SC - Nef - snippets from WWW

[James Prescott]

Thorvald here:

Web snippets (for curiosity, not proof of anything):

http://www.romantictimes.com/g_writer/g7a_19.html

The age of chivalry and good manners began in the Middle Ages, 
at which time forks were only used for carving and serving foods. 
Knives, spoons and goblets comprised the nef, a set of table 
utensils usually bestowed upon a person once they were of age 
to eat with the adults, it being up to them to remember to bring 
along their utensils.


http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PRanum/OARpg30.html

Servants began to bow before the royal nef, the object containing 
the royal spoon, knife, and napkin, whether the monarch was present 
or not. [60. O. Ranum, " Courtesy and Absolutism, and the Rise of 
the French State," Journal of Modern History 52 (l980) 426-5l.]

Thorvald