[Bryn-gwlad] Fwd: Trenchers--A Brief History

[Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace]

Salut cozyns,

Well, let's see what sources I can recall. Some of my post was conjecture.

The ceramic research was part of my ex-wife's study into period ceramics. 
She was annoyed to find that most of the high-temperature glazes she loved 
were simply not used in most of Europe in her period of interest (15th 
century). Low temperature glazes tend to be more porous. I no longer have 
any of that particular library but I'll look around next time I'm in the 
Perry-Casteñeda Library.

My statements concerning aromatic Medieval dishes are easily supported by 
numerous sources. Lisa Jardine in "Wordly Goods" notes the paucity of fresh 
fish in European kitchens. A perusal of "The Forme of Cury" (which is online 
at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/ ) or any other 14th or 15th century 
cookbook discovers a preponderance of stewed dishes. This apparent 
predominance of stewed and sauced dishes prepared with wines and vinegars is 
frequently noted as a support for the notion that much of the meat was 
likely somewhat "high".

Let's talk conjecture for a moment, though, since that's really what much of 
this discussion has been. The implication in Bear's article is that 
trenchers were simply a fashion. I don't doubt that they started out that 
way, but I do question such a vogue surviving so long with no rational 
basis. The explanations I offered are the conclusions I recall from a few 
medieval history and literature seminars. The same questions comes up again 
and again. When Medieval Lit classes delve into the table manners of la 
Vielle in "La Roman de la Rose," questions always arise about trenchers, 
which fingers to dip in sauces, and so forth.

So, what we know is that bread trenchers were used, that many kitchens set 
aside budget for preparing bread specifically for trenchers. We also know 
that when a trencher was not supplied, diners were expected to cut their own 
trenchers from bread at table. Why? Well, that wooden plates and 
low-temperature ceramic dishes are porous is something of a given. Both can 
be sealed, but the sealers tend to come undone in the presence of much heat. 
Likewise, anyone who has eaten a stew on a brass plate or attempted to make 
sushi with steel bowls knows that metal in contact with acids means 
metal-flavored food. It seems to me a reasonable assumption that the 
trenchers were used primarily as a convenient way of keeping most of the 
food off of the dishes and vice versa. As I mentioned earlier, a couple of 
college seminars came to similar conclusions.

As for Bear's conclusion that broken crockery replacements once or twice a 
year equate to a casual readiness to dispose of dishes, I don't agree. 
Dishes break. You replace them. That doesn't mean you don't try to avoid 
breaking them. Likewise, porous dishes that frequently come into contact 
with smelly foods begin to smell, and you replace them. That doesn't mean 
you don't take steps to avoid this occurence.

So, imagine: there you are, Baron of Hautefort, giving a dinner party for 
all your Limousin friends. You've laid out your finest dishes and see that 
some boor of a vavasour has not cut a trencher for himself or even for his 
lady. The two of them are eating the vyande cipre of samon right off of your 
brand new plates. Really, are you going to invite these two back for another 
meal?

I am curious, however, about the question of eating one's trencher. I know 
I've seen this practice listed as gauche in some sources. Considering the 
quality of bread used in prepared trenchers, I can see that it would 
frequently be practice to avoid. In cases where diners are expected to cut 
their own trenchers from table bread, however, I wonder. Were two different 
types of bread provided at table--one for trenchers and one for consumption? 
Or was it simply understood that you cut a slice for your trencher and a 
separate slice to eat with the meal? Was it always considered improper to 
nibble your trencher? Or was this one of those class-defining practices that 
separated the upper nobility from the less-refined?

lo vostre per vos servir
Meser Lyonel
_________________________________
Micel yfel deth se unwritere.
		--AElfric of York





>From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
>Reply-To: Barony of Bryn Gwlad <bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org>
>To: Barony of Bryn Gwlad <bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org>
>CC: Terry Decker <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
>Subject: [Bryn-gwlad] Fwd: Trenchers--A Brief History
>Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 17:52:24 -0500
>
>After Sir Lyonel's comments on trenchers, some of which were new
>assertions to me but I thought might be plausible, I forwarded Sir
>Lyonel's email to Bear (Terry Decker) and he sent me back a copy of
>this article which he wrote for the European Cooking from Rome to the
>Renaissance Conference (2nd CookCon) several years ago on trenchers.
>
>One of his comments was:
>"If one checks the household accounts of the great households, it is
>common to find broken crockery being replaced once or twice a year,
>so any bowl that was too rank would probably be replaced..
>
>I'd really like to check Sir Lyonel's references."
>
>So, Sir Lyonel, both I, for the Florilegium, and Bear would
>appreciate seeing your references.
>
>I hope this article about trenchers proves enlightening. I'm looking
>forward to seeing more of Bear's research when he publishes it.
>
>Stefan
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>
> > From: Terry Decker <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
> > Date: September 5, 2006 5:04:27 PM CDT
> > To: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
> > Subject: Trenchers--A Brief History
> >
> > Trenchers -- A Brief History
> >
> > The social history of the bread trencher, a plate usually cut from
> > a small loaf of stale bread, is sketchy at best. Despite numerous
> > references in medieval studies, the opinions expressed are varied
> > and not necessarily based on the historical evidence. This paper
> > will attempt to examine what is known about trenchers and present a
> > view of the trencher and its place in medieval society consistent
> > with the facts.
> >
> > What Is a Trencher?
> >
> > "Trencher bread, three dozen of half a foot in width and four
> > fingers tall, baked four days before and browned, or what is called
> > in the market Corbeil bread." is Menagier's description of a
> > trencher loaf.  Such a loaf would weigh between 8 and 12 ounces.
> > The Wroclaw bread laws provide for a similar loaf in Poland made of
> > a maslin of wheat and rye. It weighed about 11 ounces. The size of
> > trencher loaves probably varied between six and eight inches
> > diameter and 3 to 4 inches in height.
> >
> > The weight was dependent upon the mix of flours used.  Trencher
> > loaves were aged two to four days. Earlier in Menagier, the Goodman
> > of Paris speaks of "two day old bread for breadcrumbs and
> > trenchers." While The Boke of Kervyng calls for "Trenchout brede
> > foure dayes old."
> >
> > The quality of the bread also varied. Where some used a whole wheat
> > or maslin loaf, The Northumberland Household Book (1512) specifies
> > that trencher-bread should be made from the bran left over from
> > making white flour (1).
> >
> > A trencher loaf is split into two slices. Originally these were
> > round (Figure 1), but by the 15th Century trenchers for the high
> > table were made from squared loaves (Figures 2 & 3) and in 16th
> > Century England, the books of etiquette imply that all trenchers
> > were squared. The grand feast shown in Der Schatzbehalter (Figure
> > 2) shows squared trenchers being served to the royal personage at
> > the high table, while the other diners have round trenchers before
> > them.
> >
> > While most trenchers were probably prepared in the pantry and
> > placed on the table (2), the instructions in the Boke of Kervyng
> > suggest that the trenchers served to the high table may have been
> > pared and shaped at the table.
> >
> > When and Where Were Trenchers Used?
> >
> > The duration of the trencher is an open question. Some authorities
> > place bread trenchers in the Early Middle Ages, but the earliest
> > written references appear in the 14th Century (3). Gregory's
> > Moralia, an illustrated 12th Century manuscript, shows trenchers
> > with the "upper crust" sliced away (Figure 1). Trenchers seem to be
> > well established by then, but the lack of earlier artistic and written
> >
> > references, tends to support a common usage beginning in the 12th
> > or late 11th Century. References to trenchers continue to appear
> > into the 17th Century, but general use seems to have ended in the
> > 16th Century. An exception may be Poland where trenchers continued
> > to be used on fast days. (4,5)
> >
> > Linguistically, trenchers are of French origin. The English
> > trencher derives from the Old French trancheor which may originate
> > in the Vulgar Latin trincâre, to cut. The Polish word for trencher
> > is tallari, which derives from the German Teller derived in turn
> > from the Old French tailloir. These appear to originate in the
> > Vulgar Latin taliare, to cut or split (6). In Polish and German, a
> > circle or disk is implied.
> >
> > The spread of trenchers between France and England, Germany and
> > Poland can be explained, if not proven. England had French
> > provinces until the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453. The
> > German States were tied politically to various French provinces as
> > part of the Holy Roman Empire, making the easy spread of trenchers
> > from France to Germany and England feasible. A 13th Century
> > settlement policy designed to open Polish wilderness area could
> > have brought trenchers with the new landowners as could the Polish
> > Court's interactions with the Prussian and Silesian. While we
> > cannot trace the spread of the trencher with any certainty,
> > trencher use was firmly established in these countries by the late
> > 14th Century.
> >
> > While researching this paper, I found no references to trenchers or
> > trencher bread from Scandinavia, Spain, Italy, Russia or Eastern
> > Europe, outside of Poland. While this may demonstrate that the
> > scope of the bread trencher was limited to an area of Western and
> > Central Europe, it may also be attributable to an incomplete search
> > of the available literature and the linguistic inabilities of the
> > author.  Cultural differences can explain the lack trenchers in
> > Scandinavia, Russia and Eastern Europe. The lack of evidence from
> > the Mediterranean countries is more problematic and suggests that
> > further research is required.
> >
> > Trenchers in Medieval Society
> >
> > The use of bread trenchers in medieval society was limited
> > primarily to the aristocracy and individuals of wealth and position
> > who wished to be viewed as part of the aristocracy. This view is
> > supported by the cost of trenchers. Based on the lowest value (12
> > d.) for a quarter of wheat (240 pounds) in the Assisa Panis,
> > approximately 480 whole-wheat trencher loaves would cost at least
> > 33 1/4 d. Considering two meals a day was common and limiting use
> > to one trencher per meal, one person would expend just less than 2
> > 1/2 s. (and 1/2 ton of flour) a year on trenchers if using two a day.
> >
> > Menagier, which represents the wealthy townsman class below the
> > aristocracy, seems to limit bread trenchers to special occasions
> > and to one trencher per person per meal, when it directs the
> > purchase of 3 dozen trencher loaves for a wedding dinner consisting
> > of 20 bowl (plus six servants) and a supper of ten bowls. In the
> > great houses, a better estimate of the amount of trencher bread
> > used is one loaf (providing two trenchers) per person per course
> > per meal (7). This would very likely average 4 to 6 trencher loaves
> > per person per day.
> >
> > Trenchers represented a large part of the expenditure in bread, as
> > much as 20 percent of a household's expenditure on food and drink.
> > It is a rather amazing cost for food not eaten by the household,
> > but gathered from the table under the eye of the almoner and
> > distributed to the poor waiting outside the kitchen door. It is a
> > custom that makes little sense except in a social context.
> >
> > Communal dining in the great households of Europe was a ritual
> > where the members of the household received the largesse of the
> > lord's table as partial reward for their diligent labors. It was
> > also a presentation of the wealth and power of the head of the
> > household. In this setting, trenchers were an obvious, but
> > understated display of wealth. Their secondary purpose was as a
> > display of the piety of the head of the household and by
> > reflection, the household as a whole, when in charity, the
> > trenchers were given as alms to the poor.
> >
> > Use of bread trenchers probably peaked between the 13th and 14th
> > Centuries. Household accounts between the 13th and 16th Centuries
> > show a significant decline in the percentage of the budget spent on
> > bread. Rising grain prices, the importation of Chinese porcelain,
> > and a movement to more private dining in the 16th Century may have
> > finally eliminated bread trenchers in the 17th Century.
> >
> > Conclusions
> >
> > Rather than being ubiquitous across Europe over the full span of
> > the Middle Ages, bread trenchers appear common in those parts of
> > Europe where the nobility supported itself on large estates,
> > particularly between the 12th and 16th Centuries, when the great
> > households that owned those estates reached the pinnacle of their
> > power and declined as royal courts and nation-states assumed many
> > of the governmental functions once performed by the households.
> >
> > By the 14th Century, use of the bread trencher was in decline,
> > being replaced by plates of metal and wood, while the ritual
> > surrounding the trencher was becoming more complex. At the same
> > time, the output of the household estates were being directed
> > toward the market rather than being used to support the household
> > with the result that households became smaller and more private.
> > Inflated grain prices, fueled by gold from the New World, re-
> > enforced the societal changes and the growing gap between the rich
> > and the poor. The trencher, which was tied strongly to the old
> > social contract, became an expensive anachronism. As acceptance of
> > the new social contract grew and the symbols of wealth and power
> > changed, the trencher passed from the scene.
> >
> > Notes:
> >
> > 1. Taken from an e-mail message by Robin Carroll-Mann on the SCA-
> > Cooks mailing list January 9, 1998.
> >
> > 2. Rhodes, The Boke of Nurture.
> >
> > 3. Reference dates are based on the Compact Edition of the Oxford
> > English Dictionary and e-mail conversation with Johnna Holloway at
> > the University of Michigan, who provided an excerpt from a Middle
> > English Dictionary webbed at the university, which is presented
> > here in abbreviated form.
> >
> > trenchur (n.) Also trenchoure, trencheour, trenchor(e, trenchur(e,
> >
> > trencheure, trencher(e, trens(c)houre & (error) trechor; pl.
> >
> > trenchour(e)s, etc. & trenchirres, (error) tryschurs.
> >
> > [OF trencheor, AF trench(e)our, vars of OF trancheor.]
> >
> > (a) A knife, blade; a cutting tool; (b) a platter or serving dish;
> > a slice of bread serving as a platter; also, a slice of bread; (c)
> > in cpds.: ~ bord; ~ bred (lof), stale or otherwise inferior bread
> > used for platters; ~ knif; ~ molde, a mold for a platter.
> >
> > (b) (?c1300) Sub.R.Lynn in Nrf.Archaeol.1 353: In ij trenchurs, j
> > alvaz, ij s. ?a1325 Whose þenchiþ vp (Hrl 913) p.138: What wol men
> > for þe sowle del? Corne no mel..Bot wel seld at þe mele A row3 bare
> > trenchur oþer a crust. (1354) Doc.Finchale in Sur.Soc.6 p.xxxvii:
> > Item, ij cultelli pro trenchores faciendis....
> >
> > 4. Dembinska, pg. 61.
> >
> > 5. Dupaigne, pg 36. "The custom of eating meat on these tranchoirs
> > persisted in Europe until the seventeenth century, notably in Poland."
> >
> > 6. Dembinska, pg. 180.
> >
> > 7. Dembinska, pg. 59.
> >
> > Bibliography
> >
> > _____________, The Compact Edition of the Oxford English
> > Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1971.
> >
> > Chambers, R.W. and Seton, Walter W., "A Generall Rule to teche
> > euery man that is willynge for to lerne, to serve a lorde or
> > mayster in euery thyng to his plesure," Fifteenth century courtesy
> > book ... and Two fifteenth century franciscan rules; Early English
> > Text Society, 1914; excerpted at http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/c/cme/
> > cme-idx?type=HTML&rgn=TEI.2&byte=11992541
> >
> > Cosman, Madeleine Pelner, Fabulous Feasts; Medieval Cookery and
> > Ceremony; George Braziller, New York, 1976.
> >
> > David, Elizabeth, English Bread and Yeast Cookery; Viking, New
> > York, 1980.
> >
> > Dembinska, Maria, trans. Thomas, Magdalena, ed. Weaver, William
> > Woys, Food and Drink in Medieval Poland; Rediscovering a Cuisine of
> > the Past; University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
> >
> > de Worde, Wynkyn, The Boke of Kervynge; 1508, transcribed at http://
> > milkmama.tripod.com/kervynge2.html
> >
> > Dupaigne, Bernard, The History of Bread; Harry N. Abrams, New York,
> > 1999.
> >
> > Glants, Musya and Toomre, Joyce, Food in Russian History and
> > Culture; Indiana University Press, 1997.
> >
> > Halsall, Paul, ed., Medieval Sourcebook: The Assizes of Bread, Beer
> > and the Lucrum Pistoris; http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/
> > breadbeer.html , 1998.
> >
> > Hinson, Janet, trans., Le Menagier de Paris; http://
> > www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/
> > Menagier_Contents.html
> >
> > Mennell, Stephen, All Manners of Food, Basil Blackwell, New York,
> > 1985.
> >
> > Pichon, Jerome, ed., Le Menagier de Paris; La Societe des
> > Bibliophiles Francois, Paris, 1846; excerpted, http://www.pbm.com/
> > ~lindahl/menagier/
> >
> > Pouncy, Carolyn Johnston, ed. and trans., The Domostroi: Rules for
> > Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible; Cornell
> > University Press, 1994.
> >
> > Redon, Odile, Sabban, Francoise, and Serventi, Silvano, Schneider,
> > Edward, trans., The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and
> > Italy; University of Chicago Press, 1998.
> >
> > Tannahill, Reay, Food In History, Stein and Day, New York, 1973.
> >
> > Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne, Bell, Anthea, trans., History of Food;
> > Barnes and Noble, New York, 1998.
> >
> > Woolgar, C.M., The Great Household in Late Medieval England; Yale
> > University Press, 1999.
> >
> >
> >
> > Author's Citation:
> >
> > Decker, Terry D., Trenchers--A Brief History; Proceedingws of the
> > 2nd Conference on European Cooking From Rome to the Renaissance;
> > Serve It Forth!, 2002.
> >
> >
> >
>
>--------
>THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
>     Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas
>StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
>**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
>
>
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