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Of Fish and Fowl

Of all the activities that one could potentially partake in,

food consumption is the most popular and necessary; spanning

across the socio-economic spectrum and absolutely essential for

survival, eating is one activity that can always be accounted

for. Despite the necessity of participating in consumption,

foodstuffs have been used as a marker for status and power in

society; one’s social hierarchical location determines what kind

of food will be used based on monetary price and cultural value.

Status in the medieval world was displayed via food choices, and

has been documented as glorifying elites and allowing women a

sphere of power in society. As a symbol of power, food was

prepared in the woman’s domestic sphere; but, culinary choices

were dependent on social status, thus acting as a determinant

between fish and fowl in an elite household.

The food sources in Europe and its surrounding areas have

been exploited for over a thousand years prior to the medieval

era. Pliny the Elder’s Natural Histories illustrated numerous

available food sources just within the Italian peninsula during

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the time of Ancient Rome, spanning from olives and grapes to

oysters and mussels (Pliny: 97); but Pliny’s work also detailed

foreign goods being brought into the Roman Empire, such as

apples, pears, and dates (Pliny: 144). After the transformation

from Ancient Rome to medieval Europe, food sources did not

changed exponentially; edible products such as spices and fruits

continued to be traded between Europe, the Levant, and the Middle

East.

Archaeological finds from modern day Germany provided

evidence for the continued use of grains such as barley, emmer,

and oats during the medieval era (Pearson 1997: 3). Evidence

found in Anglo-Saxon and Frankish territories from the seventh

century also indicated the consumption of protein through sheep,

goats, swine, and cattle (Pearson 1997: 7). Furthermore, the

findings have supported the notion that medieval Europeans

consumed legumes such as fava beans, chickpeas, and lentils

(Pearson 1997: 5-6). Pearson’s research in the early Middle Ages

illustrated the nutrition and the diet of the inhabitants of this

area, but also how severely malnourished the common people were

during this time period.

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Pearson’s research demonstrated two very important concepts

about the medieval diet: the importance and prevalence of grain

in society, and the different types of protein sources used based

on the socio-economic structure. The grain trade was a central

aspect to the economy of central Europe throughout the Middle

Ages (Hybel 2002: 219); and the most popular use for this grain

was to bake bread, considered one of the most basic nutritional

staples of the medieval diet (Davis 2004: 465). The grain trade

was the dominant trade good in the Roman world and was shipped in

from Sicily, Spain, Carthaginian Africa, and Egypt since before

150 BCE (Garnsey 1983: 119). The grain trade and bread production

continued to be important in the medieval era, even to the point

of the creation of a long-lasting commercial law in medieval

England for the assize of bread, becoming a statute law in the

thirteenth century (Davis 2004: 465).

In fact, the use of bread was seen in holy offerings;

Gregory, bishop of Tours, offered “St. Martin’s holy bread” to

the king of the Franks, Guthram, to help win his favor (Gregory:

190). The “holy bread” was the Eucharist which was comprised of

bread and wine, two important staples in medieval European

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society. Gregory’s offering of the bread and wine to the Frankish

king illustrated one of the roles of food in the religious

sphere; through transubstantiation, bread and wine were

transformed to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Another component of food in the religious world was related

to the role of women. The miracles in which food multiplied and

the alms-giving of food were mainly associated with women in the

medieval era (Bynum 1985: 3). The miracles related to the bread

wafer of the Eucharist typically revolved around its change to

“honey or meat in the mouth of a woman” (Bynum 1985: 3).

Religious food consumption has been heavily associated with

women, but so has the practice of abstaining from food;

overconsumption was considered so important that in excess it was

termed as gluttony, a major form of lust (Bynum 1985: 1).

Abstaining from a necessary aspect of survival to attain

salvation accentuated the piety of the individual; however food

was associated to women, thus fasting was more central in a

woman’s journey to piety than to a man’s (Bynum 1985: 4).

The religious uses of food exemplified two aspects of power

in the medieval world. First, Gregory’s offering of the Eucharist

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to the Frankish king to help win the latter’s favor was an act of

creating a relationship with a secular authority, in which King

Guthram then invited Gregory to dinner due to the hospitality

(Gregory: 190). This act of hospitality would be beneficial to

Gregory’s position as bishop of Tours, thus food was used to

create a power-relationship between the secular and religious

spheres of Frankish Europe. Second, monastic women had a

designated relationship with food which allowed them to achieve

piety through abstinence of consumption. Monastic women were

linked to food because they were socially connected to it as

well; women throughout medieval Europe were associated with food

preparation and distribution, but not with the actual consumption

of food (Bynum 1985: 10). Women were only able to exercise power

over food due to their exclusion from controlling economic

resources, thus they gave food away for charity or fasted because

it was the only thing they could relinquish to achieve piety

(Bynum 1985: 10).

Gregory’s use of food to establish a relationship with a

secular authority also illustrated another aspect of the role of

food in medieval society: the act of sharing one’s food and drink

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was to create and maintain a bond of association (Roach 2011:

38). This bond of association was strengthened via social

gatherings that incorporated food, but what foods were to be

presented? Societal decisions based on food consumption revolved

around the theory of the humors, or the combination of two

qualities: either hot or cold, and either moist or dry

(Leschziner 2006: 425). Food consumption was the fundamental

method to keep the humors balanced, thus curing or preventing

diseases (Leschziner 2006: 425). Another theory that medieval

society operated on was that of the Great Chain of Being; nature

was classified via the four elements and was in relation to the

humors: air was considered warm and moist which were the humors

representing the human body, therefore foodstuffs found in the

air or in higher areas were better for digestion (Leschziner

2006: 427).

The Great Chain of Being and the theory of the humors

greatly affected the consumption choices of the social elite.

Since air was warm and moist like the human body, the fruits that

hang on trees were consumed by the elites because it was

considered better for them; whereas root vegetables were

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considered “earthy,” or dry and cold like black bile, and thus

were not consumed by the elites (Leschziner 2006: 427). The same

could also be said about the elites’ decisions for a protein

source: animals who lived closer to the earth, such as a rabbit,

would be considered to be the least digestible because of the

“earthy” humors, but fowl were given the highest value because of

the “airy” humors and were deemed as the most exquisite foods

(Leschziner 2006: 427). Furthermore, earth-bound animals were

generally more expensive, thus being consumed mainly by the

social elite (Reitsema and Vercellotti 2012: 9).

Despite the medieval concept of balancing the humors, there

was an idea of nutritive value: the more nutritious foodstuffs

were, the more similar they were to the human body, following the

Great Chain of Being theory (Leschziner 2006: 428). Animals,

specifically mammals, were more nutritious than plants, fowl, and

fish, but this train of thought did not consider four-legged

creatures (Leschziner 2006: 428). Although this idea of nutritive

value seems contradictory to the balancing of humors, there was a

clear distinction between nutritive value and cultural value.

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Documented evidence, such as cookbooks, acted as a means to

explain the medieval perspective of combining food and medicine

to cure and prevent disease. The documents were written by social

elites for their social class’ use (Leschziner 2006: 430); these

sources detailed the use of spices in food preparation, which

acted as a means of displaying extensive trade, as a social

distinction, and as a status marker. The social elite’s

widespread use of spices to help prepare meats also indicated

that they could afford fresh meats (Leschziner 2006: 431). Law

codes presented during the medieval era have illustrated this

acquirement of fresh meats by the social elite: King Ina demanded

“[two] full-grown cows or 10 wethers, 10 geese, 20 hens” annually

(Attenborough 1963: 58-59).

Medieval literature from present-day Germany has also

provided valuable insight of the lives of the social elite and

the common people. By the thirteenth century, German literature

detailed the diets of the upper and lower classes (Jones 1960:

79). Clear class division based on food consumption was presented

in different stories: the gentry ate game, fish, and white bread

while the common people ate dark bread, turnips, and cheap cuts

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of pork (Jones 1960: 79); distinct food consumption was

accompanied by marked beverage consumption: the social elite was

expected to drink wine, leaving water, milk, cider, and beer to

the lower classes (Jones 1960:79). Although German literary

sources were fictitious by nature, they acted as one of the few

documented evidence to provide insight on the daily consumption

of the peasantry, despite being written as a comic contrast to

the gentry.

The detailed accounts of the social elite’s food displays

during feasts signified the elite status of the individuals

present and to emphasize hierarchy (Crombie 2010: 103). As

Germanic literature suggested, the elites’ consumption of wine

was socially sufficient to present oneself as honorable and of

high status; thus the purchasing of alcohol in large quantities

was an act of flexing the elite’s socio-economic muscle (Crombie

2010: 104): when partaking in the guild feasts of Bruges, for

instance, those of the higher status drank wine, while those of a

lower status drank beer (Crombie 2010: 105). The example of guild

feasts represented the idea that the visitation of an elite

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individual, specifically one of royal relation, involved drinking

and feasting (Roach 2011: 38).

The shared meals amongst social elites provided a means of

communication between the aristocratic households. A St. Albans

chronicler, in a detailed account of a Christmas feast with

Eleanor de Montfort’s household, discussed how feasting was a

symbol or authority and “good lordship” (Kjaer 2011: 78). Eleanor

de Montfort was the daughter of the sixth earl of Leicester and

held the title of Princess of Wales; through her status, she

hosted feasts for her local supporters and their families, along

with supporters from across England and the local elite who were

not directly involved in the political strife of the time (Kjaer

2011: 79). To prepare for these feasts, Eleanor would spend about

fifty-five percent more on supplies than what she spent on a non-

feast day, going from ten shilling and seven pence to twenty-one

shillings and eight pence (Kjaer 2011: 80). In addition to

spending more than double on feast days, the Princess of Wales

sent gifts of wine and meats to keep her support base (Kjaer

2011: 80); the sharing of food at banquets or as gifts encouraged

a sense of community and friendly disposition towards all parties

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involved (Kjaer 2011: 82-83). Regardless of the socio-political

manipulation displayed in feasts to establish good relationships,

participating in these feasts promoted a sense of moral

obligations on the guest’s behalf to reciprocate with either good

deeds or some form of loyalty (Kjaer 2011: 84).

The social elites’ feasts were multi-purposed, as

demonstrated above, creating and maintaining reciprocal

relationships; but the elite did more than impress and flex their

socio-economic muscle with the food spread on the table: seating

arrangements at the table were another display of power practiced

by the elites. Accounts from guilds in Bruges have recorded a

differentiation in status based on the different qualities of

food and drink presented at feasts, and several surviving guild

seating plans have indicated the hierarchy established in the

feasting hall (Crombie 2011: 109). The St. Sebastian Guild’s

seating plan for a feast day involved the placement of seventy-

seven men at five different tables, placing the twelve most

important members of the guild and one civic official at the top

table; the seating arrangement at the top table included the

richest members, the local sheriff, and two members of a

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patrician family (Crombie 2011: 110). The second table sat

others of a higher status, and the remaining three tables were

held by members of professions, such as powerful textile traders

and rich goldsmiths, but also held men of lesser professions

(Crombie 2011: 110).

Medieval English sources shared a similar sentiment in

seating arrangements during feast times. Robert Grosseteste, a

medieval bishop of Lincoln, advised the meal’s hosts to be seated

in the middle of the high table, and encouraged the lady of the

household to participate in the meal to ensure her honor (Kjaer

2011: 78). As a bishop, Grosseteste supported the idea of a

hierarchical seating arrangement in the dining hall, which

suggested religious seating procedures; church feasts also

maintained a hierarchical seating order based on customary

principles (Roach 2011: 42).

In examination of what the spectrum of the social hierarchy

ate, archaeological excavations around English living areas

provided evidence of the consumption of sheep, pigs, and cattle.

The physical remains of bones around castle areas supported the

notion that the social elite ate exponentially more pork in the

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twelfth century than the English urban and the rural areas did

(Grant 1988: 140); cattle consumption was very close between

castle and urban areas in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,

leaving the main consumption of sheep to rural villages (Grant

1988: 140). Along with pig, cattle, and sheep remains, bird bones

were excavated and were more commonly found in castles areas as

compared to urban towns, and in stark contrast to rural villages,

in which there was almost no physical evidence found (Grant 1988:

141).

The Law of the Forest, first instituted after the Norman

conquest of England in 1066, dictated that all Royal Forests were

to be “enjoyed by the king alone” and to anyone he granted the

privilege to (Savage 1933: 33); animals protected by the Forest

Law included red deer, boars, wolves, fallow deer, roe deer,

foxes, badgers, and rabbits (Savage 1933: 33). The prohibition

on hunting such animals is heavily correlated to the amount of

physical remains of deer bones in aforementioned study of castle

areas: of the total number of bones recovered from the twelfth

and thirteenth century castle areas, deer bones comprised of

almost twenty-five percent of the excavated remains (Grant 1988:

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141). Yet, during the same time period, ten percent of the bone

remains recovered from rural villages was also comprised of deer

bones, thus illustrating the blatant disregard for the Forest Law

regarding the rural inhabitants’ willingness to avoid starvation

in regions of England that would not have supported intensive

agricultural production (Grant 1988: 142).

Burial remains, such as in the Italian peninsula, denoted

the nutritional conditions of the Middle Ages. There was an

increased presence of furrows and small lesions in bone fragments

and skulls of adults from the Roman period than in the remains

from the medieval era (Barbiera and Dalla-Zuanna 2009: 374). The

physical evidence implied that social differences were less

significant in the early Middle Ages; both the rich and poor had

access to meat sources, thus they were less affected by anemia

than their Roman counterparts (Barbiera and Dalla-Zuanna 2009:

374).

The egalitarian access to meats was supported by isotope

analysis of a cemetery site in Trino Vercellese, Italy dating

from the eighth to thirteenth centuries. The area surrounding the

burial site was found to have been pastoral and agricultural

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lands; the primary crops were cereals and legumes, and remains of

domestic swine, cattle, sheep, and goats were found (Reitsema and

Vercellotti 2012: 3). Isotope analysis indicated that the

medieval population of the area consumed mainly a meat and plant

diet, with little to no exploitation of fish as a food source due

to Trino Vercellese’s inland location and lack of major waterways

(Reitsema and Vercellotti 2012: 7).

Although higher status males were found to have consumed

more animal protein than their lower status counterparts

(Reitsema and Vercellotti 2012: 9), both the social elite and the

peasantry were able to access the meat supply. Yet, due to the

peasantry’s monetary limitations to purchase meats, lower class

males had a greater millet intake, which is consistent with

historical documentation of millet being a low status food in the

Italian peninsula (Reitsema and Vercellotti 2012: 9). The

available samples of females for an isotope analysis were

constricted to the small number of female remains discovered, but

researchers found that lower class females had a similar diet to

high status females, including the consumption of more animal

protein than the lower class males (Reitsema and Vercellotti

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2012: 9). This find illustrated an interesting point; women have

been known to have control over the preparation, the cooking, and

the distribution of food; but in a side-by-side comparison to

their contemporaries, lower class women had a significantly

better diet than the males of the lower class (Reitsema and

Vercellotti 2012: 9).

In the study of food and power in medieval European society,

location has to be taken into account. The area of Trino

Vercellese would not have used fish as a frequent protein source,

as the archaeological remains suggest, even when the Christian

Church pressed for fasting during certain months of the year

(Reitsema and Vercellotti 2012: 7); the people of Trino

Vercellese would not have easy access to the maritime economy,

and the only fish remains discovered were of the northern pike, a

local fish from slow-moving rivers (Reitsema and Vercellotti

2012: 7). Additionally, the legal code of an area could have

limited the exploitation of certain resources, such as the Forest

Law in England; however, due to the poor enforcement of the law

in outlying areas of the kingdom, the peasantry was willing to

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access animals protected under royal decree despite the threat of

repercussions (Grant 1988: 142).

Historical documents have helped to provide a broad sense of

diet in medieval Europe, but documents tended to be slated to the

social elites. Cooking books, literary sources, and legal codes

typically have concentrated on recording the daily routines of

the upper classes because it was the elite who received an

education in reading and writing to record such rituals. Despite

the written evidence being biased towards the social elite,

sources such as Germanic literature have illustrated the

peasantry’s habitual life, albeit in the form of jest and parody.

Furthermore, due to the medieval attitudes towards health being

inherently tied to food consumption, as laid out by the theory of

the humors, cookbooks are an interesting source since they

intertwined the women’s role of cooking in a typical household to

medicine; thus women seem to have indirect control over medieval

society’s concept of health and well-being.

Although written sources barely shed a light on the daily

lives of the common folks throughout medieval Europe,

archaeological excavations have supplemented the primary sources

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with physical remains. Archaeologists worked in castle areas,

urban towns, and rural villages to better understand the daily

life of the commoners in the Middle Ages; furthermore,

excavations have procured numerous goods and physical remains of

bodies, but have remained limited due to the fact that

archaeologists are often left to conjecture on the meanings of

the discovered remnants. In spite of the uncertainty and the

guess work, the combination of the archaeological evidence and

the documented sources constructed an insightful broad view of

the medieval Europe.

Through the combination of archaeological excavations and

documented sources, one could gain a better idea of the diet

during the Middle Ages. These sources have illustrated the

differences in food consumption between the peasantry and the

gentry, and between living areas, such as castles, urban towns,

and rural villages. Medieval diet was based on balancing the

humors and coincided with the Great Chain of Being, but it also

acted as an excuse to display and manipulate power relations in

the socio-economic hierarchy. Additionally, food consumption was

a means of achieving piety for females, therefore partaking or

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abstaining from it was an act of power within the religious

sphere. As an activity that all members of society participate

in, eating helped understand the daily life of the peasantry and

the flexion of power amongst the elites.

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