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'Pease Pudding and a suck of Bacon' The Medieval period was a time of great change in England and Europe. It saw social change, religious and economic change. It saw the change of a system built on feudalism to the start of one based on capitalism. Many foreign foods, herbs and spices had been in England since the time of the Romans, but they had not filtered through to the general populace. London had been burnt in AD61 after the rebellion of Queen Boudica but in 100AD it was rebuilt and by the 3rd century had some 30,000 inhabitants. The city slumped in importance on the departure of the Romans and was then sacked by the Danes in the 9th century. Alfred resettled it in 883 and by the time William the Conqueror arrived in 1066 it had become known as Lundontoun. Old London Bridge was built for commerce across the Thames in 1209 and remained the only bridge until 1750. By 1400 there were only some 2.5 million people in England and when it became the capital under Edward III in 14th century it was the only British city comparable in size with cities on the continent (around 50,000). William the Conqueror provided the first impetus to major change when he used dining to appeal to people of diverse station, holding feats at Gloucester at Christmas, Winchester, Easter and Westminster at Whitsun. The second major impetus was the First Crusade 1096-1097 which, unlike other Crusades, was one of knights and adventurers who dispersed in 1099 spreading the foods, herbs and spices they had found in the East. By 1200 spices had already become a status symbol although cinnamon had been used since Anglo Saxon times in wine and the Romans and Greeks had introduced ginger for digestion, cloves for sinews, mace for colic and nutmeg for colds. These two major forces caused England to open up from the feudal Dark Ages. Henry FitzAilwyn became London's first mayor in 1193 after the community's recognition by John in 1191 who went on to grant its first charter in 1215. London was a hub of growing commerce, very crowded, full of rats, the water polluted and the streets strewn with mud, excrement and offal. There were regular fires and the Church, the major landowner, held sway. The alehouse became popular in the 13th century and London had its first tavern in 1272. By 1309 there were 354. Many church sites were built by a growing number of factions. One such was the Hospital of St Mary Spital founded in 1197 for the sick, poor and pregnant mothers. It was refounded in 1235 and the Spitalfields Chapel and Charnel House built in 1391 dedicated to St Mary Magdalene and St Edmund. In 1349 the Black Death reached London and wiped out one third of the populace acting as a natural break to growth. Life was hard and life expectancy low. The rich and gentry lived a generally debauched, colourful existence, though short due to ill health. Edward III (1327-77) employed Guillaume Tirel (Taillevent) as his chef such was the interest in and importance of food amongst the upper classes and he wrote Le Viander, one of the first major cookery books. Noble kitchens had been influenced by returning Crusaders featuring basil, borage, mallow, dittany, true love, fennel, ginger, cardamom, galingale, cloves, sorrel, mustard seed, nutmeg, anise, mace, mint, peppercorns and cinnamon. Salt was considered so important it was kept in the Tower of London. The active day for both peasant and noble was sunrise to sunset. Castle life consisted of a small breakfast of bread, cheese and wine then a large dinner taken between 10-12 am and supper at sunset, once again with bread, cheese and a stew or soup (hence souper). Wine was usually the drink of choice (England was the main consumer of wine from the Continent) plus mead and ale. Wassail (ale, honey and spices) was used for special occasions. They would have ducks, pheasants, pigeons, geese, hens, partridges, fish, pork, beef, mutton, cabbage, turnips, carrots, onions, beans, peas, bread, cheese, butter, ale and wine all available to them as required. A large manor would also be quite self-sufficient with a mill for grinding, oven for baking and gardens for growing. Indeed, food was becoming such a status symbol that special spice powders (fort, douce, blanch) were introduced in the time of King John and in 1390 in the time of Richard II, the first English cookery book, The Forme of Cury, was produced with 196 recipes compiled by his chefs and others. The diet of nobility (including the Church) was rich and indulgent. The installation of Archbishop Neville of York in 1467 had 6000 guests and required :
Throughout the Medieval period England developed under the impetus of war and trade which was most keenly felt in London. The Hundred Years War with France ran from 1337-1453 in a series of conflicts between the Capetions and Plantagenets. Crafts grew apace as did trade and in 1358 several cities in Germany formed the Hanseatic League to trade with England. They were given the name 'Easterlings' from which our currency 'sterling' derives. The gentry were attracted to London from the country to 'make their fortune' which many did. One such was Richard (Dick) Whittington, son of a knight who came to London to sell cloth and velvets and became an Alderman in 1393 then Lord Mayor in 1397 - 1406 and 1419. In 1400 the orange was first introduced to the West but it was not until 1492 that Columbus discovered red chilli peppers in Santa Domingo and even later that such things as tomatoes and turkey appeared. The forerunners of the modern snack bar appeared on specialist streets in London such as Bread Street and Eastcheap and by 1516 there were ten commercial bakeries in London. The gentry were, however, not the only ones to be attracted to London. In the early Medieval period England still operated under villeinage (serfdom) although it was often accepted that one who escaped to a city such as London and remained free for a year and a day was a freeman. These found the streets not paved with gold but mud, excrement and offal. Indeed the cast-off innards and giblets often thrown out casually from the richer houses were called 'garbage', later to come to mean rubbish. One of the many street cries "Pease pudding and a suck of bacon" came from the vendor selling slices of quite firm but nutritious pease pudding with a piece of bacon on a string which was yanked back out of the purchasers mouth once he or she had had their 'suck'. The peasants life was hard. Homes tended to be one room with a central stone hearth that served to provide lighting and heating. Where extra light was required, tallow candles were used making the rooms not only still dark and dingy but smelly and smoke-filled. Washing was rare. Their diet consisted of vegetables - often turnips - plus dark, rough, breads not fit for the nobility. In addition frumenty was very popular (wheat berries, long boiled in broth or sometimes milk, flavoured or sweetened) plus fish occasionally, cheese curds, small beer, ale and rarely, meat of an inferior type. Chickens were rarely eaten due to the importance of eggs. The winter was particularly hard with food quite scarce (even the rich often turned to pigeons) but the working hours were shorter and physical demands less apart from just trying to keep warm. The diet might be considered healthy, if on the meagre side(not much more than 1000 kcals), today but for the unsanitary conditions they lived in. Lifespan rarely extended beyond 30 and girls were married at 13 or 14. Death in childbirth was common. They still believed toothache was caused by a worm so the treatment was to hold a lighted candle to it and if all else failed, yank it. The treatment for wounds was soot or a hot poker. The rich, despite their lavish diet, were even less healthy due to over-indulgence. They had scurvy, syphilis, tooth decay, heart problems, skin rashes, infections caused by rotting meat and lack of proper nutrition. The first signs of real social change came in 1381 with the Peasants Revolt. The uprising came from a popular upswell of those who no longer wanted to be serfs or do labour services. They demanded an escape from villeinage and to pay 4 pence a year to rent the land they worked. The general imbalance of nutrition for rich and peasant alike can be seen by a comparison with optimum nutrition levels today. An athlete in training needs some 5000 kcal a day(or more depending on size and weight). The rich undoubtedly consumed more than this on a regular basis with little or no activity. An active male needs 2900 kcals a day but with frumenty only providing 400 kcals a portion and a chunk of dark, rough bread just 215 kcals, it is unlikely the peasants ever reached the optimum level and paupers way below this. ________________________
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