Diet Part 3 How they ate

Monastic meals were stylised and meant to be formal and ritualistic. We will investigate what monks ate and drank in other posts. Now let’s try to get a picture of how meals were organised. It is hard to generalise about conduct over many places and monastic traditions over a period as long as 11th to 16th century. However, apart from the Carthusians who ate alone, I believe a single pattern can be observed based on the Rule of St Benedict. I shall be working with this ideal and tracing some deviations which inevitably emerged whether Benedictine or Cistercian communities.

 Meals were taken in the main Frater (sometimes called Refectory). Monasteries were the only places during the Dark and Middle Ages which had a specific eating room. Separate dining rooms did not otherwise appear until the Renaissance villa in Italy. The monastic Frater  was usually situated in the main cloister and opposite the church. Generally large and often impressive architecturally, it was an important place. 

A surviving example is the former Frater of Worcester Cathedral Priory, now used as a hall for the King’s School. It is 120 long by 32 feet wide. 

Interior of King's School Hall, Worcester(from
Worcester Cathedral and Library Archive blog)

Exterior of King's School Hall, Worcester (from
Worcester Cathedral and Library  Archive blog)

The Frater at the great Yorkshire Cistercian Abbey at Rievaulx is 126 feet long and 80 feet high. 

Frater at Rievaulx today (above) and how it may have been
(English Heritage)

More often at ground level in Benedictine, in Cluniac and Cistercian houses there are examples of first floor level, possibly to emulate Christ’s upper room Last Supper.

There was a raised platform at the end opposite the entrance. Here would be the table for the presiding person and the senior members of the institution, plus sometimes guests. The other tables would be placed along the side walls. In one wall was a raised pulpit from which a member of the community would read during the meal. Near to the door to the cloister there would be cupboards for linen and napkins and spoons. The central area in the Frater was often left empty so that all monks around the edges could be seen. The main kitchen was often attached and communication took place through a hatch into the refectory or by a passage. Particularly in Cistercian houses, kitchens would be placed so that the lay brothers’ refectory could also be served from the same kitchen. The lay brothers (or conversi) had their own refectory and would also eat in silence but with no readings. 

 

Procession into dinner

Dinner was the main meal and usually followed High Mass and Sext in tthe Church. Monks would gather in the cloister and wash their hands in the lavatorium just outside the door to the Frater(usually a trough lined with lead with brass taps and drain pipes). At Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire you can see a series of blind arches with stone benches that would have housed lead-lined semi-circular basins each having a tap with running water for washing hands. Then monks would have dried their hands with towels from the towel cupboard in the outer wall of the nearby warming room. 

 

Lavatorium at Fountains (from Cistercians in Yorkshire Project)

They would collect spoons and napkins as they entered and take their places facing inwards at the tables around the wall, leaving space behind them for the servers to supply the food. A monk would likely have his own knife, which he would carry with him. Spoons were more rare and at Westminster they were given out at each meal and collected afterwards. Forks were unknown in British monasteries. Knives, spoons and hands would be used as needed.

 

Grace would be said and then the reading would begin soon after the presider sat down. Silence was expected. The only exception might be if there were guests the presider might speak to them. Usually a passage was read from the Bible (in Latin) eg the four Books of Kings, Job or the Books of Maccabees. None these sound like an aid to digestion....Otherwise it might be a part of the life of a Saint. The reading was to be done slowly but distinctly, repeating any really important passage. Monks had to be quiet during the reading. Courses would follow swiftly one after the other. A bell might be used to have food taken away. 

Refectory of Alcobaca Abbey in Portugal. Note the
amazing reading gallery on left. Closeup below.
From Motorhome Europe blog.

  The ideal monastic meal was like a ritual and we can detect the first instances of table           manners at the time.  However, it is hard to believe that meals were always quiet or               that the reader was audible, particularly as discipline was relaxed in the later Middle             Ages.

 

Convent of Christ, Tomar, Portugal.
Note table arrangement and pulpit

We can get a picture of what went on by the rules which have been recorded. Bear in mind that these rules were not universal.

•  Nuts were not to be cracked with teeth, but eased open with a knife. However if everyone had nuts they could go ahead and crack all together! 
• Monks were to eat their food calmly, cleanly, cheerfully. 
• They should not let their eyes wander. 
• They should not sit chin in hand or put hands across the face. 
• They should sit up straight and keep arms off the table. 
• No wiping of knife on table cloth before wiping it on bread. 
• No wiping of teeth on the tablecloth.

When Gerald of Wales, the famous historian and archdeacon of Brecon, visited Christchurch Canterbury in 1180 he has left us with a vivid description of what went on.

"all of them (sic monks) gesticulating with fingers, hands and arms, and whistling to one another in lieu of speaking, all extravagating in a manner more free and frivolous than was seemly....." I shall return to hand signals in a later post. This was in 1180 the golden monastic period. We can imagine what it may have been like in 1480...

 Generally food was blessed at the meal and leftovers could be given to other people - possibly lay brothers, or the poor who used to gather at the gate. Unblessed food went to dogs or pigs or other animals. After eating monks had to wash hands in the Lavatorium, waiting in the cloister until all had finished. They might then chant the Miserere (Ps 51) on the way to the Church and their next Office. Readers and servers then took their meal. 

Guests of less importance might eat in the lay brother’s refectory, if there was one. A marshal would guard against pilfering, unruly behaviour and items thrown on the floor. Trestle tables would likely be set up after the guests sat down and then removed later.

Our eating arrangements here in St Albans had the  Frater on the north side of the main cloister. I spent some time this summer trying to make out evidence of any outlines, because the unusually dry hot summer suggests the layout of the abbey. 

Imagine monks lining up for dinner

Cloister edge and Abbot's lodging off to the left
against the nave wall.

Sources

Bottomley, F. Abbey explorer’s guide (Otley, 1995)

Braun, H. English abbeys {London, 1971)

Clark, J.G. Benedictines in the Middle Ages (Woodridge, 2011)

Clark, J.G. and Preest, D. eds. Deeds of the Abbots of St Albans (Boydell Press, 2019)

Crossley, F.H. The English abbey 3rd ed, (London,1949)

Freeman, M. St Albans, a history. (Lancaster, 2008)

Goodman, R. et al Tudor monastery farm : life in rural England 500 years ago (London, 2013)

Harvey, B. Living and dying in England, the monastic experience, 1100—1540 (Oxford, 193)

Jones, T. Medieval lives (London, 2004)

Kerr, J. Life in the Medieval cloister (London, 2009)

Kerr, J. Monastic hospitality : the Benedictines in England c1070 to c1250 (Boydell Press)

Knowles, D. Religious Orders in England vol 1-3 (Cambridge, 2008)

Leroux-Dhuys, J-F.  Cistercian abbeys : history and architecture (Cologne, 1998)

McAleavey, T. Life in a Medieval abbey  (London, 1995)

Parry, A. ed. Rule of St Benedict (Leominster, 1990)

Paston-Williams, S. Art of dining : a history of cooking and eating.(Oxford, 1996)

Rosewell, R The Medieval monastery (Oxford, 2011)

Still, M. The abbot and the rule : religious life at St Albans 1290-1349 (Aldershot, 2002)

Strong, R. Feast : a history of grand eating. (London, 2002)

Williams, D.H. The Cistercians in the early Middle Ages (1998)

Woolgar,  Culture of food in England 1200-1500 ( Yale, 2016)

Diet Part 2 - How it worked out

 The well known report by the famous historian and archdeacon of Brecon, Gerald of Wales being entertained at the Benedictine Cathedral Priory of Christchurch Canterbury on Trinity Sunday 1179, he apparently was treated to 16 courses! Such laxity and much worse was happening. Cluniac monks had been eating meat in closed off quarters. Based on practice at  the Abbey in Cluny in the 10th century they had represented a reformed Benedictine monasticism. In later posts we shall explore their contribution to art and performance of the liturgy. Yet here we begin to see suggestions that they had gone to seed. Bernard of Clairvaux certainly thought so. A group of Benedictines from Molesme had broken away and founded what became a new Order at Citeaux (Burgundy) : the Cistercian Order. It was dedicated to strict observance of St Benedict’s Rule. Bernard of Clairvaux arrived at Citeaux in 1110 and was the great founder of the Order which spread very rapidly over Europe. Back to basics : Walter Daniel the monk chronicler spoke of his pound of bread and pint of beans a day at the great Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx in the mid 12th century. Food there could be more bitter than wormwood. 

St Bernard of Clairvaux was very critical of the Cluniacs, accusing Peter the Venerable Abbot of Cluny of commending gluttonous feasting, and damning frugality. As for their food “course after course was brought in. Only meat was lacking and to compensate two huge servings of fish were given. ...the cooks prepared everything with such skill and cunning that the four or five dishes already consumed were no hindrance to what was to follow and the appetite was not checked by satiety, the selection of dishes was so exciting that the stomach did not realise that it was being overtaxed”. Sounds good to me  - but not to Bernard. Further he said “wine and white bread, honey-wine and pittances benefit the mind not the soul. The soul is not fattened out of frying pans." He knew many monks in Egypt had served God for a long time without fish. Pepper, ginger, cumin, sage, and all the thousand other spices might please the palate , but they inflamed lust”. He was very hard on himself and he seems to have suffered from a type of extreme anorexia nervosa. He hardly ate, often turning down food, then being paralysed because of lack of nourishment. At one meal he downed a pot of oil oblivious to its not being wine or water. He stank from stale vomit and must have been a trial to his fellows as he retired to his special place to vomit during services. 

Bernard of Clairvaux (Museum, Palma Majorca)

During the 13th century despite the Cistercian reforms, diet in  Benedictine monasteries still became less stringent. Meat was no longer confined to the Infirmary. The rot had set in long before with lard and suet from quadrupeds.The Abbot or Prior no longer ate in the great refectory and ate in his own dining room.This could include meat. It became customary in some places for him to invite selected monks to dine with him  with meat. He would also have important guests. Perhaps there might be nine persons enjoying four courses. Officeholders in the monastery might also eat with him.. A second dining area began to appear  called a misericord. This would likely be the place where sick monks from the Infirmary dined. This rather furtive arrangement meant that all monks got a chance of meat on a regular basis. The refectory still did not serve meat, except when all the community met together for a major celebration. Remember  by now capons chickens, pigeons were not considered meat and offal was ok too. So there might be served three quarters lb meat per person in the refectory or three lbs in the misericord. Other Orders  were already less vigilant with meat eating : for example the Augustinians specified only when it could not be eaten.

 From about 1150 the Cistercians had taken  pittances on board. They were served at the abbot’s discretion and not on more than two consecutive days. Often supplied  by specific donors they were recorded in a register. By the late 14th century the abbey of Zwettl in Austria had these 98 days in a year.

Then In 1336 Pope   Benedict XII acknowledged the reality and changed the rules and meat was allowed to all monks on 3-4 days a week served in the other dining room or misericord in relays. At least 50% of monks were to still eat in the main refectory. Rather than an innovation, this relaxation was likely to have simply regularised existing practice. Cistercian houses by then had also began to less rigorous in control of diet.

I wish I could go into the kind of recipes used. This would be a huge subject and I am already spending 3 posts on diet! To give you a flavour do watch the little video below taken from a series about Historical Cooking in Italy. It is for Medieval Monk's Stuffed-egg soupa.  If you watch you will hear that I have nota made a spelling mistaka. I found this video informative but the accent is absolutely hilarious. Miles better than Captain Bertorelli in Hallo Hallo.

There were exceptions to the good food lifestyle. At Evesham in Worcestershire, Abbot Roger de Norrys was very hard on his monks, and food was so badly organised that they complained to the Papal Legate in 1213 complaining of no regular beans, no beer and terrible bread. Some had maybe died of starvation.

It was customary to lay out a ration of food for a deceased monk for up to a year. Also perhaps 3 rations for what was called the maundy. .All this food and leftovers .(this would only apply to the general dishes and not the pittances)were given to the poor who might gather outside the abbey gateway on a regular basis

Prior's quarter's at Castle Acre, Norfolk

Abbots had their own catering arrangements since they were given permission to divide the land and income of their abbey between abbot and community. They soon had their own staff and kitchen. They became like local gentry. By the 16th century they were entertaining in the same way as a nobleman. They only dined in the refectory with their monks on great occasions. A great feast given at Islip manor house in 1372 by the Abbot of Westminster  for King Edward III apparently required 77 capons, 165 pullets, 2 pheasants, 5 heron,6 egrets, 6 curlews all live from London, spices ,rice, flour, currants, dates, prunes, sugar, salt, 6 gallons of cream, and much  honey. The gardener also supplied all kinds of soft fruit. Then there was the use of silver goblets, fine linen, plate etc loaned  from the Abbey. Sounds slightly over the top!

By the 16th century the previously called pittances had been taken on board and this accounts for the large number of dishes sometimes recorded. They. might include dumplings, pancakes, cakes, special bread and flans. The original generals (lentil stew etc) would still be be put out but the interest and consumption would concentrate on the more exotic dishes. Flans were very popular especially on big occasions : to make 72 flans it took 10 lb cheese, and 350 eggs.

All through post 1066 England  life was as good in a monastery as anywhere unless you were a noble. You lived in an organised environment, were comparatively well fed and housed, had the best toilets around, all without the stresses of the outside world. By the 16th century discipline had declined and the frugality that St. Benedict had required had been eroded. From the evidence of 274 skeletons of the inmates of Merton Priory,  Bermondsey Abbey and St Mary at Tower Hill we can conclude that their calory intake of 6000 a day (or 4500 when fasting)twice the daily average for a man now, implies they were well fed and likely to become obese. A major study of Westminster Abbey monks came to similar conclusions. In the early 16th Century the average monk got 2 lb meat or fish a day, a gallon of ale and a .5 lb loaf of. Read.. Monks there were taller than lay people and teeth were bad. At Canterbury in 1500 the percentage intake of various foods tells the story : 35% bread,25% ale or wine,17% meat, 6% fish, 8.5 milk eggs cheese, 7% suet, 1% oats, 0.5 % vegetables. In Lent 45% bread,33% ale or wine, more fish and dried fruit 0.5 vegetables.

Food in nunneries does not appear to have been markedly different. In the mid 15th century at the great  Barking Abbey on Martinmas 11 Nov a whole hog was to  serve 3 nuns. The Abbess kitchen had at least 13 pigs, and the cellaress was to have another 9-10 pigs killed at this time.

A very interesting website by Dr Christopher Monk called Monk's Modern Medieval Cuisine is well worth looking at to get more information about cooking in the Middle Ages.

The organisation of the provisions was formidable. In charge was the cellarer who had to manage the largest budget on the monastery, covering the provisioning of food and drink  for  the kitchen, bakehouse and brewery, its storage and keep accounts. He would also have to supervise the servants and lay brethren  to achieve these tasks. He would have a sub cellarer to cover in his absence and to assist with.Then there was the kitchener who was in charge of food production and quality control. Kitchens could be enormous, Although usually rectangular the best surviving example at Glastonbury from 1330-40  is circular. There would also be a pantry, buttery, scullery, and a courtyard for fuel and stores. Food sources would include produce from the monastery local farms as payment. The main local source would be their own gardens or orchard on the premises. This mIght include cabbages, turnips, carrots, peas, onions, beans and herbs. Spices imported from abroad became important and expensive. They implied that the house was a wealthy status symbol. Examples of heavy use are Evesham Abbey and Norwich Priory which spent £5 10 6 on spices  at a fair in Boston. Sugar was very expensive and came from Crete and Spain after the 15 century. Honey was the major sweetener.

The Carthusians were the exception. Their monks spent most of their time in their own cells arranged around cloisters and with their own garden behind. Meals were taken in their cells and passed  to them via a hatch. We saw this arrangement recently in the best preserved Carthusian monastery of Buxheim in Germany. No meat was allowed even for the sick. They were afraid that inmates would feign illness!

 

St Albans seems to have been more disciplined in its diet than many. others. However there were problems building up in the use of a Miserichord (second dining room) in John de Cella's time (1195-1214). This was a parlour chamber where meat and alcohol were taken with no restrictions from the Rule. It appears William of Trumpington (1214-35) reinforced the Rule during his abbacy. John de Hertford (1235-1263) was the first abbot to take his food in his own quarters. He caused controversy over retaining the money for the pittances intended for the sick. His predecessor William had done this first and despite promising to change this after an outside visitation, he still retained them. In line with the rule change by Benedict XII Abbot Michael de Mentmore (1336-1349) decreed that half the monks would have meat in the Oriel or Miserichord (second dining room) one day and the other half the next day. There was to be two plentiful courses of meat or fish. No meat was eaten in the main Refectory. This system was said to be fairer as previously here and at other monasteries there had been favouritism. We had our large Refectory and one in the Infirmary and the Abbot will have had one to entertain his numerous guests. There will have been one for the lay brothers too.

Monks are still being charged with obesity in Thailand in the 21st century- so nothing changes!

Sources

Bottomley, F. Abbey explorer’s guide (Otley, 1995)

Braun, H. English abbeys {London, 1971)

Clark, J.G. Benedictines in the Middle Ages (Woodridge, 2011)

Clark, J.G. and Preest, D. eds. Deeds of the Abbots of St Albans (Boydell Press, 2019)

Crossley, F.H. The English abbey 3rd ed, (London,1949)

Freeman, M. St Albans, a history. (Lancaster, 2008)

Goodman, R. et al Tudor monastery farm : life in rural England 500 years ago (London, 2013)

Harvey, B. Living and dying in England, the monastic experience, 1100—1540 (Oxford, 193)

Jones, T. Medieval lives (London, 2004)

Kerr, J. Life in the Medieval cloister (London, 2009)

Kerr, J. Monastic hospitality : the Benedictines in England c1070 to c1250 (Boydell Press)

Knowles, D. Religious Orders in England vol 1-3 (Cambridge, 2008)

Leroux-Dhuys, J-F.  Cistercian abbeys : history and architecture (Cologne, 1998)

McAleavey, T. Life in a Medieval abbey  (London, 1995)

Parry, A. ed. Rule of St Benedict (Leominster, 1990)

Paston-Williams, S. Art of dining : a history of cooking and eating.(Oxford, 1996)

Rosewell, R The Medieval monastery (Oxford, 2011)

Still, M. The abbot and the rule : religious life at St Albans 1290-1349 (Aldershot, 2002)

Strong, R. Feast : a history of grand eating. (London, 2002)

Williams, D.H. The Cistercians in the early Middle Ages (1998)

Woolgar,  Culture of food in England 1200-1500 ( Yale, 2016)

 

 

Diet Part 1- the intention

 “We are what we eat” (the French author Brillat-Savarin). Let’s try to apply this to a monkish diet. Being a monk implies a modest, controlled diet. But was it always so? The diet laid down by the Rule of St Benedict in the 6th century  was certainly ascetic, but by the 16th century monks were  lampooned as fat and avaricious. We are on a journey from a 6th century  ideal to the excesses of the 16th century. This is sometimes called the Middle Ages. It is outside my scope (and ability) to start before the Norman invasion in 1066 when my namesake Harold Godwin got the arrow in the eye and sadly we have to finish in 1539 with Henry VIII’s land grab. So this post will be looking at the early ideal of monastic diet and part two how and why this changed from the 11th to the 16th centuries.. We will be mainly concerned with Benedictine houses but also bring in trends from some  other  Orders for comparison. 

Refectory at Walsingham today

How can we tell what their diet was like?

•  First there are the rules which are written down and supposed to be followed. The prime example is the 6th century Rule of St Benedict, written for south Italian monks.

• Then there are records from the accounts of individual monasteries. These were  kept by the Cellarer, whose job it was to manage the food supply. 

• There are manor records of supplies sent to the monasteries from their farms.

• Outside visitations to monasteries by local bishops, papal legates  or official inspections by Monastic superiors can  give us evidence of infringements. 

• Excavations of monastic sites can produce food remains, giving vital evidence of what was eaten. Even more revealing are excavated skeletons of the inmates. For example, brilliant research about 3 smaller London houses in the early 16th century and in Westminster Abbey give us a real sense of their lifestyle. It is a long way from the original Rule! 

The 6th  century Rule of St Benedict came from southern Italy and was attuned to their climate. It was intended to support them in  manual work, coping with extreme heat and keep them in good health. It laid down one main meal a day in winter (around midday) and a second smaller one in the early evening of  the longer summer days, from Easter until September. The main meal was to have two cooked dishes - alternatives. A third dish containing raw vegetables might be added. A pound of bread was to be allowed for each monk plus the liquid wine/beer allowance.  No flesh meat except for those in the Infirmary who really needed it to keep up their strength. This was interpreted as no flesh meat from quadrupeds  at first this seemed by some to also include poultry and waterfowl (ducks, swans, geese).This  was not everybody’s view and two legged birds were deemed acceptable to eat in some communities.

Over the 6th to the 11th centuries practices varied across Europe. Meat was eaten sometimes somewhere. The problem with the Rule is that it is not prescriptive and in this lack of clarity (something we hear a lot about in our 21st century world) communities reached their own conclusions. Fish were therefore ok ; fowls have 2 feet so they were ok. This process went on all through our period of study. Fresh meat did not include offal so sausages and fritters were ok.

We should approach it from Benedict’s likely intentions. He specified a frugal diet but he did not want to make life impossible. Some manual work might have been involved in the hot Italian  summer. He made some allowance for this. The sick needed special care. He allowed for that The monastic life he expected was demanding and rigorous. Think of chanting all 150 psalms in a week... A pound of bread is substantial and so was the “liquid bread”(beer) At first it is likely that the main meal was  vegetable or cereal based with some additions of egg, cheese or fish on special occasions. The meat prohibition was also to do with controlling their passions. It was believed that meat aroused the senses - especially the sexual ones. This was one of the justifications of the awful regular bleeding that went on. This could be as often  as 4 times a year, where the  monk would lose several pints of blood  probably removed via a vein or artery in the arm or neck. 

This idea of a connection between what we eat and the senses is not dead. I can remember Stanley Green, an  eccentric who used to go up and down London’s Oxford Street from 1968 to 1993 with a placard and leaflets saying “Less lust  by less protein  ”.

After the Norman Conquest diet was likely more strictly controlled than in the previous Saxon monasteries. It became common to start the day after Prime, the first office of the monastic day, with  a light breakfast (mixtum) of bread and beer. Then the usual pattern of main meal ( which likely featured pulses eg lentil stew, or pottage, or vegetables eg braised cabbage or leeks, and local herbs. Then a lighter supper. 

When Paul de Caen took over the Abbey in 1077 behaviour is said to have been lax and the Rule of St Benedict was invoked to restore good order.

In 1219 the General Chapter of Benedictines was held in St Albans and it addressed dietary obligations. I presume and hope we set a good example at that time! St Albans still maintained the strict application of one meal a day in the winter time. Abbot William of Trumpington (1214-1235)enforced it in the early 13th century.

As other monastic Orders were founded they usually wanted to go back to the so-called original lifestyle. Perhaps most prominent were the  Cistercians in the early 12th century. When the friars started out from  the 1220s they too were ascetic and ate simply. Perhaps they would collect together the foods collected from their begging and concoct a soup. When they got their own buildings they would have had  fresh food from their garden or field. They may not have been entirely veggie because we know Francis encouraged them to have a good plate of meat to celebrate Christmas.

Some Orders followed the Rule of St Augustine of Hippo dating from about 400. The Praemonstratensian canons followed this in 1120 and the Augustinians in 1256. It is not prescriptive but recommends fasting and abstinence in proportion to the strength of the individual. The diet was frugal and probably meatless.

Change came in as increasingly Benedictine meals were supplemented by extra pittances as they were called. A local benefactor might provide for one of these. They were like treats : maybe better white bread, special fish, an egg dish. By this method new recipes were tried out. It was also becoming common to no longer regard the prescribed two main dishes as alternatives. It is easy to see how the number of dishes eaten began to creep up. E.g. 1150 the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds had 35 occasions to have these! But I am straying into part two of this post about Diet…

These are some of the books consulted :

Bottomley, F. Abbey explorer’s guide (Otley, 1995)

Braun, H. English abbeys {London, 1971)

Clark, J.G. Benedictines in the Middle Ages (Woodridge, 2011)

Clark, J.G. and Preest, D. eds. Deeds of the Abbots of St Albans (Boydell Press, 2019)

Crossley, F.H. The English abbey 3^rd ed, (London,1949)

Freeman, M. St Albans, a history. (Lancaster, 2008)

Goodman, R. et al Tudor monastery farm : life in rural England 500 years ago (London, 2013)

Harvey, B. Living and dying in England, the monastic experience, 1100—1540 (Oxford, 193)

Jones, T. Medieval lives (London, 2004)

Kerr, J. Life in the Medieval cloister (London, 2009)

Kerr, J. Monastic hospitality : the Benedictines in England c1070 to c1250 (Boydell Press)

Knowles, D. Religious Orders in England vol 1-3 (Cambridge, 2008)

Leroux-Dhuys, J-F.  Cistercian abbeys : history and architecture (Cologne, 1998)

McAleavey, T. Life in a Medieval abbey  (London, 1995)

Parry, A. ed. Rule of St Benedict (Leominster, 1990)

Paston-Williams, S. Art of dining : a history of cooking and eating.(Oxford, 1996)

Rosewell, R The Medieval monastery (Oxford, 2011)

Still, M. The abbot and the rule : religious life at St Albans 1290-1349 (Aldershot, 2002)

Strong, R. Feast : a history of grand eating. (London, 2002)

Williams, D.H. The Cistercians in the early Middle Ages (1998)

Woolgar,  Culture of food in England 1200-1500 ( Yale, 2016)