Out of the East by Paul Freedman

Author:Paul Freedman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2008-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

SIX

“That Damned Pepper”: Spices and Moral Danger

So far it should be clear that the medieval infatuation with spices embraced many sectors of society and diverse activities, from noble feasts to the relics of saints, and from medical treatments to ostentatious display. The very popularity of spices along with their expense and the ephemeral nature of the pleasure they evoked could hardly escape the notice of moralists for whom spices were, above all, a symbol of the ridiculous human preference for transitory pleasures as opposed to the frugal righteousness that would earn eternal life. Spices might be associated with the earthly paradise and the odor of sanctity, but they resembled gold in instigating human wickedness rather than being evil in themselves.

In the eyes of social critics, the wickedness caused by spices was not so much the consequence of greed (in the manner of gold) as a ludicrous self-indulgence that sapped both individual moral fiber and the economy of lands that sent their treasure abroad in return for unnecessary and instantly consumed luxuries. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, the German satirist Ulrich von Hutten condemned how his countrymen had been seduced by foreign merchants into spending their money on such fripperies as “that damned pepper, ginger, cinnamon, saffron, cloves,” and other spices.1

It’s remarkable how much of his era’s moral decay von Hutten attributed to the baleful influence of spices. As is often the case in denunciations of contemporary bad habits, an idealized past was evoked, an era of virtue, happiness, and simplicity before corruption set in. At one time, von Hutten observed, Germans nourished themselves in a manner both simple and wholesome. He seems almost to anticipate the “Slow Food” movement in extolling locally grown produce. In those golden, distant days, food was enlivened by the good, “honest” herbs of the Fatherland, but now everyone has become addicted to luxury. The taste for imported spices enriches rapacious merchants, specifically the grand commercial house of Fugger, bankers to the emperor and stalwart Catholics, and so the object of von Hutten’s particular hostility.

The deleterious impact of spices, according to this tirade, affects physical and spiritual health. Food no longer sustains but pampers the body, thereby undermining its strength and leaving it susceptible to illness. Von Hutten elaborates on this in a dialogue titled Fever, in which the allegorical figure of the title is looking for victims and von Hutten is quizzing him on his likely targets. Fever initially comes to attack von Hutten, but as he is such a careful and healthy person, he is able to direct Fever’s attention to more vulnerable potential victims who don’t observe such virtuous abstemiousness. In keeping with his anti-Catholic intentions, von Hutten makes the clergy particularly tempting for Fever’s wrath. The priests and cardinals of Rome are sunk in gastronomic depravity (one of the vices associated with the clergy even by Catholic moralists, as with the gluttonous cleric portrayed by Eiximenis). The degeneracy of the Roman priests is evident in the fact that they drink wine, eat pheasants, and season everything with pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

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