Since February 17, 2015, when my first article appeared on "VO", a lot of materials on a variety of topics have been published here. Among them, the knightly theme occupied a very important place, which is not surprising. After all, I started doing it in 1995. And since then he has published not only many articles, but also books about the knights and their weapons. However, they were all devoted mainly to weapons and armor, and the culture of the upper classes of the Middle Ages itself was considered very indirectly. The second theme is locks. The third is the battles in which the knights participated. But there is one topic that has practically remained overboard all this time - this is the daily life of “those who fight”. Cause? And there are a number of books, including those translated into Russian, about the everyday life of the Middle Ages, where there are about fashions, and about hairstyles, and about food … a detailed story about "knightly food". Tell what the knights ate, what they drank in their castles, how they feasted, how they kept food, what foods they prepared. I think it will be interesting. After all, food is at the heart of Maslow's pyramid of needs, and we all know that as you burst, you drown! So, what and how did the knights and other elite of the Middle Ages eat?
As we know, chivalry as such did not appear in Europe immediately. It all started with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476, after which the era of "dark ages" began, about which there is little information. However, it is known that the "war lords" of the barbarians who flooded Europe as a whole quite favorably perceived by them the defeated Roman culture. Less than two centuries later, all the barbarians began to speak spoiled Latin, from pagans they turned into Christians, in a word, they adopted a lot of … enemy culture. This once again confirms that there is nothing hostile and nothing of our own, but that there is something that is profitable and not profitable. If faith helps keep people in check, sovereignty borrows it. The same can be said for language and cuisine. Beer, of course, is a good thing, but grape wine tastes better and more drunk, and wheat bread tastes better than millet and barley cakes. The Romans, by the way, had everything the same. At first, trousers - brakka, were considered the clothing of the barbarians. Special centurions walked around Rome and wrapped togas for the Romans - "have pants or not," those who were in pants were severely punished for "barbarizing Roman culture." Then … then they were allowed to be worn by the horsemen who fought in Britain, then all the horsemen, then all the legionnaires, in the end they were even worn by the emperors! It is clear that complex Roman dishes could not be in demand by the barbarian culture, but the memory of them still remained, as was preserved both Roman Latin and the Christian religion. In addition, the Eastern Roman Empire continued to exist, where all the traditions and cuisine of great Rome were preserved. That is, wild barbarians had before their eyes an example of culture, albeit inaccessible to their understanding, causing anger and envy, but subconsciously delightfully alluring. So the basis for the development of a new society and new cultural traditions based on the synthesis of their own and the old Roman culture existed among the barbarians, and since it existed, then this synthesis itself was just a matter of time. By the way, about what and how the Romans of the era of the empire ate, perhaps, Giorgi Gulia wrote very well in his novel "Sulla", which is worth reading, if only for the sake of describing the feasts of that time.
Medieval miniature from the manuscript "Tale of Health" depicting a medieval massacre. Blood is dripping from the carcasses of the animals that have just been slaughtered. Nearby there is a goat with a kid, awaiting slaughter, and their "nuts" - evidence of the hygiene of this place. Upper Italy around 1390 (Vienna National Library)
But the food of the Early Middle Ages was very scarce and consisted mainly of meat, fish and dairy products. People of that time practically did not eat vegetables and fruits, except perhaps for berries, mushrooms and nuts, although they did not disdain the fruits of wild apple trees. They saved food for future use by smoking, drying and fermenting, and where salt was abundant, fish and meat were also salted. The food of the same Scandinavian Vikings was based on lamb, venison, bear meat, poultry, fish and shellfish. Moreover, thanks to the Vikings, who inspired fear in Europe, its inhabitants recognized such a berry as cranberry, which in the X-XII centuries. got to them exclusively through them. Well, the Vikings themselves took it with them both as a medicine and as a delicious dessert. No scurvy took them! Later, Russian merchants began to import cranberries to Europe, and they carried them both in the Baltic and around Scandinavia, and across the North Sea. So this product was very expensive and the poor could not afford it. And also the Vikings in the XII century. brought to England and Ireland … rabbits, which by that time had already spread throughout Europe and were a tasty dish just for the poor! However, the nobility also ate rabbits. At the castles of the feudal lords, special rabbit cages or corrals were built. Moreover, their construction in France was regulated by a special royal ordinance, so that their size corresponded to the rank of the owner!
A humorous miniature "Rabbit baker" from the manuscript "Hare Marginali", 1st quarter of the 15th century. (British Library, London)
It should be noted here that already in the Early Middle Ages, everything in Europe was ruled by the church. She forbade Christians to eat meat on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, all six weeks of Lent, as well as during many other church holidays, which made it possible to significantly save food. An exception was made for children and patients who could be given strong meat broth. Chickens and other poultry were not always considered meat either! Well, of course, you could eat fish during the fast. Therefore, large fish ponds were set up at the monasteries - cages, so that fresh fish was always present on the table during monastic meals. It was the Swiss monks in the VIII century. invented a green cheese, and they also called it "shabziger", although the cheese itself was recorded only in 1463. But we know for sure that in 774 Charlemagne tasted brie cheese and was delighted with him: "I just tasted one of the most delicious dishes."
It was during the era of Charlemagne that cucumbers spread throughout Europe, while the Moors in the 12th century. they brought cauliflower to Spain, from where it came to Italy a century later, and from there it began to spread throughout Europe.
Miniature from the famous "Psalter of Latrell". Spit roast. OK. 1320-1340 Lincolnshire. (British Library, London)
Since the church and monks in the Middle Ages were a universal role model, it is not surprising that the fish menu was very popular not only in monasteries, but also among the laity. So, the mention of carp is present in the orders to the governors (ducs) of the provinces of the German minister Cassiodorus, who demanded from them that fresh carps should be regularly supplied to the table of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric (493-512). And in France, carp were bred under King Francis the First (1494 - 1547).
Another scene from Latrell's Psalter. Chefs prepare food in the kitchen, servants carry plates of food.
Accordingly, in England all sturgeon caught belonged exclusively to the king. And the English king Edward II (born 1284, king from 1307 to 1327) loved sturgeon so much that he assigned it the status of royal food, forbidden for everyone else!
Continuation of the previous scene. Latrell feasts with the family, and the servants serve food on the table.
Here we turn to our Russian medieval cuisine, because it was in it that fish played a very special role. The fact is that the Orthodox Church, just like the Catholic Church, controlled practically all aspects of the life of society in Russia and indicated not only what and when to eat, but also what products and how to cook!
Sheep milking. "Psalter of Latrell".
In particular, before Peter the Great it was considered a sin … to cut food before cooking. That is, it was possible to gut the same chicken, but after that it was necessary to cook it as a whole, "as God gave," hence such dishes as "smoking in the shtyah" (chicken cooked in broth seasoned with flour). Under Alexei Mikhailovich, a "sinful dish" appeared at the court, naturally borrowed from the "accursed West" - "smoking separately under lemons", that is, a chicken cut in half, laid out like chakhokhbili, covered with lemon slices and baked in the oven. Well, just a very "sinful dish", because well, no food could be cut!
Medieval apiary. "Psalter of Latrell".
Cabbage was not chopped then, but fermented with a head of cabbage, beets, rutabagas, turnips were either steamed or baked in pots again whole. Well, mushrooms and cucumbers were also salted in the form in which they were from nature. That is why pies in Russia were baked with porridge, mushrooms (small, which did not need to be cut!) And fish, which was baked into a dough with … scales, and … bones, only gutted. It is clear that they did not bake ruff, but sturgeon and somyatina (or somina, as they said in Russia), but the rule was one - do not cut food and products in dishes, do not mix. Ivan the Terrible, for example, known for his piety, forbade stuffing sausages on pain of death, as well as “eating black grouses” (black grouses), which were revered in Russia along with hares and roosters as unclean food. The "Krakow sausage", which we still know today, is a memory of those cruel times. Only then did the sausage come to us from Poland, to make our own meant to immediately put our head on the chopping block.
The cat bit the mouse. Even then, many people understood that cats are extremely useful, as they exterminate mice, which destroy and spoil stocks of food raw materials. "Psalter of Latrell".
Interestingly, under the same Alexei Mikhailovich, the salaries were given to the archers … with sheep meat. One carcass per week for the foreman and one half carcass for an ordinary archer. So the whole carcass was chopped ?! It is obvious that this is so, which means that during confession it was necessary to repent of it …
