[Sca-cooks] another wedding feast for Aethelwulf-

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 07:45 AM 10/7/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Also sprach Laura C. Minnick:
>>In 1368, Prince Lionel, one of the younger extra princes of Edward III,
>>married the 13-year-old Violante Visconti, daughter of the lord of Milan.
>>Their wedding feast was 18 (!) courses, and in the barest of outline:
<snip of menu>

>Very interesting. I've seen wedding menus something like this one
>before, with what looks like an unusual number of courses, of one,
>two, or three dishes per course, instead of two, three, or four
>courses, each consisting of several dishes.

Given the number of presentations, etc (*huge* list, mostly of fancy
animals dressed up with expensive stuff) between courses, it may be broken
into smaller more numerous course so as to have more presentation
opportunities?

>I also note that each
>course (except for the last two, meatless courses) ends with a fish
>dish analogous to the meat dish of the course. So, should we view
>this as a feast where fish dishes are offered as an alternative to
>non-meat-eaters, or is this like Chiqart's proposed menu for the
>feast that will be held on both meat and meatless days?

The feast was held on a Monday (June 5) so I doubt that meat days (or not)
had anything to do with it. And non-meat eaters? Not many of those in Italy
in 1368...

>Or is it
>simply a matter of balance, with the fish being eaten by the same
>people eating the meat? I do see that the fish dishes seem to be
>pretty well outnumbered by meat dishes, so I would suspect that
>they're not intended to be served alone per course; even over
>eighteen courses, it looks a little skimpy in comparison to the meat
>dishes.

I rather think it was meant to augment the overall impression of bounty-
and in Milan (which is in the mountains) I would imagine that serving fish
may be a luxury, becasue of transportation issues. I also doubt they were
meant to be served alone, but to be part of the excess...

Interesting to note that the feast was held in the courtyard of the
cathedral. Better than the average church-basement reception with the awful
cake and punch, yes? ;-)

'Lainie
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