Medieval Food

Chapter 7 as a teaser: "Food of Recent Greece"

"Foods and nations" is a new series from Reaktion that explores the history-and geography-of food. Books in the series reveal the hidden history behind the food eaten today in different countries and regions of the world, telling the story of how food production and consumption developed, and how they were influenced by the culinary practices of other places and peoples.

861 p. Copyright M D Ito, 2007-2014. All rights reserved. Library of Congress, US Copyright Office Certificate of Registration Number TX-6-766-999, April 2014. This work examines the late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century grain market at Orsanmichele in Florence, and its attendant confraternity. It argues that the grain market was of systemic economic, political, and social importance to Florence, not unlike the wool market. The grain market was complex and sophisticated, and it functioned essentially as an early commodities exchange. It allowed large international traders operating in the Regno and smaller dealers in local and regional markets to import, with communal support, massive amounts of grain for distribution to the Florentine populace, which included a growing immigrant population employed in Florentine industries.  The market’s centralized trading venue enabled the rapid
distribution of a bulk commodity, and it served as a mechanism for pricing efficiencies and to shift quickly the risks from the supplier to the consumer. As a centralized location and an important symbol of the new merchant-led government, however, the market was vulnerable to threats from opposing magnate forces that the market’s backers, essentially large international
traders (including the families of Orsanmichele) and the communal government, sought to undermine. From this vantage point, I argue that the confraternity of Orsanmichele, established under the grain loggia in 1291, should be viewed in a derivative position to the market, as a political shield providing a “holy wall” of protection for the market. I further argue that the
leadership of the commune, market, and confraternity were intertwined, with the market and confraternity essentially serving as arms of the communal government. Even during the dearth of 1329, when the nodal import link, the Porto Pisano, closed due to war and large Florentine traders withheld wheat supplies, I suggest that the commune worked with the confraternity to provide a social safety network and with the trading community to stabilize the market. In
providing a market-oriented perspective, I believe that the dearth of 1329 should be viewed as a market break, with an ensuing panic, not unlike market breaks of the modern era. 

Appendices, including maps, selected documents, tables, data, and other information, start at p. 563.

Hunting and eating hunt in Medieval Aragón:
local charters, regulations, cynegetic practices
and beliefs
ABSTRACT: The nutritional, economic and political
importance of hunting in medieval Aragón is revealed in the
Aragonese laws and municipal regulations of the 12th to 15th
centuries from different perspectives. Hunting in medieval
Aragon maybe did not reach the level of importance as agriculture,
livestock farming or commerce, but it developed
very diverse significances that affected social life. Economically,
it was a source of food and income, and permitted
underground economies and the privatisation of natural
exploitations. Judicially, hunting methods, areas and times
were regulated. Mentally and socially, hunting was impregnated
with connotations and changing values that created a
complex codification: the different modalities were associated
with the entertainment of the noble elite, with bourgeois
aspirations and the subsistence of anonymous people. The
hierarchisation of hunters, cynegetic practices, their objectives,
their areas and their prey only reinforced the socio-political
order instituted.
KEY WORDS: Medieval Hunting. Medieval diet.
Aragonese Charters. Municipal Regulations. Natural
resources. Middle Age. Aragón.
RESUMEN: La importancia dietética, económica y política
de la caza en el Aragón medieval queda reflejada en los
fueros y las normativas municipales de los siglos XII-XV
desde varias perspectivas. Quizá la caza no alcanzó en el
Aragón medieval la trascendencia de la agricultura, la
ganadería o el comercio, pero desarrolló significados muy
diversos que afectaron al conjunto social. Económicamente,
fue fuente de alimentación e ingresos, dio lugar a economías
sumergidas y a la privatización de aprovechamientos
naturales. Jurídicamente, se regularon los modos,
espacios y tiempos de su práctica. Mental y socialmente, la
caza estuvo impregnada de connotaciones y valores cambiantes
que crearon una compleja codificación. La jerarquización
de los cazadores, de las prácticas cinegéticas, de sus
objetivos, sus espacios y sus presas no hizo sino reforzar el
orden sociopolítico instituido.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Caza medieval. Alimentación
medieval. Fueros aragoneses. Ordenanzas municipales.
Recursos naturales. Edad Media. Aragón.

Dos áreas de montaña delimitan Aragón como región natural e histórica: el Pirineo y el Sistema Ibérico. La posición geográfica de ambos conjuntos montañosos determina las características físicas de clima, relieve, fauna y vegetación del territorio aragonés y configura paisajes, modos de vida y actividades humanas singulares que sólo se comprenden en su complejidad al ser contemplados desde la historia. La investigación que hemos desarrollado trata de profundizar en el conocimiento y evoluciones de los sistemas alimentarios de estas sociedades de montaña durante buena parte del período medieval (siglos xi-xv). Para ello, ha sido necesario analizar los mecanismos tradicionales de explotación de los recursos naturales en algunos de los principales territorios montañosos de Aragón: nuestra atención se ha centrado en las actividades de subsistencia y de intercambio que generaron en estas centurias la agricultura, la ganadería, la caza, la pesca y los aprovechamientos alimentarios del bosque. Desde este observatorio hemos podido percibir y valorar las evoluciones experimentadas en la alimentación, el paisaje y las formas de vida de unas sociedades de montaña que se han visto afectadas por profundos cambios demográficos, por la instalación de diferentes formaciones políticas, sociales y religiosas en su territorio, por las sucesivas orientaciones económicas de los poderes establecidos o por las crecientes influencias exteriores que convergen en el marco temporal y espacial de estudio.

In paleopathology, since the mid-1960s, caries and its characteristics have been studied on medieval teeth by many different teams in Europe, particularly in relation to the dietary and cultural habits of the populations concerned. The aims of this article are to propose a global study of caries within European medieval populations through various parameters such as prevalence, distribution, location, gender, and diet.

The topos of spiritual joy and intoxication has its roots in a long tradition of mystical discourse on sweetness, as seen in Richard Rolle’s emphasis on dulcor as central for spiritual amelioration. The myriad references to God’s swetenesse in 'The Book of Margery Kempe' illustrate the sensual viscerality of Kempe’s spiritual experience. To evoke the swete sounds, smells, and tastes of rapture helps her to go some way toward describing the ineffable, since the metaphor of the sweetness of Christ holds deep, symbolic value. The meaning of swetenesse is at once sensory, emotive, and figurative. Bartholomaeus Anglicus noted that sweet flavors are pure “by kynde,” and beneficial for bodily health. Sweetness is also, then, therapeutic. The contents of the faded recipe, annotated at the end of British Library, Additional MS 61823 by a late fifteenth-century or early sixteenth-century reader of The Book of Margery Kempe, are revealed here—and are shown to be for medicinal sweets. The recipe’s redolence with such significations of confection, sweetness, and spiritual health resonate with Kempe’s trajectory toward divine love and eschatological perfection. Her “confection” with Christ is frequently described as a “swet dalyawnce.” The recipe’s inclusion in the manuscript gestures toward the curative nature of The Book, both for
Kempe, who lives the narrative, and for her readers, who are edified by the healing words of the text.

This thesis unravels the deeper meanings attributed to ordinary objects, such as clothing and food, in thirteenth-century Icelandic literature and legal records. I argue that women weaponized these ordinary objects to circumvent their social and legal disadvantages by performing acts that medieval Icelandic society deemed masculine. By comparing various literary sources, however, I show that medieval Icelandic society gradually redefined and questioned the acceptability of that behavior, especially during the thirteenth-century. This is particularly evident in the late thirteenth-century Njal’s Saga, wherein a woman named Hallgerd has been villainized for stealing cheese from a troublesome neighbor. If Hallgerd were a man, this behavior would have been considered rán, which was a masculine act whereby men challenged one another to take things by force. As a woman, however, Hallgerd’s clever use of ordinary objects was unsettling to men; her act, although mirroring the masculine expectations of rán, has been condemned by the author. Thus, by emphasizing the anxieties of men regarding such behavior, it is evident that later male authors, particularly those writing from the late thirteenth century onwards, considered this behavior as preventing society’s progression away from extra-legal conflict resolution. In doing so, the author of Njal’s Saga demonstrated that both women and men were aware of the power that these ordinary objects had in the hands of ambitious women, as well as how potentially dangerous and harmful to society they could be.


Cet article tente de saisir l’alimentation ordinaire, c'est-à-dire du plus grand nombre, à travers les sources écrites. Le dépouillement d’archives de types variés (actes notariés, cartulaires, règlements, comptes, registres de justice, traités d’économie rurale, mémoires, enquêtes…) a permis d’ouvrir trois problématiques : la différenciation sociale de la nourriture, les liens étroits entre travail et alimentation et enfin les circuits d’approvisionnement. Il apparait que les situations sont véritablement multiples et qu'il existe bien des moyens de se nourrir, moyens imbriqués dans une gamme de possibilité assez étendue : travailler pour les autres, travailler pour soi, échanger entre voisins, utiliser les circuits commerciaux officiels, jouer sur la qualité pour adapter les repas à ses revenus et même, en dernier ressort, voler ou braconner.

The article examines the evidence on food and nutrition found in the Slavic penitentials. Unlike the law texts in the Western historical tradition, the Slavic mediaeval law texts are poorly researched and used as a source of information on the Bulgarian history and culture. The manuscript tradition of the Slavic penitentials (the volume of manuscripts, their frequency, editorial interventions) shows that for a long period (almost until the 18th century) they have remained among the main texts used by the priests during the sacraments of confession and repentance. Therefore, they can be a source of important information about the everyday life of Bulgarians. Emphasis is put on the diet, the ban on certain foods, the role of food and nutrition in relation to the people following other traditions such as heretics, Jews, Armenians. It is argued that penitentials reflect a kind of duality. On the one hand, they may be regarded as attesting the everyday lifestyle-the Christian calendar, the observance of certain hygienic norms, while, on the other hand, they reflect, to the highest degree, the concepts of purity and impurity which are characteristic for the primitive cultures and the blurring of which might have led to supernatural punishment Както справедливо отбелязва Ст. Смядовски едва ли има по-сълзливо или плачещо общество от Средновековното (Смядовски 2014: 26). Проповядваната от Христос скръб е скръбта от и за греховете, за които всеки ще отговаря пред Страшния съд. Тежестта на греховете, признати по време на изповед, обаче би могла да бъде снета чрез искрено разкаяние и изкупена чрез извършването на определена простъпка. В това се състои и значението на тайнството покаяние. Пенитенциалите, използвани от свещенослужителите по време на изповед, имат формата на списъци с условни клаузи ("ако някой е извършил определен грях ...") със съответстващата им епитимия, което е форма на наказание, но няма юридическа сила на санкция. Целта на епитимията е да излекува ума и душата, да даде опрощение, помирение (McNeill 1932; Kottje 1995). Християнската Църква познава както публичното, така и тайното покаяние. Първото предвижда недопускане до светата литургия, носене на определени дрехи или остригване на косата за даден период от време в съответствие от извършеното

The main objective of this paper is to analyze late medieval elite's diet on the basis of  the list of expenses of the Zagreb bishop Osvald Thuz from 1481 and 1482. Besides the payments to craftsman, soldiers and other servitors, on the list are written sums spent on the purchase of, for example, material used for building of the cathedral, textile, candles, food and other supplies. Over 10% of the total amount, according to the bishop's list of expenses, was spent on food, spices, salt, wine and on the salaries of cooks, bakers and food servitor. The highest sum was spent on fish, among which stands out buying expensive sturgeon during the visit of Jan Filipec, bishop of today's Oradea (lat. Varadinum) in Romania. Due to distance from the Adriatic sea and the demanding mountain route to the continent, we assume that the bishop mainly ate freshwater fish. Beef was commonly used and it was sometimes even prepared for the poorest on the bishop's expense. Small ruminants, primarily lamb as we assume, were bought on special occasions. Although the sum spent on the care for the pigs is among the highest on the list of expenses, there is not a single mention of pork. However, we believe that, because of the importance of the feudal rent, cured meat during cold winter months and fat used for cooking, pork, cured or fresh, was most frequently consumed by the bishop. Poultry was mentioned only once, alongside vegetables, fruits, and nuts. The most frequently bought dairy product was butter, which was probably used for the making of sweets and cakes, alongside honey. Around 1% of the sum written in the list of expenses was spent on spices, primarily on pepper and expensive saffron. Salt, which was probably imported from Adriatic, was often delivered for him by boatmen in Dubovec. During Lent and other fast days, bishop's cooks used olive oil. We assume that bishop mostly drank white wine, which he acquired through the feudal rent alongside pigs and grains. There is also a table with the percents of analyzed animal bones from late medieval settlements in Croatia, which helped the author to come to the final conclusions about the diet.

In medieval Europe – unlike what happens nowadays – banqueting was a fundamental practice for the ratification of marriage. Actually, banquets were socially required rituals of passage. The most important condition a wedding feast should satisfy was publicity, for all the people involved in the deal should be present at the moment of the celebration, and in general all the community should get acquainted with it. Banquets, in fact, allowed people to gather together, celebrate, witness and legitimise a marriage all at the same time, while comfortably seated at table. Wedding banquets were essential practices about which the authorities (both the secular and the ecclesiastical) were reticent to a different degree, but over which they both wanted to exert control: for instance, their ostentation was addressed by sumptuary laws, but their social relevance emerges especially in councils’ canons, where they are systematically associated with fun, lust, triviality, and had thus to be avoided by those who wanted to live a Christian life. On the other hand, such feasts were characterised by excess (concerning food, pranks, sex-related jokes), and thus they openly clashed against a number of ecclesiastical works and monastic rules that prescribed decorum and Christian dignity. The Church held it necessary to keep Christians away from lascivious entertainments of this kind, for the fear of God could not reside in the same place where lust and laughter reigned. A secondary – but more important – prize was at stake: the control over the institute of marriage, which the Church wanted to turn into a thoroughly Christian rite.

Quando estamos na taberna Bebem todos sem lei. (Amatoria Potatoria. Lusori 177-fol. 88b) Resumo: A taberna medieval foi apresentada na literatura-nas canções e poemas dos goliardos, nas Canções de Gesta e, também nos Fabliaux-como um espaço de prazer. Esse espaço voltado principalmente para o consumo de bebidas-cerveja, vinho e sidra-acompanhada por porções de comidas simples como pães, carnes salgadas e sopas, existiu não somente como lugar de prazer e lazer, mas também, foi um local seguro para o descanso de comerciantes, viajantes e peregrinos oferecendo pouso, comida, bebida e diversão. Analisando algumas canções da obra Amatoria potatoria Lusoria, (século XIII) selecionamos o trecho In Taberna que nos mostra o cotidiano de uma taberna medieval. Nosso intuito nesse artigo é analisar a taberna como espaço de prazer e descanso e sua representação na literatura medieval e sua reapropriação pela literatura contemporânea. Palavras-Chave: Taberna Medieval-Literatura Medieval-Vinho-Espaço de Prazer Goliardos-Cotidiano.

Resumo: Desde a Pré-Historia, tanto os alimentos quanto as bebidas tiveram uma profunda ligação com os rituais religiosos. Utilizadas como uma ponte para se alcançar outros mundos, para invocar os espíritos dos mortos, para comemorar e brindar as vitórias, pedir e, posteriormente agradecer as boas colheitas e a fertilidade constante da terra, das mulheres e dos animais concedidas pelos deuses, bem ser a fonte de inspiração para a criação artística, as bebidas alcoólicas sempre desempenharam um importante papel na esfera religiosa. Na Escandinávia Medieval o hidromel era fundamental em alguns rituais religiosos que envolviam vitórias bélicas e alianças político-militares e foi a bebida que inspirou a criação da poesia tornando-a assim, sagrada. Baseado em um corpus literário propomos uma análise de como essa bebida foi utilizada e como se dava o seu consumo ritualístico assim como as descrições de quem o servia e para quem. Palavras-Chaves: Bebidas sagradas; Rituais; Literatura Escandinava Medieval. The sacredness that comes from the cups: the use of drinks in myth and Norse Medieval Literature Abstract: From PreHistory , as much food as the drinks had a deep connection with religious rituals. Used as a bridge to reach other worlds, to invoke the spirits of the dead, to celebrate and toast the victories, ask and then thank the good harvests and the constant fertility of the land, women and animals granted by the gods as well be the source of inspiration for artistic creation, alcoholic beverages have always played an important role in the religious sphere. In Medieval Scandinavia mead it was critical in some religious rituals involving war victories and political-military alliances and was the drink that inspired the creation of poetry making it so sacred. Based on a literary corpus propose an analysis of how this drink was used and how was your ritualistic consumption as well as the descriptions of those who served and to whom.

Summary

Rafał Kubicki, Around the monastery refectory - regulations and practices based on the example of mendicants from the territory of the State of Teutonic Order in Prussia.

The issue of feeding monks appears in numerous works produced as part of research on daily life in the Middle Ages. A closer analysis indicates two main types of sources considered by historians. Firstly, normative sources such as monastic rules, constitutions, decisions of governing bodies (provincial authorities, chapters); secondly, accounting sources, rent books maintained as part of the administration of economic affairs in monastic communities, as well as accounts and inventories of mendicants. Unfortunately, the preservation of this type of records is far from satisfactory, especially in the case of detailed accounts that quickly lost their practical significance and were usually not kept. In this situation, one can only refer to a very scattered body of source material, partially preserved for individual monasteries and different communities. However, it seems that even examining the issue of feeding monks based on these accounts can yield certain results. Considering normative acts allows for a fairly precise reconstruction of the place occupied by communal meals in the life of monasteries, including the conduct of communal life (vita communis) and the organization of the monastery itself related to the matter of feeding the monks. For this purpose, selected normative sources were analysed (the oldest constitutions of the Dominican Order and the treatise De Officiis by the Dominican Order's general, Humbert of Romans), which were compared with accounts concerning nutrition in mendicant monasteries from the territory of the Teutonic Order in Prussia (correspondence, legacies of townspeople to the convents, inventories of Observant Franciscan monasteries in Zalewo and Welawa). The importance of fishing privileges granted by founders to individual monasteries was particularly emphasized. Faced with numerous fasting periods in the orders, which accounted for over 40% of the year, these privileges imposed a diet based on meals prepared from flour-based dishes, vegetables, and fish. The significant role of monastery gardens as a source of fresh vegetables and fruits was also highlighted. Furthermore, the plans of selected mendicant monastery establishments were discussed, primarily in relation to the location of kitchens and monastery refectories (Dominicans in Gdańsk and Elbląg, Franciscans and Carmelites in Gdańsk, Augustinians in Reszel). Due to the lack of accounting sources, all the mentioned accounts were used for a partial reconstruction of the picture of monks' nourishment, its organization, methods of acquiring food products, and their types.

(streszczenie)

Rafał Kubicki (Gdańsk), Wokół klasztornego refektarza – przepisy i praktyka na przykładzie mendykantów z terenu państwa zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach
Kwestia wyżywienia zakonników pojawia się w licznych opracowaniach, powstających w ramach badań nad życiem codziennym w średniowieczu. Bliższa analiza wskazuje na dwa główne typy źródeł uwzględnianych przez historyków. Po pierwsze źródeł normatywnych takich jak reguły zakonne, konstytucje, postanowienia organów zarządzających (władz prowincji, kapituł); po drugie źródeł rachunkowych, ksiąg czynszowych, prowadzonych w ramach sprawowania zarządu gospodarczego w przypadku zgromadzeń mniszych, oraz rachunków i inwentarzy u mendykantów. Niestety stan zachowania tego typu przekazów jest dalece niezadowalający, szczególnie w przypadku rachunków szczegółowych, które szybko traciły swoje znaczenie praktyczne, nie były więc też zazwyczaj przechowywane. W tej sytuacji odwoływać się można jedynie do bardzo rozproszonego materiału źródłowego, zachowanego cząstkowo dla poszczególnych klasztorów, różnych zgromadzeń. Wydaje się jednak, że nawet spojrzenie na kwestię wyżywienia zakonników w oparciu o te przekazy może przynieść pewne rezultaty. Uwzględnienie akt normatywnych pozwala na dość precyzyjne odtworzenie miejsca, jakie zajmowało wspólne spożywanie posiłków w życiu klasztorów, w tym w ramach prowadzenia życia wspólnotowego (vita communis) i samej organizacji klasztoru związanej z kwestiami wyżywienia zakonników. W tym celu zanalizowano wybrane źródła normatywne (najstarsze konstytucje zakonu dominikanów i traktat De Officiis generała zakonu dominikanów Humberta z Romans), które zestawiono z przekazami dotyczącymi wyżywienia w klasztorach mendykanckich, pochodzącymi z terenu państwa zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach (korespondencja, legaty mieszczan na rzecz konwentów, inwentarze klasztorów franciszkańskich obserwantów w Zalewie i Welawie). Szczególnie podkreślono znaczenie przywilejów rybołówczych nadawanych przez fundatorów poszczególnym klasztorom, które w obliczu licznie obowiązujących w zakonach postów, obejmujących ponad 40% roku, narzucały dietę opartą na spożywaniu posiłków przyrządzanych z dań mącznych, warzyw i ryb. Wskazano również na duże znacznie klasztornych ogrodów jako rezerwuaru świeżych warzyw i owoców. Ponadto omówiono plany wybranych założeń klasztornych mendykantów, przede wszystkim w związku z lokalizacją kuchni i klasztornych refektarzy (dominikanie w Gdańsku i Elblągu, franciszkanie i karmelici w Gdańsku, augustianie w Reszlu). W związku z niezachowaniem się źródeł rachunkowych wszystkie wskazane przekazy posłużyły do częściowej rekonstrukcji obrazu wyżywienia zakonników, jego organizacji, sposobów pozyskiwania produktów spożywczych i ich rodzajów.

Can women narrate the Nation? Does woman have equal claim over
„historicity‟, and over „being historical‟? Moreover is she allowed the vocabulary to
express her desires for contesting for historicity? Or they are interpreted as not wanting
to be historical in the backdrops of historical events? Or are these denials camouflaged
under garbs of tradition, which is perpetually attributed to women? Or is it the
narrative‟s vocabulary, choice of expression and imagery that exalts and portrays man as
historical and public and the woman as personal and private and willingly hiding behind
constructed social and gendered roles? Or perhaps it is the norms which declare a man
as historical and are mostly attributed to his nationalistic or patriotic inclinations,
including his bravado in wars, revolutionary ideology etc. Could it not be that the
narrative of the history of creation of the Nation eclipses that of the Woman?

O presente artigo tem como propósito analisar a alimentação – sejam os pratos descritos em banquetes senhoriais, estalagens ou simples refeições cotidianas – descritos nos dois primeiros volumes das Crônicas de Gelo e Fogo, de George R.R. Martin. A minuciosa descrição realizada pelo autor das refeições nos romances muitas vezes nos remetem às refeições servidas nos grandes salões Germanos Alto e Centro Medievais bem como as bebidas consumidas nesses locais. A análise da alimentação nos romances de Martin foi possível graças a comparação das descrições literárias com os manuais de cozinha medieval e também à arqueologia experimental.

Rapport sur la soutenance de la thèse d'histoire et d'archéologie du Moyen Âge de M. Charles VIAUT, « À la table des princes… et des autres. Consommation et pratiques alimentaires sur les sites castraux et élitaires du nord de l'Aquitaine et du centre-ouest de la France (Xe-XV e siècle) », université de Poitiers, 18 novembre 2021.

The examination of data from a corpus of archaeological sites and textual sources, some of which have never been published before, has enabled a fresh approach to food practices on elite sites between the Loire and Garonne from the tenth to the fifteenth century. The thematic approach, from the provisioning and preparation of food to its consumption and its social and cultural significance, shows the central importance of food activities in the organisation of the residences of power and in the display of the culture and identity of the elite group. The long-term approach has made it possible to understand the transformation of food practices over a period of several centuries, linked to the evolution of lifestyles and representations of the aristocratic group, but also to economic and environmental factors. The close links between the sites and their immediate environment are thus one of the main ways of interpreting supply, although over time the role of the monetary economy and the market has become increasingly important. From the point of view of culinary history, hypotheses concerning the evolution of Aquitanian and Poitevin cuisines have also been put forward in the sense of a gradual standardisation of culinary practices, and even of tastes. The approach to a theme at the interface of the history of food and castral archaeology has finally given rise to a methodological reflection on the divergences and joint uses of written sources and archaeological data.

At the feast celebrating his marriage to Margaret of York, Charles the Bold was treated (among other delicacies) to pies identified ‘with the arms and names of the towns of the duke.’  Marmosets were set upon each pie holding the instruments with which they would be broken into, ‘some holding pick-axes, others clubs and others spades.’  Over the previous winter, the rebellious city of Liège had been quelled and parts of its walls and gates dismantled.  Negotiations for a lasting peace were floundering as the wedding took place, and the following autumn the city was to be literally destroyed.
At the same feast, a dumbshow of Hercules, with whom the Valois dukes closely identified, saw the hero walking before a handsome city, admiring its towers and walls; Hercules having seen off several giants, the townspeople issued out and, kneeling, presented him with keys and crown: the proper behaviour for a town.
In Bruges for the wedding, William Caxton subsequently translated and printed – with the encouragement of the duke’s new wife – the account of the triple fall of Troy originally compiled for Philip the Good by Raoul Lefèvre.  As he was finishing his translation, his home city of London was under attack by forces supporting the last stand of the house of Lancaster, battering and burning walls and gates around Aldgate and Bishopsgate. 
More than simply the clumsy importation of Burgundian culture so often portrayed, the choice by Caxton, merchant and citizen, of the destruction of Troy (twice at the hands of Hercules) as his first project in print represents a voice in a debate about the rights of the state to mutilate the bodies of its cities. By translating old Troy to Troy-Novant, Caxton discusses the role of the city in the ‘tyme of the troublous world.’

VERSION COMPLETE SUR OPENEDITION ET HALSHS
The archaeological and historical study of the supply of medieval castles in the north of Aquitaine allows us to put into perspective the food dominance, marked by a privileged consumption of certain cereals and a highly carnivorous diet. A long period of time is needed to grasp the general trends in food consumption, particularly in terms of meat and fish consumption. The acquisition of food also underwent significant changes, with a more marked recourse to the purchase of food products at the end of the Middle Ages, a time when documents allow a detailed approach to the material and economic context of food. As for the question of the conservation and storage of food, a field of research still in the making, it is based on the results of both sedimentary archaeology and building archaeology.