For Al Them That Delight in Cookery”: the Production and Use of Cookery Books in England, 1300–1600
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“For al them that delight in Cookery”: The Production and Use of Cookery Books in England, 1300–1600 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Sarah Peters Kernan Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2016 Dissertation Committee: Daniel Hobbins, PhD, Dissertation Advisor Alison Beach, PhD, Program Advisor Christopher Otter, PhD Copyrighted by Sarah Peters Kernan 2016 ABSTRACT Through an examination of the codicological and bibliographical features of manuscript and print cookbooks produced between 1300 and 1600, I offer a narrative of the early history of English cookeries, their readers, and their producers. The success of the genre was due, in part, to its flexibility. Cookbooks could be used in multiple ways in and out of the kitchen. Furthermore, I examine the shift from manuscript to print through the lens of cookbooks. I argue that an audience for early English printed cookbooks was already in place prior to the introduction of print. The audience for cookeries in England grew steadily over the course of three hundred years, incorporating new readers who spanned class and gender divides. The expanding audience in turn propelled new cookbook production. The transition from script to print provides the backdrop for the genre’s development. First examining late medieval cookbooks as technical literature, I posit that many of these texts were used in contemporary kitchens. Some of the earliest English cookbooks, manuscript rolls, served as aides-mémoires for kitchen staff in great households. Other early manuscript cookbooks were instructional texts, used by cooks in medieval kitchens. Some fifteenth-century cookbook readers, aspirant professionals such as medical practitioners and lawyers, did not require the texts for cooking. These readers ii used the texts to familiarize themselves with what had been served to their social superiors as a way to fit in and excel in a new social environment. Recipes were a vehicle for shaping a group’s new identity. Even while readers were increasingly from the professional and gentry class, cookeries still reflected a noble cuisine. This continued well after the introduction of print in England. However, the non-noble audience expanded enough for printers to specifically target these readers. These printed cookbooks were filled with recipes for gentry and professionals. At this point, we have clear evidence of women readers accessing cookeries. Once again, this new audience grew, using the cookbooks available to them, and in the 1570s and 1580s printers began producing texts explicitly for women. Now authors and printers affirmed the idea in print that eating and dining were pleasurable. They also inserted names and events important to English identity into cookbooks. This link between cookeries and the kingdom made cooking a domestic enterprise that was more than more than just a daily task, it was a connection to an identity, shared by other English readers. iii To Dad iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am thankful for having had access to the following libraries and the kind and courteous assistance offered by staff members thereof: the British Library; the Bibliothèque nationale de France; the Morgan Library and Museum; the New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division, especially Thomas Lannon; Harvard University Houghton Library; the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center; and the Newberry Library. I am grateful to the reproductions and permissions staff at the British Library, especially Jovita Callueng; the University of Glasgow Library Special Collections Department, especially Fiona Neale; the Huntington Library; Harvard University Houghton Library; and Early English Books Online. I could not have completed my research without generous financial assistance from The Ohio State University (OSU) Department of History and Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, as well as the Schallek Award, granted by the Medieval Academy of America and the Richard III Society-American Branch. I am grateful to the individuals who have provided assistance throughout the course of researching and writing this study, particularly Ivan Day, Paul Freedman, Christopher Woolgar, and Barbara Ketcham Wheaton. I am appreciative to Alison Beach and Christopher Otter for their service on my committee. Prof. Beach, in particular, v supported my research and interests since her arrival to OSU. I am thankful for her many efforts to build a strong community of medieval graduate students in the department. I am indebted to the intellectual generosity of my dissertation advisor, Daniel Hobbins. His efforts reading many drafts, supplying careful guidance, and writing innumerable letters of support and introduction are heartily appreciated. I am equally grateful for the personal and scholarly respect he has displayed in all my pursuits. Graduate school would have been a far less enjoyable endeavor without the friends I made in OSU’s Department of History and Department of English, the Junior League of Columbus, Saint Joseph Cathedral (Columbus, OH), and Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church (Naperville, IL). I especially thank Ellis Anderson, Frank Blazich, Halle Hobbins, Drew Jones and Leslie Lockett, Jake and Erin Neal, Elizabeth Poklinkowski, and Dan and Meghan Watkins. The many hours we spent talking over meals, cocktails, and coffee refreshed and fortified me. Each of these friends encouraged my interests and efforts in academia and beyond. I must also extend my thanks to two people who always made a point to inquire about the status of my writing and kindly prodded me along: Anthony Caruso, MD, for trying to impress the importance of expeditious composition prior to my son’s birth, and His Excellency, Bishop Frederick Campbell, for his gentle encouragement and colorful reminiscences about his own doctoral studies. I am indebted to the sustained encouragement and support my parents, Paul and Vicki Peters, have provided. Their excitement in all my academic pursuits and provision of a loving home are great blessings. I can only begin to express my gratitude for the vi example of their faith, marriage, and family. These gifts are always with me. My husband and I have welcomed and appreciated their assistance in all things, especially traveling across the country to help care for their grandson. I am additionally grateful to the love and generosity that my husband’s parents, James and Ruth Kernan, have shown me, my husband, and my son. My son, Paul, has kept me grounded in reality throughout the final throes of writing. Although he arrived late in the dissertation process, his presence reminded me to never lose sight of what is most important. My frustrations with writing and research were mitigated by our daily activities. I will remember my joyful days with Paul, rather than the more difficult hours of writing every night after his bedtime. Most of all, my husband, Tom, helped me in every possible way. His love and care encouraged me, his optimism inspired me, his meals nourished me. Had we not begun to explore cookbooks and cooking together in the early months of our marriage, I may not have stumbled into this topic. Tom has read every word of this project, patiently listened to many early and unformed ideas, and graciously consumed my attempts at cooking medieval culinary recipes. My acknowledgement of his sacrifices will always fall short of the thanks I owe him. vii VITA 2002................................................................Natrona County High School 2007................................................................B.A. History, magna cum laude B.A. Music, cum laude Emphasis in Arts Administration Honors College Scholar University of Missouri-Kansas City 2007–2010, 2012–2013 .................................Graduate Teaching Associate Department of History The Ohio State University 2009................................................................M.A. History G.I.S. Literacy Studies The Ohio State University 2010–2012 .....................................................Graduate Teaching Associate Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS “From the Bakehouse to the Courthouse: Bakers, Baking, and the Assize of Bread in Late Medieval England,” Food & History 12, no. 2 (2014): 139–178. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................v VITA ................................................................................................................................viii LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................xi LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................xii PERMISSIONS................................................................................................................xiii A NOTE ON THE TEXTS ..............................................................................................xv PREFACE ........................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................4