{"id":17388,"date":"2017-12-03T13:54:51","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T02:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/?p=17388"},"modified":"2017-12-03T13:57:20","modified_gmt":"2017-12-03T02:57:20","slug":"feast-fast-in-1509","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/2017\/12\/03\/feast-fast-in-1509\/","title":{"rendered":"Feast &#038; Fast in 1509"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m delighted to welcome historian and costumed interpreter Lauren Johnson to On the Tudor Trail. Lauren has written an informative and entertaining guest post about feasting and fasting during the Christmas season, in early Tudor England.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><u>Feast &amp; Fast in 1509<\/u><\/h2>\n<p>For me the run-up to Christmas is signaled by the taste of advent calendar chocolate before breakfast. For others this is the season of dieting, \u2018getting ready for party season\u2019 as certain magazines insist on calling such abstinence. Whether fasting or feasting, food is still intrinsically important to our celebration of the Christmas season. For our early Tudor forebears this was even more the case.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17394\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1024px-drying_stockfish_lofoten_2009_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17394\" class=\"wp-image-17394 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1024px-drying_stockfish_lofoten_2009_1-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1024px-drying_stockfish_lofoten_2009_1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1024px-drying_stockfish_lofoten_2009_1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1024px-drying_stockfish_lofoten_2009_1-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17394\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stockfish: \u201cPetr \u0160merkl, Wikipedia\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For them, December days until Christmas itself were a miserable period of denial and dearth. Advent was considered akin to Lent \u2013 no meat was allowed, and for most of the population stockfish would be the order of the day. These revolting hardened, cured fish needed to be hammered and soaked for hours before eating. In great houses, as darkness crept in, meals were made up of piscine feasts: fresh salmon and cod, dog-fish, tench, bream, whiting, plaice \u2013 even fresh eels and porpoise. But for those who were further inland and could not afford to have fresh fish delivered to their door, salted and cured fish were the main source of calories.<\/p>\n<p>The feelings of most of the populace during Advent are probably summed up by this fifteenth century carol:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Farewell Advent, Christmas is come<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Farewell from us both all and some.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>With patience thou hast us fed,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And made us go hungry to bed,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>For lack of meat we were nigh dead,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Farewell from (us both all and some).\u2019\u00a0<a name=\"_ednref1\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/laurenjohnson1.wordpress.com\/2014\/12\/19\/farewell-advent-christmas-is-come-early-tudor-festive-feasting-christmas-party-blog-hop\/#_edn1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">[i]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Darkness, dreariness and the stink of fish \u2013 it\u2019s no wonder that when Christmas finally arrived it was celebrated for a full twelve days. You\u2019d want to squeeze as much joy from the occasion as possible too if all you\u2019d eaten for three weeks was \u2018stinking fish not worth a louse\u2019. After one last fast on Christmas Eve, greenery was brought into the household to signal the beginning of festive cheer \u2013 holly and ivy were pre-eminent as backdrops to the celebrations then, just as they are today.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17390\" style=\"width: 280px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tudormincepie.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17390\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17390\" src=\"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tudormincepie.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tudormincepie.jpg 270w, https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tudormincepie-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tudormincepie-80x80.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17390\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tudor mince pie: Dr Annie Gray<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Twelve Days of Christmas were jam-packed with potential celebrations. After Christmas Day itself there were the feast days of Saints Stephen, John the Evangelist and Thomas Becket to enjoy \u2013 sandwiched between the latter two came Childermas or Holy Innocents Day, commemorating the massacre of the innocents by Herod. This not altogether jovial theme was the occasion for misrule, when children were elevated to mock-bishops and abbesses, preaching sermons, processing around the shires and gathering money for their churches. 31 December was the feast day of St Silvester although it was then, as today, more famous for being New Year\u2019s Eve. New Year\u2019s Day and Epiphany or Twelfth Night (1 and 6 January respectively) were, with Christmas, the major days of celebration. These were the occasions for great feasts for those who could afford it and dancing bears, drunken singing and parish-sponsored plays for those who couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17395\" style=\"width: 598px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/roast-fowl-ag.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17395\" class=\" wp-image-17395\" src=\"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/roast-fowl-ag.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"588\" height=\"441\" srcset=\"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/roast-fowl-ag.jpg 640w, https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/roast-fowl-ag-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17395\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roast fowl: Dr Annie Gray<\/p><\/div>\n<p>During the Christmas of 1507-8 the Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham invited almost 300 to Christmas supper \u2013 and his Epiphany banquet on 6 January hosted 459.<\/p>\n<p>Roping in two additional cooks from Bristol to assist his harassed staff, Buckingham served an incredible feast of swans, peacocks, suckling pigs, herons, quails \u2018from the store\u2019 and a veritable massacre of small feathered birds: 23 widgeons, 18 teals, three dozen larks\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The party got through almost 700 loaves of bread. Swans (because one is never enough) also featured on the Christmas menu of Buckingham\u2019s brother-in-law, the earl of Northumberland, who served deer alongside them. In other great households \u2013 and even in university colleges \u2013 boar\u2019s head was served. Already this impressive dish was becoming associated with Christmas meals in popular song:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018The boars head in hand I bring<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>With garlands gay and birds singing<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I pray you all, help me to sing,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Qui estis in convivio.\u2019\u00a0<a name=\"_ednref2\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/laurenjohnson1.wordpress.com\/2014\/12\/19\/farewell-advent-christmas-is-come-early-tudor-festive-feasting-christmas-party-blog-hop\/#_edn2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">[ii]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The \u2018birds singing\u2019 mentioned here could well have been live creatures garnishing the great charger of meat and chirruping as they entered the hall.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17391\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Gingerbread.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17391\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17391\" src=\"http:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Gingerbread.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17391\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gingerbread: Dr Annie Gray<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Other foods and drinks were considered particularly \u2018festive\u2019. The Wassail Cup, containing warm spiced alcohol, was paraded into great halls on Twelfth Night. There it was greeted by the steward crying \u2018wassail\u2019 three times, to which the household chapel responded with a song. Twelfth Night also saw the enjoyment of a\u00a0<em>voidee<\/em>\u00a0of spiced wine and sweetmeats, ceremonially presented to the lord and lady of the household. In Furnival\u2019s Inn in London the lawyers enjoyed venison and brawn with baked pears for their Christmas meal.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Lower down the social scale, Christmas meals become more difficult to trace. In all likelihood the mere presence of meat on the menu once more was probably a cause for celebration \u2013 whether that was in the form of stew, pie or (for the middling sort) a roast. For those working on the estates of hospitable lords, they might get to join the great hall of their master for a Christmas or Epiphany feast. The Duke of Buckingham invited \u201842 from the town and 90 from the country\u2019 to eat at his table (well, at a table safely down the other end of the hall or tucked away in a corridor) on Epiphany.<\/p>\n<p>Although few of us will be chowing down on boar or swan this Christmas, or dressing up as a bishop, there is a connection across the years at this time of year. Smells, tastes and sounds may have changed subtly over the past five centuries, but crucial to the early Tudor Christmas was a communal celebration over the dining table. And that is surely something we all still appreciate.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>To read more about what Henry VIII\u2019s subjects got up to at Christmas \u2013 and at eleven other key events throughout the year \u2013 pick up a copy of <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/headofzeus.com\/books\/so-great-prince\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>So Great a Prince: England and the Accession of Henry VIII<\/strong><\/a><em>. Available <\/em><strong>now <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pegasusbooks.com\/books\/so-great-a-prince-9781681775418-hardcover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>through Pegasus in America<\/strong><\/a><em> too!<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/laurenjohnson1.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lauren Johnson<\/a> is an author and historian. She is currently working on a biography of Henry VI (Head of Zeus, 2018), whose reign straddled the Hundred Years War and Wars of the Roses. She lives in London and is probably eating a mince pie even as you read this.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m delighted to welcome historian and costumed interpreter Lauren Johnson to On the Tudor Trail. Lauren has written an informative and entertaining guest post about feasting and fasting during the Christmas season, in early Tudor England. Enjoy! Feast &amp; Fast in 1509 For me the run-up to Christmas is signaled by the taste of advent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5,9],"tags":[4680,4679,4681,4471,4677,130,4682],"class_list":["post-17388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-henry-viii","category-life-in-tudor-england","category-major-players-of-tudor-england","tag-christmas-festivities-in-henry-viiis-reign","tag-feast-fast-in-1509","tag-feasting-and-fasting-in-early-tudor-england","tag-henry-viii","tag-lauren-johnson","tag-tudor-christmas","tag-tudor-christmas-traditions","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17388"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17400,"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17388\/revisions\/17400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onthetudortrail.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}