[Sca-cooks] Early French medieval food compared to late
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Sat Jun 8 01:20:31 PDT 2013
It occurred to me that I had already done a survey of at least the major
sources for the early medieval period for my draft. I have inserted most of
that text below, with added links to some of the key documents.
Note that many of these are in French or Latin; even where they have been
translated into English, be cautious in using such translations. Even a very
modern translation of Radegund's biography, for instance, grossly distorts
one passage about barley and rye. (Non-food historians can be cavalier
about what they consider incidental details.)
As a general note, my approach here has been what I call the "mosaic"
method. That is, if one considers late medieval cookbooks like the Viandier to
be "portraits" of that period's food, no such neat depiction exists for the
food of earlier centuries. Rather, a more jagged, discontinuous picture
must be assembled from innumerable fragments. The result, in terms of
documentation, is a very long bibliography, one only hinted at here.
Finally, anyone with a serious interest in food history who reads French
should certainly at least browse the three volumes of the eighteenth century
writer Le Grand d'Aussy's "History of Private Life". Not only does Le
Grand himself trace the broad sweep of the history of every sort of food, he
continually cites references which, taken together, form a comprehensive
bibliography for French food until his time. One should never use Le Grand as a
prime source - when he does make mistakes (or distort his sources), the
errors can be large (and have too often been passed on by even modern
writers). But as a starting point for this kind of research, his work is invaluable.
------------------------------------------------------
The most famous early accounts of Germans come from Caesar and Tacitus,
each of whom had different reasons to emphasize, even exaggerate, the Germans'
simplicity.
http://books.google.com/books?id=CgRKAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inautho
r:tacitus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OsuyUePNA8r0iQLbm4HYBA&ved=0CGoQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f
=false
Fortunately, much of what they wrote can be challenged or confirmed using
other sources.
The Germanic groups were extremely mobile in this period – several of those
in France came from Scandinavia – and scholars of early German groups
include a wide range of countries in their scope. A collection of sagas from
Iceland, the "Poetic Edda", is problematic in terms of dating, but is often
cited as a source on early Germanic life:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/index.htm
As Roman Gaul fell to various German groups, several Gallo-Roman writers
portrayed both their own society and the changes affecting it; notably
Sidonius Apollinaris
_http://books.google.com/books?id=e4VfAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauth
or:%22apollinaris%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DcyyUcrfLKHhiAKSpIGwBA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ#v=
onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=e4VfAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:"apollinaris"&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DcyyUcrfLKHhiAKSpIGwBA&ved
=0CDoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false)
_http://books.google.com/books?id=y-R1IyarvEgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauth
or:%22apollinaris%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DcyyUcrfLKHhiAKSpIGwBA&ved=0CFkQ6AEwBg#v=
onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=y-R1IyarvEgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:"apollinaris"&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DcyyUcrfLKHhiAKSpIGwBA&ved
=0CFkQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false)
and Decimus Magnus Ausonius
_http://books.google.com/books?ei=Is2yUZetEqrSiwK39IDQBw&dq=inauthor:%22Auso
nius%22&jtp=233&id=Pw7gAAAAMAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?ei=Is2yUZetEqrSiwK39IDQBw&dq=inauthor:"Ausonius"&jtp=233&id=Pw7gAAAA
MAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false)
have left vivid accounts.
The Franks themselves left the most lively written evidence of their own
culture in the Salic Law, one of several Latin transcriptions of the various
invaders' Germanic laws.
_http://books.google.com/books?id=CB0MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP3&dq=%22Lex+Salica%22#v=
onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=CB0MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP3&dq="Lex+Salica"#v=onepage&q&f=false)
A number of other Germanic codes, notably the Burgundian Code and the
Visigothic Law, also contain scattered details on the societies which produced
them.
After the death of Clovis I, the first Frankish king of France, his sons
Clothar, Theudoric, Childebert, and Chlodomer divided up the kingdom. In the
sixth century, the great Ostrogoth ruler Theodoric sent a Greek physician,
Anthimus, to Theuderic's court in Metz. When he left, Anthimus wrote a
medical treatise on diet – a dietetic – as a letter to Theuderic ("De
Observatione Ciborum").
http://books.google.com/books?id=HRf3wrFq0X0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=observa
tione+ciborum&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8s-yUeWeKavqiwKKwoDIDw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ
(Also available in several translations, including my own)
Though it is not a cookbook, this document has unique value for food
historians, since it not only includes scattered recipes, but specifically
addresses foods available in Theuderic's region (Northeastern Gaul). The food it
describes is essentially Roman; but such food remained the main 'elegant'
food in France for centuries.
Soon after this, an Italian poet, Venantius Fortunatus, came to France on a
pilgrimage and, rather improbably, became a bishop and later a saint.
Fortunatus has been portrayed as a sybarite and a sycophant, but it is these
very traits which make him a valuable source on social life.
_http://books.google.com/books?id=eS5KAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauth
or:%22venantius+fortunatus%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qdCyUfnBDYf8iwLtqICAAw&ved=0CDcQ
6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=eS5KAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&d
q=inauthor:"venantius+fortunatus"&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qdCyUfnBDYf8iwLtqICAAw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false)
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1115054.r=.langEN
He also became good friends with one of Clothar's wives, Radegund, who had
fled her luxurious life to found a convent. Ironically, Fortunatus'
biography of this self-mortifying nun is a valuable source on food and other
luxuries of the time.
_http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000791_00073.html?sortIndex=0
10%3A010%3A0004%3A010%3A02%3A00&sort=score&order=desc&context=fladone&divisi
onTitle_str=&hl=false&fulltext=fladone_
(http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000791_00073.html?sortIndex=010:010:0004:010:02:00&sort=score&ord
er=desc&context=fladone&divisionTitle_str=&hl=false&fulltext=fladone)
http://mw.mcmaster.ca/scriptorium/radegund.html
In general, Fortunatus' hagiographies (like those of others) are useful
sources for scattered references to food and drink.
Fortunatus also knew Gregory of Tours, whose "History of the Franks", with
all its biases and faults, remains the major work on this period. Gregory,
a Gallo-Roman bishop, records innumerable horrors committed by the Franks,
yet, because they were Catholics, clearly favors them over other German
groups, who typically were Arians; that is, heretics.
_http://books.google.com/books?id=v_gUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA49&dq=inauthor:%22gregor
y+of+tours%22+franks+etiam+puis&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5NKyUcvDFYaWigKRgoGIDA&ved=0CD
oQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=v_gUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA49&dq=inauthor:"gregory+of+tours"+franks+etiam+puis&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5NKy
UcvDFYaWigKRgoGIDA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Gregory's hatred of heresy is abundantly clear in another work, his Books
of Miracles. As virulently credulous as the latter tales are, they provide a
wealth of details on daily life.
_http://books.google.com/books?id=6oB3k9PfPGgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauth
or:%22gregory%22+miracles+tours&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LdOyUevqCureiAKQj4GYDA&ved=0CI
0BEOgBMA8#v=onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=6oB3k9PfPGgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:"gregory"+miracles+tours&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LdO
yUevqCureiAKQj4GYDA&ved=0CI0BEOgBMA8#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Gregory's chronicle was continued by the pseudonymous Fredegar, who,
however, is less informative on society.
For these under-documented centuries, some of the most precious records are
those of churches and monasteries, notably the many wills and donations
which enumerate properties left to the Church.
http://books.google.com/books?id=vapg5zo4pKYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs
_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Some such also contain precious inventories of foods purchased or given as
rents.
The rules for several different orders also outline such subjects as what
monks were to eat and when.
http://books.google.com/books?id=PP0pAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA220&dq=rule+of+chrodegang
&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mNSyUbf9I-aniAK-xYGIDg&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=rule%20of%
20chrodegang&f=false
Finally, the decisions of various Church councils are often informative on
food, as strictures on diet became more nuanced and explicit.
http://books.google.com/books?id=4CRUAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&
q&f=false
During this period too royal messengers and other dignitaries had the
right to requisition food and other goods on their travels. A number of
tractoria document these rights in some detail. One is in a curious collection by
Marculfe of what are essentially fill-in-the-blank forms for various
purposes.
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5652856k/f80.image
Charlemagne in general encouraged both education and the preservation of
written works and so there are an unusual number of documents from his
period. Few are so valuable, however, as his own collections of royal commands,
contained in documents organized by chapters, or capitals, and so called
"capitularies".
Notably, the capitulary he issued to the stewards of his own estates, the
Capitulary de Villis, is extremely detailed.
http://www.le.ac.uk/hi/polyptyques/capitulare/site.html
(Note that one of Le Grand's mistakes - also repeated by a modern writer -
is to treat this document as if it applied to Charlemagne's whole kingdom.)
The nineteenth century writer Benjamin Guerard's close analysis of this is
valuable not only for exploring the main document but for numerous
references to other related details of the period:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6358436s.r=Capitulaire+Guerard.langEN
Audits of some of these same estates are contained in documents called
brevia and document the actual situation (as opposed to royal intention) at
selected estates.
http://www.le.ac.uk/hi/polyptyques/brevium/site.html
Charlemagne's contemporary (Einhard/Eginhard) and near-contemporary
(Notker the Stammerer, AKA 'The Monk of St. Gaul') biographers also include
mentions of food and society in their texts.
Guérard also edited the Polyptych (or Polyptyque) of St Germain-des-Pres,
better known as the Polyptych of Irminon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyptych_of_Irminon
The Latin text itself includes valuable details on rents and foods, but it
is also useful to read Guérard's summary of its contents in the first
volume:
http://books.google.com/books?id=JRdCAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Irminon
&hl=en&sa=X&ei=y9myUYeZK7D0iwKru4DgDA&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
Other monastic records, notably those of Corbie, also provide valuable
details.
These are essentially the major sources; but a number of similar ones can
be found as well.
===================================================
Among the many papers which contain useful information, one especially
valuable one (and a rare document, either book or paper, to closely study the
food of this era) is:
Nutrition and the Early-Medieval Diet
Kathy L. Pearson
Speculum
Vol. 72, No. 1 (Jan., 1997), pp. 1-32
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2865862?uid=3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=37
39256&sid=21102376123267
Which, within its narrow but important scope, is comprehensive and
methodical. Notably, Pearson makes it clear that food in this earlier era may have
been "natural", but, often being smoked, salted or preserved in fat, was
anything but healthy.
Pearson herself also has some interesting notes on female mortality, but
these are largely based on:
Female Longevity and Diet in the Middle Ages
Vern Bullough and Cameron Campbell
Speculum
Vol. 55, No. 2 (Apr., 1980), pp. 317-325
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2847291?uid=3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=37
39256&purchase-type=article&accessType=PSS&sid=21102376123267&showMyJstorPss
=false&seq=1&showAccess=true
Otherwise, a great deal of information can be found in numerous studies
(many of archeological digs) available at persee.fr. Some samples, among many
others:
L'habitat mérovingien de Goudelancourt-les-Pierrepont (Aisne). Aperçu
provisoire d'une unité agricole et domestique des VIe et VIIe siècles
Alain Nice Revue archéologique de Picardie Year 1994 Volume
1 Issue 1-2 pp. 21-63
“Le cimetière franc d'Ennery (Moselle) “, Emile Delort Gallia
Year 1947 Volume 5 Issue 5-2 pp. 351-403
Compter et mesurer les os animaux. Pour une histoire de l’élevage et de l’
alimentation en Europe de l’Antiquité aux Temps Modernes
Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau
Histoire & Mesure Year 1995 Volume 10 Issue 3 pp.
277-312
Étude d'une concentration de semences carbonisées provenant d'une
structure du Xe siècle, place des Hallettes à Compiègne (Oise)
Véronique Matterne Revue archéologique de Picardie ssue 13 pp.
219-228
Le site du promontoire du château de Blois du VIIIe au XIe s.
(Loir-et-Cher). (Première partie : niveaux et structures) / The site of the promontory
of the castle of Blois from the 8th to the 11th century (Loir-et-Cher).
(First part : layers and structures)
D. Josset , V. Aubourg Revue archéologique du Centre de la France
Year 2000 Volume 39 Issue 39 pp. 161-197
This is probably useful too, though not available on line, I think:
Pigière, Camels in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire
In general, works of paleoanthropology in particular are valuable, but
even studies of pottery for instance can be very revealing. The shards of the
mosaic lie in many unexpected places....
Jim Chevallier
North Hollywood, CA
_www.chezjim.com_ (http://www.chezjim.com/)
How to Cook an Early French Peacock:
Anthimus' De Observatione Ciborum -
Roman Food for a Frankish King
Bilingual Second Edition
In a message dated 6/6/2013 4:48:24 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
mkvanden at gmail.com writes:
I so agree, this is some great information! tyvm
On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 4:45 PM, Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com> wrote:
> Interesting.
>
> Would it be possible for you to list your sources or a bibliography at
the
> end of the columns?
> I am sure that readers would appreciate being able to see the sources.
>
> Johnnae
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