d for
meals and meetings at which the lord received homages, recovered fees,
and held the view of frankpledge [free pledge in Latin], in which
freemen agreed to be sureties for each other. At the main table, the
lord and his lady sat on benches with backs or chairs. The table was
covered first with a wool cloth that reached to the floor, and then by a
smaller white linen cloth. Everyone else sat on benches at trestle
tables, which consisted of planks on trestles and could be dismantled,
e.g. at night. Over the main door were the family arms. On the walls
were swords ready for instant use. On the upper parts of the walls could
be fox skins and perhaps a polecat skin, and keepers' and huntsmen's
poles. There were often hawk perches overhead. At the midday dinner,
courses were ceremonially brought in to music, and ritual bows were made
to the lord. The food at the head table was often tasted first by a
servant as a precaution against poison. Hounds, spaniels, and terriers
lay near the hearth and cats, often with litters, nestled nearby. They
might share in dinner, but the lord may keep a short stick near him to
defend morsels he meant for himself. Hunting, dove cotes, and carp pools
provided fresh meat. Fish was compulsory eating on Fridays, on fast
days, and during Lent. Cooking was done outside on an open fire,
roasting on spits and boiling in pots. Some spits were mechanized with a
cogged wheel and a weight at the end of a string. Other spits were
turned by a long handle, or a small boy shielded from the heat by a wet
blanket, or by dogs on a treadmill. Underneath the spit was a dripping
pan to hold the falling juices and fat. Mutton fat was used for candles.
Bread, pies, and pastry dishes were baked in an oven: a hole in a
fireproof stone wall fitted with an iron door, in which wood was first
burnt to heat the oven walls. It could also be used for drying fruit or
melting tallow. Fruits were also preserved in honey. Salt was stored in
a niche in the wall near the hearth and put on the table in a salt
cellar which became more elaborate over the years. Salt was very
valuable and gave rise to the praise of a man as the salt of the
earth. Costly imported spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger,
pepper, and a small quantity of sugar were kept in chests. Pepper was
always on the table to disguise the taste of tainted meat. Spices were
tried for medicinal use. Drinks included wine, ale, cider from apples,
perry from