Bread trenchers was [Sca-cooks] Tableware

[Stefan li Rous]

Bear replied to Adamantius with:
> > 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.

I'm wondering if another factor in the drop in bread consumption might
simply have been an increased consumption of meat. Such an increase
would probably result in a decrease in the amount of bread eaten. With
the tremendous drop in population in the late 14th Century, the available
land was stretched less and marginal land for crops was taken out of
production. At the same time, the wages of the peasants went up allowing
them to afford more meat. It would be nice to see if there is a
corresponding increase in meat consumption when this bread consumption
dropped.

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****