The Chivalric Turn by Crouch David;

Author:Crouch, David; [Crouch, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA - OSO
Published: 2019-05-14T00:00:00+00:00

9

The Table

Medieval people might very well go to public dinners in a state of anxiety, though not necessarily so much about which utensil to use for which course since, apart from knives and the occasional spoon, cutlery was not much in evidence on the medieval table.1 Table manners were certainly important and a diner would be judged on them, but it was the entirety of the experience which could be intimidating. The copious literature associated with the medieval hall is remarkably and significantly negative on the experience of dining out. There were a number of reasons for this—other than that some personality types would find any social gathering difficult. The principal cause of anxiety they advertise was that a person’s social credit could be fatally damaged by a bad performance in the hall, where his rusticity or her lack of social grace might very well diminish their reputation and honour. So much for the guest, but the host too was warned of social danger. His accessibility, civility, generosity, quality of servants and organizational ability were all going to be judged, and such things counted in a society whose mainspring was the management of patronage. The verdict of his contemporaries on King John of England (reigned 1199–1216) was understandably hostile. But the considered view of one foreign guest in his realm was this: ‘He was brimming over with bad qualities, but he did at least spend freely. He would keep a generous and open table, and indeed his gates and the door of his hall were never closed at meal times. Anyone could eat his fill at his court as he pleased.’2

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