SC - medieval courses

[Mark Harris]

On Sunday, May 11, Adamantius says:

>The problem here seems to
>be that 20th-century folk have a different interpretation of a "course":
>a four course meal today might consist of an appetizer or a soup, an
>entree with accompaniments, a salad, and a sweet course. This is almost
>entirely alien to the medieval European's view  of a course, and, for
>that matter, a feastday meal. The modern Chinese think this is pretty
>funny too, by the way.

Ok. I've not made a study of this. So can you give us a synopsis of
what the "medieval European's view of a course" was? And I don't
really mean "On the left was the salt cellar, in front of him was
his plate,..." :-)

Some have mentioned the front section of Fabulous Feasts. I do have
this cookbook. Is this a good source for this info?

Thanks.
  Stefan li Rous