Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing & Consumption
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ANGLO-SAXON FOOD: PROCESSING & CONSUMPTION ANN HAGEN MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON ProQuest Number: 10611196 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10611196 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ANGLO-SAXON FOOD: PROCESSING & CONSUMPTION ABSTRACT This synthesizing study brings together for the first time information from various primary and secondary sources in order to build up a composite picture of food processing and consumption during the Anglo-Saxon period. The period covered is the six centuries from the beginning of the fifth century to c.1100. The area covered is Anglo-Saxon England, with reference to the Celtic west. Occasionally reference is made to continental sites for archaeological evidence to verify points in the literary sources, when, by the accidents of (non) recovery, such evidence is unknown in the archaeological record here. The primary source material is of two kinds: literary and archaeological. Material in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in the vernacular has been supplemented on occasion by that in Latin manuscripts. There was no pre-selection of manuscripts, and references to food come from all types of writings: legal, religious, literary and medical. Place-name evidence is also used and reference is made to contemporary illustrations. Archaeological evidence is drawn in the main from the major animal bone assemblages, human skeletal material, and plant remains. as well as artefacts and structures. The problems of interpreting evidence from these sources are considered. As 'Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing & Consumption' has not been treated as the main subject of any similar multidisciplinary research before, there is no history of research into the subject as such, but it has been necessary to draw on a range of secondary material. This includes classical and later medieval documents. Modern histories of the period and surveys of food in antiquity have been consulted, as have publications on specific foodstuffs, particular areas of processing and ethnographical works. - 2 - ANGLO-SAXON FOOD: PROCESSING Sc CONSUMPTION CONTENTS TITLE-PAGE..................................................... 1 ABSTRACT........................................................2 TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................. 3 DEDICATION..................................................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................. 5 CHAPTERS SECTION I 1 INTRODUCTION................................................7 SECTION 11: PROCESSING 2 DRYING, MILLING & BREAD MAKING.......................... 19 3 DAIRYING................................................... 42 4 BUTCHERY................................................... 62 5 PRESERVATION Sc STORAGE................................... 72 6 METHODS OF COOKING........................................96 SECTION III CONSUMPTION 7 MEALS Sc MEALTIMES........................................135 8 FASTING................................................... 148 9 FEASTING.................................................. 155 10 SPECIAL REGIMENS: INVALID, INFANT, ScMONASTIC ........ 181 11 FOOD SHORTAGES Sc DEFICIENCY DISEASES................. 203 12 ADULTERATION - DAMAGE CAUSED BY DIETARYELEMENTS.... 224 SECTION IV 13 CONCLUSION.............................................. 232 APPENDIX A: THE REGULAR FASTS............................ 246 APPENDIX B: FASTING BY SAINTS Sc AS PENANCE............... 262 APPENDIX C: ENTERTAINMENT AT FEASTS..................... 275 APPENDIX D: FAMINE YEARS..................................287 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................... 294 - 3 - TO ANT, THOMAS & LIZZIE For their patience and good company ~ 4*' ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to record my thanks to Sir David Wilson who taught me Anglo-Saxon Archaeology, and supervised the earliest stages of this project. A grant from University College London enabled me to visit York, where Peter Addyman was kind enough to conduct me round the excavations. Professor John McNeill Dodgson helped me with documentary sources at an initial stage, and it is with regret I learned of his death. My parents Peggy and the late Arthur Smallridge provided support, moral and financial, whereby I could get work under way. Working from home, I relied on the staff of the Information Desk at Bedford Central Library whom I would like to thank for treating my requests as interesting challenges, in particular Robert Napthine, who rarely failed to get his book. A multi-disclipinary work of this kind has to be to some extent a cooperative venture, in that many people have provided me with information. To the specialists listed separately, my colleagues at Clarendon School, and friends who produced books and items of interest, my thanks. I also wish to thank my farming relations in Devon and Bedfordshire, in particular the late Harry Newman and his widow, Iola, who generously lent me books as well as answering agricultural questions, and my brother, David Smallridge at Chasestead Engineering, where the answer to questions metallurgical and technical was only a phone-call away. Thanks also to my mother-in-law Margaret Hagen, who typed to give ~ 5 ~ me breathing space, and Richard, who cooked meals for us all when naught but literary fare was forthcoming. Debby Banham and Paul Callow helped me more than they know by discussing this thesis with me, and giving me confidence to tackle the tack of revision. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Dr James Graham-Campbe11, who has been so generous with his time in supervising this thesis. He has provided me with information, encouragement and made corrections. From him I received counsels of perfection: that the work has shortcomings is due to my own failings. Special thanks to Michael Miller. ANGLO-SAXON FOOD: PROCESSING & CONSUMPTION SECTION I CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The intention of this synthesizing study is to bring together for the first time information from various primary and secondary sources in order to build up a composite picture of the processing and consumption of food during the Anglo-Saxon period. The period covered is the seven centuries from the beginning of the fifth century to c.1100, and an attempt is made to trace changes and development in food processing and diet over this t ime . The area covered is limited to Anglo-Saxon England and the Celtic west of Britain - the latter is included so that use could be made of the detailed Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales. although these were not recorded until the end of the period. In the matter of privileges in those laws for which earlier texts exist, those attributed to Hywel Dda (died 949 or 950), are not widely different from those recorded in the sixth and seventh centuries, and it is reasonable to assume other material is similarly conservative (Owen 1841, Preface ix). Occasionally, reference is made to continental sites for archaeological - 7 - evidence to verify points in the literary sources when, by the accidents of (non) recovery, such evidence is unknown in the archaeological record in England. PRIMARY SOURCES The primary source material is of two kinds: documentary and archaeological. Material in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in the vernacular has been supplemented on occasion by that in Latin manuscripts. Bosworth & Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary and Su p p lements were used as the basis for references to foodstuffs, processing or consumption, although the Toronto Microf iche Concordance of Old English and ensuing Dietionary of Old English S, 0 (in progress) is superseding this. Manuscripts of all types were used: there was no attempt to select manuscripts on particular subjects which might have been thought more relevant. This was just as well, as references to food turn up in all types of Anglo-Saxon literature and records, including specialised references in medical recipes and charms. Religious writings contain many direct references to diet, fasting and gluttony. As feasting amounted to a lay ceremony, there are many references to it in Laws and Guild Statutes. Purely literary works also contain valuable references, particularly to feasting as an element of the noble life. However, most of these writings were not primarily about food, and the references are incidental to - 8 - the main subject, or they have a special emphasis which has to be taken into account. Surviving manuscripts have been preserved by chance. Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter, gave his new cathedral about sixty books in the mid-eleventh century: most of these were dispersed, but the Exeter Book which remains is a most important source. Writing in 1549, after the Dissolution, John Bale recorded, 'Those who bought the monasteries kept the books to scour their candlesticks, some to rub their boots, some they sold to the grocers and soap-se1lers, some they sent over the sea to the book-binders...at times whole ships full'. Collections made by antiquarians were not always safe from disaster-. 114