[Sca-cooks] Research question

[Robert Downie]

The Batty Bard wrote:

>      http://mysticsablewolf.bravehost.com
>
>      Greetings .
>      I was wondering if perhaps anyone knew if there was any documentation on the wedding feast of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York.  I keep finding all these vague references to this lavish banquet, but nothing specific.  Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
>      In Service,
>      -Gracia Esperanca de Sevilla
>
There are some references in Roy Strong's _Feast a History of Grand Eating_:

... the creation of elaborate temporary decor for great banquets.  This 
could take theform of either a mise-en-scene superimposed on to an 
existing hall, or the creation of a special room for the occasion.  When 
Phillip the good married Isabella of Portugal in 1430, the courtyard was 
transformed into a banqueting hall complete with a minstrels' gallery 
for sixty, a stag and a unicorn pouting rosewater and hippocras, and 
golden trees supporting  the arms of the lands over which the Duke ruled.

Almost four decades later, in 1468, this arrangement was repeated when 
Charles the Bold married Margaret of York, but with the addition of a 
gallery from which the ladies could observe the feast.  The ceiling was 
of blue silk, the walls appropriately hung with the story of Gideon and 
the fleece, and both behind and above the high table there was a rich 
length of grey cloth of gold embroidere with theducal arms.

... THe drive towardsmaking the state banquet into a political tableau 
may have reached its apogee in the festivals that marked the marriage of 
Charled the Bold to the Yorkist princess, Margaret of York, in 1468.   
Two feasts on that occasion attempted dynastic apotheosis by means of 
metamorphosed food.  On the first occasion guests entered to find 
fifteen guilded andsix silver swans, each wearing a collar of the Order 
of the Golden Fleece and the arms of an ndividual knights.  The table 
was further populated with an array of elephants bearing castles, camels 
with panniers, stags and unicorns all in gold, silver and azure, filled 
with sweetmeats. Each figure carried a banner with the arms of a 
province of the duke.  A few days later there was a rerun in a final 
banquet.  This time the tables were laden with 30 plates, each bearing 
minitaure gardens bounded by golden hedges.  n the middle of the hall 
rose a golden tree with meats piled up around it; the tree itself was 
decked with fruits and flowers and the arms of thirty abbeys in the 
ducal domains.  Close to where the duke was seated stood a model palace 
enlivened with mechanical figures and a fountain that spurted rosewater 
as if it were watering the miniature garden. ... It is difficult to 
establish whether these subtletieswere edible, but they were certainly 
made to place on the dining table.

----

I've seen morecomplete descriptions of other banquets, but not for this 
one yet (but I'm still researching, so maybe I'l find more eventually).  
If you're interested in learning more about subtleties in general, this 
group may be helpful:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SCA_Subtleties/

Hope that helped,
Faerisa