[Sca-cooks] Welcome to the "Sca-cooks" mailing list (Digest mode)

[Karen Moon]

Greetings all!

I just joined the list, and I pray you excuse the fact that my first post is one
asking for assistance.  My name's Mari ferch Rathyen, I'm from Ansteorra (hi
guys!) but, alas, I've been pretty much inactive for the past 2 years because I
went back to school.  Speaking of which...

I'm currently working on a paper for my senior seminar regarding the Arthurian
character of Sir Kei (or Cei, or Kay, etc.) and his devolution from an early
Welsh giant-slaying super-hero to a bitter, bullying character who always seems
to lose his fights, and how this may have been influenced by his association
with the kitchens.  Chretien de Troyes seems mostly to blame for this, but then
you also have a society that is shifting from subsistence level (where people
who give you food are well respected) to having more leisure time (where people
who bring you food are servants.)  But I digress.

My specific problem?  I distinctly remember having documentation for a knightly
oath -- like the kind they swear when they're being knighted -- where the young
knights says that if he does anything wrong, may the cook come out of the
kitchen and strike off his spurs -- the implication being that having a cook
strike off one's spurs was far more shameful than anyone else (in court, I
suppose) doing it. (Meaning no offense to any of the cooks here, of course.)

Now, I *thought* the source for that was "Fast and Feast", but of course, when I
toddle over to my bookshelves, I can't *find* "Fast and Feast" (most likely
because I've lent it to someone and lost track of it, which, yes, will teach me
not to do that any more, but doesn't really help me now.)

So, finally, my request: does *anyone* remember the oath I've described -- I'm
fairly certain I didn't imagine it -- and if so, *did* it come from "Fast and
Feast"?  And if not, do you remember *where* it came from?

If anyone knows and can point me in the proper direction, I shall be eternally
grateful, and I'm sure the blessings of St. Katherine of Alexandria, patron of
frantic students, will be upon you.

Many thanks,

Mari ferch Rathyen
(currently a very frantic student)