USAGES OF DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
I. THE DINING-TABLE.
The object of this paper is to give a slight sketch of the economy of the dining-table during the middle ages, or to speak more exactly, during the interval between the Conquest and the sixteenth century. It would not be difficult to write an ample essay on the subject; there are abundant materials for its illustration; chroniclers and moralists, romancers and satirists have all touched upon it, and there are in addition most precise details in household and cookery books, of various periods. It is to be hoped that at no distant time we may have a work on Domestic Economy in general, worthy of the importance of the subject. The ensuing remarks may be of some interest to general readers, to whom they are addressed rather than to antiquaries.
The furniture of the table and its accessories underwent so little change during the long period alluded to, that it is not generally necessary to give an exact date to every statement. For a long portion of the same time the manners of France and England presented no great points of difference, and therefore apt illustrations may be taken with propriety from the literature or art of either country.
As the kitchen was usually beside the hall or dining-chamber, and sometimes opened into it[1], a few remarks upon its arrangements will not be out of place. The fire was
- ↑ See an elaborate illumination in MS. Reg., 14 E. IV. fo. 244 b, representing an entertainment given to the Duke of Lancaster by the King of Portugal. The cook stands at a window opening into the kitchen, and is serving out soup or pottage. The date of this drawing is the latter part of the 15th century.
