Journal of Medieval History 37 (2011) 1–5

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jmedhist

Feasts and gifts: sharing food in the middle ages

Lars Kjær a,*, A.J. Watson b

a Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, Storeys Way, Cambridge CB3 0DG, UKbDarwin College, Silver Street, Cambridge, CB3 9EU, UK

Keywords:FeastsGifts of foodRituals

* Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: lk269@cam.ac.uk (L. Kjær), aj

1 For an overview of the field see C.M. Woolgar,2 Ritual studies are another swiftly developing fi

in der Vormoderne. Begriffe d Forschungsperspek

0304-4181/$ – see front matter � 2010 Elsevier Ltdoi:10.1016/j.jmedhist.2010.12.005

a b s t r a c t

This essay introduces a special issue of the Journal of MedievalHistory on feasting and gifts of food from the early middle agesthrough to the early modern period. It discusses the tensionsbetween hierarchy and community, largesse and luxury in the feast,and the continued importance of communal eating throughout themedieval period.

� 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This special issue of the Journal of Medieval History investigates feasting and gifts of food from the earlymiddle ages through to the early modern period. Although long exiled to the margins of historicalresearch, food has recently become the centre of much scholarly attention.1 Food studies play a centralrole in the new cultural and social history, and its various sub-branches. The essays in this volume aremost closely aligned with the turn in the last 20 years towards the exploration of the culture of politicallife, particularly studies of the role of ritual and symbolic communication in medieval Europe.2 Whilefood is certainly discussed, the essays in this volume therefore focus less upon food itself and questions

w235@cam.ac.uk (A.J. Watson).‘Food and the middle ages’, Journal of Medieval History, 36 (2009), 1–19.eld. For an overview see B. Stollberg-Rillinger, ‘Symbolische Kommunikationtiven d Thesen’, Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, 31 (2004), 489–527.

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L. Kjær, A.J. Watson / Journal of Medieval History 37 (2011) 1–52

of production and nutrition,3 and more upon the ritualised actions of feasting4 and gift exchangeinvolving food and drink.5

Although recent years have seen several notable contributions, the study of ritualised communi-cation has not been fully absorbed into the historical mainstream outside early medieval studies andresearch on the lands that once constituted the Carolingian empire.6 By exploring the rituals of foodsharing in northern and north-western Europe and by extending the enquiry into the later medievalperiod, this volume aims to help ‘tear down the walls of the ghetto’ d to borrow Janet Nelson’sfelicitous phrase d that have restricted studies of ritualised communication to the early medievalperiod.7 This has allowed us to point out some intriguing continuities in the role of feasting in politicallife across the period, and challenge the common assumption that rituals, gifts and feasts becameincreasingly irrelevant with the growth of stronger states and bureaucratic government.8

‘Loyalty is venison’ ran the motto of the Danish renaissance king Frederik II.9 The association ofloyalty with the sharing of meat, particularlymeat obtained through the supremely aristocratic sport ofthe hunt, was recognised by elites throughout the medieval period. Similarly the endless competitionfor a seat next to the lord can be followed from the celebration of Königsnähe in the lives of the saintlybishops of Anglo-Saxon England,10 to the fifteenth-century seating orders of the archery guilds ofBruges, where one of the privileges given to the winner of the papegay shooting contests was a place atthe table of the rich and powerful.11 Much changed with the growth of strong states, but the feast

3 For examples and discussions of possibilities of this approach see Food in medieval England. Diet and nutrition, ed.C.M. Woolgar, D. Serjeantson and T. Waldron (Oxford, 2006).

4 Central works on the feast include G. Althoff, ‘Der frieden-, bündnis und gemeinschaftstiftende Charakter des Mahles imfrüheren Mittelalter’, in: Essen und Trinken in Mittelalter und Neuzeit. Vorträge eines interdisziplinären Symposions vom 10.-13. Juni1987 an der Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, ed. I. Bitsch and others (Sigmaringen, 1990); E. Schubert, Essen und Trinken imMittelalter (Darmstadt, 2006), 33–45, 273–86; as well as the essays in Feste und Feiern im Mittelalter, ed. D. Altenburg, J. Jarnutand H. Steinhoff (Sigmaringen, 1991); La Sociabilité à table. Commensalité et convivalité à travers les âges, ed. M. Aurell, O. Moulinand F. Thélemon (Publications de l’Université de Rouen, 178, Rouen, 1994); and Food and eating in medieval Europe, ed. M. Carlinand J.T. Rosenthal (London, 1998).

5 Gifts of food have received less attention than feasts, but see S. Dixon-Smith, ‘The image and reality of alms-giving in thegreat halls of Henry III’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 152 (1999), 79–96; D. Postles, ‘Small gifts, but bigrewards. The symbolism of some gifts to the religious’, Journal of Medieval History, 27 (2001), 23–42; V. Groebner, Liquid assets,dangerous gifts. Presents and politics at the end of the middle ages, trans. P.E. Selwyn (Philadelphia, 2002); and F. Heal, ‘Food gifts:the household and the politics of exchange in early modern England’, Past and Present, 199 (2008), 41–70. Gift exchange in themedieval period is now a vast field: for an overview see A.A. Bijsterveld, Do ut des. Gift giving, memoria, and conflict managementin the medieval Low Countries (Medieval Studies and Sources 104, Verloren, 2007), 17–50; some of the most significant recentcontributions to the debate are found inMedieval transformations. Texts, power and gifts in context, ed. E. Cohen and M.B. de Jong(Cultures, Beliefs and Traditions 11, Leiden, 2001); Negotiating the gift. Pre-modern figurations of exchange, ed. G. Algazi,V. Groebner and B. Jussen (Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte 188, Göttingen, 2003); and now Thelanguages of gift in the early middle ages, ed. W. Davies and P. Fouracre (Cambridge, 2010).

6 For discussion, see T. Reuter, Medieval polities and modern mentalities, ed. J.L. Nelson (Cambridge, 2006), 3–18; N. Vincent,‘Conclusions’, in: Noblesses de l’espace Plantagenêt (1154–1224). Table ronde tenue à Poitiers le 13 mai 2000, ed. M. Aurell(Civilisation médiévale 11, Poitiers, 2000), 207–14; B.K.U. Weiler, ‘Knighting, homage, and the meaning of ritual. The kings ofEngland and their neighbours in the thirteenth century’, Viator, 37 (2006), 257–99; for Scandinavia, see now the introduction toGaver, ritualer, konflikter. Et rettsantropologisk perspektiv på nordisk middelalderhistorie, ed. H.J. Orning, K. Esmark and L. Her-manson (Oslo, 2010), 5–38. For some important exceptions and references to other works see C.M. Woolgar, The great householdin late medieval England (New Haven, 1999); M.G.A. Vale, The princely court. Medieval courts and culture in north-west Europe,1270–1380 (Oxford, 2001); N. Vincent, The holy blood. King Henry III and the Westminster blood relic (Cambridge, 2001); J. Kerr,Monastic hospitality. The Benedictines in England, c.1070–1250 (Studies in the History of Medieval Religion 32, Woodbridge,2007).

7 J.L. Nelson, ‘Liturgy or law. Misconceived alternatives?’, in: Early medieval studies in memory of Patrick Wormald, ed. S. Baxterand others (Studies in Early Medieval Britain, Farnham, 2009), 433–47 (442).

8 See for instance J.W. Baldwin, Aristocratic life in medieval France. The romances of Jean Renart and Gerbert de Montreuil, 1190-1230 (Baltimore, 2000), 99.

9 ‘Treu is Wildbrat’: see P. Grinter-Hansen, ‘Aspects of gift giving in Denmark in the sixteenth century and the case of the RoseFlower Cup’, Journal of Medieval History, 37(2011), 114–124.10 See L. Roach, ‘Hosting the king. Hospitality and the royal iter in tenth-century England’, Journal of Medieval History, 37(2011),34–46.11 See L. Crombie, ‘Honour, community and hierarchy in the feasts of the archery and crossbow guilds of Bruges, 1445–81’,Journal of Medieval History, 37(2011), 102–113.

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remained a useful tool for speaking about, enacting and conceptualising status and solidarity. There areno indications that gift giving and feastingwere viewed as archaic, or less related to the hard realities oflife, in the late medieval period than they were in earlier centuries. On the contrary, the letters,accounts and artefacts of rulers and aristocrats from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries showcontinuing creative engagement with the rituals and ideals of generosity.12

Several contributors argue that understanding gifts and feasts as an imperfect crutch for societieswith underdeveloped administrative structures is overly reductive. Indeed, this functionalist approachto rituals has recently been criticised frommany directions. In his influential and provocativeDangers ofritual, Philippe Buc suggests that modern historians should be wary of the tradition, inherited fromEnlightenment thinkers, which sees rituals first and foremost as instruments of social control. Instead,he argues,weought to paymore attention to ‘native’medieval understandings of rituals.13 The papers inthis volume suggest that medieval lords did expect their banquets and gifts to affect positively theopinions and loyalties of their guests, or at least that social norms would compel the guests to act as ifthey had.14 Gifts of food, however, also had their own social logic which is not adequately grasped in themodel of reciprocal gifts andcounter-giftswhichmodern researchhas inherited fromMarcelMauss.15 Toprovide a feast was also in amore general sense about sustaining the social order of theworld; it was anact that confirmed one’s place in society, whether as a lord sustaining one’s retainers and neighbours, oras a loyal vassal hostingone’s king; itwas a charitable act that gave the rich theopportunity to share theirbelongings with their guests and the poor; it was also a pious obligation to honour God and the saintsthrough solemnbanquets on their feast days; and, lastly, feastingwas anopportunity to secure thepeaceby strengthening the personal friendships that continued to play such a central role in politicsthroughout themedieval period. Formany contemporary observers, feasts were notmerely useful toolsin the struggle for power, but central to the religious and societal duties of the rich and the powerful.16

Hierarchy and community, largesse and luxury

Although the contributors were invited to reflect freely upon the topics of generosity, hospitality andgift giving, there are themes which are strikingly common to the papers in this issue. Throughout themedieval period feasting seems to have been perched at the intersection of ideas about authority,hierarchy and commensality, pious charity and worldly splendour. While ideally these values weremeant to coexist and reinforce one another, observers were vividly aware that they could only bereconciled imperfectly. The communal intake of food, on the one hand, seemed to eliminate differencesand allow the diners a share in each other’s status; on the other hand, the seating arrangements andthe differences in the patterns of serving reinforced hierarchy. The charitable sharing out of one’s goodscould easily tip over into a celebration of worldly luxury.17

The ideal feast was a model of (and for) society, with the different ranks arrayed in obedient harmonybefore their open-handed lord. It echoed the heavenly order of the faithful before the supremely generousLord. Christ had, after all, promised his disciples that they would eat and drink at his table in heaven.18 As

12 A critique of the evolutionary model of the changing importance of gift giving is found in N.Z. Davis, The gift in sixteenth-century France (Oxford, 2000), 8–13.13 P. Buc, The dangers of ritual. Between early medieval texts and social scientific theory (Princeton, 2001), 203–37.14 For a discussion, see L. Kjær, ‘Food, drink and ritualised communication in the household of Eleanor de Montfort, Februaryto August 1265’, Journal of Medieval History, 37(2011), 75–89.15 See C.M. Woolgar, ‘Gifts of food in late medieval England’, Journal of Medieval History, this issue. For a critique of theapplicability of Mauss’ focus on reciprocity to medieval gift exchange, see G. Algazi, ‘Introduction: doing things with gifts’, in:Negotiating the gift, ed. Algazi, Groebner and Jussen, 9–27; and A.B. Weiner, Inalienable possessions. The paradox of keeping-while-giving (Berkeley, CA, 1992), 33–6.16 Compare the point made in the classic study by Clifford Geertz, Negara. The theatre state in nineteenth-century Bali(Princeton, 1980), 13, that in Negara ‘mass ritual was not a device to shore up the state, but rather the state [. . .] was a device forthe enactment of mass ritual. Power served pomp, not pomp power.’ See, however, the point made by Buc, Dangers of ritual,227–9, about Gertz’s indebtedness to ideas developed in the study of European history.17 For a discussion of the ambivalent Christian attitude to feasting, C.W. Bynum, Holy feast and holy fast. The religious signif-icance of food to medieval women (Berkeley, 1987), 31–69.18 Luke 22:30.

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Joanna Bellis points out, writers of romance sawArthur’s round table, and by inference theworldly tablesthat modelled themselves upon it, as the inheritor of the tradition of the Last Supper.19 In his article, LeviRoach shows that the banquets celebrating the arrival of the king inAnglo-SaxonEnglandwere associatedwith harmony and justice, and to feast with his subjects was a moral obligation for the king. When KingEadwig abandoned his coronation feast for the pleasures of the bedchamber, Archbishop Oda had toremind him of his duties by having him dragged back to his place at the head of the table.20

As Aisling Byrne points out, however, the feast as a symbol of order and harmony is complicated bya parallel tradition that underlines the risk of excess associated with feasting.21 Stephen Pollingtondiscusses how one Anglo-Saxon illuminator illustrated the temptation of Christ in the desert withinstruments associated with the delights of themead-hall. As in Beowulf, the precious cup can be eitheran object of praiseworthy gift exchange, or a hoarded treasure that inspires greed inmen’s hearts.22 Thefeast becomes a testing ground: confronted with the best this world has to offer, the truly pious andaristocratic man nevertheless manages, like Arthur, to restrain himself.23 While class is a subject thatdoes not receive much attention in this volume, in the comic tradition of the fabliaux it is often thegluttony of the lower classes at feasts that reveals their base origins.24 For the Franciscan friar Williamof Rubruck, the feasting and drinking habits of the Mongols reveals their crassness, and he discussestheir immoderate appetite for and use of drink disapprovingly.25 The actions of the Mongols flew incontrast to the thirteenth-century western ideal in which the pious diner remains detached from thefood and drink placed in front of him: his attention is on the pleasant conversation with his fellowdiners and he gives gracious alms from the luxurious food on his plate. The compromise, however,never entirely satisfies the Christian ascetic impulse. In order to reach the Grail, Perceval, the perfectChristian knight, must abandon the joyous world of the round table.

While Perceval abandons the table, Arthur does not, and indeed he may not, for providing hospi-tality and solemn feasts are central to the societal and religious obligations of men in power. Arecurring hagiographical topos portrays saintly kings and bishops providing grand banquets eventhough they themselves find no enjoyment in them.26 St Edward the Confessor is struck by a deadlyfever on Christmas night, but hides his pain in order not to disturb the solemnity: for three days‘although it troubles him he sits at dinner in the palace.’27 These tales should caution us that when weare trying to comprehend how medieval people themselves understood the feast, a functionalistreading will not suffice. The communal meal played its role in politics, but it was also a central act in,and a setting for, the struggle of the powerful of this world struggle of the for honour and salvation. Thelate Timothy Reuter once suggested that we turn our understanding of ritual as the servant of politicsand the emerging state-apparatus on its head, when he invited historians to contemplate: ‘[A] kind ofthought-game, [where] we worked on the [. . .] assumption that, for the political classes of the twelfthand thirteenth centuries, including rulers, the essence of the kingdom was a publicly celebratedcollectivity. Where the resources came from to keep the whole system working effectively was of

19 J.R. Bellis, ‘The dregs of trembling, the draught of salvation: the dual symbolism of the cup in medieval literature’, Journal ofMedieval History, 37(2011), 47–61.20 Roach, ‘Hosting the king’.21 A. Byrne, ‘Arthur’s refusal to eat: ritual and control in the romance feast’, Journal of Medieval History, 37(2011), 62–74.22 S. Pollington, ‘The Anglo-Saxon mead-hall’, Journal of Medieval History, this issue. Belllis, ‘Dregs of trembling’.23 Byrne, ‘Arthur’s refusal to eat’.24 For instance ‘Le povost a l’aumuche’, Nouvel recueil complet des fabliaux, ed. W. Noomen and N.V. Boogaard, 10 vols (Assen,1988), vol. 4, 37–44; see S.E. Farrier, ‘Hungry heroes in medieval literature’, in: Food in the middle ages. A book of essays, ed.M.W. Adamson (Garland Medieval Casebooks 11, New York, 1995), 145–59.25 A.J. Watson, ‘Mongol inhospitality or, how to do more with less? Gift giving in William of Rubruck’s Itinerarium’, Journal ofMedieval History, this issue; William of Rubruck’s Itinerarium, trans. P. Jackson, ed. P. Jackson and D. Morgan as The mission ofFriar William of Rubruck (London, 1990), 77, note 3.26 Life of St Edmund by Matthew Paris, ed. and trans. C.H. Lawrence (London, 1996), 134; Magna vita Sancti Hugonis. The life of StHugh of Lincoln, ed. and trans. D.L. Douie and D.H. Farmer, 2 vols (London, 1961), vol. 1, 125–6.27 Lives of Edward the Confessor, ed. and trans. H.R. Luard (Rolls Series 3, London, 1858), 128, lines 3647–8; trans. 282.

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secondary importance. A gentleman did not trouble himself about such things: he left them to servantsand specialists.’28 Such a thought-game might indeed offer new insights into the ambitions andanxieties of medieval kings and aristocrats. It reminds us that we cannot hope to understand themeaning of medieval ritualised action without due reference to the social and cultural contexts inwhich they take place. It is hoped that the present collection of essays may go some way in theexploration of these banquets and their place in medieval mentalities.

The papers in this volume

In thefirst paper ChristopherWoolgar examines the use of food as gifts in latemedieval England. Althoughthe individual giftmay be of nugatory value,Woolgar argues, the constant exchange of foodstuffs betweenfriends, lords and tenants played a crucial role in the building and strengthening of social relations.

Stephen Pollington’s examination of the early Anglo-Saxon mead-hall places archaeologicalresearch alongside textual and linguistic analysis to explore the way in which feasting was used tocreate status and community. To Anglo-Saxonwriters themead-hall was the very definition of the goodlife on earth, and a powerful symbol of the joys of heaven.

In his article Levi Roach focuses on the itinerancy of tenth-century Anglo-Saxon kings. Roach arguesthat the iter regis, accompanied as it was by feasts and gifts, played a central part in the promulgation ofroyal power and prestige. Given the attention paid to these ritualised acts in contemporary sources,Roach argues that Anglo-Saxon kingship retained a ‘charismatic’ quality.

Moving forward from Anglo-Saxon poetry to twelfth-century Arthurian romances, Joanna Bellis’article examines the changing symbolic nature of the cup. Bellis argues that cups inmedieval literature,with inspiration from Scripture, were seen as potent symbols for community and fellowship, but thatthe destruction and fragmentation of fellowships were also represented as the bitter dregs of the cup.

Continuing the study of the duality of the feast in medieval literature, Aisling Byrne’s article focuseson the trope of King Arthur’s refusal to eat until he had seen a marvel or heard a tale of adventure,which she argues should be discussed in the context of contemporary ideals of courtesy.

Lars Kjær’s article follows the study of courtesy and feasting in an examination of the hospitality ofEleanor de Montfort, countess of Leicester, during the civil war of 1265. Through an analysis of herhousehold accounts, Kjær argues for the central importance of hospitality in medieval politics.

Examining the journey to the Mongol court by the Franciscan William of Rubruck and his unsuc-cessful attempts to negotiate his way through the Mongol hierarchy with gifts of food, A. J. Watsonmakes a comparative argument about the utility of gifts of food across different cultural contexts.

In her article on feasts among fifteenth-century archery guilds in Bruges, Laura Crombie discussesthe social and political importance of communal feasting in the guilds. Crombie showcases how guildevents sought to balance ideals of inclusiveness with status and hierarchy in the food and drink servedand in the seating arrangements.

The last article, by Poul Grinder-Hansen, examines the importance of gift giving in sixteenth-century Denmark. Grinder-Hansen shows both the ubiquity of small gifts and the symbolism involvedin the exchange of great treasures on special occasions.

The essays in this issue had their origins in the conference ‘Feasting, gift giving, and hospitality inthe middle ages’, held at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge on 15 August, 2009. The editors areparticularly indebted to their co-organisers Hannah Meyer and Danica Summerlin, without whom theconference could not have taken place. Thanks are due to all the participants, the History Faculty of theUniversity of Cambridge who provided funding for the conference and particularly to ProfessorRosamondMcKitterick, whose support helpedmake the conference possible, andwho kindly agreed togive the closing address. Finally wewould like to thank the manciple and staff of Sidney Sussex Collegewho opened their doors for us and embraced the challenge of creating the traditional medieval feastwhich concluded the conference with such vigour and talent.

28 T. Reuter, ‘All quiet except on the Western Front? The emergence of pre-modern forms of statehood in the central middleages’, in: Deutschland und der Westen im Mittelalter, ed. J. Ehlers (Stuttgart, 2002), 327–51, repr. and cited from Reuter, Medievalpolities, 432–58 (454).