[Sca-cooks] 100 Mile Feast

[Terry Decker]

Peason is the plural of pease and is as you surmise, peas in modern English.

Meal is any ground grain other than wheat, which is flour.  The usage is 
imprecise, so it is impossible to determine the actual grain unless 
mentioned.

The German ships metioned are very probably from the Hanse (Hanseatic 
League) which formally began in 1241 and held its last meeting in 1669.  The 
Hanse controlled much of the trade in Northern Europe from the Baltic to 
Spain and all points in between.

Bear


> For what it is worth in furtherance of this discussion I was just reading 
> Cheyney's "A History of England, From the Defeat of the Armada to the 
> Death of Elizabeth" Vol. 1.  In the chapter titled "The Seizure of 
> Contraband" it is cited that on the 27th of July (1588) the council issued 
> from the court at Nonesuch a formal "order and decree" for the forfeiture 
> of goods seized on certain neutral German ships bound for Spain. Under 
> "Victual" are listed "Bacon, Corne, Wheate, Barley, Meale, Beanes, Peason 
> and such lyke."  Such would suggest to me some of the more common bulk 
> commodities in trade which were shipped long distances by sea in the last 
> quarter of the 16th century.   If I might inquire:
> Would Peason be peas?
> What is the consensus regarding what grain is ground for "Meale" in this 
> reference?
>
> Daniel