[Sca-cooks] Period Cookbooks and Period to modern glosseries

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/17/2008 9:46:45 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
vikinglord at cox.net writes:

<<I have been serfing your flori thing and I found it rather  frustrating 
looking for receipes from the late 12th century,  english.>>
 
I've been finding it frustrating, too, in general; that's when and where my  
persona is from.  Unfortunately, there just isn't much out there at all in  
the way of recipes from that early.  It's not just that they aren't in the  
Florilegium; there isn't much anywhere unless there is a recipe manuscript  
waiting to be discovered somewhere.
The earliest collection I'm aware of from close to that time is "Libellus  de 
arte coquinaria: An Early Northern Cookery Book" by Rudolph Grewe and  
Constance B Hieatt, ISBN 0-86698-264-7.  This is a translation and  discussion of 
several versions of the same manuscript from the early 13th  century in Danish, 
Icelandic and Low German, although there is some speculation  that the 
original of the manuscript may actually have been from southern Europe  due to some 
of the ingredients used.
 
The other source, much harder to find, is an article entitled "Two  
Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections Edited form British Library Manuscripts  Additional 
32085 and Royal 12.C.xii" by Constance B. Hieatt, and Robin F. Jones,  which 
was published in the magazine Speculum, Issue 61/4, in 1986.  I  have it only in 
oversized photocopy sent to me by a member of this list.   These are said to 
be the earliest English recipes.  The Additional  manuscript is from the late 
13th century while the MS Royal manuscript is from  ca. 1320-40.
 
I wish there was more out there for late 12th, too, but if there is, it  
hasn't been found yet.
 
Brangwayna Morgan
 



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