• In the Middle Ages, bread was the common food of all social classes - kings, knights, monks, peasants - being present at all meals.
In medieval society, bread was consumed daily by the majority of the population, and the process of producing bread was laborious and involved multiple stages. Wheat held the first place among cereals for the purpose of obtaining bread, due to its prevalence especially in the Mediterranean territories and was used to produce white bread, finer and fluffier, reserved for the aristocracy and clergy. It should be noted, however, that the term "wheat" it was used somewhat generically in some writings of the period, and sometimes encompassed a number of different related grains.
Rye, on the other hand, was the easiest grain to grow in the British Isles and northwestern Europe (Scandinavia, the Germanic lands, the Netherlands, much of France) and remained the most widespread crop until the end of the 18th century. Rye, being a less demanding grain and more resistant to adverse climatic conditions, was used to produce the denser and more filling black bread consumed by the masses.
Oats and barley were also widely available, but were commonly used as animal feed, so they were absent from medieval bread production.
But the standard of excellence, appreciated above all on the medieval table, was white, fluffy bread, sometimes even called "cake". Medieval physicians even claimed that this bread had special healing properties, when in fact it actually had less nutritional value than breads that contained more wheat bran.
Various grains used in medieval flours
The mixture of flours acquired the mark of inferior status, meaning "forgery" pure wheat flours, peasants being associated with black bread and wholemeal varieties, often made with whatever grain they could find and grind. If necessary, add peas, lentils, chestnuts or other plants to the mixture.
In the early Middle Ages, the preference was to eat white bread made from wheat, but in medieval France most people ate a type of bread known as loaf meslin or olive (fr. metal), which was made from a mixture of wheat and rye and represented the most economical variant in the growing climate of northern Europe.
One might assume that the poor received less bread than the rich, as well as poorer quality bread, but recent studies of medieval and colonial bread consumption prove just the opposite. Terrence Scully in "The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages" write it down "that bread was the basis of the medieval diet" and the amount people ate throughout Europe was remarkably similar.
In the homes of the late medieval English gentry, each individual received a standard daily food ration of between two and three pounds of wheat bread and about a gallon of beer. What is even more interesting is that the members of the garrisons of the nearby castles were supplied with almost exactly the same rations, as were the patients in the local hospitals.
Moving on to the French provinces, the 3.500 inhabitants of Chambéry apparently received about one kilo of bread a day. These figures confirm the claim that bread was the absolute basis of the medieval diet throughout Europe, at all levels of society.
Types of medieval bread
Just like today, bread made in the Middle Ages came in all shapes and sizes. For example, in a chronicle of the Polish city of Wroclaw, we find information that people could buy and eat baked goods such as plain white bread, plain black bread, rye bread, wheat buns, bagels, croissants and flat pies . Moreover, in his book "Bread: A Global History", William Rubel notes that Europe had a "bun culture" for 2.000 years, while flat bread remained popular in the Middle East and Africa.
And yet, two main types of bread dominated the production of medieval bakeries: table bread or Mayne bread and the bread trencher or tallow, the so-called "plate bread".
Mayne bread, the bread "by hand" or the bread "for the table", was a round, raised bread that was eaten plain, regardless of how it was incorporated into the menu served.
Tranchoir bread (from old French "tranchier"- cut ) occupied a position somewhere between tableware and food. the book "Le Menagier de Paris", written by a member of the medieval French gentry for the instruction of his younger wife, provides specifications for both the required size of such a variety of bread and its structure.
In the case of bread trencher, staleness was actually an advantage, so the author of the treatise advises his wife to ask the baker for four-day-old bread to ensure the success of the feast.
The staple food for most of society was a thick soup or stew made from vegetables, beans and/or game. If it wasn't served on top bread plate, was often poured directly over a piece of coarse bread.
Edible plate
The bread trencher, in thick, flat slices, was used as an edible plate, meant to support the meat, sauces, purees and other foods served at an ordinary dinner. Once the meal was finished, the bread could then be eaten or, if you were rich or generous enough, given to the poor or animals.
The success of this technique of serving food even led to the creation of a recipe with medieval origins, which was still indicated on the French country menu in 1789, namely a kind of "instant bread soup". The bread was placed in a large wooden bowl with a pat of butter on top, and then boiling water was poured over it. This was instant bread soup! A clove of garlic and a raw onion were grated by the chef and sprinkled over the soup and represented the seasoning of the novel dish.
Millers and Bakers in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, millers, once highly regarded in the Roman Empire, became the object of suspicion. Norse peoples saw mills in conquered lands as almost magical, making the mill something to be feared. Consequently, many of the water mills built by the Romans were left to deteriorate. Other mills were set on fire, or, because they sometimes caught fire spontaneously from the dust-laden air, people believed that this was proof that the miller was in league with the devil. Even the sound of the mill wheel was interpreted by some as messages from the beyond.
It was only when the priests intervened to instruct the people that the miller was not evil and that it was God's will to make nature work for them, that the people's perception of the job changed.
At the beginning of the medieval period, the miller-baker ground the grain and then baked the bread, so that only after the 10th century the process was divided into two separate jobs: that of the miller and that of the baker.
As cities grew, bakers, like other craftsmen, began to organize themselves into guilds, with laws governing the sizes and prices of loaves and who was allowed to sell bread in public. The first English bakers' guilds were created during the reign of Henry II in the 12th century, and followed immediately after that of the weavers.
Regulations imposed on the bread market
The best indication of the importance of bread and the profession of baking in medieval society is the number of regulations imposed on them. Guilds functioned as a combination of union, market monopoly, and regulatory body. They required bakers to join the group, and dishonest businesses were not allowed within the guild's territory.
Despite all these impositions, once you joined the guild and paid the fee, your business and family enjoyed the protection associated with guild membership. As a master baker, you could take on and train apprentices without fear of your patented recipes being stolen and used to set up another profitable bakery under someone else's name.
In the Middle Ages, the baker worked in extremely difficult conditions. After a long apprenticeship, he would end up working endless hours, breathing in a continuous stream of flour dust and often suffering from eczema caused by allergies. And the fact that they were standing for 16-20 hours a day led to damage to the knees. But if something happened to the baker or his business, the guild would pay a sum of money as compensation to his family.
Legislation policies
Since all bakers were members of the guild, the guild set the prices of bakery products in the region, as well as overseeing quality in the guild's bakeries and securing good prices for raw materials from other traders and manufacturers. Guilds were a powerful force in medieval urban life, especially when they controlled the most important part of the medieval diet.
And to protect the consumer against the monopoly of the guilds, the state intervened. Through legislative policies, the royal courts had come to supervise, with the help of a designated group of people, aspects related to the weight, quality and price of baked goods. Because of the difficulty of obtaining equal weight for each piece of bread produced, and because there were notable differences, laws were passed regulating the weight of various types of bread, muffins, and cakes.
However, it was extremely difficult for each bakery product to be within the set quotas, especially in the conditions of primitive ovens. To solve this problem, the practice of adding an extra loaf to a person's order was adopted to ensure that the baker was following the law. Thus it was born "baker's dozen".
Religious polemics on the edge of bread
Bread is an essential part of the Christian religion because Jesus offered it to his disciples at the Last Supper. The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion, is one of the main parts of a Christian service. However, at the time there was a dispute between different Christian factions as to what kind of bread should be used – leavened or unleavened. Eastern churches believed that only leavened bread (bread made with yeast) could be used as the Eucharist, while the Roman Catholic Church used unleavened bread for Holy Communion.
The question of what kind of bread to use remained a deep theological dispute throughout the Middle Ages, and occasionally led to violence and convictions of heresy. In 1053, Roman Catholic churches were closed in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, and their consecrated unleavened bread was trampled in the streets.
A Byzantine church leader denounced the use of unleavened bread, writing: "You name the bread panic; we call it arts. This comes from airoil, to raise, signifies a thing elevated, elevated, being raised and warmed by ferment and salt; unleavened bread, on the other hand, is as lifeless as stone or baked clay, fit only to symbolize suffering and trouble."
A mysterious plague
Bread was a living symbol for Christians throughout Europe in those days, and leavened and unleavened bread were part of everyday life. By the 1500s, bread was already a constant in the diets of many peoples. But unlike the Romans of the Empire, hygiene standards were not the strong point of the era.
The Romans had understood that it was important that even the baking of bread obeyed basic rules of hygiene and health, and they sifted their flour in such a way as to eliminate pieces of stone left over from the mill or other debris that was a by-product of outdoor processing. When Rome was conquered by invaders from the north, they took over the tradition of baking bread, but not the understanding of maintaining a certain degree of cleanliness.
When the first of the plagues that would ravage Europe reached Limoges, France, no one understood what was happening as people screamed hysterically, had convulsions, and lost limbs. Over 40.000 people died. Today we know what caused it…
Saint Anthony's fire
People had forgotten about ergot, a dangerous poison and a fungal disease mainly of rye. It is caused by fungus Claviceps purpurea which also grows on cereals such as wheat or barley. The mushroom contains hallucinogenic alkaloids, including ergotamine, a precursor to LSD. Because ergot, previously also mentioned in documents from Ancient Egypt and Greece, imparts a sweet taste, insects that visit the plants quickly spread the fungus. The sweet-tasting poison, when ingested, causes convulsions, gangrene of the limbs and ultimately death. The disease was named ergotism, or the Fire of Saint Anthony.
Today, bread is still a staple in many cultures and households around the world, and understanding its place in the Middle Ages sheds light on how it influenced not only the practical aspects of life, but also the spiritual and social. From the simple loaves of bread consumed by the population to the theological dispute over the type of bread used in religious rituals, the story of bread in the Middle Ages offers us a new perspective on the profound impact this food had on people's lives. "banal".
Article and photo sources: Bread-Making in the Middle Ages; Milling and Baking: A Dangerous Business; The Baker and the Devil; Food in Medieval Times; Bread in the Middle Ages.
Don't miss the continuation of the article series: Bread in the history of humanity Part V: Bread and the French Revolution.
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
Read The White Art and the first three parts in the series: Bread in Prehistoric Cultures: Bread in Human History Part I ; The Blessing of Isis: Bread in Ancient Egypt. Bread in Human History Part II and Panem et Circenses – basic ingredients of the life of Romanian citizens. Bread in human history part III.
