[Sca-cooks] Runners/longieres instead of napkins?
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Fri Jun 28 21:07:02 PDT 2013
Terence Scully says that medieval diners wiped their fingers on a special
extra table cloth, set on top of the normal one for exactly that purpose:
"The main cloth was, in French, the nappe, and the sanitary cloth was
properly the longiere or 'runner';"
_http://books.google.com/books?id=i5h7_HXPHvwC&pg=PA170&dq=inauthor:scully+r
unner&hl=en&sa=X&ei=plrOUauEBaWsiQL6j4CoBw&ved=0CDgQuwUwAQ#v=onepage&q=inaut
hor%3Ascully%20runner&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=i5h7_HXPHvwC&pg=PA170&dq=inauthor:scully+runner&hl=en&sa=X&ei=plrOUauEBaWsiQL6j4CoBw&ve
d=0CDgQuwUwAQ#v=onepage&q=inauthor:scully%20runner&f=false)
This is certainly not impossible; the eighteenth century English used the
tablecloth instead of napkins. But I've seen no period reference to this
practice and most definitions of longiere just say that it was longer than it
was wide; one mention in fact is of a "longeria" with napkins, somewhat
undermining the idea that it was used in their place.
http://books.google.com/books?id=wugIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA447&dq=longeria&hl=en&sa=
X&ei=7lzOUeCvCqiAiwKs04HQDw&ved=0CMQCEOgBMC0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Also Scully seems to have a pretty plain idea of a tablecloth when, in
the early centuries at least, they could be pretty ornate.
A search through the archives shows nothing about a runner or longiere.
Has anyone encountered any period reference to such a practice?
Jim Chevallier
Comparing early and late medieval food in France
http://www.chezjim.com/food/pre-v/comparisons.html
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list