Examples Of A Medieval Feast
To understand the British medieval feast we should take the Gawain Poet’s description of a feast in his work as something probably inspired by real life experiences – touched with a bit of literary gilding – it was written in about 1400 A.D.
‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, 1430 A.D.
“King Arthur lay at Camelot upon a Christmas-tide, with many a gallant lord and lovely lady … then they brought the first course, with the blast of trumpets and the waving of banners, with the sound of drums and pipes, of song and lute, so that many a heart was uplifted at the melody. Many were the dainties, and rare the meats, so great was the plenty, they might scarce find room on the board to set all the dishes. Each helped himself as he liked best, and to each guest were twelve dishes served, with a great plenty of beer and wine.” For A Fictional Feast based on this poem see this post: King Arthur’s Christmas-tide Feast.
Feeding guests in the medieval period was a serious matter, and a large part of medieval life and entertainment. Between Michaelmas 1412 and Michaelmas 1413 Alice de Breyne, who lived near Colchester, in Essex, served more than 16,000 meals – which is an average of 45 a day, mainly for guests. She also gave a New Year’s feast for 500 invited people.
Feasting was where any major business was discussed (and partnerships entered into). It was where power was consolidated, and where powerful people could impress, and be impressed. A feast was an occasion where families joined houses by marriage, and where rewards were given out by the ruling elite.
Feeding your guests well (and understanding the dining etiquette of the day) was essential for an upwardly mobile class hoping to join the ranks of the nobility. Therefore, the world of the upper and growing middle classes literally revolved around dining: see the Medieval Feast of King Richard II In 1387, with his powerful allies, John of Gaunt and the Bishop of Durham as an example of this.
A Medieval Feast in 1457: in a feast given by Gaston IV, compte de Foix, at Tours in 1457 (to honour the Hungarian King) there were seven courses; starting with toast of the finest bread, dipped in wine, followed by capon paté and hams of wild boar, with no less than seven kinds of pottage, all served on silver plates.
Then came ragouts, made of every kind of game bird and wild bird, including swan and geese. In the first entremet came twelve men wheeling in a castle on a rock – a fully realised scale model castle with four corner towers with a lady sat in the window of each, while a child sang atop each tower! The feast resumed with more pottage and other dishes, with the added interest of everything being golden in colour or gilded in real gold. The second entremet saw six costumed men carrying a man disguised as a tiger, the tiger spat fire while the men danced! The next course included delicate tarts, sweet dariols, and fried oranges.
The most impressive entremet was next … twenty-four men dragged in a model of a mountain containing two fountains, one of rose-water the other of ‘eau de muscade’, to the delight of everyone rabbits came out of the rocks, scampering, while live birds emerged to fly all around the hall. Four boys and four girls, all dressed as savages, came down the mountain and danced a morisco.
Desserts followed with hippocras and wafers, with a final entremet of man all in crimson satin riding a crimson harnessed horse, carrying a wax model garden filled with roses to set before the ladies. The last course involved a sugared heraldic menagerie, sculpted stags, lions, monkeys and various other birds and beasts, each holding in its paw the coat of arms of the Hungarian King.
Then in came a live peacock, with the French Queens coat of arms around its neck and the coat of arms of the French ladies court draped over its body. All the French lords pledged loyalty and support to the Hungarian King (it being customary to make vows of chivalry on birds).
Yet perhaps it is fitting to end this article with the most famous medieval feast of them all, ‘The Feast of the Pheasant’, at Lille in 1454. From the Memoires d’Olivier de La Marche … “The dishes were such that they had to be served on trolleys, and seemed infinite in number … The figure of a girl, quite naked, stood against the pillar. Hippocras [mulled wine] sprayed from her right breast and she was guarded by a live lion who sat near her on a table in front of my lord the duke … My lord the duke was served at table by a two-headed horse … next came a white stag ridden by a young boy who sang marvellously, while the stag accompanied him with the tenor part … Then two knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece brought in two damsels, together with a pheasant, which had a golden collar around its neck decorated with rubies and fine large pearls … ”
Recommended further reading:
- “The Book Of Carving”, Wynkyn deWorde, 2003, Southover Press.
- “Food & Feast In Medieval England”, Peter Hammond, 1993, Sutton Publishing.
- “Cooking And Dining In Medieval England”, Peter Brears, 2008, Prospect Books
- “Feast: A History Of Grand Eating” Roy Strong, 2002, Jonathan Cape.