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.
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| Bernard of Clairvaux (Museum, Palma Majorca) |
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.
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
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| 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!
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