and moder n famines , an d the role of Providence in them, as innate: his job i s not t o create a new connection bu t t o discern an d point out the on e tha t God has already made. As Matthew Paris puts it: Prodigia aute m ve l portenta praeterit a qua e famem , ve l mortalitatem , ve l alia supernae vindictae flagella fidelibus innuunt, ideo memoriae pe r literas commendantur, u t s i quando similia evenerint, peccatore s qui se iram Dei in aliquo incurriss e meminerint , mo x ad remedium poenitentiae, per hae c Deum placaturi, festinent . (Prodigies or past portents that announce t o the faithful hunger , o r mortal ity, or other scourges o f divine vengeance, ar e therefor e t o be commende d to the memory by letters, so that when such events occur, sinners who remember having incurre d th e wrat h o f God agains t the m i n somethin g ma y haste n quickly to the remed y o f penitence, b y which they may appease God.) 19

By invoking the two famines as demonstrations of God's justice and mercy, past and present, the writer of the Vita Edwardi Secundi is doing what had long been recognize d as the historian's job. The chronicle s writte n i n late r year s generally offe r les s dramatic accounts o f th e famin e of 1316 . Withou t exception, the y make some mention of the high price of grain and of widespread death, but accounts of strange diet are uncommon, and sensational details are not the only ones to drop out ; references to bad weather and murrai n als o tend to decrease over time, as do those to the government's attempts to control prices. That is , interest in causes of the crisi s dwindles, while that in its 18

Gransden, Historical Writing in England (London, 1982) , ii, p. 3. MatthaeiParisiensis chronica majora, ed. H.R. Luard, Rolls Series, 57 (London, 1880), i, p. 1 and n. , after the prologu e t o Robert o f Torigny (d. 1186), in Sigeberti Gemblacensis monachi opera omnia, vol. 16 0 of Patrologia latina, ed. J.-P. Mign e (Paris , 1880) , col. 421 . Translation mine . 19

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effects survives . In general , th e aspect s o f th e famin e tha t remaine d noteworthy to later historians were high prices, high mortality, scarcity of food and mas s hunger.20 The exceptio n t o this rule o f increasing moderatio n i s the annals of Bermondsey. They were probably written around 1433, though th e portions o n th e year s after 120 6 were largely compiled from olde r docu ments within the priory, according to their editor, H.R. Luard, who believed that 'th e compiler had acces s to a considerable number of authorities, and re-wrote the accounts they narrate in his own words'.21 The annals ' few sentences given to the famine of 1316 are, then, far removed fro m the fact, if based on earlier sources. The account does not mention the rains that caused the dearth or the murrain that followed, but it nevertheless covers in som e detai l mos t of the spectacula r elements of earlie r versions, including this tale of strange diet: Tauperes enim pueros suos manducabant, canes, murelegos, stercus columbarum'.22 The claim that the poor ate their children, dogs and cats is lurid enough, but the Bermondsey book's last item, dove droppings, goes beyond sensationalism into surrealism. An explanation i s called for, and i t is not t o be found in the event s of 1316 . It is once again in the Bible, in the same story of the siege of Samaria that inspired the author of the VitaEdwardi Secundi. The price of an ass's head is not the only one mentioned: 'Factaque est fames magna in Samaria et tamdiu obsessa est donee venundaretur caput asini octoginta argenteis et quarta pars cabi stercoris columbarum quinqu e argenteis' (an d there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege continue, till th e hea d o f an as s was sold fo r fourscor e pieces of silver, an d th e fourth par t o f a cab o f pigeon's dun g fo r five pieces of silver). 23 Th e dove dropping s hav e lon g presente d a challeng e t o Bibl e readers . Augustine allegorize s th e famine as the spiritua l hunger o f those who turn awa y from th e worship of God and th e droppings as the idols from which they vainly seek nourishment.24 The Genev a Bible explains that

20

See the Appendix for the sources on which these observations are based. Annales monasterii de Bermundesia, in Annales monastici, ed. H.R. Luard, iii, 421-88, Rolls Series, 3 6 (London, 1866), iii, pp. xxxv , xxxvi, xxxviii. 22 Ibid., p. 470. It continues, 'e t ita crebro moriebantur, ut deesset morituris cura et mortuis sepultura' (an d thus they were dying so thick and fas t tha t there was not car e for th e dying or graves for the dead). Translation mine . 23 IV Kings 6:25. 24 Commentary on I V Kings 6 in the Glossa ordinaria (Patrologia latina, vol. 113, cols 615-16). 21


1

the dun g wa s burnt i n lie u o f firewood. 25 Th e Ne w Jerusalem Bibl e dismisses the dov e droppings a s impossible and suggest s an alternative Hebrew ter m meaning 'wil d onions'. The lates t English version of the Tanakh, whil e translating th e phras e a s 'doves ' dung' , glosse s it a s a popular term for carob pods.26 The writer of the Bermondsey book, in a day when the droppings were understood t o have served as food, has not only taken the words literally but transplanted and represented th e consumption o f the dun g a s a fourteenth-century event, one s o outrageous that it can have no basis but the literary one.27 Once we have seen thi s biblical particular so wholly assimilated into recent history , we may begin t o consider II Kings as a potential sourc e for othe r elements o f the Bermondse y account a s well, specifically fo r the parent s who devour thei r ow n children. The stor y of the canniba l mothers of Samaria is by no means the onl y or even the most grisly cannibalism in th e Bible , though i t is the onl y specific instance recounte d as historical fact. Cannibalis m - alway s parents eatin g their childre n otherwise appear s i n curses , prediction s o r laments , invariably associated with famine and usually with the wrath of God.28 In these instances, the beleaguered peopl e of Israel must sacrifice their children not out of dutiful obedienc e t o the Lord, as Abraham was ready to do, but a s the final consequence o f the sinfulness tha t separates them from Go d and brings disaster upon them . Although the brief Bermondsey annal has not adopted precis e biblical language and makes no explicit reference to the Bible, we must suspect that th e Bible' s cannibalism has influenced the accoun t when we see what has unmistakably happened to the dove droppings. The writer need not have consciously chosen to exploit the biblical detail, as the autho r of th e Vita Edwardi Secundi does , fo r i t ma y wel l hav e emerge d a s a 25

Th e Geneva Bible, reprint (Madison , Wisconsin, 1969). Th e New Jerusalem Bible (Garden City , New York, 1985) ; Th e Tanakh (Philadelphia , 1985). 27 Even Josephus' claim that the starving citizens of Jerusalem picke d apart 'old cow dung' i n searc h o f undigested plan t matte r (feiuish War, v . 571) i s more credibl e tha n that for bird droppings, since their ammonia content would make them not only unpalatable but poisonous . 28 See, for example, Leviticus 26:27-29, Deuteronomy 28:53-57, and Lamentations 4:10. Josephus similarly offers i n some detail the story (repeated i n the subsequent versions listed in n. 4) of a cannibal mother, who acts as much in protest and witness as for survival. She tells her child , 'With th e Roman s slavery awaits us, should we live til l they come; but famine is forestalling slavery, and more cruel than both are the rebels. Come, be thou food for me, to the rebels an avenging fury, and to the world a tale such as alone is wanting to th e calamitie s of the Jews' (feiuish War, vi, 206-7). 26

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fourteenth-century incident in another of the sources he used. Whatever the Bermondse y chronicler's intentions , the stor y in II Kings informs the narrative not as a particular example but as a universal type of famine. The biblical story has assumed such authority that the monastic historian (whether the Bermondsey annalist or his source) knows through it what happens in terrible famines. He knows that the famine of 1316 was terrible, and therefore he knows what happened i n it, or at least he knows a way to communicate th e truth of its horror, a truth about famine tha t does not depend o n the incidental specifics we think of as facts. In short, he understands and represents the famine as a disaster of biblical proportions. The appearanc e o f Samaria n pigeo n dun g i n fourteenth-century England remind s u s t o exercis e cautio n whe n consultin g thi s o r an y annal for factual information, for the last thing it means is that people really at e bir d droppings , muc h les s each other . I n fact , al l medieva l English report s o f cannibalis m know n to m e eithe r themselve s voice reservations abou t th e stor y or appea r t o be o f biblical descent : the y constitute no evidenc e of the actua l incidence of cannibalism. 29 As W. Arens says, in his critical study of anthropological belie f in cannibalism as a socially accepted phenomenon, 'Lik e the poor, cannibals are always with us, but happily just beyond the possibility of actual observation'. 30 I d o no t i n th e slightest , however, wish t o impl y tha t al l the commo n themes o f narratives of famine are reall y or primarily literary. Many of them recu r i n th e descriptio n o f this an d othe r famines because th e same sad things do recur in time of famine: prices do rise, people do go hungry and - as recent years in Africa have shown - the dead may truly be to o numerou s t o bury . Nevertheless , as th e Bermondse y boo k demonstrates, thes e topics can also take on a literary existence of their own. Some of these topoi, such as reports of parental cannibalism, may be entirely literary in origin, and their literary nature may affect or even 29

English accounts o f cannibalism i n the famin e of 1316 not discusse d i n this essay are thos e of the Lon g Continuation o f the Anglo-Norman prose Brut (publishe d an d better known in its later Middle English translation), which bears some similarit y to the Bermondsey account ; th e chronicle o f John de Trokelowe; an d Thomas Walsingham' s Historia anglicana, which draws directly on John de Trokelowe. BL, MS Cotton Cleopatra D.3, fos 152v-153r; The Brut: or The Chronicles of England, ed. F.W.D . Brie, EETS, original series, 13 1 (London , 1906) , i, pp . 209-1 0;Johannis d e Trokelowe e t Henrici d e Blaneforde chronica et annales, pt 3 of Chronica monasterii S. Albani, ed. H . T . Riley, Rolls Series, 2 8 (London, 1869) , pp. 88-98; and Thomas Walsingham, Historia anglicana, pt 1 of Chronica monasterii S. Albani, 1, pp. 144-50 . 30 W. Arens, Th e Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology an d Anthropophagy (Oxford , 1979) , p. 166.

Cannibalism a s an Aspect o f Famine in Tw o English Chronicles 8

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govern other medieval historica l narratives as they clearly do thi s one . The stylized account i n the Bermondsey book call s attention t o itself precisely because i t defie s acceptance a t face value . Until th e biblica l norm o f description tha t so dominates the plot is recognized, the story makes no sense - if it makes sense even then. Although th e annal's depiction o f th e crisi s o f 131 6 partakes o f a general ide a o f famine tha t is founded in scripture, in this case the allusion no longer bears any explicit relation t o the mora l lesson s associated with it both in the Bible and in the VitaEdwardi Secundi. In the Vita, the author draws an analogy between Samaria and England, bu t th e famine as represented i n the Bermond sey book does not resembl e th e Samarian famine: it is indistinguishable from the Samarian famine . We have moved from analogy to equivalence. As an authoritative definitio n of famine, the biblical story gains a certain power, but, whereas th e interpretiv e mechanism by which to read th e Samarian and English famines is firmly in place in the VitaEdwardi Secundi, in the Bermondsey book it is not apparent. It is either implicit , with the burden of recognition an d interpretation on the reader, or it has dropped out altogether. The Samarian famin e is important and useful t o a Christian writer in the first place because o f its peculiar exegetical status as part of the Ol d Testament record : i t is both a particula r pas t historica l even t an d a n object of textual interpretation, both actual and metaphorical, both literal and allegorical . But in th e case of the Bermondsey book, we are not in a position to judge whether the chronicler or his readers even knew that the dove droppings came from the Bible. Their appearance i n the annal certainly constitutes evidenc e o f the Bible' s pervasive presence i n th e life of a monastic writer; they may also constitute evidence of the breakdown of a system of signification into dead metaphor. I n its role as a universal type of famine, the Samaria n famine may in a sense become to o figurative for its own good and compromise the privileged textual and historical statu s tha t gav e i t it s original allegorica l power . A t thi s remov e o f textual transmission , th e famin e may still provid e mora l commentary, or it may simply be a manifestation of a topos that has come loose fro m its original interpretive moorings . These two accounts o f the famine of 1316 extract thei r truths from II Kings in different ways. In the annals of Bermondsey, the dramatic story of the English famine loses its particularity to become a n illustration of a general idea of famine grown out of scripture. The VitaEdwardi Secundi provides a concrete exampl e of a moral theory of history in practice, as it borrows biblical authorit y t o confirm past events, to predict ostensibly future one s an d t o mak e it s ethica l point s clear . Th e Bermondse y

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chronicler certainly has a perspective on the events he describes, a universal and universalizing one that reveals much more about the idea of famine in the fifteenth centur y than about the events of the famine of 1316. In a les s drastic bu t stil l discernibl e way, the autho r o f th e Vita Edwardi Secundi seems t o hav e shrouded th e immediac y of his story for u s by tailoring it to flatter its historical and mora l shapeliness. In both cases , the Bibl e does mor e tha n provid e a pattern fo r historical narrative: it possesses universal applicability and even the power to define historical truth.


5

Appendix Published Medieval English Reports of the Famine of 1316 Annales Londonienses, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, ed. W. Stubbs, Rolls Series, 76 (London, 1882) , i, pp. 231-41. Annales monasterii de Bermundesia, in Annales monastici, ed. H.R . Luard , Rolls Series, 36 (London, 1866), iii , p. 470. Annales Paulini, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, i, pp . 278-79. Geoffrey le Baker, Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swinbroke, ed. E.M. Thompson (Oxford , 1899), p. 9. The Brut: or The Chronicles o f England, ed . F.W.D . Brie, EETS, origina l series, 13 1 (London, 1906) , i, pp. 209-10. John Capgrave, The Chronicle of England, ed. EC. Hingeston, Rolls Series, 1 (London , 1858) , p . 181 . Chronica monasterii d e Melsa, ed . E.A . Bond, Roll s Series, 4 3 (London , 1867), ii, pp. 318 , 332-34 , 392. ChroniconabbatiedeParcoLude, ed. E. Venables (Lincoln, 1891), pp. 24-27. Chronicon de Lanercost, 1201-1346, ed.J. Stevenso n (Edinburgh , 1839) , p. 233. Chroniques de London depuis Va n 44 Hen. Ill jusqu'a Va n 17Edw. Ill, ed . GJ. Aungier (London , 1844) , pp. 38-39. Eulogium historiarum, ed. F . S. Haydon, Rolls Series, 9 (London , 1863) , iii, p. 195 . Flares historiarum, ed. H.R . Luard, Roll s Series, 9 5 (London , 1890) , iii, pp. 160-61 , 171-74, 186, 340-41. Gesta Edwardi d e Carnarvon auctore canonico Bridlingtoniensi, in Chronicles of th e Reigns of Edward I and Edward II , ii, pp. 47-50 . Ranulph Higden, Polychronicon, ed. J.R. Lumby, Rolls Series, 41 (London, 1882), viii, pp. 300 , 306-9. Henry Rnighton, Chronicon Henrici Knighton, ed.J.R. Lumby, Rolls Series, 92 (London , 1889), i, pp. 411-12. Adam Murimuth, AdaeMurimuth continuatio chronicarum Robertus deAvesbury d e gestis mirabilibus regis Edwardi Tertii, ed. E.M . Thompson, Roll s Series, 93 (London, 1889), p. 24. John de Trokelowe,/o/ianrm de Trokelowe annales, injohannis d e Trokelowe et Henrici de Blaneforde chronica et annales, pt 3 of Chronica monasterii S. Albani, ed. H.T. Riley , Rolls Series, 28 (London, 1869) , pp. 88-98. Vita Edwardi Secundi, ed. and trans. Noel Denholm-Young (London, 1957), pp. 64-70, 90.

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Thomas Walsingham, Historia anglicana, pt 1 of Chronica monasterii S. Albani, i, pp. 144-50 . –, Ypodigma Neustriae, pt 7 of Chronica monasterii S. Albani, pp. 247-49 .

6

Driven by Drink ? Ale Consumption and the Agrarian Economy of the London Region, c. 1300-1400 James A. Galloway This essay explores some economic implications of changes in human

diet, taking as an exampl e the consumptio n of ale in London an d it s region during the fourteenth century.1 It touches only briefly upon th e brewing industry in it s social and technica l aspects, areas which have been the subject of detailed researches by such scholars as Rodney Hilton,

Judith Bennett and Richard Unger.2 Instead, after reviewing some general features of ale production and consumption, the essay moves on to assess the evidence for an increase in per caputale consumption after the Black Death. It concludes by examining the relationship between this apparent increase and changes in the patterns of crop production and disposal during the fourteenth century, as revealed by recent research into demesne agriculture within the London region . Alcoholic drink s constitute a ready and rapidl y absorbed sourc e of energy for human beings.3 This factor, allied to their potentially pleasurable effect s an d associatio n with socia l intercourse, have led t o thei r widespread consumption across different cultures and historical periods. Europe, in th e middl e ages as today, broadly divided into areas which produced their principal alcoholic drinks from the grape and those which

1

I am grateful to Derek Keene and Margaret Murphy for their helpful comments o n an earlie r version of this essay. 2 e.g. R.H . Hilton , Tai n e t cervois e dan s le s ville s anglaise s a u moye n age' , i n L'approvisionnement de s villes de VEurope occidental au moyen age et aux temps modernes, Cinquiemesjournees Internationales d'histoire, 16-1 8 Septembre 198 3 (Auch , 1985), pp. 221-29; J.M. Bennett, 'Conviviality and Charity in Medieval and Early-Modern England', Past and Present, 134 (1992), pp. 19-41 ; eadem, 'Women and Me n in the Brewers ' Gild of London , c . 1420', in E.B . DeWindt, ed., Th e Salt o f Common Life: Essays i n Honor ofj. AmbroseRaftis (Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1995), pp. 181-232; R. Unger, Technical Changes in the Brewing Industry in Germany, the Low Countries and England in the Late Middle Ages', Journalof European Economic History, 2 1 (1992), pp . 281-314 . 3 Manual of Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food reference book 342 (London, 1985) , pp. 82-83.

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brewed ale, and later beer, 4 from grain. The boundary between the two zones has not always been sharp, but it is evident that for most of recorded history southern England has lain at, or close to, the northernmost limit for viticulture in Europe, a limit set not b y the coldness of winters, bu t by the lack of sufficient summer warmth and sunshine to ripen grapes.5 Today commercial vineyards, using modern grape varietals and techniques, produce palatable , mostly white wines in Kent and Sussex, the Thames valley and parts of south-western England. These were also the principal areas where wine-making took place in the middle ages, as indicated by Domesday Book and by later manorial accounts and extents. 6 Although quite common, medieval English wine-making seems to have been generall y small-scale and unreliabl e a s to quality , production o f wine alternating with that of verjuice (th e juice of unripe grapes, used in cooking) and vinegar. Thus, the earl of Lincoln's garden in the London suburb o f Holborn produce d onl y verjuice fro m it s vines in 1295-96 , but bot h verjuice and wine in 1304-05. 7 It seems tha t onl y large-scale and sustained investment in skilled labour and plants could ensure reasonably consistent productio n o f drinkable wine , as at the roya l vineyard adjoining Windso r Castle. 8 Mos t o f th e win e drun k i n Englan d was imported, and hence it remained relatively expensive and largely restricted to the better-of f sections of society. Mead was probably drunk by the peasantry of parts of western England, while cider was quite widely produced an d drunk. 9 Nevertheless, in the absence of large-scale domestic wine production, the mass-consumption alcoholic drink of England was undoubtedly ale, brewed from a variety of malted grains , but, in the London regio n of the fourteenth century, principally from barle y and th e mixtur e o f barley and oat s known as dredge.10 Oat s o n thei r ow n - althoug h primaril y a fodder crop for 4

Ale, unlike beer, is produced without the use of hops. Beer was known in fourteenthcentury England , but was not at that period a significant domestic manufacture. 5 T. Unwin, Wine and th e Vine: An Historical Geography o f Viticulture and th e Wine Trade (London an d New York, 1991), pp. 34-35, 42-43. 6 J. Harvey, Medieval Gardens (London , 1981), p. 54. 7 J.A. Galloway and M . Murphy, 'Feeding the City : Medieval London an d it s Agrarian Hinterland', London Journal, 1 6 (1991), pp. 3-14, here p. 9. 8 R.A. Brown, H.M. Colvin and A.J. Taylor, The History of the King's Works, ii, The Middle Ages (London, 1963) p . 881 n. 4. 9 P. Clark, The English Alehouse: A Social History (London , 1983) , p. 24. 10 For the use of the various grains in the London region , see B.M.S. Campbell, J.A. Galloway, D . Keen e an d M . Murphy, A Medieval Capital an d it s Grain Supply: Agrarian Production and Distribution in the London Region, c. 1300, Historical Geography Research Series, 30 (1993), esp. pp. 24-27.

Driven by Drink ? 8

9

working animals - were sometimes used to produce a lower-grade ale, a practice which, although stil l followed even in some London establish ments, was becoming les s common within the region . Whea t was also malted o n occasion , in order t o produce a high-grade ale , but ther e is no evidence that rye was used as a brewing grain in south-eastern England at this period. Broadly, then, the brewing industry drew upon the region's production o f barle y an d dredge , whil e wheat an d ry e wer e grow n principally for baking into bread.11 By the fourteenth century ale production was an almost omnipresent industry i n England . Al e was brewed fo r consumptio n withi n th e household, for sale to others, and for consumption a t the 'ales' held for various social and charitabl e purposes. 12 Every community of any size had its brewers, the majority operating on a small scale, whose existence is documented i n series of surviving court rolls from rural manors and towns alike . Brewer s were regularl y fined , nominall y for breache s o f regulations but, in reality, probably as a form of licensing.13 The brewers were very often women and, in th e countryside , commercial brewing seems to have been most characteristic of the middle years of women's married lives. 14 Brewers have left distinctive archeological evidence of their activities, particularly in towns, in the form of malting ovens, hearths and furnaces and, occasionally, deposits of germinated, burnt grain.15 Large numbers of townsmen and women were involved in the manufactur e and retail ing of ale. In 1386 , 10 6 brewers were fined at one o f the regula r cour t sessions held a t Maidstone in Kent, implying that as many as one-third of the town' s households may have been involved in the production o f ale a t tha t time. 16 Eac h cour t a t th e Esse x market tow n of (Saffron ) Walden c . 1400 saw some twenty-fiv e brewer s amerced, but i n additio n an average of thirty people were fined for 'regrating' ale , that is, buying to resell. 17 Larger town s may have been hom e t o larger-scale brewing operations, althoug h her e to o there were many small producers. Early 11

Although barle y was widely used to make bread in some othe r parts o f England, this doe s no t see m t o hav e bee n th e cas e i n Londo n an d it s immediate hinterland . Campbell e t al., A Medieval Capital, p . 26. 12 Bennett, 'Convivialit y and Charity'. 13 R.H. Britnell, Growth and Decline in Colchester, 1300-1525 (Cambridge, 1986) , p. 89. 14 J.M. Bennett, Women i n the Medieval English Countryside (Oxford , 1987) , pp. 120 24. 15 J. Schofiel d an d A . Vince, Medieval Towns (London , 1994) , pp . 76 , 119 . 16 R. Holt, Th e Medieva l Marke t Town', chapte r 2 of P. Clark and L . Murfin, Th e History o f Maidstone (Stroud , 1996) , p. 31 . 17 Essex Record Office , D/DB y Ml-4.

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fourteenth-century Colchester, with perhaps 300 0 to 4000 inhabitants, regularly ha d ove r on e hundre d brewer s amerce d a t it s thrice-yearly lawhundred courts. 18 In th e muc h large r tow n of Norwich, which may have had a population of 25,000 in 1330,250 to 300 brewers were amerced each yea r in the pre-Black Death period. 19 Strictly comparable figure s ar e not available for London. However , if the ratio between population and number of brewers was similar to that at Norwich, then, on the basis that London ma y have had a populatio n of some 80,000 in 1300, it might have supported the activities of somewhere between 800 and 100 0 brewers at that date.20 If, on the other hand, th e ratio more closel y resembled tha t prevailing at Colchester, the Londo n brewers may have numbered mor e tha n 2500 . A chronicle source, th e Annales Londonienses, report s tha t 133 4 brewer s responde d t o a summons to appear a t the Guildhal l in 1309 , together wit h 35 4 taverners, numbers which would not have included thos e living in the inhabite d areas beyond the city'sjurisdiction.21 Although we cannot tell how accurate these apparently precise figures were, the order of magnitude they denote seems entirely plausible. Clearly, it is dangerous t o assume any fixed relation between popula tion an d numbe r o f brewers. There was some tendency for the scale of brewing operation s t o increase durin g th e late r middl e ages , a tren d which has been documente d i n both rura l an d urban contexts. 22 This development, though in part explicable by administrative changes, and by the growt h of beer-brewing after c. 1400, is probably also to be associated with an increase in permanent or semi-permanent alehouses, which may have been more characteristi c o f town than of countryside, and of large tha n o f smal l towns , from a n earl y date. 23 Suc h premise s were highly visible; 'ale-stakes' - pole s with brush-leaves or some other sig n at the end - were displayed to advertise a fresh brew, and a well-known 18

R.H. Britnell, Growth and Decline, p. 269 . E. Rutledge, 'Immigratio n an d Populatio n Growt h in Early-Fourteenth Century Norwich: Evidence from the Tithing Roll', Urban History Yearbook 1988, pp. 15-30; Hilton, Tain et cervoise', p. 228. 20 For London's population, se e D. Keene, 'Medieval London and its Region', London Journal, 1 4 (1989), pp. 99-111. 21 W. Stubbs, ed., Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, 1 , Annales Londonienses and Annales Paulini, Rolls Series (London , 1882) , p. 267 . 22 D. Postles, 'Brewing and th e Peasan t Economy : Some Manor s in Lat e Medieval Devon', Rural History, 3 (1992) , pp. 133-44 ; Victoria County History o f Oxfordshire, iv , City of Oxford, p. 47. 23 D. Keene, Survey o f Medieval Winchester (Oxford, 1985), pp. 267-69 ; Clark, English Alehouse, p. 31. 19

Driven by Drink ? 9

1

London ordinance prohibite d thes e stakes from being more than seven feet long. 24 The ubiquit y o f brewing is in par t a reflection o f the difficultie s o f preserving ale, which quite rapidly 'went off. Cartin g or shippin g ale over long distances was thus problematic, although not unknown.25 Most ale was drunk where it was made, or obtained from a close at hand town or village. The exten t of the marke t was consequently quite restricte d for most brewers and, as a result, frequent small brewings had advantages over the production o f large batches. The requirement that ale should be drunk while fresh also influenced the pattern of brewing in aristocratic households.26 As well as reflecting technical limitations on th e scal e of production an d marketing , however, the hug e numbe r o f brewers in fourteenth-century Englan d undoubtedl y point s t o th e widesprea d consumption o f al e acros s th e socia l spectrum , from peasantr y to aristocracy. Different grades and strengths of ale were brewed, aimed at different tastes and pockets. There is no truth in the statement, sometimes encountered i n olde r studies , that medieva l ale was universally weak and watery. 27 Household account s show that a quarter of malted grain normally produced somewher e between fifty and one hundred gallons of ale , with mos t brewings in th e rang e o f fifty to seventy-five ; i f th e brewing were effective, in that the bulk of the natural sugars in the malt were converted into alcohol, this would imply alcohol-by-volume contents at least comparable to modern beers. 28 Intoxication i s shown in literary references to follow levels of consumption o f al e which , although high , ar e no t beyon d moder n north European comprehension . Thus, in Piers Plowman, Glutton consumes 'a gallon and a gill' in a London alehouse before finding that he canno t walk or stand without his staff, stumblin g about like a bird-catcher o r a minstrel's dog , an d finally passing out , fallin g fla t o n hi s fac e a t th e 24

R.R. Sharpe, ed., Calendar of Letter-Books Preserved among the Archives of the Corporation o f London a t the Guildhall, Letter-Book H (London , 1907) , p. 12 . 25 Barrels of ale are frequentl y listed i n th e Calendar o f Close Rolls (London , variou s dates) amon g provisions sent to Calais: see, for example, ibid., 1389-92, pp. 28-29; and 1392-26, p. 143 . 26 This is well illustrated b y the househol d o f Dame Alice d e Bryene , where ther e were never more than six days between brewings in the year 1412-13: E.M.M. Price, ' A Tally of Ale', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, serie s A, 12 3 (I960) , pp. 62-67 . Se e below, Chapter 9. 27 See for example G.T. Salusburyjones, Street Life i n Medieval England (Oxford, 1938), p. 98. 28 H.S. Corran, A History o f Brewing (London, 1975) , pp. 29-30 .

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alehouse door. 29 Again, according to a rhyme found endorsed on a Court of Common Pleas roll for 1371 and translate d by Edith Rickert, a gallon of ale was sufficient t o 'bind legal senses, legal tongues', smaller quantities being associated with varying degrees o f euphoria an d loquaciousness.30 Such references suggest that the alcoholic content of ale sold in a fourteenth-century London alehouse may have been broadly comparable to that of a medium-strength moder n beer, although spee d an d degree of intoxication are influenced by many other factors. 31 Did the average quantities of ale drunk increase during the fourteenth century, a s population fel l under the impac t o f plague an d rea l living standards rose ? Commo n sens e suggest s tha t the y did, a s wages ros e markedly after 1349 while the price s of the grain an d mal t from which ale was made moved more cyclically (Fig. I).32 The divergence between prices an d wage s is particularly marke d fro m th e 1370 s onwards, a s a longer-term slum p in grai n price s se t in. Nevertheless , hard evidenc e relating to ale consumption, particularly of a quantitative kind, is scarce. The issu e is, however, one with major implications fo r the agricultura l economy. Brewing is much mor e wastefu l o f the energ y value of grain than is baking; while converting a given quantity of raw grain into bread entails a calorific loss of the order of 15 per cent , i n brewing th e loss is around 7 0 per cent, four to five times greater, a difference only partially offset b y the us e o f the by-product s of brewing as animal fodder. 33 I n other words, brewing is very greedy of grain and is, in pure energy terms, an inefficient use of grain resources . Patterns of consumption o f bread and ale , and an y changes in thei r relativ e importance i n human diet , can thus have a major impact upon both the overall size and the structure of the market for grain. Any changes i n th e leve l of ale consumptio n i n fourteenth-centur y London -which formed by far the largest and most concentrated centr e of demand fo r foodstuffs i n medieval Englan d - coul d b e expected t o have had a significant effec t upon thos e rural areas which supplied th e 29

W. Langland, Will's Vision of Piers Ploughman, trans. E.T. Donaldson (Ne w York an d London, 1990) , p. 50. 30 E. Rickert, Chaucer's England (Oxford, 1948) , p. 239 . 31 Food consumption , acquire d toleranc e and genetic factors can all play a role: see D.B. Goldstein, Th e Pharmacology o f Alcohol (New York and Oxford , 1983) . 32 The dat a o n which Figur e 1 is based ar e draw n fro m D.L . Farmer , 'Price s and Wages' in E. Miller, ed., The Agrarian History of England and Wales, iii, 1348-1500 (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 444 , 471 ; an d J.E.T. Rogers, A History o f Agriculture and Prices in England, ii, (Oxford, 1866) , pp. 54-168. 33 Campbell et al., A Medieval Capital, p. 34.

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93

Movement of wages and prices Ten-year means

Figure 1 : Movement of barley and mal t prices compared to carpenters' wages, 1300-1410 (source : see note 32) .

city with grain. It seems likely that London's population virtually halved between th e beginnin g an d en d o f the fourteent h century , declinin g from perhap s 80,00 0 or mor e t o 40-50,00 0 people . However , if it is postulated tha t Londoners obtained th e sam e total quantity of energy per caputfrom grai n in 1400 as in 1300, but that their average ale consumption increased between the tw o dates from on e pint to three pint s per day, that change would by itself have substantially offset th e effec t of the steep decline in the city's population upon its total grain requirement.34 It would, however, imply a very marked shif t i n th e structur e o f tha t requirement, away from th e bread grains, wheat and rye, an d towards barley and dredge, the principal brewing grains. An absolute or relative increase in brewing would also have had implication s for the city' s fue l supply, a crucial constraint upon pre-industria l urban growth. 35 34

Based upon the calculations in Campbell, e t al., A Medieval Capital, p. 35. J.A. Galloway, D. Keene and M. Murphy, 'Fuelling the City: Production an d Distribution o f Firewood an d Fue l in London's Region , 1290-1400' , Economic History Review, 49 (1996), pp. 447-72, here pp. 469-70. 35

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Unfortunately, direc t evidenc e o f consumptio n levels , which might serve t o validate such assumptions, i s scarce, often ambiguous an d usually relates to restricted and probabl y atypical sections of society. It will thus never be possible to say with confidence how much ale the average medieval Londoner drank i n a day, or in a year. It is, however, possibl e to dra w upon evidenc e relatin g t o som e o f thos e better-documente d groups in order to assess whether there was a general movement in levels of ale consumption, an d in the balance of cereal-derived calorie s which came fro m al e vis-a-vi s bread , durin g th e fourteent h century . Thus , accounts fo r aristocratic and monasti c households she d som e light o n the overal l quantities of bread an d al e consumed. Per capita consumption is, however, usually elusive. Where daily allowances of ale are recorded, they are ofte n ver y high, reachin g one t o two gallons eac h pe r da y in some religious houses, but i t is difficult t o be sure that these quantities were intended t o slake the thirs t of just one individual ; sometimes it is clear that they were not, and that servants consumed a part of the allowance. I t is, however, sometimes possible t o examine relativ e quantities of bread an d al e consumed acros s households a s a whole, or t o chart relative expenditure on bread vis-a-vis brewing grains, and hence to deduce broad changes in consumption patterns. Available statistics for a variety of households point t o a generally highe r leve l of expenditure o n ale relative t o bread i n th e fifteent h centur y than i n th e pre-Blac k Death period.36 In absolute , as well as relative, terms more was often spen t on ale and brewing grains tha n o n bread and wheat; thus John de Veere's household spen t som e £36 on mal t in th e year 1431-32 , compared t o £27 on wheat.37 Any shift away from bread toward s ale within aristocratic household budget s seems more likely to reflect a change in the consumption pattern s o f househol d officer s an d servant s tha n o f th e famil y members themselves . Even i n ecclesiastica l households, wher e allowance s (i f not actua l consumption) o f ale were already very high b y c. 1300, there seem s to be a tendency for a shift in relative quantities to take place. At Westminster Abbey in 1304- 5 more whea t was consumed tha n barle y and dredge , but b y the 1370 s the situation had bee n reversed. 38 This trend appear s 36

See for exampl e C. Dyer, Standards o f Living in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1989), table 3, p. 56. 37 C.M. Woolgar, ed., Household Accounts from Medieval England (Oxford , 1993) , no . 20. 38 Campbell et al., A Medieval Capital, p. 204; Westminster Abbey Muniments (WAM), 19177-8. There is, however, some uncertainty over the precise uses to which large quantities of oats received at the earlier date were put.

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5

to hav e continue d throug h th e late r middl e ages , a s in 1526-2 7 th e abbey's brewhouse used 1209 quarters of malt, while the bakehouse used 555 quarters o f flour, probably the produc t o f 555 quarters of wheat.39 Monastic drinkin g ma y have peake d aroun d tha t time ; i t ha s been estimated that alcohol, taken in the form of wine as well as ale, may have contributed a s much as 19 per cent to the energ y value of the daily diet of monks at Westminster Abbey c.1500, compared t o perhaps 5 per cent in average diets today.40 Evidence from quite different sections of society also points to increased consumption o f ale . Christophe r Dyer' s study of th e foo d an d drin k allowances given to harvest workers demonstrates a marked increase in both absolut e an d relative quantities of ale between the thirteenth an d early fifteent h centuries. 41 At Sedgeworth in Norfol k ale , measured i n terms of the value of foodstuffs consumed , rose from aroun d 10-1 5 pe r cent of the total before 1300 to over 30 per cent after 1400. Bread showed a corresponding decline, fro m nearly 50 per cen t o f the tota l valu e to under 2 0 per cent . It seems probable tha t an increase in ale consumption too k place across rural society as a whole, and tha t the proportio n of the population to o poor to drink it at all, or only rarely, was significantly smaller in 1400 than in 1300. Much of this drinking probably took place outside th e home; fifteenth-century preachers and moralists frequently note and deprecate th e tendency of the English peasantry to congregate in alehouses. 42 The urban poo r were also probably drinking less water and more ale by 1400. In 134 5 a London ordinanc e had described water as the drink of the poor, in censuring the brewers for taking water from a conduit in the city . While the brewers were said to be depriving 'the rich and middling sort' of water for preparing food, they were robbing 'the poor [of ] their drink' .43 A generation later, after the impact of plague had wrought major change s in society, there are indications that ale, like bread, was coming to be regarded as a staple food. A London ordinanc e of 1381-82 required brewer s a s well a s bakers t o sel l thei r product s b y farthing measures 'in order to assist the poor . . . the mayor and aldermen deem39

WAM 18941. B. Harvey, Living and Dying in England, 1100-1540: The Monastic Experience (Oxford , 1993), pp. 57-58. 41 C. Dyer, 'Change s in Diet in the Late Middle Ages: The Case of Harvest Workers', in idem, Everyday Life i n Medieval England (London , 1994), pp. 77-100 . 42 Mark Bailey, 'Rural Society', in R. Horrox, ed., Fifteenth-Century Attitudes: Perceptions of Society i n Late Medieval England (Cambridge , 1994), pp. 150-68 . 43 H.T. Riley , ed., Memorials o f London and London Life (London , 1868) , p. 225 . 40

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ing [ale ] equall y necessary t o th e poo r a s in th e cas e o f bread'. 44 Henceforth n o brewer was to refuse t o sell a farthing's worth of best ale on demand, o r to refuse to give change for a halfpenny. Drinking alcoholic beverages had, of course, long been an important feature of metropolitan life -Fitz Stephen, in the twelfth century, counted the 'immoderate drinking of fools' among the plagues afflicting th e city - bu t in the later fourteenth century it was probably an enjoyment open to more o f the population tha n eve r before. 45 The alehous e i n which Glutton passe d ou t i s depicted a s filled b y representatives of a broa d swathe of middling- and lower-clas s London society , male and female , among the m craftsmen , musicians , aliens , pett y traders, a Cheapsid e scavenger, the Tyburn hangman, a parson, a parish clerk, a watchman and s o on.46 There seem s little reason t o doubt, whatever Langland's wider allegorical purpose, that this was intended as an entirely plausible clientele for a London alehouse . These change s i n drinkin g habit s wer e beginning t o hav e a majo r impact upon th e agricultural economy of London's region, as revealed by a systematic study based upon th e evidenc e of manorial accounts. 47 By the last quarter o f the fourteenth centur y the tota l amoun t o f land devoted to arable farming in southern England was probably somewhat smaller than it had bee n i n 1300 , as the area under pastur e expande d and livestoc k numbers increased . Muc h more striking , however , were changes within the arable sector, where cultivation of the brewing grains, especially barley, expanded markedl y (Fig . 2). Thus barley, which had occupied 1 3 per cen t o f th e tota l are a sow n wit h grain o n manoria l 44

Calendar of Letter-Books, H, ed. Sharpe , p. 183 . W. Fitz Stephen, ' A Description o f London', in Norman London, introduction by F.D. Logan (Ne w York, 1990) , p. 55. 46 Langland, Piers Plowman, p. 49. 47 The 'Feedin g the City ' project , whic h ran fro m 198 8 t o 199 4 a t th e Centr e fo r Metropolitan History , Institut e o f Historica l Research , University of London , i n col laboration with the Queen' s University, Belfast. Funded i n its successive stage s by the Leverhulme Trus t an d th e Economi c an d Socia l Researc h Counci l (awar d number R000233157), the project compiled computer databases from manorial demesne accounts for 20 4 manors in the London regio n i n the period 1288-131 5 and 14 1 manors in the period 1375-1400. Statistics on crop production and disposal quote d here derive from those databases. Aspects of the project's methodology are discussed in the essay by Margaret Murph y in thi s volume. I a m gratefu l to th e director s o f th e firs t stag e o f th e research, Derek Keene and Bruce Campbell, and to Margaret Murphy with whom I and they co-directed the second stage, for permission to use 'Feeding the City' data. Changes in grain production , distributio n an d consumptio n i n the London regio n durin g th e fourteenth centur y form the subject of an extended paper currentl y in draft. 45

97

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1290-1315

1375-1400

% of total grain acreage Figure 2 : Percentage o f sown grai n acreag e occupied b y individual crop s o n demesnes in the London region, 1290-1315 and 1375-1400 (source: see notes

47 and 48).

demesnes in th e Londo n region c . 1300, accounted fo r 23 per cen t in the period 1375-1400. 48 While wheat retained it s preeminent position , the grains used for making cheaper and coarser bread - principall y rye and its admixtures known as maslin and mancorn - shran k from 1 0 per cent to less than 5 per cent of the grain acreage . Even mor e tellin g are statistic s relating t o th e relativ e quantities of the different grain s which entered into commercial exchange (Fig . 3). In the years around 130 0 wheat had accounted for 43 per cent of all the grain sold by manorial demesne s in the London region , but by the last quarter of the fourteenth century this had declined to 28 per cent. Trade in th e cheape r brea d grains base d o n ry e had shrun k awa y almost t o nothing between th e tw o periods, although the y continued t o form a small component o f the liveries given to manorial servants.49 Over the same period th e principa l brewing grains, barley and dredge , in bot h raw and malted state, expanded from 2 9 per cen t to 49 per cent of the 48

The 'Londo n region ' for which figures are quoted comprise s the historic (pre 1974) counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire , Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Northamptonshire , Oxfordshir e an d Surrey , an d i s shown o n Figur e 4 in Margaret Murphy's essa y in this volume (p . 123 , below) . 49 Wheat becam e increasingl y importan t i n these liveries durin g the cours e o f the fourteenth century .

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1290-1315 1375-140

0

% of total grain sold Figure 3 : Percentage o f al l demesne grai n sol d (b y volume) represente d by individual crops in the London region, 1290-1315 and 1375-1400 (source: see notes 47 and 48). total amount of grain sold. Thus, by the end o f the fourteenth century, around one-hal f o f all the demesn e grai n which was marketed in th e London regio n wa s probably destined t o be turned int o ale. These changes form part of a complex transformation in the economic geography of the London region, and of the economic and social structure of th e cit y itself. I n 130 0 productio n o f grain i n London' s hinterlan d had been characterized b y patterns of specialization intelligible in terms of established geographical models, whereby relative bulk and transportability exert key influences upon th e decisio n to grow one cro p rather than another. 50 Change in the structure o f metropolitan an d regiona l demand fo r grai n promote d reorganizatio n o f this grain productio n hinterland after th e Black Death. The majo r expansion in cultivation of the brewing grains took place not in the immediate vicinity of London, but furthe r afield. 51 Norther n an d easter n Kent , which had bee n a n important barley-producing area £.1300 , continued to be so in the later fourteenth century. The most marked expansion came to the north and west of London, in parts of the counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, 50

Campbell e t al., A Medieval Capital, pp. 5-7, 111-13 . See the map s forming figures 1 and 2 in J.A. Galloway , 'London's Grain Supply : Changes in Production, Distribution and Consumption during the Fourteenth Century' , Franco-British Studies, 20 (Autumn 1995), pp. 23-34 . 51

Driven by Drink ? 9

9

Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire . In these parts of the region barley and dredge seem to have been replacing wheat as the main commercial crop, perhaps because when malted they could economically withstand transportation ove r greater distances tha n could wheat. Here the brewing grains frequently came to occupy 50 per cen t or more of the acreage under grai n b y the late r fourteent h century . This zon e probably extended int o the counties of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, 52 which wer e name d togethe r wit h Hertfordshire , Bedfordshir e an d Northamptonshire in a parliamentary ordinance, proclaimed in the city in 1394 , a s sources o f mal t which should b e carrie d t o Londo n an d there sold for the benefit of the royal household, nobl e households an d 'the entire population'. 53 Associated with this developing specialization, overland dealers an d carriers of grain becom e increasingl y prominent in both Londo n an d national record s i n th e late r fourteent h an d earl y fifteenth centuries . These dealers, often described a s 'maltmen', appear particularly prominent in a range of small towns in north Middlesex and southern Hertfordshire, among th e mos t importan t o f which were Barnet , Enfiel d an d Watford.54 The maltmen appear to have acted as middlemen in the overland trade, usin g thes e town s as bases for thei r operation s an d cartin g t o London th e supplie s needed b y the city' s brewers; muc h o f the mal t they handle d seem s likel y t o hav e originate d furthe r north , i n th e specialised barley-producing zone. Later evidence points to the regularity with which maltmen from suc h towns visited the capital ; a maltman from Aldenham , nea r Watfor d i n sout h Hertfordshire , charge d i n Chancery with abducting a female apprentice in the 1470s , was said to have visited London 'weekel y by cause of his occupacion'.55 In contrast to the increasing visibility of malt dealers and carriers, large-scale Londonbased cornmongers , specializin g in th e grai n trad e an d handlin g principally wheat, become scarce r in th e records , and appea r t o have 52

Not covered in the 'Feeding the City' databases . Calendar of Letter-Books, H, ed. Sharpe , p . 411. 54 See for example Calendar o f Letter Books, H, ed. Sharpe , pp. 17 , 354; A.H. Thomas, ed., Calendar of the Plea and Memoranda Rolls Preserved among the Archives of the Corporation of th e City o f London a t Guildhall, 1364-81 (Cambridge , 1929) , pp. 191-92 . Other refer ences ar e contained in database s compile d fro m records o f debt litigation i n nationa l and local courts by the project 'Marke t Networks in the London Region : The Trade in Agrarian Produc e e.1400' , funded by the Leverhulme Trust an d based at the Centre for Metropolitan History . The work of this project includes a more detailed reconstructio n of the trad e i n malt, c.1400. 55 Victoria History o f the County o f Hertford, i v (London, 1908) , p. 411 . 53

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declined i n influenc e as a group. 56 Earl y fourteenth-century London had bee n uniqu e amon g Englis h town s in havin g an organize d corn mongers' guild. After 1350 the guild seems to have declined in numbers and influence , however, and soo n afte r 140 0 reference s t o i t cease . Although man y factors undoubtedly lay behind thi s development, th e relative declin e i n th e consumptio n o f the brea d grains , th e trad e i n which had c. 1300 been heavily concentrated alon g the axis of the River Thames between Henle y in Oxfordshire an d Faversham in Kent, seems likely to have been among the most significant. A reduction in the overall size of the market , allied t o falling prices, ma y have reduced the scop e for the assured profits on which large-scale, specialized dealers depended.57 Shifts in grain consumption pattern s thus appear to have been promoting far-reaching changes in London-centred distributiv e systems, as well as in the agricultural sector. The post-Black Death changes were complex, as ne w regiona l specialization s emerged an d existin g one s becam e strengthened or weakened in response to changes in demand. Som e of the development s of the period , suc h a s the rise to prominence o f the overland trade in malt, appear to have laid the foundations for networks of supply which persisted into the sixteenth and seventeenth centurie s and beyond. The grain sector was not the only one to undergo significant change, drive n by improving living standards an d shiftin g patterns of consumption. Parallel shifts were taking place with regard to the production and consumption of other commodities , as meat came to be more widely eaten,58 and standards of domestic comfort improved. However, perhaps no change was more influential than the shift from bread t o ale in restructurin g th e hinterlan d o f one o f medieval Europe's greates t cities.

56

Campbell et al., A Medieval Capital, pp . 81-82. Members of other London companies occur in the records as occasional dealers in grain (ibid., pp. 84-87). Fishmongers were prominent amongst thos e acquiring licences to ship bulk consignments of wheat: examples can be found in the Calendar of Close Rolls and Calendar of Patent Rolls (London, various dates); many o f these instances relate t o years of high grain prices. 58 Dyer, 'Changes in Diet', pp. 86, 89. 57

7 Making Sense of Medieval Culinary Records: Much Done, But Much More to Do Constance B. Hieatt The las t decade has seen a remarkable growt h of interest in the subject of medieval culinary records and , naturally enough, ther e ha s been a n enormous numbe r o f valuable publications arisin g fro m this interest ; the extremely limited selection listed in the Appendix ranges from suc h well-informed an d seriou s books abou t th e foo d o f the perio d a s P.W. Hammond's Food and Feast in Medieval England; through various editions, t o accumulation s o f relevant historical records, suc h a s those i n C.M. Woolgar's two volumes of Household Accounts from Medieval England; and even a new basic research tool, the Repertoire des manuscrits medievaux contenant des recettes culinaires, which contains bibliographical details o n all such manuscript s known - befor e 1992 , the year of publication - to those o f us who compiled it. It i s about tim e thi s kin d o f information becam e readil y available. Right up t o the perio d i n the 1980 s when a great dea l of new material began t o become available , much o f what was written about medieva l food wa s just plai n wrong , whethe r becaus e th e evidenc e wa s misinterpreted o r because it was still insufficient in quantity (or, in some cases, quality) . Any number o f painful instance s can b e foun d i n William Edward Mead's The English Medieval Feast,1 which was for many years the mos t valuabl e sourc e o f information abou t th e foo d o f medieval English (an d French ) aristocrats . Bu t saying that i t was the mos t valuable i s tantamount t o callin g it th e bes t o f a bad lot : it is riddled with such misconception s a s that 'practicall y ever y dish wa s smothered i n spices' an d thu s tha t 'eve n th e best [medieva l recipes] contai n on e o r more ingredients repulsive to modern tastes o r . .. combined in a fashion that would now make them nauseating in the extreme' (pp . 57 and 55). It also states as fact such myth s as that medieval cooks used spice s to disguise the flavour of spoiled meat (p. 77), a myth which is, unfortunately, still current amon g th e general public ; and tha t vegetables were hardly 1

W.E. Mead, Th e English Medieval Feast (London , 1931 ; reprinte d Londo n an d Ne w York, 1967).

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eaten at all, at least by the well-to-do (e.g., p. 100). However, there is one thing I can report to Mead's credit: he did not perpetrate th e misconception common today that medieval diners chewed messily on large bones and thre w them around wit h wild abandon. I presume we owe that on e largely to Charles Laugh ton's memorable film performance a s Henry VIII. Sometimes Mead's misinformation is simply a matter of misinterpreting scant y evidence, a s when h e say s tha t 'suc h beverage s a s brandy, whisky, champagne an d gi n were quite unknown in medieval times' (p . 48). The OED does not, indeed, cit e any of these term s in sources prio r to th e seventeent h century , nor d o an y of those word s appear i n th e cookery books Mea d knew . However, distilled wines (i.e . brandy) ar e amply documented i n such sources as the confectionery collections found in primarily medical manuscripts, and there is one reference to 'ew ardaunt', one of the medieval terms for distilled spirits, in the fourteenth-century Forme ofCury, a source which Mead drew on extensively. He may , however, have been misle d by an erro r mad e b y one o f the early editors of the Forme ofCury. Richard Warner, whose edition appeared in 1791, glossed 'ew ardaunt'as 'hotwater', although th e recipe concerne d is for a pastry castle which was evidently meant to be served dramatically aflame. On e shudder s t o thin k o f the disastrou s effects o f pouring ho t water over a pastry castle. It can be presumed tha t neither Warne r no r Mead had an y expertise i n kitchen matters . It may also be culinary ignorance o n Mead's part which leads him to state, in the same passage, that 'Macaroni. . . appears to have been wholly lacking on Englis h table s during th e perio d w e are studying' , when in fact the Forme ofCury give s a recipe entitled, in the edition he consulted, ' macrows . This i s pasta cu t i n smallis h pieces , boiled an d serve d with cheese an d butter. I n what was probably the first book i n English to try to adapt medieval recipes for modern kitchens , Esther B. Aresty at least recognized that this pasta dish was an early version of macaroni,2 although I cannot sa y much fo r the authenticit y of her 'adapted ' recipes . One of the medieval recipes that Mead treats with scorn continue s to be a locus of misinformation to this day. That is, gingerbread. Citin g the recipe with that title in MS Harleian 279 , Mead, after complainin g that the names of medieval recipes are often 'misleading', says, 'Gingerbread sounds familiar, but when we learn ho w it is made we see that the nam e connotes nothing we have known before . . . This is gingerbread without ginger!' Indeed, tha t particular recipe di d leave out the ginger - but no 2

Esther B. Aresty, Th e Delectable Past (New York, 1964) , p. 22 .

Making Sense of Medieval Culinary Records 10

3

doubt by scribal error; ther e i s at least on e othe r similar , an d slightl y earlier, recipe which makes no such error. 3 That is not th e onl y problem w e face wit h medieva l 'gingerbread' . Readers of Chaucer are misled if they assume that the gingerbread enjoyed by Sir Thopas was exactly like the cake you can run u p from a mix available at any grocery store nowadays, but the medieval recipes for a spiced cake made of bread crumbs and honey are still recognizably of the same family; as I trust those will agree who have tried the recipe Sharon Butler and I adapted.4 The glosses for Sir Thopas's gingerbrea d assure d read ers that that was what was meant in the Skeat and F.N. Robinson edition s of Chaucer; but, starting with Baugh's 1963 edition, the prevailing gloss has become 'preserve d ginger', which is what the Chaucer Glossary (1979 ) and th e Riverside Chaucer (1987) tel l students is the meaning . I cannot trac e this change back to its origin beyond th e fact that this is the meanin g o f the wor d given a s the 'apparent ' meanin g o f 'earl y examples' i n the OED. But the examples cite d there which may (or may not) suppor t thi s definition are no t reall y references to ginger bread a t all; they ar e simpl y earlier spelling s fo r ginger . An d th e recip e in MS Harleian 279 , which is obviously not on e fo r preserved ginger , is cited by the OE D immediately after the quotation from 'Sir Thopas'; the pos sible implication of the tempora l proximit y of the cakelik e recipe an d the literary reference is not noted. Culinary historians have long known that th e OE D is not entirel y reliable in these matters, but Chaucer editor s now seem to have more faith in that dubious definition than I find to be justifiable. However, I must confess that I have probably also been amon g thos e givin g misleading information on this subject. I wrote, in an article published in 1979, that 'the delicacy which refreshed Sir Thopas ha d a flavour which would be quite recognizable to today's gingerbread fanciers'. 5 But in the years which have passed since I wrote that remark I have read my way through scores of manuscripts and edited , in part or in whole, around thirt y of them: and I now know I was drawing my conclusions on insufficien t evidence . There is overwhelming evidence that the usual meaning of'gingerbread' in manuscript s o f the fourteent h an d fifteent h centurie s was neither 3 Curye on Inglysch: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth Century (Including the Forme ofCury), ed . C.B . Hieat t and S . Butler (London , 1985) , pt v, 19 (p. 154. ) 4 Constance B. Hieatt and Sharo n Butler, PleynDelit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks (Toronto, 1976) , no. 122 ; (2n d edn , 1996) , no. 128 . Th e recip e adapted here is taken from BL , MS Harleian 279 - th e one Mead scoffed at . 5 To boill e the chikne s with th e marybones' , in Chaucerian Problems and Perspectives, ed. E. Vasta an d Z.P . Thundy (Notr e Dame, Indiana, 1970) , p. 160 .

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preserved ginger nor a cake made with honey and breadcrumbs, although the latter remained popular for some centuries; there is a recipe almost identical t o th e fourteenth-centur y versio n i n Marth a Washington' s eighteenth-century 'American ' cookbook. 6 Bu t th e vas t majorit y o f medieval recipes with thi s title are fo r a chewy but fairl y hard candy , a confection resemblin g toffee , mad e o f nothing mor e tha n hone y and spices. I now think it is far more likely that Sir Thopas refreshed himself with candy, rathe r tha n anythin g resemblin g cake , an d th e context , re-examined, seems to suggest thi s strongly; we are told tha t his 'merry men' brought hi m sweet wine and mead : And roial spicerye Of gyngebreed that was ful fyn , And lycorys, and ee k comyn, With sugre that is trye.

That is , they brought hi m tw o kinds of sweet drinks and thre e kinds of expensive candy: gingery 'toffee', liquoric e and candied cumin seeds. I find the whole passage, thus understood, very funny; it is such a thoroughly childish treat ! It is not surprising that we all know a lot more now than we did fiftee n years ago - le t alone earlie r i n the century - give n th e outpouring of serious published work in the field which I commented o n above. The simple statistics here ar e really remarkable. Th e followin g estimates of publication records deal only with recipes recorded in England, although my colleagues interested i n the continental record s have been far from idle (a s the Appendix shows, selective although i t most definitely is). By 1900 around thirteen culinary manuscripts of English provenance, whether Latin , Anglo-Norman o r Middle English, had been edited and printed, in whole or in part, including those simply collated. The number of recipes printed from these manuscripts amounts to about 1850. Since 1900 (an d almost all in the last decade or so), something like twenty-one additional manuscripts have been edited, in whole or in part - not counting those re-edited - giving us around 2075 recipes not previously printed, as well as a great many new (and often corrected) versions of some which 6

Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, ed . Kare n Hess (Ne w York, 1981) , p. 342. As Mrs Hess clearly shows, Martha Washington's 'cookbook' was neither 'American ' no r eighteenth-century in its origins. It is all the mor e interesting in tha t it gives us a clear demonstration o f the persistenc e of far more ancien t recipe s righ t into what we have always considered t o be the 'American ' culinary heritage.


5

had bee n edite d before . Obviously , our basi c database ha s more tha n doubled. Ye t it still cannot b e sai d tha t th e fiel d ha s been adequatel y covered. The fac t i s that ther e ar e a t least twelve Englis h manuscripts which have never been edited at all; and these manuscripts contai n hundred s of recipes. Furthermore, when we add to these completely unpublished collections the unedite d recipe s in manuscripts which have only been edited o r collate d i n part , an d thos e i n unsatisfactory editions which still need re-editing, there remains a total of almost 2000 recipes in need of editorial attention: about as many as have been edited in this century, and more tha n th e total number edite d in previous centuries. We must also remember that , of the 'published ' recipes , many have only been 'collated ' in editions of parallel recipes; in some cases, these may have significant variants which remain unnoticed, although we can hope tha t such cases are only a small minority now. In any event, while the job o f recording medieva l English recipes is surely now more tha n half done, ther e i s unquestionably still a great deal of work to be done . We must realize that any conclusions based on what appears to be only two-thirds of the presentl y extant evidence are tentative and subjec t to further correctio n a s more evidenc e becomes available. It is not just the evidence to be found in English culinary manuscripts which can cast new light on medieval English recipes. The haute cuisine of western Europe was an international one: with distinctive local variants, of course, but one must often look well beyond national boundaries to explain recip e terminology . Consider, for example, a glossary entry I wrote some time before 1980 , on a recipe from a very early source: EMELES I 46, translating Emeles in MS Al. The Frenc h nam e seem s to indicat e that these cake s are a n enriche d variety of the Alumellepile a u sucre of MP, p. 208 , an d tha t th e wor d i s thus etymologicall y related t o 'omelet' ; note, however, tha t 'Cyuele' , th e spellin g indicate d i n 1 . 5 here, i s also use d by [MS] L:cf. CB , p. 113. 7

I soo n cam e t o realiz e thi s was incorrect. 'Emeles' , I discovered , is a spelling for 'almonds' in a fourteenth-century Catalan cookbook, 8 and almonds - whic h are not an ingredient o f an 'alumelle' at all - ar e an 7

Curye o n Inglysch, p . 185 ; 'CB' refer s to Tw o Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books, ed. Tho mas Austin (EETS , original series , 91, 1888; reprinte d London, 1964) , and 'MP ' t o Le menagier de Paris, ed. Jerome Pichon (Paris , 1847 ; reprinted Geneva, n.d.), vol. ii. 8 Rudolf Grewe , ed., Libre de Sent Soft (Barcelona , 1979) , p. 237 .

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essential, primary ingredient of the Anglo-Norman (and English) 'emeles'. Furthermore, i t is easy to see how the spellin g 'cyuele' would have (almost inevitably) arisen fro m a misreading of 'emele' ; it is often difficult to distinguish betwee n th e capita l letter s C and E in hands of this period, an d a n m, written with three minims , could easily be read a s iu. The scrib e who substituted y for i was trying to prevent what he too k to be 'iu ' from bein g 'misread' as 'm'. I made this discovery too late to correct the entry in the printed edi tion, and had to give a revised version in an article in which I corrected a number o f erroneous reading s i n th e book; 9 this was far from bein g the only one, and if I were redoing tha t article now I would have to add yet more. If those of us working on early culinary history are ever to be able to call on all the data we need t o make well-informed judgements, what we clearly need i s a computerized databas e containin g information about the individual recipes included in all the known English and European manuscripts , along with dishes mentioned in other sources , notably medical treatises and menus . For a while, it seeme d w e were going t o ge t somethin g o f the sor t from a group based i n Paris. A decade o r so ago, this group, under th e leadership of Professor Jean-Louis Flandrin , announced a database t o be undertaken unde r the general heading o f 'Nommes d e plats' (th e titles o f recipes) , and I was asked t o b e responsibl e fo r th e Englis h component. A t that time, however, I was busy with other projects , an d now tha t I have considered th e matte r mor e closely , I doubt tha t th e methods proposed for use with French materials by the Paris group are adequate for a project o f more international scope . The y do not work at all well for th e English and Scandinavia n recipes which I know best. The information considered minimally essential by those who designed that project consisted of the titl e of the dish, the document i n which it appears and the principal ingredient and general category of the dish.10 However, I found tha t grav e difficultie s aris e i n handlin g th e title s of English and Scandinavian recipes, difficulties which apparently did no t occur to those working primarily with French, Italian and Spanis h collections. I suspect this will turn ou t t o be th e case with other recipes in Germanic languages. The principa l problem s are , first, that later modification s t o many 9

'Further Notes on "Th e Form e o f Cury" et al.'; see the Appendix . As stated (althoug h I was informed a t a later dat e tha t thi s had bee n somewha t modified) i n the programme for a conference hel d at the University of Montreal in May 1990. 10


7

recipes ma y make them almos t unrecognizable; secondly, that a grea t number o f their titles are - lik e that o f 'emeles' - borrowe d fro m othe r languages, and transcribed by scribes whose corruptions of the originals may border o n th e bizarre; and, thirdly, that we still have a long way to go in establishing th e original etymolog y (and thus , in part, meaning) of many medieval food names. A further problem is the changes in titles which wer e sometime s mad e whe n a recip e wa s translated fro m on e language into another. One exampl e is the French 'brouet houssie', which Professor Flandrin has argued i n an important and influential article is exclusively French because the French titl e does not appear in English recipe collections. 11 However, when I analysed th e content s an d procedure s involve d in this recipe, I found i t to be essentiall y identical t o a recipe i n severa l English collections. While the English scribes do not call the dish a' bruef, their tide is only gradually corrupted otherwise.' Hauseleamye' i n an AngloNorman version becomes 'hauceleamye' in an early Middle English translation, an d 'hocchee ' i n Th e Forme o f Cury. Th e ke y ingredients remai n exactly th e same : chicken , sauce d wit h sour grape s (th e equivalen t of the French verjuice, which means the juice of sour grapes), and notably garnished wit h parsley, which is what one medieva l authority tells us is meant by 'houssie'. 12 The Frenc h culinar y term 'houssie'is, thus, clearly the ancesto r of these strange English names, although I have not found any explanation fo r th e puzzlin g Anglo-Norman additio n 'leamye'. ls Presumabl y later English cooks or scribes didn't understand i t either, since hauceleamyewas shortened to hocchee. Note how misleading a change in titl e can be if we have not caugh t other detail s in th e recipe s which show them t o be more o r less identical; there ar e a number of other case s in which Professor Flandrin was wrong in thinking a 'French' dish did not appea r i n Englis h versions. I believe, therefore, tha t w e need a much mor e detaile d approac h t o recipe s an d thei r title s tha n was proposed t o those o f us present a t the meetin g in Montreal in 199 0 (much less what was vaguely circulated a few years earlier). No computer wil l be able t o enlighten u s much unless we provide it with enoug h informatio n t o extrac t th e specia l characteristic s which make a particular dish different fro m other similar dishes, with enough 11

'Brouets, potages et bouillons'; see the Appendix. Le menagier de Paris, ed. Georgine E. Brereton and Janet M. Ferrier (Oxford, 1981), p. 216. 13 Nor have any of the Anglo-Normanists I have consulted. 12

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specific informatio n t o make it possible t o ignore th e accidental s and accretions - suc h as whether brouet houssie/hoccheeis thickened, and if so how (bread and/or eggs): a matter which, in this case, is of no importance whatsoever, althoug h th e presenc e o r lac k o f a thickene r ma y be a distinguishing characteristic of certain other dishes . Must we, then, recor d the entire recipe ? Thi s is the approach take n by Terence Scully , who reported i n 1993 that he has recorded hundred s of entire medieval recipe s - i n fact, entir e collections - i n a database , apparently by simply using a scanner on them. 14 Yet, while Scully said he had no w recorded 'al l known collections' o f such recipes , h e di d no t state explicitl y that h e ha d use d thi s technique o n material s existing only i n unprinte d manuscripts . Therein, fo r anyon e concerne d wit h English materials, lies the obvious difficulty, considering tha t a substantial proportion o f th e manuscript s containin g English recipes remain s unedited. I have some microfilms of manuscripts I cannot decipher a t all, on a microfilm reader or in photocopies; how could a scanner help in a case where I know I will never be abl e t o read thi s manuscript unless I can find the time and mone y to visit the library which holds it? Some are so difficult tha t even studying the original under ultra-viole t light does not resolve al l problems. I f I were t o tr y t o ente r complet e recipe s in all cases, th e chor e would n o doubt take u p mor e years tha n I have left . Sometimes i t can tak e m e several days of brooding an d checkin g various references before I can be reasonably sure I have correctly deciphere d a single recipe . While Professor Scully' s database may eventually be able to lend itself to far wider uses than any more selective method o f collecting information, I fear his procedure i s not practicable if we are to achieve a complete record o f the English manuscripts in anything like the next twenty years or so. I therefore propos e t o transcribe mor e limite d entries, which, if the detail s included ar e chosen an d classifie d carefully , coul d give us a foundation fo r the kind of analysis I am urging. Fortunately, a record of all the recipes in the corpus in their entirety is not really necessary, since large parts of identifiable collections with a common source are found in multiple versions with little variation i n the essential details . There are, for example, at least eight collections representing or drawing extensively on Th e Forme ofCury, an d a number of other collection s 14

A paper delivered at the Kalamazoo Medieval Institute that year, and not , as far as I know, subsequently published. My information is limited to the oral paper and a report from anothe r schola r who had talke d to Scully about hi s methods .


9

where smalle r groups of virtually unchanged recipe s fro m thi s source can be identified. Such recipes can be noted briefl y as variants, as long as they are examine d wit h a carefu l ey e to wha t may turn ou t t o b e significant variants , which may change ou r understandin g of individual recipes or related groups. This was, for example, the case with my earlier discovery that the Forme of Cury fritter recipe called 'nysebek', which appeared to be an odd mixture of sorrel and flour, was actually a miscopied version of an older recipe called 'mistembec', named for the funnel through which the batter was poured and consisting of a simple mixture of flour leavened with sourdough . My idea o f a usefu l wa y to describ e a recipe whic h will includ e al l necessary details but not take an undue amount of time to draw up has been deeply influenced by consultations with other scholars in the field. It is still only tentative: I am now in touch with an expert on computer s (and databases ) wh o ma y considerably modify m y proposals. I t seems clear, however, that certain basi c information about the recipe and th e manuscript i n which it appears mus t come first. It also seems obvious that 'mai n ingredients' mus t be handle d with care: you cannot simply categorize a dish as using 'chicken' as against, say, 'meat' or 'fish' . No t only did man y popular dishe s have 'fast day ' versions, substituting fish (or cheese o r fruit) fo r the 'mai n ingredient' used on a day when flesh meat was permitted, but also many recipes routinely suggest alternative substitutions i n mor e o r les s the sam e category. Brouet houssie typically calls for chicke n o r veal. I propose t o handle thi s situation by initially classifying a dish as falling into one o f four large groups, dividing 'principal ingredients' int o Meats (including poultry), Fish, Vegetable (including fruits), and Dairy (including eggs). When a recipe has one or more alternativ e versions, each woul d have a separate listin g - fo r example, 'blancmanger' using poultry might be one listing, and ' blancmanger of fish' a separate entry . But i t is also necessar y t o lis t th e mino r ingredients : som e dishe s ar e distinguished as a group by their seasonings o r garnishes, as is the cas e with what I have noted is distinguished b y the us e o f verjuice (o r sou r grapes) and parsley . Placing a recipe int o a category describing i n genera l wha t type of dish it is can also be useful, but here we get onto ground where it may be difficult to make distinctions which are valid in more than one country. The pioneer s in Franc e starte d with th e categorie s used i n medieva l French cooker y books an d menus ; I, on th e othe r hand , started with those used in England , whic h were often very different and, when we stopped t o consider th e matter, often inconsistent.

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A modern cookbook generally sorts foods into categories which depend on the order in which we customarily serve them. So did many medieval collections; but sinc e that order is not necessaril y the same, it is apt to be very confusing for modern student s of the subject. A typical twentiethcentury cookbook begins with 'appetizers' (or 'hors d'oeuvres', or 'canapes', or something of the sort), then progresses through 'soups' , 'meat', etc., to 'desserts' and (usuall y finally) 'confections' . But, when we look at a medieval cookbook, th e logic of the groupings may elude us. Neither French nor English medieval culinary manuscripts start with hors d'oeuvres; although many French menus suggest that formal meals in France began with just such delicat e titbits, the major French recip e collections invariabl y group suc h dishe s a t th e en d of th e collection , under the general rubric of'entremets', along with the delicacies which were served a t the en d o f the meal . 'Entremets ' usuall y resemble th e special delicacies and 'subtleties' which also make up the final course of a medieval English festive meal ; suc h recipe s als o usually come a t th e end o f a medieval English recipe collection . The sweets and tiny confections which often followed the meal prope r are not usually found in culinary recipe collections at all, for the simple reason tha t the y wer e likel y t o b e purchase d fro m a professiona l confectioner rather than made in the manor house (o r palace) kitchen. Note that the dishes which the recip e collections, as well as the menus, indicate were to be served in the final course were not necessarily sweet, as our 'desserts' are: while many of them were sweetened, or served with a dusting of sugar, they were not alway s noticeably sweeter than some of the dishes customarily served earlier in the menu. The medieval rationale was, simply, that they were special treats, an d thu s came later, whether or no t the y were 'sweet' . The headnot e t o Th e Forme o f Cury declare s 'First it teachiJD man for to make commune potages and commune metis for howshol d . . . [and] aftirwar d i t techiJD for to make curious potage s & meetes and sotiltees'. 15 On thes e broad divisions, between th e 'common ' and th e 'curious' , English and French collections - at least, those which take care to make the rational e o f their orde r clea r - ar e agreed. Bu t when it comes to smaller subdivisions , they part ways. Fo r example , Frenc h collection s often mak e distinctions between thickene d an d unthickened pottages , which no English collection sorts into separate groups; and, while English recipes often specify that a particular pottage must be 'chargeant 'or 'standing', thick, or, on the contrary, 'running', thin, neither of these categories 15

Curye on Inglysch, p . 20 .


1

is necessarily unthickened . A 'running' pottag e i s usually on e tha t i s only moderately thick, like a modern crea m soup, whereas a 'standing' pottage is one that is thickened t o the consistency of a thick porridge.16 On th e other hand , the delicacies which come at or towards the en d of the meal which are generally grouped together as 'entremets'in French collections are in England often consigned to separate categories entitled 'lechemetes' (food s served in slices) and'fried metes' (suc h as fritters). None o f thi s is necessarily consistent with men u designations . A dish which an English menu calls a 'pottage' maybe listed in a contemporary cookery book as a 'lechemete': and indeed if a 'pottage' is basically something boiled in a pot, it is a pottage. Or started out to be one; some end up as grilled dishes , too. If we are to agree on a category classification that will suit both English and continenta l examples , we may have t o adher e t o th e metho d o f cooking as a guide; this would allow me to categorize 'furmenty' -which is grouped wit h humble vegetable pottages in England but classifie d as an 'entremet'm som e French collections - a s a pottage without offence to French researchers. Yet even if we put a pottage which, when cold, is sliced an d grille d in a separate category , that stil l leave s us with a vast number in the 'pottage' group, and researchers must be able to see the characteristics of a particular pottage. This means that we must be meticulous in recordin g such specifica tions as 'make it standing' as part of the record for an individual recipe, just as we must include all ingredients, including garnishes. While I do not thin k we really must record th e entire recipe, there is one part of it which shoul d indee d b e recorde d verbatim , just a s it appear s i n th e manuscript. This is the first line or so of the recipe , or around a dozen words. That is usually enough to make it possible for a researcher who compares it with a recipe recorde d in another manuscript t o determine whethe r it i s - a t least, in its beginning - substantiall y the same recipe. Whe n recipes i n differen t manuscripts clearl y ar e th e same , the y belong t o what I term the sam e 'family' grou p o f recipes: for example, the famil y of The Forme ofCury or of Le viandier de Taillevent. Most of the recipes in English manuscripts can be traced to one source collection or another, and I am sure man y French recipe s coul d als o be classifie d in 'family ' groups, with a considerable gain in our understanding of the history of particular recipes. 16

Or eve n thicker : 'jellies ' are ofte n categorize d as 'a potage called gelee ' in the menus of the period.

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Ten English familie s can be identified, most of which dra w on earlier ones. I thu s propos e t o includ e i n a recipe descriptio n th e famil y t o which i t belongs, or from whic h i t descends, i f this can be identified, a s well as the opening clause (s). With thi s information, i t is often unnecessary to give full detail s other than ways in which th e particula r example differs: reader s can be referred t o the prototype. Here, then, is the information I propose to record for each recipe: Line 1 M S title; author (i f known); approximate date. Line 2 Nam e of recipe as it appears here; folio on which it begins; number in this collection. Line 3 Normalize d spelling of recipe name; recipe category , 'principle ingredient' category; recipe 'family' i f identified. Line 4 Firs t line or so of recipe - which will usually be enough to characterize this particular version and t o locate it in its family group if that is not ye t known. Line 5 Ingredients , in order called for, with semi-colons separating groups required at different stage s of cooking. Line 6 Cookin g procedures; semi-colons to correspond to stages indicated in the ingredien t list. Line 7 Characteristic s of this particular recipe not already noted. Of course, some of the information demande d on a line of the entry does not always exist: for example, folio number for a collection in a scroll with no suc h numbers . When n o gues s or explanation ca n be hazarded , an item (such as the name of an anonymous author) will simply be passed by. As examples of how this might work, here are three recipes for a dish called 'mawmenny' : 1

1 BL , MS Add. 46919; c. 1325 2 Maumenee ; 19r; 7 3 Mawmenny ; PO, M; 2 4 Wyn ; braun of chapoun ipolled al to poudre, & sojajaen d o pryn 5 Wine , dark meat of capon, ground almonds, clove powder; fried almonds, ground 'gretvlehs ' [beef?] , sugar; indigo colouring [?] 17 6 Boi l 7 Suga r to 'abaten \>e streynjie' o f the spicing 17

Two people who had actuall y cooked using this recipe tol d m e they did not need to add an y colouring: the colou r produce d by this combination o f ingredients turne d out t o be lavender, which is close enough t o the colou r o f indigo. Note , however , that several othe r medieval recipe s cal l specifically for indigo as a food colouring . I do no t know whether indig o woul d be considered fi t fo r human consumptio n today .


3

2

1 Bodleia n Library, Oxford, MS Douce 257; 1381 2 Maumene ; 89r; 30 3 Mawmenny ; PO, M; 4 (< 2?) 4 Ta k be byys ober be flesch o f be caponys. Sebe hem an d ker f 5 Capo n meat; almond milk , beef broth, ground rice or wastell bread, egg yolks, saffron; cloves , 'galentyn' powde r 6 Boil , grind; mix (an d simmer); garnish 7 Dar k or white meat; very thick: 'charchant'

3 1 BL , MS Add. 5016 ; c . 1420 2 Mawmenny ; roll; 194 3 Mawmenny ; PO, M; 4 4 Tak e be chese and o f flessh o f capouns or of hennes an d hakke 5 Capo n o r hen meat ; almond milk , beef or other mea t broth; ric e flour or crumbs or wheat starch (res t as in recipe 2 above) 6 Cho p and grind; mix and simmer ; thicken; garnish 7 Preliminar y cooking omitted; 'thighs' miscopied as 'cheese'

The firs t o f these, datin g fro m ver y early in th e fourteent h century, translates an Anglo-Norman recipe of the late thirteenth; the second is from the later fourteenth century and the last from the early fifteenth century. Like almost all English collections, these are anonymous , so no author s appear, an d th e las t is a scroll, which i s not divide d into folios. All three o f these ar e vaguel y related, but not e tha t the secon d is not a t all the 'same ' as the first: the wording is entirely different, an d the ingredient s differ just enough t o matter. Instead of ground beef, which never again appears in any English 'mawmenny' recipe, we are told t o use beef broth or some other meat broth and a thickening of rice flour or breadcrumbs. The whole almonds have disappeared. The dish i s no longe r t o be coloure d indig o blue (o r lavender), an ide a which was just a s exotic then a s it would be now , but i s simply t o b e saffron yellow , a commonplac e colourin g i n th e period . Eg g yolk s creep in - no t so much as a thickening agent but, the recipe says , to help, along with the saffron , t o make the dish 'yellow'. And the cloves are supplemented with 'galentyn' powder-which may mean the spice galingale. The thir d recipe , on th e othe r hand , i s 'the same ' a s the second , although no t a n exact duplicate: more alternatives appear in the lis t

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of ingredients, which is normal for a later cop y - th e later the copy, the mor e elaborate d i t is apt t o be. Bu t one differenc e shoul d have caught th e ey e at once . Her e 'chese ' make s a unique an d startling appearance a s a prime ingredient in a dish well known, and lacking cheese, elsewhere . Had chees e crep t in a s a substitute ingredient in the fifteent h century? No indeed! As my last line indicates, this is a scribal error for 'thighs': that is, dark meat of the capon, possibly spelled 'thees' i n the exemplar here miscopied . As anyone who ha s looke d a t medieva l manuscripts knows, it is easy to misread t as c in many scribal hands. That this is the case here is clear only because the recipe is easily identified as the same as that in M S Douce 257, in recip e 2 above. You can se e that this is so because it begins the sam e way, with on e omission ; contains the same ingredients - plu s a few alternatives; and follows the same procedures, except omittin g directions for first cooking the capo n meat . Anyone who look s at th e res t of the recip e wil l see that it follows th e origina l wording very closely.18 It is, therefore, quite improbable tha t any cook ever actually added cheese to the 'mawmenny'. This shows how vital it may be to establish the recipe's ancestry, which can give important clues when something went wrong in the transmission . A culinary historian who looked a t that thir d mawmenn y recipe withou t realizin g it s relationship t o the on e abov e migh t wel l reach a n entirel y wrong conclusion ; as, indeed, Esther Aresty did when she chose that recipe fo r a moder n adaptation.19 Incidentally, some may be surprised to hear tha t 'mawmenny' is not a dish of French origin - ther e is, in fact, no known French example of the dish - but one adapted in Italy and England from an Arabic source. Inevitably, the Italian and English versions of the dish are very differen t from th e origina l Arabi c ma'mumya, whic h was ofte n simpl y a fatenriched porridge. 20 18

All three recipes ar e printed i n Curye on Inglysch: se e pp. 45 , 68 and 144 . Aresty, Th e Delectable Past, pp. 23-24 . 20 The mos t illuminating discussion o f the histor y of this dish i s Maxime Rodinson's essay 'La Ma'muniyyat en Orient et en Occident', originally published i n Etudes d'Orientalisme dediees a l a memoire d e Levi-Provenfal (Paris , 1962) , trans , b y Barbar a Inskip as 'Ma'muniyya East and West', in Petitspropos culinaires, 33 (1989), pp. 15-25. Professor Rodinso n include d a number of recipes; thos e closes t to medieval Italian and English versions call for rice, milk and breast meat of chickens, sometimes garnished with pistachio s - fo r which the whole almond s i n th e Anglo-Norman version wer e probably a substitute . 19


5

It is clear, therefore, tha t th e culinary historian's frame of reference has to be a wide one. I n thi s essay I have cited French , Catalan , Arabic and (obliquely ) Scandinavian examples. This rather dauntin g situation may explain, i n part , m y relatively isolated positio n i n attemptin g t o complete th e record of medieval English culinary manuscripts. I would be only too delighted to welcome more recruits to the field to help in what sometimes look s like an impossible mountain o f work.

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and Eating in Medieval Europe Appendix

Some Important Recent Publications on Medieval Food [Anglo-Norman MSS ] 'Two Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections', ed. C.B. Hieatt and R.F. Jones, Speculum, 61 (1986), pp. 859-82. Anonimomeridionale,Duelibridicudna, ed. I.Bostrom (Stockholm, 1985). Jean de Bockenheim, 'Registr e de cuisine' , ed. B. Laurioux, Melanges de I'ecolefrancaisedeRome, 100 (1988), pp. 709-60. 'Maistre' Chiquart, 'Du fait de cuisine', ed. T. Scully, Valesia 40 (1985), pp. 101-231; trans. Scully (Ne w Yor k and Bern, 1986). Curye on Inglysch: English Culinary Manuscripts oftheFourteenth Century (Including the Forme ofCury), ed. C.B. Hieatt and S. Butler (London, 1985). J.-L.Handrin, 'Brouets, potagesetbouillons', Medievales, 5 (1983), pp. 5-14. R. Grewe, ed., 'An Early Thirteenth-Century Northern-European Cookbook', Current Research, 1986, pp . 27-4 5 (conferenc e proceedings; Culinary Historians of Boston, for 1985). Ann Hagen , A Handbook o f Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption (Pinner, Middlesex, 1992). —, A Second Handbook o f Anglo-Saxon Food and Drink: Production and Distribution (Pinner, Middlesex, 1995). P.W. Hammond, Food andFeast in Medieval England (Stroud , Gloucestershire, 1993). C.B. Hieatt , 'Further Notes on Th e Forme ofCury e t al.: Additions and Corrections', Bulletin o f the John Ry lands University Library o f Manchester, 7 0 (1988), pp. 45-52. —, 'The Middle English Culinary Recipes in MS Harley 5401: An Edition and Commentary', Medium aevum, 65 (1996), pp. 54-71. D. Menjot, ed., Manger et boire au moyen age, 2 vols (Paris, 1984). An Ordinance of Pottage: An Edition of the Fifteenth-Century Culinary Recipes in Yale University's M S Beinecke 163, ed. C.B . Hieatt (London, 1988). Le Recueil de Riom, ed, C. Lambert (Montreal, 1988). 'Repertoire des manuscrits medievaux con tenant des recettes culinaires', ed. C.B. Hieatt, C. Lambert, B. Laurioux and A. Prentki, in Du manuscrit a la table, ed. C. Lambert (Montreal , 1992), pp. 315-88. Terence Scully, The Art o f Cookery i n the Middle Ages (Woodbridge, Suffolk , and Rochester, New York, 1995) . Le viandierde Taillevent, ed. T. Scully (Ottawa, 1988). C.M. Woolgar , Household Accounts from Medieval England, 2 vols (Oxford, 1992-93).

8 Feeding Medieval Cities: Some Historical Approaches Margaret Murphy It has been recognized fo r some time that the issue of urban provision ing is central to our understanding of the rol e of urban centre s in th e processes of economic development.1 However, when Roger Scola's book on Manchester , Feeding th e Victorian City, appeare d i n 1992 , it s editor s claimed (wit h some justification) tha t i t represente d th e firs t book length stud y of the suppl y of food to , an d it s distribution in, a majo r city.2 Although in recent years historians have turned thei r attention to the question of how medieval towns and cities were provisioned an d th e effect of their demands upon their regions, there is still a notable absence of large-scale studies of particular places.3 In th e moder n perio d th e suppl y zones of large cities have widened to national an d internationa l scope , presentin g th e historia n wit h an almost impossible task in getting to grips with the source material. Scola indeed acknowledged that he had been forced to abandon several aspects of his provisioning study, most notably an examination o f the respons e of food producers across an ever-widening area of supply to the demands 1 See, e.g., E.A. Wrigley, 'A Simple Model of London's Importance in Changing English Society and Economy , 1650-1750', Past an d Present, 37 (1967) , pp. 44-70 ; P. Bairoch, Cities and Economic Development from the Dawn of History t o the Present (Chicago, 1988) . 2 Roger Scola , Feeding th e Victorian City: Th e Food Supply o f Manchester, 1770-1870 (Manchester, 1992) , p. xix. 3 Recent works on medieva l English towns contain muc h usefu l materia l on provisioning. See for example R. Britnell, Growth and Decline in Colchester, 1300-1525 (Cambridge, 1986); M . Kowaleski , Local Markets an d Regional Trade i n Medieval Exeter (Cambridge , 1995). Fo r Europea n town s see L'approvisionnement de s villes d e I'Europe occidental a u moyen ag e et aux temps moderns (Cinquieme s journees internationales d'histoire , 1985 ; Auch, Centre culture l de 1'abbaye de Flaran), especially the papers b y P. Wolff, C.M . de la Ronciere, R. Van Uytven and F. Irsigler. A group of eight papers which examine aspects of th e provisionin g o f London an d Pari s in th e middl e age s has been published as a special numbe r o f Franco-British Studies, 20 (1995). For an exemplary study of a moder n city's role in shaping th e landscape and economy of its region, as well as channelling th e production o f an extensive geographical area, see W. Cronon, Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and th e Great West (Ne w York and London , 1991) .

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of the growing city.4 In the medieval period th e supply zone of most basic consumables to cities was much more constrained, thereby permitting, in theory at least, a more manageable study to be undertaken. However, the surviving evidence comes from a wide variety of sources and requires expertise in man y areas. Th e subjec t is best undertaken b y a team o f researchers who can bring a number o f different approaches t o the topic . This essay presents and discusses some of the historical approaches which have recently been applie d t o the subjec t of provisioning the capita l of England in the fourteenth century. It is based upon researc h undertake n as part of the 'Feedin g the City ' projec t in th e Centr e fo r Metropolitan History i n London an d seek s to introduce and summariz e som e o f the principal finding s o f thi s research, a s well a s considering whether th e methodology might have a wider applicability. This project was set up in 1988 in order t o investigate the supply of food, fuel an d building materials to medieval London an d to study the impact of the city's demands on the agricultural an d distributive systems of its hinterland.5 The first phase of the project focused on the period c. 1300, when the population of London reached it s medieval peak. Furthe r fundin g allowe d a second phas e of work to be undertaken, this time focusing on the post-Black Death capital, whose reduced population generated smaller aggregate demands but more diverse ones. This collaborative researc h projec t brought together urba n and rura l historians and historical geographers in an in-depth investigation o f one o f the mos t crucial aspects of the relationshi p between town and country. It marks the beginning of systematic study of the impact which the demands of medieval London had on its agricultural region. 6 The historical approache s applie d by the project can be divided int o 4

Scola, Feeding the Victorian City, p. 3 . Feeding the City I, co-directed by Derek Keene (Centre for Metropolitan History) and Bruce Campbell (Queen s University, Belfast) was funded by the Leverhulme Trust; Feeding the Cit y II, co-directed by Derek Keene, Bruce Campbell, James Galloway and Margaret Murphy, has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number R000233157) . For an introduction t o the aims and some preliminary findings of the projec t see J.A. Gallowa y and M . Murphy, 'Feedin g the City : Medieval London and it s Agrarian Hinterland', Th e London Journal, 1 6 (1991), pp. 3-14. 1 would like to thank Jim Galloway and Derek Keene for their helpful comments on this present essay. 6 There have , however, been man y useful survey s of London's food-suppl y region during the early modern period: J. Chartres, 'Food Consumption and Internal Trade', in A.L. Beier and R . Finlay, eds, London 1500-1700: The Making o f the Metropolis (1986) , pp. 168-96 ; A. Everitt, 'The Marketing of Agricultural Produce', in J. Thirsk, ed., The Agrarian History of England and Wales, iv, 1500-1640 (Cambridge, 1984), pp. 466-92 ; FJ. Fisher, Th e Developmen t of th e Londo n Foo d Market , 1540-1640', i n E.M . CarusWilson, ed., Essays i n Economic History (1954) , pp. 135-51 . 5

Feeding Medieval Cities: Some Historical Approaches 11

9

three principal groups: those concerned with reconstructing the requirements o f th e medieva l city ; thos e concerne d wit h th e productio n o f basic foodstuff s i n th e countrysid e an d th e developmen t of regiona l specialisms; an d thos e concerne d wit h th e system s o f distributio n b y which produc e was transferred from th e rura l producer t o the urba n consumer. London achieved the position of England's largest and wealthiest town as early as the tenth century. In 1100 perhaps one in one hundred English people live d in the capital and by 1300 the figure was one in seventy or less while the city may have contained 2 per cent of the national wealth.7 Research publishe d durin g th e las t decade has resulted in a n upward revision of the estimated populations of several medieval English towns and cities. 8 It is now believed that c. 1300 the population of London was between 80,000 and 100,000, and fell to around 50,000 in the post-Black Death period. 9 Not onl y was London's populatio n ver y large, it was also extremely varied i n socio-economi c terms . Th e cit y contained disproportionat e numbers of both the richest and poorest of England's inhabitants. Most of the richest magnates of the day had London houses where they spent some of the year. The cit y was full o f ecclesiastical establishments, large and small , and man y bishops and abbot s followed th e exampl e of the nobility and ha d metropolita n residences. 10 The household s o f these lay and ecclesiastical nobles could spend up to half of their considerable incomes o n food. 11 Furthermore , Londo n ha d a large clas s of well-off merchants, some with incomes which placed them in positions of equality with the nobility , as well as many wealthy individuals who derive d their incomes from offic e holdin g or legal practice.12 There wer e also smaller traders , artisans and wage-earners big and small. Under the m were the 'marginals' , the huge mass of poor, often destitute , frequently 7

D. Keene, 'London , circa 600-1300: The Growt h of a Capital', Franco-British Studies, 17 (1994), p. 25. 8 D. Keene, Survey o f Medieval Winchester, Winchester Studie s 2 (Oxford , 1985) ; E. Rutledge, 'Immigratio n and Population Growt h in Early Fourteenth-Century Norwich: Evidence from th e Tithing Roll', Urban History Yearbook 1988 (1988), pp . 15-30 . 9 D. Keene, ' A New Study of London Before th e Grea t Fire', Urban History Yearbook 1984(1984), pp. 11-21 . 10 C. Barren, 'Centres of Conspicuous Consumption : The Aristocratic Town House in London, 1200-1500' , London Journal, 20 (1995), pp . 1-16 . 1 C. Dyer , Standards o f Living i n th e Later Middle Ages: Social Change i n England, c. 1200-1520 (Cambridge, 1989) , pp. 55-67 . 12 Ibid., pp. 110-26 ; S.L. Thrupp, Th e Merchant Class of Medieval London (reprinted , Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1989), pp. 108-30.

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homeless Londoners. Then a s now poor peopl e flocked to the cit y in search of jobs, a better life and charitable hand-outs. By the mid thirteenth century London containe d larg e number s of poor. Henry III in 1244 made provisio n for 20,00 0 meals t o b e distribute d t o th e poo r i n Westminster and 15,00 0 at St Paul's.13 By 1300 it is likely that London contained an even greater numbe r of poverty-stricken inhabitants. The consumption need s of the capital were therefore not only large in scale but very diverse. The richest people required luxury items and consumed large amounts of fresh mea t and fish. During the months of July and August 1302 the royal household spen t £1454 on food (mor e than hal f o f that su m on mea t alone ) i n Londo n an d it s immediat e region.14 Fres h mea t an d fis h wer e beyond th e norma l reac h o f less well-off Londoner s but the y could affor d poultry , salt- and stock-fish , dairy produce, vegetables, legumes and fruit. Most importantly, however, all classes required grain s fo r thei r basic bread an d ale . Studies have shown that , while the numbe r o f calories consumed per capit a varied greatly between social groups, grains provided the most substantial proportion o f the dail y nutritional needs of rich and poor alike. 15 This dependenc e o n grai n calorie s in pre-industria l town s explains why many provisioning studies have been dominate d by the examina tion of grain supply. The first major work produced by the Feeding the City project concentrated o n London' s grain suppl y c. 1300.16 In thi s work th e projec t evolved a methodology for estimatin g the aggregat e demand fo r grain generated b y a city of London's size in thi s period. This bega n wit h a n estimat e o f a dail y per capit a nutritiona l intak e 13

R.C. Stacey, Politics, Policy an d Finance under Henry III, 1216-1245 (Oxford, 1987) , p. 240. 14 D. Keene, 'Medieval London an d it s Region', London Journal, 1 4 (1989), p. 102. 15 A study based o n th e estimate s of food supplies neede d fo r soldiers garrisonin g English castles in Scotland a t the beginning o f the fourteenth century revealed a diet in which 78 per cen t of calorific intake was provided b y grains in the form of bread, ale and oatmeal flour: M. Prestwich, 'Victualling Estimates for English Garrisons in Scotland during the Earl y Fourteenth Century' , English Historical Review, 82 (1967), pp. 536-43. Christopher Dyer's work on the diets of harvest workers confirms the predominance of grains with bread and ale supplying up to 80 per cent of dietary calories, c. 1300: C. Dyer, 'Changes in Die t in th e Lat e Middle Ages: The Cas e of Harvest Workers', Agricultural History Review, 36 (1988), pp. 21-37. A study of the diet of the English lay nobility indicates that bread, ale, pasties and pastries probably accounted for 65-70 per cent of per capita calories consumed; J.M. Thurgood, The Die t and Domestic Households of the English Lay Nobility, 1265-1531' (unpublishe d M.Phil , thesis, University of London, 1982) . 16 B.M.S. Campbell, J.A. Galloway, D. Keene and M . Murphy, A Medieval Capital and its Grain Supply: Agrarian Production and Distribution in the London Region, c. 1300, Historical Geography Research Series , 3 0 (1993).


1

necessary t o sustain life , based on the work of nutritionists (2000-250 0 kilocalories). It was then assume d tha t between 6 0 and 7 5 per cen t of these dail y calorie s wer e supplied b y grain i n th e for m o f bread an d ale.17 The nex t step involved calculating the quantity of raw grain which would be needed to provide the requisite number of daily calories, building in an element for the fodder requirements o f animals used to bring grain overland t o the city, as well as allowing for calorie loss arising from the processes of milling, malting, baking and brewing. A range of estimates was therefore produced fro m thi s admittedly approximate exercise. For the purposes of further calculation a mean annual figure of 1.65 quarters of grain pe r capit a was taken, leading t o th e conclusio n tha t London , with a population of 80,000 persons, would have required 132,000 quarters of grain each year. In the latter half of the fourteenth century, when the population o f London fell to around 50,000, the aggregate grain requirement als o fell . However, the rise in living standards, which occasione d an increase in ale consumption, had th e effec t o f raising the per capita consumption o f grains, s o that overall demand di d not fal l by as much as the population figures would suggest.18 A different methodology ha s been applie d t o estimating the quantities of firewood needed t o supply London i n the fourteenth century. 19 The medieva l city generated a n enormou s deman d fo r both domesti c and industrial fuel. In this period, although othe r fuels such as charcoal and coa l were available, wood was by far th e mos t important source of energy. There are no contemporar y record s of total quantitie s o f fue l consumed by London and, unlike with grain, it is virtually impossible to calculate an average per capita fuel requirement whic h would incorporat e general domestic heating and cooking needs as well as the fuel consumed by industry. I t wa s therefore necessar y in th e cas e o f fuel t o dra w on evidence concernin g a later period, specificall y th e annua l pe r capit a coal consumption figur e o f 0.75 ton s estimated fo r London i n 1600. 20 The quantities of coal had first to be converted into a dry wood equivalent, 17

Ibid., pp. 32-36. It was assumed that each Londoner consumed 1600-2000 grainderived kilocalories a day, of which ale comprised 160-200 kilocalories . 18 James A. Galloway, 'London' s Grain Supply: Changes in Production, Distribution and Consumptio n durin g th e Fourteent h Century' , Franco-British Studies, 20 (1995) , pp. 23-34 . 19 J. Galloway, D. Keene an d M. Murphy, 'Fuellin g the City: Production and Distribu tion of Firewood and Fue l in London's Region, 1290-1400', Economic History Review, 49 (1996), pp. 447-72. See also Margaret Murphy , Th e Fue l Suppl y of Medieval London , 1300-1400', Franco-British Studies, 20 (1995) pp . 85-96. 20 J. Hatcher , Th e History o f the British Coal Industry, i , Before 1700: Towards th e Age of Coal (Oxford, 1993) , p. 41.

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an exercise which resulted in the figure of 1.76 tons of firewood required by each Londoner each year. On that basis it was estimated that London would have consumed 141,00 0 tons of wood per annu m in 1300, with a postulated populatio n o f 80,000, an d 88,00 0 ton s per annu m i n 140 0 when th e populatio n ma y have been 50,000 . As with grain, th e ris e in living standard s whic h followe d th e Blac k Death resulte d i n a rise i n individual demand for fuel both for cooking (including baking and brewing) an d domestic heating. 21 Reasonable estimates of the city's demand for other products, such as meat, fish and dairy produce, have yet to be postulated and, if the exercise is possible, differen t methodologie s agai n ma y have t o b e employed . Dietary evidence suggests that in the early fourteenth century meat and fish were largel y absent fro m the table s of the poor , while persons in wealthy or aristocratic households coul d consume two to three pound s of meat and fish per day. 22 The situation was not static and in the late r fourteenth centur y there was a marked increase in meat consumption among th e les s well-off. A very wide rang e o f animals an d fish , bot h fresh an d preserved , was available for purchas e i n fourteenth-century London. Some impression of the relative importance of various products in the metropolitan diet at different periods might be gained by analysing the numbers, wealth and influence of the occupational groups involved in particula r victuallin g trades. Thi s approach , amon g others , wil l b e explored i n future research. In th e medieva l perio d mos t citie s relie d o n thei r agraria n hinter lands for the suppl y of basic foodstuffs (i n addition t o fuel fo r cooking and heating , timbe r for building, clot h for clothing and raw materials for industry) . Without a regular sourc e of these necessities, concentrations of urban population coul d not survive. In order for towns and cities to grow, rural hinterlands ha d t o be capable of increasing supplies either b y more efficien t an d productiv e farmin g method s o r bette r transport network s allowing further-flung area s to enter th e city' s supply zone. The diet of most urban dwellers was to a large extent dictated b y what the countrysid e coul d efficientl y produce . A t th e mos t basi c level, therefore, examinin g broad patterns of land-use and the range of crops grown and animals reared i n a city's hinterland is an excellent first step in th e constructio n o f a picture o f urban foo d supply and als o in th e analysis o f rura l respons e t o th e challeng e o f provisionin g a majo r 21 22

Dyer, Standards o f Living, p. 177 . Thurgood, 'Diet and Domesti c Households'; Dyer , Standards o f Living, pp. 58-62.

Feeding Medieval Cities: Some Historical Approaches

123

concentration o f non-rural population . Th e Feedin g the Cit y projec t has undertaken suc h a study of land-use an d agricultura l practices in ten countie s in south-east England (Figur e 4) The study area denned by the project was not intended to represent the limit s of the Londo n agraria n region . I n it s demand for food an d other supplie s London exerte d influenc e upon a series of overlapping regions, some extending a few miles from the city, others taking in much of the country . The te n countie s chosen fo r study were considered t o form an area sufficiently compac t to enable detailed work to be carried out, yet large enough to contain regions with contrasting soils, topography, differential acces s to marketing and transpor t networks, and distinctive agrarian regimes . The survivin g source material s which permit th e reconstructio n of agrarian practice s i n medieval England ar e quite unparalleled an d for the period around 130 0 are particularly rich. The two principal sources used in th e Feeding the Cit y project are inquisition post mortem extents

Figure 4: The 'Feedin g the City' project study area.

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(hereafter IPMs) and annual demesne account rolls. Both sources relate to demesne land s held by lay or ecclesiastical lords and d o not directly reveal the agricultura l practices of small landowners and peasant s who cultivated approximatel y two-thirds of all arable land. 23 However, it is assumed tha t agraria n pattern s identified withi n th e demesn e secto r may be taken as broadly diagnostic of the rural economy as a whole. IPM extents relate to the holdings of deceased, lay, tenants in chief of the crown and record th e amount and value of the principal land types and othe r resource s o f each o f the lord' s holding s (typically , bu t no t invariably, a manor). They quantif y th e arable , pasture , meado w and woodland and assig n a value to each acre as well as recording the presence of mills, fishponds, dovecotes and vegetable gardens. During the two stages of the projec t data have been collecte d from just over 2100 IPM extents relating to manors and holdings in the study area.24 The second sourc e used b y the projec t is the demesne accoun t roll, which again survives in greatest numbers from th e fourteenth century. These accounts, rendered annually by manorial bailiffs, provide in more or less standardized form highly detailed informatio n on most aspects of agricultural practice, acreage under different crops, crop yields, disposal of crops by sale, transfer t o household fo r consumptio n o r use by the manorial workforce. Data are given concerning each livestock type kept on the manor, numbers of males and females, births, deaths and slaughters. Over 800 annual accoun t rolls have been used in th e tw o stages of the project.25 Analysis of the data from both IPM extents and demesne accounts has allowed a detailed picture of land use over a wide area to be built up, in the course of which some previously held assumptions have been given firm statistica l backing. For example, given the medieva l population's overwhelming reliance on grain-based calories, it has always been appreciated that in most parts of medieval England, arable was the most important 23

Campbell, Galloway, Keene and Murphy , A Medieval Capital, p . 17. Two databases have been compiled from the IPM extents. FTCI IPM database uses 1966 extents from th e period 1270-1339, and FTCII IPM database uses 168 extents and relates to the period 1350-80. Towards the en d o f the fourteenth century the extent s change in format and no longer include detailed land-use information. For a discussion of the methodolog y employe d in analysin g the extent s see B.M.S. Campbell, J.A. Galloway an d M . Murphy, 'Rura l Land-Us e in th e Metropolita n Hinterland , 1270-1339 : The Evidenc e o f Inquisitiones Post Mortem', Agricultural History Review, 4 0 (1992) , pp . 1-22. 25 Again the data have been organized into two databases. The FTCI accounts database uses 461 accounts for 204 manors during the period 1290-1315, and the FTCII accounts database use s 360 accounts for 14 1 manors during the period 1375-1400. 24


5

land use . The statistic s generated fro m analysi s of the IP M material sug gested i n fac t tha t a s much a s 75 per cen t o f agricultural lan d i n th e London region lay under the plough c. 1300, reflecting the impact of concentrated urba n deman d i n additio n t o th e need s o f a denselypopulated countryside . Demesne account rolls can be used to show how the arable land was divided between cultivation of bread grains, brewing grains, fodder grains and legumes . Pattern s i n th e cultivatio n of different arable crop s can frequently be linked to the varied demands of the metropolitan market . The city's agrarian hinterlan d di d not of course have uniform soils and terrain an d th e choic e o f which crop t o gro w was also influence d by environmental patterns. However, the patterns of arable farming which have emerge d a s a result o f the stud y of London's hinterlan d clearl y show that th e demand s o f a large cit y could profoundl y influence th e choice of crop grown, in some cases overriding environmental factors, in othe r case s encouragin g a n environmenta l predisposition. 26 Th e significant increas e i n the cultivatio n of brewing grains in parts of th e London regio n in the later fourteenth century is a good example of this feature.27 Spatial analysi s of grain cultivatio n has le d t o th e revisio n o f som e traditional views about th e medieval diet. One o f these is that in southeast England , an d particularl y in London , wheate n brea d wa s almost universally consumed b y the fourteenth century , and therefor e that, in these areas , ther e wa s little demand fo r the cheape r brea d mad e fro m rye and mixtures of rye and wheat known as maslin and mancorn.28 The discovery tha t a significan t cluste r o f manors clos e t o th e metropoli s and strung out along the navigable River Thames devoted sizeable acreages to rye and maslin cultivation suggests that, in fact, the early fourteenthcentury cit y generated a substantial demand fo r thes e cheape r brea d grains. This combination o f land-use data with evidence from Londo n sources leads t o the conclusio n that , at its medieval populatio n peak , many of the city's inhabitants could not afford t o eat wheaten bread an d that ther e wa s a sizeable market for cheaper brea d grains. 29 A related 26 A town ha d t o achieve a certain size , probably over 10,000 , before i t could mark edly affect th e agricultur e of its region; see Kowaleski, Local Markets, p . 323. 27 See James Galloway, 'Driven by Drink? Ale Consumption and the Agrarian Economy of the Londo n Region, c . 1300-1400', above, Chapte r 6. 28 N.S.B. Gras , Th e Evolution o f the English Corn Market fro m th e Twelfth t o the Eighteenth Century (reprinte d London, 1926) , p. 37. 29 Campbell, Galloway , Keen e an d Murphy , A Medieval Capital, pp . 26 , 121-23 , 164-66.

126 Food


example of urban demand influencing crop specialisation can be found in the hinterland of medieval Paris. There the growth in popular demand for chea p wine led t o th e replacemen t in man y areas of high qualit y cepagesby mauvais gamay, which produced an inferior wine but one which was affordable by poorer consumers. 30 Demesne accoun t rolls , a s mentione d above , contai n detaile d information on annual sales of manorial produce, which can help in identifying area s where crop specialisms were primarily market-led. Methods employed include assessin g the frequenc y with which different crops were sold, comparing proportions sol d and measurin g the contribution o f income from sales of each crop to overall manorial sales income.31 Applying these measures to the products of pastoral farming is , however , less straightforward . Animal s were kep t o n demesnes fo r a variety of differen t purpose s an d wer e no t alway s destined fo r consumptio n whe n the y were sold. Th e exceptio n t o this rul e wa s the adul t porke r (castrate d pig) , which was virtually always sold for food. Animal products such as milk, butter and chees e were also destined for fairly rapid consumption. A key tool in determin ing th e spatia l dimensio n i n demesn e sale s of thes e product s ha s been compute r mapping . The data contained in demesne account s are well-suited to mapping, relating as they do to discrete and identifi able places. Mapping those manors with above-average income from sales o f pigs, for example , ha s reveale d th e possibl e impact of th e metropolitan market, while mapping those manors which specialised in dairy produce point s to the crucial importance of cheap (usuall y water) transpor t linkin g demesne an d market. 32 While it is clear that the demands of London did influence agriculture in its hinterland, a concern of the project has been to assess the degree to which this influence was manifest in ways consonant with the predictions of geographical location theory. This body of theory holds that urban hinterlands will tend to develop zones or regions of specialized production as producers adopt the forms of land use which are most profitable in any

30

'Avant-propos', Franco-British Studies, 20 (1995), p. 3. B.M.S. Campbell, 'Measuring the Commercialisatio n of Seigneurial Agriculture , c. 1300', in R.H. Britnell and B.M.S. Campbell, eds, A Commercialising Economy .-England, 1086-1300 (Manchester, 1995), pp. 132-93. 32 M. Murphy andJ.A Galloway, 'Marketing Animals and Animal Products in London's Hinterland, circa 1300', Anthropozoologica, 1 6 (1992), pp. 93-100. 31

Feeding Medieval Cities: Some Historical Approaches

127

Figure 5: Simplified representation of Von Thimen's model of land-use zones.

given location.33 It is only in recent years that historians have attempted to test the relevance of these theories to the medieval economy.34 The Feedin g th e Cit y project has drawn particularly on th e work of the nineteenth-centur y Germa n theoris t J.H. vo n Thiinen , wh o constructed an idealized model of the pattern of farming systems likely to be generate d b y a large centra l market. 35 The mode l predict s th e emergence o f a serie s o f concentric zones characterized b y differen t patterns and intensities of land use (see Figure 5). Von Thiinen assume d that his town was situated, in isolation, at the centr e o f a level plain of uniform fertility , crossed by no navigable rivers or canals. The presenc e of other, smaller markets and of geographical features both facilitating and impedin g transpor t would of course distor t th e predicte d zones , but would not fundamentally change thei r logical order. During the course of the research on agriculture in the London region, certain patterns have emerged which are indeed explicable in terms of von Thiinen' s theory . Thus , th e perishabl e product s o f market gardening and dairying assumed importance, and were profitable activities, o n manor s within a few miles of th e city . Similarly , firewoo d an d charcoal sales were significant components of manorial income close to 33 34

M. Chisholm, Rural Settlement and Land-Use: An Essay o n Location (1962).

See for exampl e F. Irsigler, 'L'approvisionnemen t des villes de 1'Allemagn e occidentale jusqu'au XVIe siecle', in L'approvisionnement de s villes, pp. 117-44 . 35

P. Hall, ed. , Vo n Thiinen's Isolated State: An English Edition of Der Isolierte Stoat by Johann Heinrich von Thiinen, trans. C.M. Wartenberg (Oxfor d an d Ne w York, 1966).

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London, and i n location s with ready access to chea p wate r transport . With grain crops a definite tendency is evident for bulkier and low-value crops suc h a s oats an d ry e t o be grow n close t o th e city , while wheat, whose hig h pric e greatl y increased th e are a ove r whic h i t coul d b e transported, wa s more o f a speciality on manor s a t a further remove. Although the fit between theory and historical evidence is by no means perfect, a n awareness of the prediction s of location theory has proved to be an important interpretative too l for the historian of urban provisioning. Complex and extensive distributive systems had t o evolve in order to transport th e produce o f the countryside into cities as large as medieval London. When towns grew beyond a certain size, perhaps 10,000 persons, they began t o exceed th e provisionin g capacities of local trade . I t was still possible for some tow n dwellers to obtain supplie s of foodstuffs b y direct provisioning ; majo r religiou s institution s base d i n th e citie s developed regular, formal arrangements whereby food was sent in from their country estates. The provisionin g needs of the canons of St Paul's Cathedral, for example, were met throughout th e medieval period by a complex system of food farms involving manors up to forty miles distant from London. 36 However, the majorit y o f urban dweller s had n o suc h ability to bypass the market and therefor e trad e prevaile d over alternative methods of supply. Demesne accoun t roll s frequently provide valuable material o n th e marketing and transport of agricultural produce and highlight the variety of method s use d b y producers o f foo d t o marke t surpluses . Thi s i s particularly true of accounts for manors in th e London region , where rates of market participation were conspicuously high.37 However, even on manors where all surpluses were diverted to meet the consumptio n needs of the lord's household, enlightening details can be found concerning the movement of goods from manor to household, such as the means of transport chosen, its cost, or the number of carts and draught animals involved. When the household was situated in or near London this information is particularly valuable. Sales to London merchant s as well as direct selling in the capita l are documented in the account rolls. However, in general, the rural evidence would suggest that such direct , unmediated link s with the capita l were 36

W.H. Hale , ed, Th e Domesday o f St Paul's o f the Year MCCXII, Camde n Society , ol d series, 69 (1858). 37 It ha s bee n calculate d fo r exampl e tha t c . 1300 hal f th e grai n produce d b y the demesne sector in th e Londo n regio n was distributed via the market . Campbell, Gal loway, Keene and Murphy , A Medieval Capital, p . 74.


9

in the minority. This was in large part due to the growth and increasing sophistication of the network of local markets and fairs within the Londo n region. Over 400 places within the study area had acquired market rights by th e middl e o f the fourteent h century , a network of markets which provided nea r at hand outlets for the producer o f agricultural surpluse s and served to channel the produce of the countryside towards the centres of consumption.38 It is reasonable to assume therefore that a large propor tion of agrarian produce entered into commerce via these local outlets. The importanc e o f certain markets is shown by their repeated appear ance as places of sale in account rolls. Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshir e for grain and th e fairs of Kingston in Surrey and Uxbridge in Middlesex for livestoc k are among these prominent centres . Urban evidence corroborates and augments the picture produced by the rura l evidence . Judicial an d administrativ e records o f th e cit y of London are highly informative on the practic e o f trade by Londoners and by those who came into the capital from the countryside.39 Municipal regulations document th e ways in which producer an d consumer cam e into direct contact in the metropolitan marke t places, where suburba n gardeners came to sell fruit and vegetables and bakers from nearby small towns came to sell bread. These records also suggest that in fourteenth century London such direct links between consumer and producer were probably lessenin g i n importance . I t i s possible t o documen t th e emergence an d growt h o f groups o f specialize d traders base d i n th e capital, but frequently operating in the countryside, who acted as middlemen, linking capital and hinterland . One approac h adopted by the project has been to assemble evidence regarding the activities and interests of occupational group s within the city involved in the food and fue l trade . It has been possibl e to compile some prosopographical database s fro m municipa l regulations, judicial and administrative records (both municipal and central), taxation returns and chronicles . So far this has been undertake n fo r the London 'blad -

38

The project 'Market Networks and the Metropolis' at the Centre for Metropolitan History is examining the rol e of small towns and othe r market s in the circulatio n of agrarian produce i n the London region . 39 H.T. Riley, ed., Liber custumarum, in Munimenta Gildhallae Londoniensis, ii, pts 1 and 2 (Roll s Series, 1860); idem, ed., Memorials o f London an d London Life (London , 1868) ; R.R. Sharpe, ed. , Calendar of the Letter-Books Preserved among the Archives of the Corporation of London at the Guildhall: Letter-Books A-L (London , 1899-1912); idem, ed., Calendar of Early Mayor's Court Rolls, AD 1298-1307 (Cambridge, 1924); idem, ed., Calendar o f Plea and Memoranda Rolls, AD 1364-1381 (Cambridge, 1929).

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ers' o r cornmongers an d th e cit y woodmongers. Work is underway on the butchers . Examining th e activitie s o f th e well-documente d earl y fourteenth century cornmongers has provided valuable evidence for the organization of the grain trade within the city and also for the extent of the city's grain provisioning zone. This frequently corroborates evidence provided by the demesn e accounts. 40 For example, Henley-on-Thame s emerge s as the singl e most important place of resort for London cornmonger s and the only place outside London where they owned granaries. All the most significant interests of the cornmongers lay within the counties of the study area, thereby confirming the impression produced by the agrarian evidenc e tha t th e productiv e capacit y of th e hinterlan d wa s sufficient t o fee d bot h it s own population an d tha t o f a city of betwee n 80,000 and 100,00 0 persons. The London woodmongers formed a less wealthy and influential group than the cornmongers and are therefore less well documented. However, it has been possibl e t o draw together informatio n about som e ninety individuals involved in London's woo d market between the years 1275 and 1375. 41 Within the city the woodmongers held property and pursued business activities in various riverine locations, underlining the importance of the Thames in the supply of fuel to the capital. Outside the city, there was a particula r concentratio n o f woodmongers' interest s i n Surrey , especially in Kingston-upon-Thames and Ham, which emerge from othe r sources a s important entrepot s for the fuel trade . The degre e t o which the method s use d t o study medieval Londo n and it s region ca n b e use d fruitfull y elsewher e are, of course, largely dependent upon the nature and survival of source materials. The highly detailed documentatio n available on agricultural practices in London's hinterland i n the fourteenth century is probably unmatched elsewhere in Europe . However , the archive s o f som e Europea n cities , Pari s fo r example, are extremely rich in records on the regulation of trade, making it possible to reconstruct many aspects of the distributiv e system in a way that it not possible for medieval London.42 Despite these differences, the fundamental features of the approac h 40

Campbell, Galloway, Keene and Murphy , A Medieval Capital, pp. 87-107. Galloway, Keene and Murphy, 'Fuelling the City', p. 452. 42 See C. Bourlet, 'L'approvisonnement de Paris en poisson de mer aux XLVe et XVe siecles, d'apre s le s sources normatives' , Franco-British Studies, 2 0 (1995) , pp. 5-22 ; B. Auzary-Schmaltz, 'Les contentieux en matiere d'approvisionnement, d'apres le s registres d u parlemen t d e Paris' , ibid. , pp . 49-68 ; Y . Le Maresquier-Kesteloot, 'L'approvisionnement de Paris en bois (XIVe-XV e siecles)', ibid., pp. 69-84. 41


1

adopted in the 'Feedin g the City' project should hav e wider applicability. The systematic interrogation of a range of urban and rural documentary sources i n orde r t o tes t th e plausibilit y o f independently-develope d consumption estimates , and th e use of geographical model s to predict the emergenc e o f specialised system s of production withi n urban hin terlands, ar e methods which can be employed i n the study of the provisioning o f other citie s and o f London itsel f at differen t tim e periods . The stud y of medieval London's food supply has identified several lines of enquiry which ca n now be take n further by members o f the projec t team an d others. Medieval townspeople were largely dependent o n the labours of others for their daily food and drink; the impact of that dependency upon wider economic developmen t was great, and its implications are as yet far from exhausted.


9 The Household of Alice de Bryene, 1412-13 ffiona Swabe y Acton i s a small village in Suffolk , som e twent y miles north of the ol d Roman town of Colchester and twent y miles south of Bury St Edmunds. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon Aketon, meaning an oak enclosure or settlement, though barely a vestige of that ancient forest now remains. The lan d i s flat and fertile , mostly medium t o heav y clay, watered by several small streams and suitable for both arable and pastoral farming. Acton's population o f aroun d seventy , a s recorded i n th e Domesda y survey of 1086 , an d 50 0 at th e beginnin g o f this century, has rise n t o more tha n a thousand people today. Approaching Acton from th e south , the first visible landmark is the square bell tower of the church . A few minutes' walk from ther e across the fields is Acton Hall, an early Victorian farmhouse on the site of the original manor . I t i s still a working farm. Evidence from a few extant bailiffs' report s suggests that in th e fifteent h century , apart from far m and woodland of nearly 900 acres, the manor comprised numerous barns and stables, as well as a large dwelling house surrounded by a moat with a great hall, brewhouse, bakehouse and separate chapel. A small stream ran throug h th e enclose d grounds, where there was also a well an d a windmill.1 From Michaelma s 141 2 to Michaelmas 1413 Alice de Bryene served more than 16,50 0 meals at her Acton manor house, an average of fortyfive meals a day. During this one year daily totals varied greatly. Sometimes, 1

I am gratefu l to Martha Carli n an d Joel Rosentha l for their encouragement . My book, Medieval Gentlewoman: Life i n a Gentry Household i n th e Later Middle Ages, focusing on the life and time s of Alice de Bryene, will be published by Sutton Publishing in 1999. See PRO, Acton bailiffs' reports , SC 6/989/6, SC 6/991/1, 6 and an undated steward's account, SC 6/1297/22. Below is a list of all the Compotu s Roll s in the Publi c Recor d Office, London, relating to the estates of Alice de Bryene, receivers', bailiffs', and stewards' accounts for Dorset, Gloucestershire and Eas t Anglia: SC 6/833/12, SC 6/842/25, SC 6/858/16-20, SC 6/989/1-18, 20, 21, SC 6/990/1-21, SC 6/991/1-6, 19, SC 6/1002/ 10-13, SC 6/1003/6-9,21, SC 6/1007/3, SC 6/1245/9-17, SC 6/1247/3-5, SC 6/1249/ 1-10, S C 6/1297/22, DL/430/6904.

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as at the New Year's feast, more tha n 30 0 people cam e to dine; at other times only three were invite d to join he r an d thos e o f her househol d who were present on that particular day. Some of her guests were eminent men, whose wives and childre n visited as well. About three times a week the bailiff s o f one o f her adjacen t manors cam e t o eat, as did th e maidservants and various estate workers. In addition, there were also about fifty clerical an d religiou s visitors, many of whom came severa l times, nearly 200 boon worker s during th e harves t season, visits from mor e tha n on e hundred assorte d casua l labourers and 120 other unnamed guests . Meals also had to be provided for the two dozen members of Alice's household . This information come s from Alice de Bryene's Household Book , a fragment o f her househol d account s originall y edited by Vincent Redstone i n 1931. 2 Alice was not unusua l i n keeping such accounts ; ever y large lay or ecclesiastical household seem s to have kept similar records. Their primary purpose wa s to record th e dail y expenditure o f victuals by the steward i n charge of the overall managemen t o f the household. Keeping such accounts also helped deter household servant s from thef t and carelessness, enabled the detection o f corruption an d mismanagement, an d assiste d officials with future budgeting. 3 Some accounts that have survived, such as those of Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, a few decades earlie r tha n Alice's, are very extensive and cover all aspects of housekeeping, including goldsmiths ' account s an d travelling expenses.4 Alice's are much more modest. They relate primarily to the quantities o f food serve d each day . Entries are prefaced with the date an d a list of guests, man y of whom are named ; othe r visitor s are described by their occupations or from where they came. A pantry account follows with the numbe r of loaves delivered to the table . Not e is made that wine and al e were served , thoug h n o quantit y is specified. Then there are details of meat and fish sent from the kitchens, followed by the daily purchases whic h supplemente d thes e provisions . Provender sup plied t o the horses in the stables and the total sum of purchases, where

2

The Household Book of Alice deBryene, ed. Vincent Redstone, Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History (2n d edn , 1984). The M S is at the PRO, C 47/4/8a & b. 3 C.M. Woolgar, Household Accounts from Medieval England ( 2 vols, Oxford, 1992-93) . 4 Two other accounts worth looking at are those of Lady Margaret Cromwell, 141718, and Elizabeth , countess of Warwick, 1420-22 . The forme r has been discussed by E. Price (unpublishe d thesis , th e Institut e of Historical Research, Universit y o f London, 1948, 'Ralp h Cromwel l and Hi s Household'). The latte r is the subjec t o f an article by C. Ross, 'The Household Accounts of Elizabeth Berkeley, Countess of Warwick, 1420-21', Transactions o f the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeology Society, 70 (1951) , pp. 81-105 .

The Household o f A lice de Bryene, 1412-13 13

5

relevant, complet e eac h entry . Figures ar e also given of the household brewing and baking, which took place at least once a week. Such hospitality must have been the norm in most gentry households in th e late r middl e ages . Th e evidenc e come s no t onl y from Alice' s Household Book , but als o from ove r eighty bailiffs' report s no w in th e Public Recor d Offic e relatin g t o he r variou s manors, a s well a s a few compotus roll s deposite d a t th e Departmen t o f Specia l Collections , University of Chicago Library. The surviva l of so many of these record s is no mere accident. On the death of Alice's great-granddaughter, Avice , countess of Wiltshire, in 1457 with no surviving issue, there was a property dispute tha t took thirty years to resolve. All available records appear t o have been take n into Chancery and now shed light on Alice de Bryene's dinner guest s in 1412-13. Alice was probably born a t the Acton manor in Suffolk aroun d 1360 , the year her grandfathe r died, followed shortly by the deat h o f her father, Sir Robert de Bures. Soon afte r her mothe r remarried Si r Richard Waldegrave, an eminent courtier and politician. It must have been throug h Waldegrave's acquaintanc e wit h Guy , Lord Bryan , a formidabl e an d versatile statesman , tha t Alice's wedding was arranged wit h his eldes t son, Sir Guy Bryan, around 1375 . Two daughters survived this marriage, which ende d wit h Guy' s prematur e deat h eleve n year s later . Th e subsequent history centred aroun d th e devolution of the Bryan estates -with burglary, fraud, forgery and a well-documented family quarrel, as well a s Alice's long widowhood in Suffol k - bu t tha t i s another story . What is relevant here is that Alice did not remarry and sometim e after her grandmother's death in 1391 she returned from Dorset to East Anglia to farm her estates. On her mother's death in 1406 her entire patrimony in Essex and Suffolk totalle d over 3000 acres, with an equivalent amount in th e west country, property tha t was her marriag e jointure from Sir Guy. She die d i n 1435 , age d ove r seventy-five . A brass commemorates her burial place in Acton church, where she also founded a chantry that survived until the Reformation. 5 Before lookin g a t specific details o f Alice's hospitality it may be use ful t o mak e a fe w comments abou t he r househol d economy . Alice's household an d guests enjoyed an average daily mess of one two-poun d loaf of bread an d at least three and a half pints of ale, with wine for he r social peers, more than a pound o f meat a day, more than a dozen varieties of fresh fish and half a dozen types of shellfish, as well as the traditional 5

PRO, Chantry Certificates, E 301/45/13.

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dried an d smoke d fish, plus a plentiful suppl y of dairy produce. Game birds were also on the menu, the food was moderately spiced and consumption o f suga r ver y low.6 Adding together th e estimate d value of far m produce, mea t and grain it would appear tha t Alice spent about 65 per cent of her household expenditur e o n food and drink. Discounting the value of home produce consumed and the cost of producing it, it seems she spent around 40 per cent of her total income of about £400 running the household, a figure that accords wit h the average s worked out for the period b y Christopher Dyer and Christopher Given-Wilson. 7 Let u s now return t o Alice's table an d thos e 16,50 0 meals. First we should dispel the thought that Alice was a merry widow with an insatiable appetite for company. There i s evidence that she did enjoy herself an d that others enjoyed her company too, but that was not the main purpose of her hospitality. Nor should we conclude that such largesse was a result of charitable intentions. There are indications of her dispensing alms in the sense of food or grain, but not a t dinner; late r we shall look at one example o f bread actuall y distributed fro m he r table . And we cannot presume tha t Alice kept open house ; far from it . Guest lists appears t o have bee n carefull y planned . Traditionall y meal s wer e serve d fo r convenience to diners in pairs; on onl y fifteen occasions in 141 3 were there a n odd numbe r o f guests. Again that year very few people visited the manor who might literally have knocked on her doo r i n the hop e of a meal, and one of them is specifically named in English (in the Latin accounts) as a wayferour, while another is called an extraneoor foreigner.8 So who were Alice's dinner guests, and wh y was she feeding them? We can start with the workers, both casual and permanent estate staff, since they comprised th e largest proportion o f Alice's guests. Some can be identified from th e bailiffs' reports , others by their trades. On 15 , 16 and 17 February, for example, two carpenters engaged to make a plough dined at the manor. Two aspects should be considered here . First, the rate for this type of job, tha t of a craftsman or skilled labourer, as item6

The al e was fairly weak and may not have been drun k by all, but wine was regularly served. See Christophe r Dyer , Standards o f Living in th e Later Middle Ages: Social Change in England, c . 1200-1520 (Cambridge, 1984), pp. 57 , 58, 63, for details of the compara tive strengths of ale and an analysis of meat and spice consumption i n Alice's household. 7 Christopher Given-Wilson , The English Nobility i n the Late Middle Ages (London, 1987), p. 93. 8 Most likely the wayferour wa s a wayfarer, a medieval back-packer, but we cannot b e certain. He could also have been a wafer-maker, like Langland's Haukin , in Th e Vision of Piers Plowman, who represente d Activ e Life. Othe r passers-b y included tw o 'sisters' , travelling from Canterbury; there is no indication whethe r or not they were nuns.

The Household o f Alice de Bryene, 1412-13 13

7

ized i n various compotu s roll s relating t o Alice's estates, was 4d. a day with a meal; in othe r words, dinne r was a part of the remuneration. 9 Secondly, it was also a practical measure, for the carpenters could hardly have got on their bikes, so to speak, and gone down the road for a snack, or home for a quick sandwich. The othe r thin g we may notice i s that, thoug h gues t list s were care fully planned, little attempt was made to separate the social classes. Alice's sister-in-law Lady Waldegrave was also staying at the mano r a t this time with a son, maidservant, squire and various household members . In fact 16 February appears to have bee n a feast day , since a swan - th e pin nacle of Alice's culinary offerings-was on the menu. The more honoured guests woul d hav e sa t with Alice at th e hig h tabl e an d th e lesse r fol k lower down . But eating at Acton was apparently stil l a communal affair , a custom which, writers like William Langland remarke d a few decades earlier, was gradually disappearing. 10 It is important t o note this since, despite th e obviou s visibl e sign s o f a hierarchy wit h the lad y and he r peers eating together, probably literally above the other guests, the ritual of breaking bread i n th e hal l woul d hav e reinforce d a sense o f com munity bonding, added t o which courtesy dictated tha t small helping s of delicacies be sent down to less honoured guests. 11 Another practical reason for Alice's hospitality is that meeting at the dinner tabl e migh t hav e bee n th e onl y way people coul d actuall y sit down together , exchang e view s and d o business. The frequen t visits of 9

Th e Household Book, pp. 39 , 40; 4d. per da y appears t o have been th e usual rate for professional craftsmen working at the manor. Many of the anonymous visitors, for example the variou s 'boys ' who came fro m the nearb y villages and were hired to act as huma n scarecrows in the fields after th e seed was sown, were paid only Id., but were also fed at Alice's table . See Th e Household Book, pp. 6 , 37, 44, 55, 58, 78, and PRO , Acton bailiffs ' Reports, S C 6/989/10, 17, 18, for terms of employment and paymen t of casual labourers under Minutiae. Rates were not alway s consistent, however , and women were always paid less than men. In 1425 Margaret Fouler, relative of one of Alice's shepherds, received 1-d. for helping Edward Christmas wit h the thatching; h e got 4d. for the job. However , they were both fe d at the manor . PRO, SC 6/1249/5. 10 William Langland, Will's Vision o f Piers Plowman, ed. E. Kirk and J. Anderson (Ne w York and London, 1990) , p. 91: 'Unhappy is the hall, every day of the week,/Where the Lord an d Lad y have no liking to sit./ Now has each rich man a rule to eat by himself/ In privat e parlou r t o avoi d poor men/ O r i n a chamber with a chimney-corner, an d leave the chief hall empty/ That was made for men to eat their meals in.' 11 In th e thirteent h centur y Robert Grosseteste advised his patron, th e countes s of Lincoln, 'to order tha t your dish be so refilled an d heaped especiall y with light course s that you may courteously giv e from your dish to right and left to all at the high table and to whom else it pleases you': D. Oschinsky, ed., Walter of Henley an d Other Treatises on Estate Management (Oxford, 1971), p. 403.

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the bailiffs, auditors, trustees, estate workers and maidservants from Acton and Alice's other manor s illustrate this. If Alice had project s to discuss, or wanted, for example , t o make a new appointment o r rewar d har d work, what better way than over a meal? Though sh e may have had th e opportunity of seeing her worker s in the meadows and pasture s of her estates, i t would no t hav e been th e same a s a discussion a t the dinne r table. Besides, eating itself is a great social leveller and often eases negotiations. Sometimes it may have been the only way she could make contac t with one o f her employees . From 1 0 to 1 4 April 141 3 a man calle d John Lytleton was a guest at Acton manor. He coul d hardl y have come just for the day, since he was bailiff o f Alice's Oxenhall mano r i n Gloucestershire , som e 30 0 miles away. From th e fe w extant bailiffs' report s from Oxenhal l w e know he made this journey ever y year, bringing cas h from th e rent s and profit s of the manor , togethe r with news of the estate. 12 He was not th e onl y official who came from far afield and therefore had a claim on Alice for bed as well as board. In November 1412 Morgan Gough, a former Bryan retainer from th e west country, came to stay for a week. It seems he also worked for Alice, probably as receiver for her Gloucestershire and Dorset properties, a rathe r superio r gentlema n a s we may deduce fro m th e special dishe s served ever y day of hi s visit. Hi s arrival , not lon g afte r Michaelmas, suggests ther e was business o n the menu a s well as food.13 Occasionally the specifi c reaso n fo r on e o f Alice's invitations is very clear. Many of the tenants from some of her larger properties appear to have been aske d to dinner onc e a year. On 2 6 and 2 7 February and 1 and 2 March 1413 John Talmache wa s invited to the manor. Hi s father, who had rented land in Acton for more than twenty years, had just died. Obviously a new lease ha d t o be negotiated ; Talmach e wa s a tenant of some social standing an d hi s annual ren t o f 28s. was not a paltry sum. But the fac t tha t h e twic e stayed the nigh t suggests there wa s more t o these meetings than routin e organization , as may have been th e cas e with the other tenants: time to commiserate, perhaps and to offer som e sympathy, as well as to do business. 14 12

Th e Household Book, pp. 54-55 ; and PRO , SC 6/858/16-20 and S C 6/1247/3-5: Oxenhall's bailiffs' accounts . 13

14

The Household Book, pp. 16-17 .

Ibid., pp. 42-44, 47. PRO, Acton bailiffs' reports , SC 6/989/1-18: John Talmache was first invited for Sunday lunch just a week after his father died. It appears he and Alice may have been distantl y related, since ther e is a seal o n a contemporary document at Helmingham Hall, the family' s ancestral home, that bears the arms of both Waldegrave and Talmache: E.D. Tollemache, The Tollemaches of Helmingham and Ham (1949), p. 29.


9

It was not unusual for guests to sleep at the manor as well as to have dinner, especiall y during th e festive season. However, we may occasionally question the motives of some of Alice's overnight guests and consider her entertainmen t in a different light . Sir Robert Corbet , a sixty-yearold widower with an estate just a few miles away, visited Alice on five different occasions , four time s stayin g the night , whil e enjoying suppe r and extras.15 Corbet had substantial properties in several counties, acquired through two well-planned marriages, and had been a member of Parliament for both Wiltshire and Hertfordshire. But it is unlikely that politics was the chief topic of his dinner conversation . Sir Robert, it seems, was prospecting fo r a new wife. Two years later he was elected to represent Suffolk i n the April and Novembe r parliaments but spen t mos t of the year in Shropshire. It was here that he successfully wooed his third wife, another rich widow like Alice.16 Sir Robert Corbet was not th e onl y politician t o call. In 141 3 at least half a dozen members of parliament were invited to Acton manor.17 No doubt they were interested i n Alice's views and opinion s a s a wealthy resident and landowner, and they were conscious of the patronage sh e could dispense. It would also have benefited her t o keep in touch with them and with the latest developments. Furthermore , the y would have provided her with stimulating company. Evidence of Alice's social standing is scant, but th e fac t that one da y an unnamed squire of the newly crowned Henr y V came t o visit suggests tha t sh e als o ha d friend s i n courtly circles.18 If her politicall y minded dinne r guest s helped Alic e keep i n touc h with government , the n th e visitin g churchmen woul d hav e provide d her with all the gossip of the countryside , omnes rumores patriae. Clerical and religious visitors add up to over 20 per cent of the total for the year. 15

ad noctem et com 'and ad cenam et com'. Companagium was anything eate n with bread, including fruit, vegetables and meat , as well as raisins, almonds and figs. 16 The Household Book, pp. 6 , 7, 41, 58, 78,100. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark and C . Rawcliffe , eds, History o f Parliament: House o f Commons, 1386-1421 (Stroud, 1992) , pp. 654—56 , fo r a resume o f Corbet's lif e an d career . 17 Apart from Corbet they were Sir Andrew Boteler , M P for Essex; Sir John Howard , MP fo r Essex , Cambridgeshir e an d Suffolk ; John Doreward , M P for Essex ; Si r John Ingoldisthorpe, MP for Suffolk ; an d Willia m Rokewode , anothe r Suffolk MP. Possibly Alice's son-in-law Robert Lovell also visited in 1412; he became MP for Dorset in 1421. For detail s of their careers , se e Roskell et al., History o f Parliament. 18 Th e Household Book, p. 66 . Much of the evidenc e o f Alice's courtly connections is circumstantial but, judging by a letter he wrote her around 1393, Richard II knew Alice quite well. PRO , S C 1/51/24-iv; and Edit h Rickert, 'Document s and Letters : A Leaf from a Fourteenth-Century Lette r Book' , Modern Philology, 25 (1917), pp. 249-55.

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In some instances the reason for their invitations can be easily deduced as when, for example, they came to celebrate anniversaries. On 7 October 1412 and 1 0 June 141 3 two friars fro m th e neighbourin g tow n of Sudbury dined at the Acton manor. They were there to commemorate with Alice the death of her father, fifty-three years previously, and of her mother seven year s before. 19 Apar t fro m specifi c religiou s festivals , whethe r traditional or personal, many of the friars would have come questing for alms, but prepared apparently to sing for their suppers. Such were the visits of the Austin friars from nearb y Clare on 2 8 February, the date of the translatio n of St Augustine's relics, and at the Annunciation, both occasions being special dates in their liturgical calendars. The friars may well have left with bulging purses and full stomachs, but Alice's household would also have been refreshe d by interesting discourse. 20 Entertainment was sometimes more importan t tha n th e mea l itself. On 1 1 Ma y Alice invited four loca l ladie s for wha t must have been a rather specia l occasion . The y were her cousi n Margare t Sampson, Isobel Chapman, the wif e of a tenant, and th e tw o Agnes Whytes, wives of two members of her retinue. Apart from th e rector of Withersfield who was a house guest and the unidentifiable John Blake, all the other male guests were labourers except for two friars who came from Norwich . 11 May was one o f the day s dedicated t o St John of Bridlington, an Austin canon who died i n 1379 . Hi s reputation a s a wise and piou s man ha d precipitated th e manifestation of numerous miracles near his tomb and he wa s canonized i n 1401. 21 Everyon e loves a stor y about a moder n hero an d i t is even possibl e tha t th e Norwic h friars ha d me t John o f Bridlington. In this instance, we may consider Alice's dinner invitations to her friends more in the light of an opportunity to satisfy their appetites for education , curiosity and amusement than merely for a meal. On 4 and 5 May Lady Joan Swinburne, one of Alice's distant relatives, paid a visit to Acton. She was a wealthy widow with manors of her ow n as well as property she inherited from her husband on his death in 1391. 19

The Household Book, pp. 3 , 70. On 3 1 May 1413 two priests cam e some 400 miles from th e Bryan chantry at Slapton in Devonshire to visit Alice. It was the day dedicated to St Petronella, when prayers were said for Lady Elizabeth Bryan, Alice's mother-in-law, who actually died before Alice was born. Despite their long journey the Slapton priests only stayed one night. It was a Wednesday, traditionally a fish day, but nevertheless Alice purchased butter and cream t o provide some exotic sauces, ibid., p. 68. 20 Ibid., pp. 43, 49. 21 Ibid., p. 62. C.R. Cheney, A Handbook of Dates for the Student of English History (London, 1991); D.H. Farmer, ed., Th e Oxford Dictionary o f Saints (2n d edn, London, 1989) . Th e latter volume has 11 March as the date of the translation of St John of Bridlington's relics, while the former, which is more closely related to medieval sources, has 11 May.


1

A stepson, Sir Thomas Swinburne, who once tried to oust her fro m he r inheritance, ha d died the previous year. It appears Lady Swinburne may have been visitin g Suffolk i n orde r t o oversee the constructio n o f her late husband's and stepson's double brass and altar tomb at Little Horkesley, just a few miles away. 22 She travelle d with a maidservant, son , two squires, a chaplain, four valets and two grooms. Though sh e must have been able to enjoy a very sumptuous life style, Alice did not provide any festive food, though the purchase of eggs that day indicates that someone in the party was vegetarian, possibly the Lady Joan herself. She and Alice must have shared simila r experiences an d concern s and, eve n if they were not old friends, would at least have identified with each other. But, though they would have had much to talk about, leisure was not a fifteenthcentury concept and Lad y Swinburne's visit should no t be seen in th e nature of holiday. Women figure less in Alice's household accounts than men; I hesitate to suggest that they were probably busy at home, tending their livestock and preparing thei r own family meals, but this may have been the case. When the y were invited to th e mano r i t was often t o hel p Alic e with extra work in th e household . Fo r example , on 2 9 December 141 2 at least eleve n ladie s wer e asked t o dinner , togethe r wit h a harper, a n unnamed fria r and Richard Scrivener, who appears to have lived up to his name. Obviously the preparation s fo r th e forthcoming New Year's feast would have been considerable: decorating the hall, making garlands, preparing sweetmeats , setting up trestl e tables, even composing word games, mummeries and riddles. The company dined well on beef, bacon, goose and conies, but we should notforget that this was aworking lunch.23 The New Year's feast was the busiest time of the social calendar. Alice invited a dozen or so of her intimat e friends t o help her hos t a dinner for mor e tha n 30 0 tenants and 'othe r strangers. ' Thi s descriptio n o f some o f her guest s suggests that on thi s particular day there was open house at Alice's manor, or at least her tenant s were able to bring along their friends and families. Here we may recognize one of the traditiona l aspects of medieval hospitality - tha t of social obligation. Everyone in the vicinity seems to have been invited and the tables were spread with two pigs, two swans, twelve geese, two joints of mutton, twenty-four capons, 22

Th e Household Book, p. 95 ; also, Roskell, Clark and Rawcliffe , History o f Parliament, for th e career s of Sir Robert and Si r Thomas Swinburne. 23 The Household Book, p. 26. Most of the women who came were tenants and ca n be identified fro m th e bailiffs ' reports , one b y her name . This was Agnes Lavender, who came with her daughter. No doubt there was a great deal of extra washing and cleaning to be done before the New Year festivities.

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seventeen conies, beef, veal, suckling pig and whatever delicacy was made with twelve gallons of milk and spice from Alice's store cupboard.24 Apart from th e entertainment tha t may have been provided a s a result of the labours of Alice's women friends a couple o f days earlier, ther e was also a harper ther e to help liven up the party. Another traditiona l aspec t o f medieval social obligation wa s charity and th e giving of alms. The onl y time we can be certain Alice gave away food from her table was on Maundy Thursdays, when double the-quantity of bread compare d t o the usua l proportion o f one loa f per dine r was sent ove r fro m he r bak e house. 25 She also made occasiona l grant s of grain. It appears ther e was an annual gif t to three of the orders of friars who frequently came to dine: the Austin Friars of Clare, the Franciscan s from Babwell and the Dominicans from Sudbury.26 The quantities were hardly lavish, an average of four bushels each, which would have made thirty gallon s o f al e o r 12 5 two-pound loaves , th e minimu m basic sustenance for one man for a couple of months. Paupers from the estate were also occasionally granted corn; 27 and twice note was made of quantities of grain give n by Alice to help fun d th e repair of the bell tower at Acton church. 28 Corn was one of the most important commodities in the middle ages, providing essentia l basi c nourishment . I t was also use d fo r payment , occasionally for barte r an d frequentl y as part o f an annua l wage . All Alice's estate staf f receive d liverie s of grain commensurat e wit h thei r jobs, varying between two and six quarters per year. It is hardly surprising the n tha t th e harves t festiva l wa s an importan t celebration ; a ful l barn mean t securit y for th e nex t twelv e months . At Acton harvesting was done mostl y by boon worker s with some paid labour . Durin g this 24

Ibid., p. 28. Ibid., pp. 56 , 107. There is a fragment of another househol d accoun t for 1412 , from 2 9 March to 30 April, also printed b y V. Redstone. On Maund y Thursday for this year a double quantity of bread was also supplied to the table. Maundy Thursday was the day traditionally set aside for large-scale distributions and act s of charity. 26 See PRO, Acton bailiffs's reports, SC 6/989/8-11, SC 6/990/1, SC 6/1249/1 and SC 6/1245/15, 17. 27 PRO, Acton bailiffs' reports , S C 6/989/8, 10, 13-15 and S C 6/1249/2, 3, 5. One year the recipients of Alice's charity were actually named, which makes it easy to identify with thei r need s and indicate s furthermor e that they may have been destitut e rathe r than just needy . They were Adam Blindman, Agnes Shepherd, John Wafer , Thoma s Grye, Bartholomew Hykyn and William Prat. 28 PRO Acton bailiffs' reports , SC 6/1249/2, SC 6/989/10. The late r occasion was in 1405-6 , the year both Alice's mothe r an d eldes t daughte r died , which may partly explain thi s second gift . 25

The Household o f A lice de Bryene, 1412-13 14

3

time twice the usual quantity of bread was baked in Alice's ovens for the harvesters, wh o also receive d ale . Extr a mea t an d fish were commis sioned fro m the larders as well. Where there are details of harvest feasts it is apparent tha t little expense was spared and new dishes, jugs, spoons and cloth s were also purchased for the occasion. 29 We should perhaps consider the provisions made for the harvest feast not onl y as an inducement o r rewar d for th e workers, but als o in th e nature of a talisman or charm. Successful farming could not be entrusted to factors in the material world alone; it was always wise to invoke a little extra help. Candlemas on 2 February, th e date of the commemora tion o f the Purificatio n of the Virgin Mary, was another popula r feast , when all the candles that were to be used in mass throughout th e year were consecrated. Alice gave her estat e workers a penny on thi s day, to help them fulfil their financial obligations to the church, for all parishioners were obliged t o process with a candle and offer a penny to the pries t at mass.30 But, like most Christian festivals , Candlemas als o had paga n and folklori c elements ; th e burning of candles at this time of year was believed to help drive away the evi l spirits that abounded i n winter. Not onl y was it essential to tak e steps to ward off misfortune in th e precarious world of agriculture, but advisabl e to have a benefactor o n your side as well. One o f the saints depicted o n the late medieval roo d screen a t Foxearth church , of which Alice was patron, was St Walstan. He was an eleventh-century prince who had renounced hi s claim to the throne and espoused a life of poverty as a reaper in Norfolk. Whatever St Walstan touched was believed to be fruitful. A s patron of the harves t he enjoyed a substantial local following in East Anglia. His presence o n the rood scree n suggests that he was also one of Alice's personal saints; it can be n o coincidenc e tha t sh e invited Thomas Malcher , her far m overseer an d supervisor, to enjoy some pigeons with her on 20 June, St Walstan's day.31 This brief survey of some of Alice's guests who dined with her at Acton in 1412-1 3 should giv e us an ide a o f the motivatio n behind muc h of medieval hospitality. It would seem that in most instances a meal at the manor preceded or was part of the business of household or estate management. Sometime s it was part of the overal l wage for a particular job o f work, at other times guests came to help Alice in the household and to 29

PRO, SC 6/989/8,10, 13, 18, 20. In 140 1 the harvester s ate a whole cow at their feast and nin e years later butter was served with their bread. 30 Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars (New Haven, Connecticut, 1995), pp. 16-22. 31 Th e Household Book, p. 73; Duffy, Stripping o f the Altars, pp. 200-5 .

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sell or buy goods. Ofte n th e guest list suggests that a business meeting was in progress. The invitations to various churchmen can be viewed as connected not only with religious observance an d social obligation, bu t also in the wider aspect of involvement with the outside world, beyond the narrow confines of the manor and small community of farmers; the dissemination o f information wa s an importan t feature o f their visits . Likewise the arriva l of various politicians indicates a concern t o kee p abreast of national affair s a s well as a natural identificatio n with a peer group. And there seems to have been time for Alice to enjoy and entertain her persona l friends as well. Focusing mor e specifically on the significance of food in the middl e ages, we may consider Alice's hospitality in another light . Although the majority of her guests were connected in some way or another with her estates, the ultimate goal was the production o f food, that is principally grain an d stock . Here we may see Alice as providing th e mean s for the sustenance an d livelihoo d o f numerous people . Ye t she wa s in many ways a s dependent o n the m fo r thei r service s as they were on her , as much a servant a s she was served. Th e dail y dinners a t Acton mano r reinforced thi s sense of mutual dependency; food was the tie that bound them all.

10 Queu du Roi, Roi des Queux: Taillevent and the Profession of Medieval Cooking A.S. Weber Guillaume Tirel , di t Taillevent (c . 1310-95), repute d autho r o f th e fourteenth-century cookbook Le viandier,1 is still celebrated today as one of the greatest French cooks in history. He is mentioned by food historians and cookboo k writer s in th e sam e reveren t tone s reserve d for MarieAntoine Careme and Auguste Escoffier, th e 'Empero r of Chefs'. Yet, by however far Taillevent surpassed his contemporaries i n culinary skill, he nevertheless remaine d a man of his age and culture. The social disrupt ion brough t abou t b y the Frenc h conflic t with England i n th e lat e fourteenth century , as well as the subsequent centralization an d expan sion of the power of the Valois courts during Taillevent's lifetime, provided civil servants such a s Taillevent with unprecedented opportunitie s fo r advancement. Taillevent's financial and socia l ris e throug h th e Valois kitchens ca n therefor e b e profitabl y examined a s a reflection , not a transcendence, of the social conditions of the French court at the height of the Hundre d Years ' War. Fortunately, several court document s an d charter s concernin g Taillevent's career have survived and were assembled byjerome Pichon and Georges Vicaire in their 189 2 edition o f Taillevent's Le viandier. Thanks to this material and the recent research o f Terence Scully, Constance B. Hieatt and Christopher Dyer, as well as the participants of the colloquia on medieva l cuisin e hel d a t Nice , Tours, Montrea l an d SUN Y Stony Brook, it is now possible to make some educated guesses about the professional context within which Taillevent worked. We are now able to trace the connection s betwee n th e circumstance s surroundin g hi s employment and th e precipitou s events of fourteenth-century French society. If we accept Pichon's chronology , Taillevent died in his eighties, outliving severa l o f his royal employers, a meritorious fea t i n a n ag e which witnessed the ravages of the Black Death, the bloody Jacquerie, agricultural

1

On the question of attribution of Le viandier to Taillevent, see Paul Aebischer, 'Un manuscrit valaisan du Viandier attribue a Taillevent', Vallesia, 8 (1953), pp. 73-85.

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decline and th e incursions an d destructio n o f the English durin g th e Hundred Years ' War. It is only within the last twenty years that food and eating habits have been seriousl y studied a s social history. An examination of Taillevent's career reveals an intimate portrait of the courts of Charles V and Charles VI, and ofte n provide s a corrective to previous historical accounts. As Scully has pointed out, the fact 'that food is one of man's absolute necessities means that it must be a principal object of study by anyone who seriously hopes to understands th e history of humanity'.2 According t o th e documentar y an d archaeologica l evidenc e col lected b y Pichon, Taillevent attained th e rank of ecuyeror squire. His tomb, near Saint-Germain-en-Laye and now preserved in the museum there, depict s a squire in full armou r with a coat of arms incorporating thre e cookin g pots . Th e dat e o f death, unfortunately , has bee n damaged.3 Ecuyer, however , was not necessaril y a hereditar y titl e in France. Tailleven t is named o n hi s tom b an d i n on e documen t o f 1368 as a sergent d'armes, 4 but ther e is no indication in surviving documents tha t an y of Taillevent's title s was hereditary o r tha t he was of noble birth . I n 134 9 Tailleven t was granted fund s by Phillipe VI to found a chapel adjacent to his house called 'Larchiere' , but this does not necessarily indicate noble status.5 Of course, noblemen often served and carve d a t the tabl e o f the king : at a feast given by the comt e de Foix between 1458 and 1461 , for example, the mattres-d'hostelviere the comte Gaston d e Foix, the comte de Dunois, the comte d e la Marche and th e grand-senechal de Normandie. 6 Although ther e ar e numerous examples of noble children servin g as pages in the more prestigiou s houses in England and France, I strongly suspect that Taillevent himself came from a wealthy merchant o r haul bourgeois family. In Taillevent's period we can fin d severa l cases of French bourgeoi s artisans who rose to social and financial prominence a s a result of their involvement in the Hundred Years' War. Pierre Bailie, for example, began in the shoemaking trade and ended his career as treasurer of Normandy after 1436 . Charles V's contemporaries perceive d his court as one that 2

Terence Scully, The Viandier of Taillevent: An Edition of All Extant Manuscripts (Ottawa , 1988), p. 30. 3 Jerome Pichon an d George s Vicaire , eds, Le viandier de Guillaume Tirel, di t Taillevent (1892; reprinted, ed. Sylvie Martinet, Geneva, 1967), pp. xix-xx . 4 Ibid., pp. 264-65, 'pieces justificatives', no. 10. 5 Ibid., pp. 260-61, 'pieces justificatives', no. 4. 6 Pierre Jean Baptiste le Grand d'Aussy, HistoiredelaviepriveedesFranfaisdepuis I'origine de la nation jusqu'd no s jours, Hi (Paris, 1782), p. 304 .

Queu du Roi, Roi des Queux 14

7

encouraged talen t over noble birth. The low-born counsellors of Charles's administration were scornfully dubbed 'les Marmousets 'by jealous noblemen. After 136 6 roya l counsellors were chosen solel y by merit, rathe r than by alliance or birth. 7 I suspect that Taillevent was not of noble birth primarily because h e is first mentioned i n 1326 as an enfant d e cuisineai the coronatio n feas t of Jeanne d'Evreux, wife o f Charles le Bel.8 Another titl e for this lowest o f kitche n position s wa s garfon d e cuisine, whose responsibilitie s included roug h an d unskille d manua l labou r suc h a s cleaning fish and plucking poultry.9 It is difficult t o imagine someone o f aristocratic or eve n wealth y mercantile birt h assigne d t o thes e tasks , especially since enfants d e cuisine were ofte n employe d i n turnin g th e roastin g spit, a dirty and ill-requite d tas k which was later performe d b y dogs, although i t may have been though t tha t this would toughen the m for a late r militar y career.10 How then d o w e explain Taillevent' s socia l leap from turnspit t o escuier de cuisine, a position ofte n hel d by a l gentilhomme, responsible fo r liaison between kitchen an d table , between cooking staf f an d servin g staff? 11 We know that th e perio d betwee n the reign s of Philippe VI (132850) an d Charle s V I (1380-1422 ) witnesse d explosiv e clas s conflict s which erupted i n the peasant revolt of 1358 and in several civil disruptions in Paris , including th e dictatorshi p of Etienne Marce l in 1358 . We can therefor e expec t a certain measure o f social flux and mobil ity during this period. Unlike the Capetiens, who had allied themselves with the bourgeoisie agains t the feudal lords, the Valois kings, in whose service Taillevent spent th e greater par t of his career, supporte d an d advanced the nobility, whose resources and military training were necessary in the continuing struggle against the English. During the reigns of Charle s V (1364-80 ) an d Charle s V I th e bourgeoisi e constantl y attempted to assert the rights of their professional organizations against the prerogatives of the crown, leading to a number o f confrontations between th e kin g an d th e cit y of Paris. In 138 2 th e cit y of Paris rose against Charles VTs reimposition of the gabelle, or salt tax, and refused 7

Francoise Autrand, Charles V le Sage (Paris , 1994) , p. 712 . Pichon and Vicaire , Le viandier de Guillaume Tirel, p. viii. See p. xxx for a summary of Taillevent's documented titles . 9 Le Grand d'Aussy , Histoire de la vie privee, Hi, p. 304 . 10 Alfred Gottschalk , Histoire de I'alimentation e t de l a gastronomie depuis l a prehistoire jusqu'd nos jours, ii (Paris , 1948) , p. 323 . 11 Terence Scully, '"Aucun e science de 1'art de cuysinerie et de cuysine": Chiquart's Du fait d e cuisine' , Food andFoodways, 2 (1987) , p. 207 . 8

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the kin g entr y int o th e gate s o f Paris. Whe n Charle s finally gained entry into th e city , on 1 1 January 1383 , h e promptl y executed score s of the rich bourgeois who had opposed him. Later, in 1413, th e butchers of Paris, dubbed Cabochiens after their leader, rose and seized control of the city . One effec t of these class conflicts was that the Valois grew increasingly dependent o n court servants such as Taillevent, not for only the preparation but also for the supplying of food. Royal procurement of food became an important issu e for the Valois kings because o f the severe shortage s of food (especiall y during th e famines of 1351 an d 1539) , an d becaus e of the disruptio n cause d b y the relate d agraria n revolt s and th e interruption o f the Pari s foo d industry . I suspect tha t Tailleven t served as panetier du roi (although thi s was not on e o f hi s recorde d titles) , th e official responsible for obtaining foodstuffs for the royal household unde r the syste m of prise. A civil servant who coul d successfull y procur e foo d from a ravaged countryside , an d fro m a peasantry ben t o n hidin g its produce fro m th e prise collectors i n specially-buil t greniers, would have won immediate royal favour. Taillevent's success in thes e ventures may have aided him in his career. In th e treacherou s time s o f th e Hundre d Years ' War and o f corresponding civi l conflicts in Paris and France, when poison could easily be slipped into a dish, or an assassination attempted i n the dining room, a trusted kitchen servan t was worth hi s weight in saffron. Tail levent was well rewarded for his services, receiving land and high wages, as well a s grants o f ha y and lodgin g t o ai d hi m i n hi s requisitio n o f provisions fo r th e king' s household . I n Taillevent' s survivin g wage receipts, we see a sharp ris e i n hi s income, a s well a s his increasing financial obligation s t o the king . In 135 5 he receive d fiftee n livres as an escuyer d'hostel, and fro m 136 7 until the tim e of his death hi s wages stabilised a t around fifty-five livres (six sows per diem). 12 In 1346 , in an ordre iteratifofPhillipe VI, Taillevent is called 'our beloved cook' ('nostre ame queu Guillaume Tirel}. 13 Taillevent obviousl y benefited fro m th e intimat e atmospher e o f Charles V's court, at which, as Christine de Pisan reports in her biography of the king, Charles frequently 'exchanged with his servants, in agreeable familiarity , som e pleasan t an d happ y remarks, so that hi s kindness and gentlenes s woul d encourag e eve n th e leas t o f them t o joke

12 13

Pichon an d Vicaire , Le viandier de Guillaume Tirel, pp. 261-68 . Ibid., p. 258 .

Queu du Roi, Roi des Queux

149

and enjo y themselve s with him, however humble the y might be'. 14 Whatever Taillevent's origins, it is clear he was drawn into th e circl e of the court and perhaps identified himself with the nobility. A charter of 1355 shows him selling horses to the Dauphin (late r Charles V). In 1370 he was asked to lend sixty-seven francs to Charles V 'to reinforce our constable, so that he can better an d more powerfull y combat our enemies'.15 It i s very possible tha t Tailleven t saw military service in the Hundred Years ' War or in the suppression of the numerous Parisian revolts of artisans and bourgeoisi e whic h plagued both Charle s V and Charle s VI. He wa s at th e ver y least involve d financially in th e wars. Taillevent also benefited from th e labou r shortage s an d increase s in real wages following th e Black Death, which killed perhaps a third of th e populatio n o f Europe, thu s reducin g th e number s o f valets, chambermaids, servant s an d kitche n helpers. 16 I n 135 1 King Jean published a n ordinanc e establishin g wag e limit s for artisan s an d chamberlains; similar legislation ha d appeare d i n Englan d with the Statute o f Labourer s (1351). 17 Taillevent , a s a n experience d an d trustworthy servant of the royal household, would have seen his status and value increase as wage labourers became scarce and began demanding higher wages. Taillevent also took advantage of the cash-strapped royal finances and received land and privileges in return for his services. He mad e hi s career i n a court tha t displaye d increasing hostility to the workin g and bourgeoi s classes , and i t is possible tha t h e himself no longe r identified with those classes or viewed himself as the working artisa n whic h he essentiall y was. Eustache Deschamp s (1346 1406) wrote about thi s flight toward s the uppe r classe s among thos e with th e requisite wealth and cour t connections:

14

Christine d e Pisan, 'Th e Book of the Deeds and Goo d Character o f King Charle s V the Wise' , trans. Glenda McLeod , i n Th e Writings o f Christine dePizan, ed. Charit y Can non Willar d (Ne w York, 1994), pp. 236-37. 15 Pichon an d Vicaire , L e viandier de Guillaume Tirel, p . 265 , 'pour enforcie r nostr e connestable, afin qu'i l puist miex e t plus poissanment combatre noz ennemis'. 16 On thi s questio n i n relatio n t o food productio n an d consumption , se e Fernand Braudel, Capitalism and Material Life, 1400-1800 (London, 1974), chapter 2; Stephen Mennell, Al l Manners of Food: Eating an d Taste in England an d France from th e Middle Ages to the Present (Oxford, 1985), pp. 42-47; G. Persson, 'Consumption, Labour, and Leisure in th e Lat e Middl e Ages' , i n Manger et boire au moyen age, ed. Deni s Menjot , i (Paris , 1984), pp . 211-23. 17 E. Levasseur, Histoire des classes ouvrieres et de I'industrie en France avant 1789, i (Paris , 1900), pp . 500, 501 n.l.

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and Eating in Medieval Europe Today everyone i s misled. For each perso n wants to maintain grea t state And thus there i s no one anymor e To undertake th e labours of the age . Everyone should kee p t o his own degree Without being ashamed t o do his job, But everyone want s to become a squire, So that today one ca n hardly find a worker.18

Service i n th e king' s househol d guarantee d no t onl y protection, bu t also the possibility of making connections leading to advancement. Caxton's compilation entitle d Th e Book ofCurtesye (1477-78 ) urged: Awayte, my chyld, whan ye stonde at table, Off mayste r or soverayne whether yt be, Applye you for to be servysable That no defawte in you fownden be ; Loke who dothe best, & hym folow ye, & in especyall vse ye attendavnce Wheryn ye shall your selfe best avaunce. 19

Despite Taillevent's movement in royal circles, and his financial transactions with Charles V, he must always have encountered some contempt for bein g connecte d with a dirty and manual occupation. Eve n thoug h the jobs of sergent d'armes and premier queu (two of Taillevent's titles) required a variety of skills, such as basic reckoning, financial responsibility and manageria l ability , the tain t of the kitchen cannot entirely have left Taillevent. Scully has shown, however, with the exampl e o f Maistre Chiquart Amiczo, cook of the duk e o f Savoy, that a master coo k coul d be literate an d well-educated enoug h to spice his cookbook wit h Latin quotations from Virgil. 20 As the provisione r of a royal household, Tail levent's final position at the court of Charles VI, he was responsible for 18

Quoted in Levasseur, Histoire des classes ouvrieres, i, p. 526: Deceus est tout le monde aujourdhui . Car chacuns veult grant estat maintenir, Et si n'est mes aussi comme nullui, Pour les labours du secle maintenir : Chascun deust son etat retenir, Sanz honte avoir de faire son mestier, Mais chascuns veut escuier devenir: A paine est-i l aujourdhui nul ouvrier. 19 FJ. Furnivall, ed., Caxton's Book ofCurtesye, EETS, extra series, 3 (1868), p. 13. 20 Scully, 'Chiquart', p. 205.


1

the transfer and safekeeping of large sums of money, goods and expensive spices. Le Grand d'Aussy , following an account by Olivier de la Marche (Etat d e la Maison d e Bourgogne) writte n i n th e mi d fifteent h century , describes the duties and privileges of the master cook under th e Valois: The master cook had th e privilege of carrying a dish to the duke's table, to have a seat next t o th e fireplac e o f the kitchen , an d t o si t there when h e wanted. The keepin g of the spice s was entrusted t o him . H e commande d everyone in the kitchen; and, i n accordance with his title, he carried, when he was working, a great wooden spoon, which he used as much to taste the soups as to correct his subordinates when they were negligent.21

We see here th e master cook organizing and supervising the kitchen in a managerial capacity, much like the executive chef in large hotels today. The instructions for managing a feast in Le menagierde Paris, an anonymous conduct and home econom y book written near th e end o f Taillevent's life, show the haute bourgeoisie imitating Taillevent's culinary and executive practice s with multiple course s and highly-processe d an d labour intensive dishes . Another importan t responsibilit y of the maste r coo k was to ensur e that his foods provided a proper diet in accordance wit h contemporar y dietary science. Th e prefac e o f Th e Forme o f Cury, a recip e collectio n compiled b y the maste r cook s of Richard II of England, state s that 'i t was compiled by assent and auysemen t of Maisters and [i.e. , of] phisik and of philosophic that dwellid in his court'.22 Numerous Latin dietaries from th e thirteenth t o the sixteenth centuries have survived, such as the Mensaphilosophica (attribute d to Michael Scott, thirteenth century) , the Tacuinum sanitatis (popular from th e fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries) and Andrew Borde's Dietary and Breuiary ofHelthe (bot h 1547). All of these works draw on the dietar y traditions o f Galen, Hippocrate s and Arabic medicine and quote Avicenna, Averroes and Dioscorides as authorities. I n the dietary tradition, foods had to be mixed or tempered according t o their Aristotelia n elementa l and humoural propertie s hot, cold, wet and dry. The Tacuinum quotes Avicenna as recommend21

Le Grand d'Aussy , Histoire de la vie privee, iii, pp. 303-4 ; 'Le Maitre-queux avail le privilege d'apporter a la table du Du e un plat, d'avoir un sieg e dans la cheminee de la cuisine, & de s' y asseoir quan d i l voulait. La garde de s epices lui etait confiee. I I commandait a tous les gens de la cuisine; &, a ce titre, il portait, quand i l etait en fonction , une grand e cuillier e d e bois, qu i lui servait tant a gouter les potages qu' a corriger ses sous-ordres, lorsqu'ils manquaient en quelque chose'. 22 Constance B . Hieatt an d Sharo n Butler , eds, Curye O n Inglysch: English Culinary Manuscripts o f the Fourteenth Century, EETS, new series, 8 (1985) , p. 20 .

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ing '"tha t a contrary i s reduced t o a tempere d mea n b y means o f its contrary", just as if he were to say that the moist should be tempered by admixture with the dry, and th e col d with the hot, and th e fat and oil y be tempered by blending with the salt and acid, etc.'23 Similar advice on matching th e elementa l qualitie s o f foods with humoural disposition s occurs in Sir Thomas Elyot's Castel ofHelth (1534). The oldest French cookbook, dubbed the Enseignements (c. 1300), follows in manuscript a medical treatise of Henri de Mondeville (1306) , surgeon to Philippe le Bel. Mondeville stresses th e importanc e o f diet in medical treatment : 'those who are healed by foods are more easily brought to health [tempera ment] than those who are healed by medicines'.24 Andrew Borde echoes this sentiment in the sixteenth century: 'A good cook is half a physician, for th e chief physic (the counsel of a physician except) doth come from the kitchen'.25 Editions of Taillevent's Le viandier, such as that of the mid fifteenth-centur y Vatica n manuscript, contain recipes for the sick , and i t seem s t o hav e been commonl y expected tha t th e coo k would consult the court physicians in matters of proper foo d mixtures. Scully observes tha t althoug h th e recipe s of the variou s editions of the Viandier do not demonstrate a detailed knowledge of humouralism, 'what is usually reflected in the Viandier, however, is a culinary practice that recognizes in a general way the doctrines propagated by contemporary medical schools concerning the most wholesome means of cooking and preparing particular meat s and th e most salubriou s condiment s t o be consumed in conjunction with them'.26 Chiquart's cookbook, also containing recipes for the sick, states that the doctor should always be consulted before servin g dishes to a n invalid. 27 Thus we see the important , on e might say essential, role of the cook in aristocratic society: if the princ e was the head and heart of the body politic, his cook was the physician, instrumental in protecting the health of both the monarch and the realm. The idea that meals served as a binding social function, and provided a site for th e displa y and propagatio n o f power, has now become com -

23

Arthur Way, trans., The Science of Dining (Mensa Phiksphica) (London, 1936), p. 6. Marie-Christine Pouchelle, 'Une parol e medicale prise dans 1'imaginaire: alimentation et digestion chez un maitre chirurgien du XW e siecle', Pratiques et discours alimentaires d la renaissance: actes du colloquede Tours 1979, ed. Jean-Claude Margolin an d Rober t Sauzet (Paris, 1982), p. 183: 'ceu x qui sont gueris par des aliments sont plus facilemen t ramenes a leur temperament que ceux qu e Ton guerit par des medicaments'. 25 Charles Cooper, Th e English Table in History an d Literature (London, 1929), p. 23. 26 Scully, Th e Viandier, p. 23. 27 Idem, 'Chiquart', p. 204 . 24


3

monplace among food historians . Bruno Laurioux sums up thi s widely accepted observation: In manuscript illuminations, meals appear clearly as a social stage play, where the rank of each banqueter is carefully indicated by, among other things, the place tha t on e occupie s at th e table , th e richnes s of th e sea t tha t on e i s allotted, th e possessio n of tableware and th e proximit y t o luxurious table ornaments.28

Taillevent's employers - Phillip e VI, Charles V and Charles VI - mor e than an y other Frenc h monarchs exemplified the use of the tabl e an d feast t o establish a n ordered hierarchy . At the feast, th e most powerful princes of the blood could instantly witness who was in and who was out: for example , 'th e most bitter injur y that on e coul d inflic t o n a knight was to cut the tabl e cloth on hi s right and left , which signified tha t h e was cut of f from societ y as having been fals e t o honour; thi s traditio n had been instituted by Bertrand Du Guesclin' during the reign of Charles V.29 At the table , noble s an d kin g assembled int o a microcosm o f th e realm, together, yet separate in power and station. Even communal eating an d drinkin g demonstrate d socia l distinction s whic h divide d th e ranks of society. As Georg Simmel has pointed out: 'common eating and drinking unleashes a huge socializing power, which allows one to overlook the fac t tha t man i s scarcely in realit y "th e same", but eat s and drink s completely individual portions'.30 Taillevent would have been entangled in the complicated web of social distinctions at the Valois court - a s cook he knew what went down the 28

Bruno Laurioux, 'Table et hierarchic sociale a la fin du moyen age' , in Du manuscrit a la table: essais sur la cuisine au moyen age et repertoire des manuscrits medievaux contenant de s recettes culinaires, ed . Carol e Lamber t (Montreal , 1992) , p . 87 : 'Su r bie n de s enluminures, l e repas apparai t clairemen t comme une mi s en scene de la societe o u la qualite d e chaqu e convive est soigneusement indique e par, entr e autres , la place qu e celui-ci occupe autour de la table, l a richesse du sieg e qui lui est alloue, la possession de couverts, l a proximite d'objets d e table luxueux' . 29 Gottschalk, Histoired'alimentation, p. 329: 'la plus sanglante injure qu'on putinflige r a un chevalier etait de trancher la nappe a sa droite et a sa gauche, ce qui signifiait qu'on le retranchai t d e l a societe comm e ayan t forfai t a 1'honneur; traditio n qu i aurai t et c institute par Bertrand Du Guesclin'. 30 Georg Simmel , Soziologie der Mahlzeit (1910) , quote d i n Margaret e Zimmerman , 'Kochkunst im spatmittelalterlichen Frankreich: Le menagier de Paris', in Essen und Trinken in Mittelalter un d Neuzeit, ed . Irmgar d Bitsc h e t al . (Sigmaringen , 1987) , p . 103 : 'Da s gemeinsame Esse n und Trinke n . . . lost eine ungeheur e sozialisierend e Kraf t aus , die ubersehen lasst, dass man ja gar nicht wirklich "dasselbe", sondern volli g exklusive Portionen iss t und trinkt . . .'

154 Food


gullets of the nobility, who got the expensively spiced dishes, the delicate songbirds, th e larges t an d mos t prime portions . Th e cour t cook mus t have played a central role in disseminating gossip and information about the political happenings at court and the social standing of its members. He, afte r all, implemented th e king' s public punishment and rewar d system instituted a t the table and bridged th e two worlds of kitchen and dining-room, servin g as an intermediary and messenger betwee n thos e two domains. The king's master cook was expected to maintain a high level of decorum and, in the use of spices and elaborate subtleties, to reinforce on a daily basis both the power of the monarch and his largesse. As Bridget Henisch points out , 'the concep t o f understated eleganc e wa s not on e which came easil y to th e medieva l mind , an d a host like d t o use expensiv e ingredients, and be seen to use them, as a compliment to his guests and a proof of his own prosperity. For the purposes of conspicuous consumption, spices were a godsend.'31 We hav e inherite d fro m th e middl e age s a surprisin g numbe r o f metaphors for socia l distinctio n draw n from foo d an d eating : sittin g 'below the salt' indicated inferior rank, being serve d the 'upper crust' signalled access to the choicest privileges of wealth, and being born with a 'silver spoon' in one's mouth guaranteed a life among society's elect. The sumptuar y law s o f medieva l England , Franc e an d Ital y als o demonstrate the contemporary awarenes s of food as a central indicato r of social status. Phillipe le Bel, in a sumptuary ordinance of 1294, 'forbade every subject to have served as an ordinar y meal more tha n on e dis h and on e sid e dish ; and, for larger meals , more tha n tw o dishes with a potage au lard'.52 In 136 3 in England 'it was enacted that the servants of gentlemen, merchant s and artificers should have only one meal of flesh or fish in the day, and that their other food should consist of milk, butter and cheese'.33 One function of these sumptuary laws was obviously to decrease consumptio n an d t o foster religious , political and judicial temperance and good judgement, especially in times of famine; and to force the lower classes to remember their place and dress their tables in accordance wit h their social class. But in the cas e of sovereigns such as Phillipe l e Bel, the kin g also hoped t o regulate th e tabl e as a political event. For example, outdoing the king in lavishness and liberality at the 31

Henisch, Fast and Feast, pp. 103-4 . Le Grand d'Aussy, Histoire de la vieprivee, Hi, p. 229, 'defendit a tout sujet de se faire servir, pou r u n repa s ordinaire , plu s d'u n mets et d'u n entremets; et , pou r le s grand s repas, plus de deux mets avec un potag e au lard'. 33 Cooper, Th e English Table, p. 5. 32


5

feast was not onl y an act of bad tast e but als o a serious political affront , since the splendor of one's table was a transparent allegory of both one's social rank and politica l or military power. This was an important issu e throughout th e Hundred Years ' War since the various noble houses of France were continually warring among themselves for status and political power. An examination of the culinary habits of Taillevent's main employer, Charles V, can provide us with an alternative perspective on the history of his realm. Although Charles V won the sobriquet of lle Sage' for his interest i n learning an d th e sciences , estimates of his judgement and governing abilities have varied. Joseph Calmett e expresses a standar d view o f Charle s V : 'he certainl y governed, i n al l loyalty , fo r wha t h e understood t o b e th e greates t goo d o f France'. 34 Christin e d e Pisan , whose father Thomas ha d serve d as Charles's court astrologer, wrot e a commissioned biograph y o f th e kin g whic h agree s wit h Calmette' s interpretation. Her description o f Charles's eating habits paints a picture of a sober, deliberate king absorbed in the cares of defending a kingdom. She wrote: 'he would g o to the table around te n o'clock. Hi s meal was not long , for he di d no t favou r elaborate food , saying that suc h foo d bothered hi s stomach an d disturbe d hi s memory. He dran k clea r an d simple wine, light in colour, well cut, and not much quantity nor grea t variety' ,35 This is the same king, however, who along with his wife received 'through a papal bull of Gregory XI, the permission to eat milk, butter, cheese and eggs during Lent . His kitchen staff were authorized t o taste his dishes and hi s officers t o check for poison.' 36 Le Grand d'Aussy , an eighteenth-century historian, printed an inventory of the gold and silver vessels in Charles V's household and the list is stunning. Le Grand d'Aussy then asked , with some sarcasm , 'ho w could Charle s V have procure d such treasure ? O r rather , ho w could th e nation , i n a tim e whe n th e mines of America were not yet in existence for Europe, have accumulated so much metal for the use of the sages t of France's kings?' 37 34

Joseph Calmette, Charles V(1945; reprint, Paris, 1979), p. 214: 'II a certainement gouverne, en tout loyaute, pour ce qu'il entendait etr e le plus grand bien de la France'. 35 Th e Writings o f Christine dePizan, ed. Willard, p. 237 . 36 Gottschalk, Histoire d'alimentation, p. 346: 'par une bulle du pape Gregoire XI, la permission de manger du lait, du beurre , du fromage e t des oeufs en Careme; les cuisiniers d u roi etant autorises a gouter ces plats et les officiers d'e n fair e 1'essai'. 37 Le Gran d d'Aussy , Histoire d e la vie privee, iii, p. 222 : 'comment l e Ro i Charle s V avait-t-il pu s e procurer un parei l tresor! ou plutot, comment l a Nation, dan s un tern s ou les mines de 1'Amerique n'existaient pas encore pour les Europeans, avait-elle attire chez elle assez de metaux, pour que le plus sage d e ses Rois en employat.. . ?'

156 Food


Under Charles V and Charles VI, the kitchen run by Taillevent included forty-eight persons, not including the thirteen maistres d'hostel.^8 Both Charles V and Charles VI employed more kitchen personnel than even the ostentatiou s Louis XV. Our imag e of Charles V ruling solely pour la France must therefore com e under scrutiny . One coul d plausibly argue that th e maintenanc e o f a n extensiv e an d cohesive royal household, centred aroun d th e public drama of the feast table, helped to forge the necessary noble alliances and national unity that would eventually become necessary in expelling the English from France. But at what cost? I have mentioned above how France several times from the 1350s onwards veered towards civil wars exacerbated b y deep class divisions. Le Grand d'Aussy, obviously with an eye to praising th e sobriet y of his own monarch, cannot hide his uncharitable attitud e towards the Valois court: he calls the Valois table unfaste inutile (a useless ostentation) and observes that 'Charles Vwas the first to introduce mor e pomp into his house. The same spirit of ostentation whic h inspired him t o accumulate a large collectio n o f tableware, als o dre w hi m t o maintai n a numerous household'. 39 I t is interesting tha t i n bot h Christin e d e Pisan' s an d L e Grand d'Aussy' s assessments of the period sobriet y and temperanc e in eating and drinking are synonymous with wise government, a reference t o the classical metaphor o f the body politic which required prope r balanc e in orde r to ensure good health. The variou s versions of Taillevent's L e viandier, many appearin g afte r hi s death , reflec t a n expensiv e an d Epicurea n cuisine i n its increased employment o f foreign colourin g agents , rar e imported spice s an d foo d sculptures . A s Liliane Plouvier point s ou t concerning th e Vatican manuscript o f Le viandier (c. 1450): 'the arrival of a clas s of nouveau x riche s introduce d anothe r ar t o f livin g which expressed itsel f i n a taste for eccentricit y an d ostentation . Food , lik e clothing, was the mos t striking manifestation of this trend'.40 In our investigation of Taillevent and his times, we have seen how the history of cuisine at the Valoi s court, in which Taillevent played such a central role, must be taken into account in any historical interpretation 38

Gottschalk, Histoire d 'alimentation, p. 326. Le Grand d'Aussy, Historic de la vieprivee, iii, pp. 222, 298: 'Charles V fut le premier qui mil plus de faste dans sa Maison. Le meme esprit d'ostentation qui 1'avait porte a se donner une vaisselle immense, le porta auss i a se donner une Maison nombreuse'. 40 Liliane Plouvier, 'La gastronomic dans Le viandier de Taillevent et Le menagier de Paris', in Manger et boire au moyen age, ed. Menjot, ii, p. 151: 'L'avenement d'une classe de "nouveaux riches" a introduit un autre art de vivre qui s'exprime dans un gout pour 1'excentricite et 1'ostentation. La nourriture comme le costume en est la manifestation la plus evidente'. 39


7

of th e period . Taillevent' s caree r provide s a portrai t o f th e socia l structure o f fourteenth-centur y France . Th e eatin g an d food preparation habit s of a society can revea l some of the subtletie s an d intricacies of its history, often obscure d b y propaganda, th e lac k of written documentary sources and the imperfect critical faculty of both the historian an d contemporary witness.


11 Medieval and Renaissance Wedding Banquets and Other Feasts Susan F. Weiss Feasting and making music have almost always, since ancient times, gone hand in hand. The feas t o r banquet is seen a s a locus of pleasure an d plenitude, a kind of hedonism, away of liberating the senses and deriving enjoyment of a rather sensual nature.1 According to Tinctoris, in his treatise Complexus effectuum musices, 'Musi c increase s th e joyfulness o f banquets'.2 'Graciou s livin g i n th e fifteent h an d sixteent h centurie s required musi c afte r dinner , and s o [too] after a staged banquet, th e actors often sang'. 3 Music was a very important part of a real-life Bolognese feast celebrating the wedding of Annibale Bentivoglio and Lucrezia d'Este in 1487, an event , documente d i n som e detail , tha t gav e ris e t o extravagan t entertainment beginning about five days before th e actual ceremony. Eight hundred casks of wine and 30,00 0 pounds of meat were provided for an unspecified number of guests and an additional 3000 spectators.4 1

In the short allegorical tale Fabula de homine (1518), the Spanish philosopher Vives, taking up a favourite theme o f the Italia n humanists, praises th e dignit y of man. H e describes a birthday banquet celebrated by Juno and the gods of Olympus. A setting has to be provided, and so Vives seats his hero a t the tabl e of the gods. Michel Jeanneret, A Feast o f Words: Banquets and Table Talk i n th e Renaissance (Chicago, 1991), pp. 14ff . 2 Alberto Gallo , Music o f th e Middle Ages (Cambridge , 1985) , ii , p . 106 ; quotin g J. Tinctoris, Theoretical Works, ed. Albert Seay (Rome, 1975) ii, pp. 159-77 . 3 Howard M . Brown, Music i n the French Secular Theatre (Cambridge , Massachusetts , 1963) p . 84. See also Bridget Ann Henisch, Fast andFeast (Universit y Park, Pennsylvania, 1976), pp. 209ff . Henisc h state s that music had thre e principa l parts to play at a feast : to punctuate , b y announcing th e ceremonia l hig h point s o f the meal ; to deligh t th e diners; and to charm away the pangs of indigestion. Henisch also discusses the importance of carol singing during certain importan t annua l feasts , such as Christmas and Twelfth Night. See also Madeleine Pelner Cosman, Fabulous Feasts (Ne w York, 1995) , p . 18 , for more o n banquet musi c during th e middle age s and Renaissance. 4 See Susan F. Weiss, 'Musical Patronage of the Bentivogli o Signoria', in Atti delXTV congresso della societd internazionale de musicologia (Bologna, 1990), iii, pp. 703-15 ; Sabadino's 'Hymeneo' and Salimbeni's 'Epithalamium' includ e extensive descriptions of food, music, guests, costumes, etc. The painting s of the Mannerists , first in Italy, and late r in northern Europe , reserve d a special place for the mythological banquet tha t depicte d

160 Food


The highpoin t o f the day s of celebration cam e in th e for m o f a huge spectacle, a masque in four acts, symbolizing the triump h o f Marriage over Chastity , combining mythological and allegorica l characters typi cal of most courtly entertainment a t the time . Followin g the perform ance, n o doub t a s a quid pr o quo for al l tha t meat , couple s fro m th e butchers' guild were invited to dance until the small hours of the morning. W e even kno w the title s o f som e o f th e musi c an d hav e locate d compositions in contemporary sources. 5 Another importan t foun t o f information regardin g foo d i n Bolog nese lif e come s from a rustic eclogue tha t describes a peasant countr y picnic wit h feastin g an d dancing , writte n i n 1508 . It s author , Cesar e Nappi, gives names of dishes and beverages, many from th e more rustic cuisine, includin g charcoa l meats , wines , cheeses , frittat a an d brus chetta. H e als o uses typica l peasant name s fo r th e characters , instru ments, dance s an d song s popular i n th e earl y sixteenth century . The characters take an active role in preparing the feast, in eating it, in practising thei r musica l instrument s - suc h a s th e sordetta (modern-da y harmonica), rebec ( a modern-day fiddl e o r mandolin) , piva, zampogna and cornemusa (peasant varieties of bagpipes), flutes, drums and castanets - an d their dances, amon g them, countr y dances , suc h a s the saltarello and 'L a Pigna' (Th e Pin e Cone') , an d dance s with titles taken fro m popular tune s such as 'Fortuna d'un gran tempo' and 'Levata la strenga',

continued

the gods arranged aroun d a table laden with fruits an d flowers . Ofte n ther e are musical instruments intended t o accompany the dancing . Int o thi s atmosphere o f beauty, luxury and abundan t happines s com e th e characters : Heb e pour s th e ambrosi a an d nectar (cocktail s in th e moder n sense) , Bacchus or Fauns fill goblets, Apollo plays his lyre, Pan his pipes, the Muses sing, the Graces dance, etc. 5 Another well-documented even t was the marriag e o f Cosimo I, duke of Florence, and Eleanore of Toledo in 1539. In 1968 Andrew Minor and Bonner Mitchell published an edition of the music, poetry, comedy and a descriptive accoun t o f the festivities surrounding tha t wedding. Eight madrigals were performed, newl y written for th e occasion b y Corteccia, Costanz o Festa , Giovann i Masconi , Bacci o Moschin i an d Matte o Rampolini. At the conclusion of the comedy the bacchantes assemble on stage, dancing, singing, drinkin g and eating. Some carry drinking vessels, others, quarters o f raw meat, all singing 'Bacco, Bacco euoe' (Minor , p. 35). Needless to say all were very drunk and performed accordingly. The spectators were then treated to cool wines and sweetmeats. Throughout th e comedy , a variety of foods are mentioned , suc h as apples, corn , goat cheeses and th e ubiquitous olive. Hymns are sung to Flora, the goddess o f agriculture and of the harvest, whence the name Florence. Most of the references to food are made in the contex t of the costumes of the various characters.

Medieval an d Renaissance Wedding Banquets and Other Feasts 16

1

whose firs t lin e o f tex t read s 'Loos e tha t piec e o f ribbon lacin g you r bosom and let me admire those violets of yours'.6 Music was indeed a part of the entertainment connecte d with feasts, and part of this essay will examine th e ways in which musicians and instrument s contributed t o the pleasur e of the events . There also exists a repertory of pieces (bot h courtly an d popular ) tha t contained description s of feasting, or even mention o f food. Difference s emerge that distinguish courtl y an d peasant event s in the differin g cuisines, the type s of instruments used , th e roles of the musicians, the musical material itsel f and the metaphoric references to food i n the text, general and somewhat cloaked o n the one hand, specific and more overt on the other. One part of this essay will examine th e entertainments-both real-life and staged; another will look at actual composi tions that contain specifi c reference t o food o r feasting . Adam d e l a Halle's Jeu d e Robin e Marion, a pastourelle with th e rar e inclusion o f melodies for al l of its songs, i s thought to have bee n written for the entertainment of homesick troops in c. 1282 when the composer was in Italy in the service o f Robert II , count of Artois.7 The second half 6

Cesare Nappi, 'Egloga villereccia', in MSS Cesare Nappi, Biblioteca Universitaria, Bologna 1508. Speaking of symbolism, throughout history it seems as though food or food substances could be used as metaphors fo r sex. In an ancient Greek flower song of unknown authorship, the leader of a group of dancing girls sang the first line and the chorus repeated with the second of a text whose translation is: 'Where are my roses, where are my violets, where is my beautiful parsley?', or 'Her e are the roses, here ar e the violets, here is the beautiful parsley', notin g tha t 'parsley ' was plural. See James Turne y Allen, The First Year of Greek (New York , 1932) , pp. 4-5 . My thanks to Professor Constance B . Hieatt, for sharing thi s information with me. In the middle ages, women were obliged t o stay in the kitchen an d men believed that women were capable of increasing or decreasing thei r sexual ardour by adding to food such things as nail parings, menstrual blood, semen or dough kneaded with a woman's buttocks. A source o f information regardin g the effec t o f food o n th e sexua l appetite is the medical literature, such as Avicenna's Liber canonis, which contains a text for the cur e of priapismus. Many accusations were levied against women who tried t o make men fall in love with them, and the literature on witchcraft contains information about th e recipes used by these 'witches'. One source is the Malleus maleficarum, anothe r is Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou: Th e Promised Land o f Error (New York, 1979). I am gratefu l to Professor Helen R. Lemay for providing me with the names of these sources . One o f the numbers in a revival of Cole Porter's musical Out of This World, which opened in Apri l 199 5 i n Ne w York, a licentious spoo f o f the Amphityron legend , i s 'Cherry Pies Ought t o be Fun', a duet betwee n th e character s Mercur y and Chlo e who regale eac h other with superlatives as they bask in the glow of their recent encounter . 7 Adam d e l a Halle, Jeu d e Robin e Marion, edite d an d translate d Shir a I . SchwamBaird; music edited b y Milton G. Scheuermannjr (Ne w York , 1994). The medieva l epic poem, th e Roman de la rose, contains several references t o feasting and t o wine, almost always accompanied b y some sort of musical entertainment, but the music itself has not survived, as is so often th e case .

162 Food


of the play is a dramatized ' bergerie\ in which a group of rustic characters prepare meal s an d picnic s consisting o f capons, meat , cheese, bread , pies, apples, roasted peas, bacon, watercress, peeled garlic, curdled milk and wine; they play games an d musica l instruments , suc h a s bagpipes, utter vulgarities, ente r int o verba l disputes , mak e love and conclud e their celebrations by dancing a farandole.8 It is thought that this dance formed part of the entertainment at the marriage of Robin and Marion, and there is even an entry in an early manuscript of the work which calls it 'Mariage de Robin e de Marion'. The play is filled with elements of the carnival (as in the election of a shepherd as king, as well as in the dances and meals) ; the numerous reference s t o food and drink , so often connoting parts of the body, make for ribaldry and obscenity typical of peasant farce . On e exampl e i s the eroti c wor d pla y o n th e bodic e wher e Marion and her shepherdess friend store their two loaves of bread. Worse yet is one of the character's ideas of a ' bonne chanson , when he proceed s to sing a song that is actually a scatalogical line from a mock epic poem.9 At least one o f the songs in the play contains items of food in its poetry. The reference s t o pies, capons with nice fat rumps, and eatin g mout h to mout h nee d n o furthe r comment. 10 Th e singin g and dancin g ar e continued

See also Kate van Orden, 'Sexua l Discourse in th e Parisia n Chanson: A Libidinous Aviary', Journalo f the American Musicological Society (1995) , pp. 1—41 . In he r discussio n of birds as central carnivalesque subjects, she refers to a chanson that associates the bir d with male genitalia and states in a footnote that this chanson 'play s off the "Robi n and Marion" story familiar t o musicologists from Ada m de l a Halles's/

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