Bread trenchers was [Sca-cooks] Tableware

[Decker, Terry D.]

> Yes, they these people travelled. Could the use of trenchers have
> minimized the amount of tableware that had to be transported?
>

That is a possibility, but manors were continuously staffed and appear to
have maintained stocks of tableware which were replenished two or more times
a year.

The manor staff was only part of the household proper when the lord or lady
was in residence, so the transported tableware would be only that of the
retainers and staff who travelled with the lord or lady.  Normally this
would be 30 to 70 people depending on position of the house.  However, I
know of at least one military commander who had a household of 200 to 250
while his wife's household consisted of about 75.  The maintained separate
establishments, except when they joined households at their larger estates.
By my calculations, the baker made out like a bandit.

>
> And in the fourteenth century we have fairly major weather changes
> that are also clearly reflected in costume (in fact, it is believed
> to have been the beginning of a series of "mini-Ice-Ages" from which
> we are only now completely recovering), repeated bad harvests
> followed by a sufficient general weakness of the population as to
> allow the Plague to wipe out a third of Europe. That could be your
> 25% expenditure drop right there.
>
> Adamantius

Actually all of this doesn't account for the 25% drop.  Household staffs
remained fairly consistent.  The population reduction increased the actual
wealth of the survivors.  And changes in agricultural technology actually
increased the available food stuffs.  In the 15th and 16th Centuries, Europe
experienced the highest standard of living prior to the 20th Century.

Along with the high standard of living, there was a creeping inflation which
increased as the Portuguese and then the Spanish brought wealth from their
explorations (the flow of gold from the New World in the 16th Century was
exceptionally debilitating).  This in turn increased the cost of grain,
making trenchers more expensive.

The manorial system was based on in kind payments and service for due.  This
began to change in the 13th Century to monetary based system of service for
fee.  The long term effect was to weaken the feudal structure of the
household, making the ritual of the trencher less useful in communal
binding.  At the beginning of the manorial period, almost all meals were
communal.  At the end of the manorial period, the lord or lady of the manor
would often dine privately.

During the rise of the manors, the households were strong, The crowns were
weak and needed the support of the houses.  During the 14th and 15th
Centuries, feudal kingdoms became nation states with strong crowns,
professional armies, and growing bureaucracies.  The government began to
take over charitable distributions.  This weakened the ties of the houses to
the people on and around their estates and made the distribution of
trenchers as alms a quaint and wasteful custom.

As conspicuous consumption, trenchers were replaced by imported porcelain in
the 16th Century.  (How many 16th Century illustrations have bread trenchers
in them?)

Anyway, my opinion is trenchers began as an ostentatious display, remained
as a useful ritual, and faded away in the face of rising costs and changing
fashion.  Dat's progress for yah.

All of this is a preliminary thesis based on limited evidence.  What I am
trying to do is find more references which will support or refute the
arguments, so any source references on trenchers, especially non-English
ones, are gratefully accepted.

Bear