SC - Re: Roundels

[RuddR at aol.com]

Cairistiona writes:

> There is a picture in 'Chaucer and his World' of some roundels (?) on a 
>  table in a tavern (also of a rather nifty chest-chair with a reversible 
>  back).  I wondered what they were at the time I read the book.  But 
they're 
>  small - they look just like drink coasters.  Would they be the right thing?

I think I have seen the same picture on page 34 of the Time Life series book 
"What Life was Like in the Age of Chivalry".  It shows pilgrims at a table 
with a striped tablecloth, sharing poultry from a common dish, two beakers 
shared between them. A joint of meat is being served to them.  Each diner has 
before him a knife and a metal disc (pewter ?), 4 inches across, about 1/4 
inch thick, very much like coasters.  A stack of extra discs stands at the 
corner of the table.  I haven't seen anything quite like them in other 
medieval dining scenes.  

Rudd Rayfield