tion of
pork; public officers, called _languayeurs_, were ordered to examine the
animals to ensure that they had not white ulcers under the tongue, these
being considered the signs that their flesh was in a condition to
communicate leprosy to those who partook of it.

For a long time the retail sale of pork was confined to the butchers, like
that of other meat. Salt or fresh pork was at one time always sold raw,
though at a later period some retailers, who carried on business
principally among the lowest orders of the people, took to selling cooked
pork and sausages. They were named _charcuitiers_ or _saucissiers_. This
new trade, which was most lucrative, was adopted by so many people that
parliament was forced to limit the number of _charcuitiers_, who at last
formed a corporation, and received their statutes, which were confirmed by
the King in 1475.

Amongst the privileges attached to their calling was that of selling red
herrings and sea-fish in Lent, during which time the sale of pork was
strictly forbidden. Although they had the exclusive monopoly of selling
cooked pork, they were at first forbidden to buy their meat of any one but
of the butchers, who alone had the right of killing pigs; and it was only
in 1513 that the _charcuitiers_ were allowed to purchase at market and
sell the meat raw, in opposition to the butchers, who in consequence
gradually gave up killing and selling pork (Fig. 87).

Although the consumption of butchers' meat was not so great in the Middle
Ages as it is now, the trade of a butcher, to which extraordinary
privileges were attached, was nevertheless one of the industries which
realised the greatest profits.

We know what an important part the butchers played in the municipal
history of France, as also of Belgium; and we also know how great their
political influence was, especially in the fifteenth century.

[Illustration: Fig. 87.--The Pork-butcher (_Charcutier_).--Fac-simile of
a Miniature in a Charter of the Abbey of Solignac (Fourteenth Century).]

The existence of the great slaughter-house of Paris dates back to the most
remote period of monarchy. The parish church of the corporation of
butchers, namely, that of St. Pierre aux Boeufs in the city, on the front
of which were two sculptured oxen, existed before the tenth century. A
Celtic monument was discovered on the site of the ancient part of Paris,
with a bas-relief representing a wild bull carrying three cranes standing
amon