Medieval table manners

Anyone who has studied social life in the medieval period is aware that eating was not only more often a public activity than it is today but that there were clear expectations of good table manners for those occasions. This can be seen from texts such the Rule of St Benedict onwards and the high and later Middle Ages abounded with books of courtesy and manners. These may well have been intended for those who were ‘getting on in society’ and wished to know how they, and their children, should behave. The texts of such sources, the works of historians and today of video presenters on both social life in the past and food history make this readily available.

Despite this there survives a residual idea of coarse and oafish behaviour at medieval meals amongst not a few of our contemporaries. Film and television far too often perpetuate the myth. It is perhaps due in part to a misunderstanding of a scene played by Charles Laughton in the 1930s Korda film The Six Wives of Henry VIII. One might hope people would learn, but alas they tend not to. 

In a further attempt to redress the balance Medievalists.net recently published an article looking at what was expected in the middle ages at table. It draws upon original sources and can be read at Medieval Table Manners: The Messiest Myth?

So sit up straight, wait for the aquamamile to come to rinse your hands, don’t wipe them or yo our nose on the all important tablecloth, keep your personal cutlery clean and tidy, don’t grab andbe greedy, and enjoy being in an ordered, civilised society….