The BBC News website has an interesting article about the latest research into records of food renders to Anglo-Saxon kings which has been combined with archaeological analysis of human remains that looks at diet and social status. The result is to argue that an Anglo-Saxon king did not spend all his free time in gluttonous meat eating at feasts but rather that he usually enjoyed a relatively frugal diet not unlike his subjects, with relatively little meat, except on those occasions when he was entertained whilst travelling or at religious festivals.
I attended online an IHR seminar last year about part of this research into the scale and reason for the food renders listed in Anglo-Saxon source material for certain estates. The quantities of perishable food listed were not to feed a voracious household but a list of provisions to feed it and the local community when the King visited as part of his regular schedule of administration and dispensation of justice.
Not only do the lists indicate the basic ingredients for cooking for such a gathering - and hence the huge quantities listed - but they also demonstrate Anglo-Saxon kingship in action, travelling to see and be seen, going to administer justice and resolve disputes or difficulties, and forging social and political ties with local communities.
The article, which has a slightly misleading title ( perhaps reflecting modern attitudes ) can be read at Anglo-Saxon kings mostly vegetarian, study finds
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