Adamson - Food in Medieval Times

FOOD IN MEDIEVAL TIMES
of a fellow diner, and not to blow one’s nose in the napkin. If fingers
were used to clean one’s nose, they were to be wiped on one’s clothes
afterward. Diners were to sit decorously at the table without stretch-
ing, leaning back, putting their elbows on the table, or their heads in
their hands. That fleas and lice were a problem at the time can be seen
from the rules not to scratch one’s head or hunt for fleas under one’s
skirt. Overall, dinner guests were expected to be quiet and courteous
at table, not to stare at their surroundings, not to engage in loud talk
or laughter, which could be mistaken for drunkenness, or whisper,
which could be mistaken for gossiping or for slandering somebody.
Since only the highest-ranking diners ate alone, many of the above
rules were especially important for those farther away from the head
table and lower down the social ladder who had to share their food
with an ever-increasing number of people to a messe. Status also deter-
mined the quality and purity of the wine enjoyed at dinner. Apart from
the fact that as a rule the best wine was always drunk first when all the
participants were still sober, wine was mixed with more and more
water the further down the pecking order a person found him- or her-
self. While those at the top had their wine and water at the table to
combine at will, those of lower rank never had that choice, but were
served the quantity and quality of diluted wine deemed appropriate
for their position. Medieval cookbooks and etiquette books tell us a
lot about the type of food and the way it was consumed by the wealthy
in times of plenty, but they tell us next to nothing about the food
eaten by the poor, or even by the general population in times of crisis.
To find out what people ate in order to just stay alive, social historians
must turn to other sources, among them medical texts, hospital
records, and chronicles.
Before we look at the diet of the poor and indigent of medieval so-
ciety, however, it is important to find out who belonged to this disad-
vantaged group of people. Throughout the period we find paupers
hanging around the gates of cities, monasteries, and castles who were
given alms by these institutions.49 Often they were sick people such as
lepers, cripples, the blind, or the mentally ill. While they were clearly
on the fringe of society, they were nevertheless still part of it, unlike
prostitutes, delinquents, vagabonds, and rebels roaming the forests,
who were in most cases regarded as complete outcasts. To these two
groups of involuntary paupers we must add the voluntary ones, such
as hermits and mendicants. The latter, as well as peasants unable to
make a living in the countryside, flocked to the booming towns of
170
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