Annotated Bibliography

This is a ever evolving annotated bibliography of all sources I have looked at (that I have bothered to add here). Many are not here as I may have looked at them before establishing this part of the site, others because I didn't get around to adding them but this is a best faith effort to keep tabs on my sources and make notes for future use as to reduce rereading. Please also note that some sources may only have annotations about a certain topic because that was what I pulled it for.

IV AETHELRED

A. J. Robertson, “IV AETHELRED,” in The Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I, 1925, pp. 71–78

• Taxes on the following food items were listed in this law from approx. 1100: fish, wine, blubber-fish, melted fat, live pigs, pepper, vinegar, hens, eggs, cheese and butter.

Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World

J. M. Bennett, Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600. New York: Oxford Univeristy Press, 1996.

Anglo-Saxon and English Dictionary

J. BOSWORTH, Anglo-Saxon and English Dictionary. 1848.

Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming

R. Faith and D. Banham, Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Anglo-Saxon kings were mostly veggie but peasants treated them to huge bbqs

T. Almeroth-Williams, “Anglo-saxon kings were mostly veggie but peasants treated them to huge bbqs,” University of Cambridge, https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/anglo-saxon-bbq (accessed Feb. 15, 2025).

Assize of Bread and Beer - 13th cen

Accessed at https://origin-rh.web.fordham.edu/halsall/source/breadbeer.asp

The attachment of brewing yeast to glass

K. A. Wood, D. E. Quain, and E. Hinchliffe, “The attachment of brewing yeast to glass,” Journal of the Institute of Brewing, vol. 98, no. 4, pp. 325–327, Jul. 1992. doi:10.1002/j.2050-0416.1992.tb01116.x

Baking for the common good: A reassessment of the assize of bread in medieval England

J. DAVIS, “Baking for the common good: A reassessment of the assize of bread in medieval England,” The Economic History Review, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 465–502, Aug. 2004. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0289.2004.00285.x

Be Hlafum and Wyrtum: Food plants in Anglo-saxon society and economy

D. Banham, “Be Hlafum and Wyrtum: Food plants in Anglo-saxon society and economy,” From Earth to Art, pp. 119–131, Jan. 2003. doi:10.1163/9789004454958_010

• Prestige placed on animal food while plant foods provided the majority of the diet

• There was a general trend of more barley and pottage earlier in the Anglo-Saxon period and more wheat and bread later. Beer was consumed throughout.

• Fruits and vegetables were eaten. Cabbage had not obtained the importance it had in later periods in England yet, instead leaks were the primary vegetable.

• There was a monastic sign language (10th cen) which was present in both Anglo-Saxon England and in France. The near identical signs in both suggest that they came from the same source. French lists included signs for many different kinds of bread and pastries where the Anglo-Saxon lists only had one for a small round loaf. This suggests they didn't commonly use (at least in the monasteries) any other form of bread.

• At the end of the 10th cen the Archbishop proposed a fast that would limit people to bread, herbs and water.

• There is at least on reference to unleavened bread, but it is clear that it was not normal.

• Breads was leavened using either fresh yeast from brewing or sourdough saved from a previous baking.

• ovens existed for the rich, most people would have baked on hearthstones

• Loaves were small and round. An archeological dig in Ipswich dated to the 11th cen. (other sources have said 9th cen) found these small round loaves in a burned house.

• Beer was drank in large enough quantities to be a significant source of nutrition

• The Graveney boat found in the Thames estuary dated to the 10th cen. and had fruiting hops in between timbers.

• Spelt was cultivated throughout the Anglo-Saxon period in small but consistent quantities.

• Spelt and barley probably used for pottage with herbs, vegetables and possibly bacon? 

• Bread has a longer shelf life than pottage possible contributing to its gain in popularity across the Anglo-Saxon period.

• Mechanical mills remained quite rare until the 11cen and these were not common then amongst the populace. There is no evidence of a mandate to use the lords mill.

• Food rents were paid with beer, bread, corn, malt, meat, dairy, eggs, fish and honey

• Rye and oats existed. There is debate on whether oats were purposely planted crops or the wild variety growing as a weed.

• Broad bean did not exist in Anglo-Saxon period, the bean they had is modernly called the horse bean or the Celtic bean.

• Beans are much more common than peas

• The peas were field peas, a predecessor to the modern garden pea, and they were usually dried.

• There is no evidence that the Anglo-Saxons used root vegetables as a major food source for humans

• Some references to turnips and beets, but very rare. It is possible they were grown for their leaves

• Carrots and parsnips were very similar and often were referred to with the same word. They were known but they were not like modern varieties bein smaller, woodier and whitish in color. Orange carrots are a 16th/17th cen development. These also may have been grown for their leaves.

• Celery was known, but was too bitter to eat in any but the smallest quantities

• Wild cabbage had a rank taste and had to be boiled for many hours to be palatable

• No evidence exits for broccoli, sprouts or headed cabbage or other brassica varieties 

• The main vegetable eaten by the Anglo-Saxons was the leek

• Leek referred to a variety of plants in the leek family including: spear leek, hollow leek and bud leek. This also included related plants such as onion, garlic and possibly chive.

• wyrt was a Old English word meaning any plant smaller than a shrub/tree. It was often glossed into latin as herba (herb in modern English)

• suggested that most herbs were used in a medical context

• native fruit seeds have been found at latrine sites. Most common were strawberry and blackberry and raspberry. Also found were apple, pear, cherry, sloe and small plums.

• The only sweet sources of food or drink were fruit and alcoholic drinks. Honey not common and mostly used for mead by the upper class.

• Evidence of imported medlar, mulberries and grapes

• Raisons were a trade good coming into England

• Grapes were grown at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period

• Some evidence suggest that Anglo-Saxons liked wine sweeter than is common modernly

• Hazelnuts and walnuts were eaten, acorns and beechnuts were fed to figs

Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

R. W. Unger, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

Biblioteca Nacional Digital

https://bndigital.bnportugal.gov.pt/en/

National Digital Portuguese archive that includes pdf copies of numerous period books and manuscripts.

The Book of the Civilised Man: An English Translation of the Urbanus Magnus of Daniel of Beccles

F. E. Whelan, O. Spenser, F. Petrizzo, and Daniel, The Book of the Civilised Man: An English Translation of the Urbanus Magnus of Daniel of Beccles. London: Routledge, 2020.

Approximately 1180 (Jervis, 2017)

The chemical identification of ancient British bread flours

 F. McLaren and J. Evans, “The chemical identification of ancient British bread flours,” Civilisations, no. 49, pp. 169–182, Jun. 2002. doi:10.4000/civilisations.1427

2 for bread making the basic ingredients are flour, water and yeast Enoch are needed in set proportions if 100:65:2 regardless of whether the final outcome is a flat bread or a standard white yeast loaf

2 the best quality bread would have been made entirely if wheat flour while inferior breads would have included increasing amounts of bran and germ

2 It is documented that bread flour was produced from a variety of other plant sour es including barley, oats, rye, hazelnuts, pulses, chest-nuts or tubers.

2 Oil/fat supplements were added for those who could afford them and popular additions included butter, milk, meat fat or fish oils

2 bead was made but the addition of a starter is fermented by lactic acid bacteria and is known as sourdough bread

2  In England until 1897, the historical evidence examined by Braun suggested that brewers' or distillers' year be used almost exclusively to initiate fermentation

2 large half pots were recently in overed during Roman excavations at Elms Farm, Essex, which were found dug at angle into the ground 

3 Recently spelt was recovered from Fishbourne Roman Palace (Car Rutgers 1991), bread crumbs water recovered from Roman Richborough and eleven Anglo Saxon sourdough loaves were found during the excavations at the Buttermarket, Ipswich Murphy 1990

7 three samples from eleven charred <<buns>> or loaves are recovered from Mid-Saxon excavations of the stable (circa 8th cen AD) the the Buttermarket site in Ipswich 

7 The bins appear to be made of a mixture of rye Secale cereale L. and two wheats a tetraploid and a hexaploid (possibly T. dicoccum and T. aestivo-compactum  Host.) (McLaren 1990)

Chip Carving and other Surface Carving

E. Rowe, Chip-Carving and Other Surface Carving. London: B.T. Batsford, 1908.

Cooking and cuisine in late Anglo-Saxon England

A. Gautier, “Cooking and cuisine in late Anglo-Saxon England,” Anglo-Saxon England, vol. 41, pp. 373–406, Dec. 2013. doi:10.1017/s0263675112000038

•  The presence of dedicated kitchens appears more frequently in the late Anglo Saxon period and even then almost exclusively elite sites.

• The Old English word for cook (the job) is coc, which derives from the Latin coquus. There is no indigenous Germanic word for a servant whose job it is to cook.

• Sea animal meat trading evident in the early 11th cen. in London.

• References to Herring in the 10th cen. and cod in the 11th cen. at inland sites

• "Early medieval peasant societies seem to have eaten their cereal in three main ways: as boiled/mashed cereal, as beer and as bread"

• Olive oil was know in Anglo Saxon England and imported from Mediterranean regions but was not used for cooking instead being used for religious practices.

• Although cinnamon, ginger, galangal and cloves were known their use seems to be limited to medical. Black pepper seems to be the "common" spice.

• There is no evidence for sauces in this period. There is ample evidence for stock broth and stew.

• Stews, called broþ get more mentions than any other cooking method

• "If we have no Anglo-Saxon cooking books, it seems quite safe to say that it is because the Anglo-Saxons had none". This author argues with the prevalence of texts on other subjects that we have from the Anglo-Saxons on other subjects that it is improbable that, if written, no cook books would have survived.

• After talking of the culinary writing of the French elite at the time the author says "Anglo-Saxon elites, on the other hand, seem to have conceived their 'privileged foods' in a rather different way: pepper, honey, white bread, continental wine, herring, suckling pig, dolphin flesh, pears, maybe even dates, were all 'good', 'prestigious', 'desirable', and this means of course that the preparations that used them were 'good' ones. But on the other hand there no sign of a gastronomic legalese discourse that would state for example that pepper and honey are good with suckling pig but not with herring"

Cozinha Medieval e Renascentista Usos e Hábitos Da Sociedade Portuguesa

I. J. Lacerda, Cozinha Medieval e Renascentista Usos e Hábitos Da Sociedade Portuguesa I. J. Lacerda. Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2015.

Cuisine and conquest: Interdisciplinary perspectives on food, Continuity and change in 11th-century England and beyond

B. Jervis, F. Whelan, and A. Livarda, “Cuisine and conquest: Interdisciplinary perspectives on food, Continuity and change in 11th-century England and beyond,” The Archaeology of the 11th Century, pp. 244–262, Feb. 2017. doi:10.4324/9781315312934-13

Changes to cuisine in England after the Norman Conquest

• Increase in chicken consumption, decrease in duck

• Increase in pork consumption

• Reduction in butter used in cooking, increase in the use of animal fats

• Black pepper was used

• Herbs were used, but don't not seem to have significant usage

• Norman brought and used table cloths, specifically white, as well as spoons, culinary knives and trenchers

• The average age of slaughter of animals decrease, more young animals (think suckling pig etc.) were eaten

• Roasting and boiling were the primary cooking methods, both are depicted in the Bayeux tapestry

• Charing evidence on the outside of vessels used for cooking near the fire suggest that the Saxons cooked food quickly very close to the fire while the Normans preferred to put the vessels farther away for a longer slower cook

• Over the entire Saxon period we see a slowly increasing trent toward consuming marine fish. In early Saxon periods marine fish were only waten at the coast with fresh water fish consumed inland, by the time of conquest marine fish (along with fresh water fish) were eaten everywhere.

• Norman food and customs had a greater (although still not major) effect on the nobilities dining habits, little change was seen for peasants.

• The Bayeux tapestry shows boiling being done in a pot that is most likely metal, but ceramic cooking pots are consistently found in areological digs of pre and pot conquest England. 

• Areas with higher Norman populations post conquest had greater quantities of glazed wares when compared to Anglo-Saxon dense areas

The earliest English culinary recipes: Dietary advice in Old English medical texts

D. Banham, “The earliest English culinary recipes: Dietary advice in Old English medical texts,” Journal of Medieval History, vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 711–724, Aug. 2023. doi:10.1080/03044181.2023.2250943

Elfric’s Colloquy (commonly called Ælfric's Colloquy)

S. J. Harris, “Elfric’s Colloquy,” in Medieval Literature for children, Routledge, 2003, pp. 112–130

The Latin work is estimated to have been written in the first half of the 11th cen. and the Old English glossary is estimated to have been added in the second half of the 11th cen. This is a dialogue between a student, teacher and tradesmen meant to teach young boys Latin.

• The syntax matches Old English word order suggesting that it was either composed in Old English first and then translated or composed in Latin with the specifically to make translation easier

• The shepherd milks the sheep twice a day and makes cheese and butter

• Hunter: "I catch harts[male red deer], boars, roes[roe deer], does and sometimes hares"

• Fisherman:  when asked about what he catches in fresh water "Eels and pike, minnows and burbot, trout and lampreys." When asked about salt water fish "Herring and salmon, porpoises and sturgeon, oysters and crabs, mussels, winkles, cockles, plaice and flounder and lobster." He then goes on to say that he doesn't catch wales because he is too cowardice but other do.

• Fowler catches birds but doesn't specify types. He does say he trains hawks to catch birds for him.

• The Merchant lists spices, wine and oils as things he trades.

• Salter: "None of you eats lunch or dinner happily unless he be amenable to my craft", "you lose butter and cheese curd unless I am present as a preservative for you; you can't even enjoy your herbs" and "who can fill his cellar or storehouse without my craft"

• Baker "without bread, each dinner would bring heartburn"

• Cook: "you will eat your vegetables green and your meat raw - and not even rich broth may you have without my craft" and in response the teacher says "we ourselves can boil the things to be boiled, and roast the things to be roasted"

• When discussing who is the most important craftsman it is said "The plowman furnishes us with bread and drink"

• When asked what he eats the student says "I still enjoy meat" and "vegetables and eggs, fish and cheese, butter and beans." When asked if he eats this all at once he responds "I am not so much of a whirlpool that I ingest every kind of food at one meal". When asked what he drinks "Ale if I have it, water if I don't have ale." When asked about wine he says "I am not so wealthy that I might buy myself wine" and then further says "wine is not a drink for children nor for the stupid, but for the old and wise"

Fodder & Drincan: Anglo-Saxon Culinary History

E. Kay, Fodder & Drincan: Anglo-Saxon Culinary History. London: Prospect Books, 2022.

The Forme of Cury

The Forme of Cury, A Roll of Ancient English Cookery, trans. S. Pegge trans. Currant Books, 2022.

Genetic diversity analysis in Piper species (Piperaceae) using RAPD markers
S. Sen, R. Skaria, and P. M. Muneer, “Genetic diversity analysis in Piper species (Piperaceae) using RAPD markers,” Molecular Biotechnology, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 72–79, Apr. 2010. doi:10.1007/s12033-010-9281-6

Giraldo Fernansex de Prado, Calligraphy manuscript Caderno manuscrito de Caligrafia (1560, Lisbon) 

Typefaces, “Giraldo de Prado,” Giraldo Fernandes de Prado, https://luc.devroye.org/fonts-54363.html (accessed Sep. 7, 2025).

This website gives some captures of the manuscript "Caderno manuscrito de Caligrafia (1560, Lisbon)". This is said to be the first known manuscript on calligraphy in Portugal. I have yet to find a full facsimile of the entire manuscript.

A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption

A. Hagen, A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption. Pinner: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1992.

   The number before each note is the page the information was found on

Chapter 1 Drying, Milling and breadmaking

1 Few OE manuscripts surviving before 10th cen

3 Drying kilns were used throughout the AS period to harden the grain and facilitate threshing

3 Threshing was a winter occupation (Gerefa)

3 Sieving was probably carried out after threshing

4 Saddle querns have been found, but not as popular as rotary querns

4 Neidermendig lava favored for quern stones

4 These rotary lava querns have been found at most middle and late AS sites, native rock was also used

4 18" seems to be the standard size

5 Those who did not possess querns or with limited time might have opted for cracked grains. This after soaking might be more quickly reduced to fragments of kernel which could be boiled and served up with butter, milk or vegetables

5 oxen were evidently also used to provide the motive power for mills by the end of period

5 the water mill may have come to England in the 7th century

5 By the 10th century most large communities had their own mills

5 Tide mills existed

6 Meal (OE: meolu/melu) was term for corn after grinding

6 Meal was sieved (to different degrees) after milling to remove bran

6/7 finally divided flour was available but probably only to the rich

7 Leechdoms: refer to meals of these type: barley, wheat, rye, oat, bean, worm, acorn, hazel/alder

7 unleavened bread may have existed (no evidence given)

8 " the Anglo Saxons may have used the sediment from bottom fermenting yeast - produced by the fermentation at a low temperature of light beers. This is born out by the fact that one Old English terms for yeast, dærst, is derived from dros (dregs)"

8 these could have been wild, from beer or dried (possibly called gist)

9 OE terms unleavened bread þeorfe and raised bread hlaf

9 the action of yeast must have been very well-known since it was used as a source of a number of proverbs

9 the AS seem to have had two basic sizes of load: small and large

9 loaves (from illustrations) are round

9 rule of St. Benedict allowed 1lb of bread per person per day

10 bread may have been cooked in ovens, in a upside down pot covered with ashes/coal, in a pan or on the hearth

10 There are some illustrations showing 4 edges cut off the bread, probably because of ash in the oven

10 Monasteries and other large establishments had bakehouses with lines of ovens by the 9th cen

10 By the conquest large commercial ovens/bakeries existed but peasants would still have cooked on the hearth

12 From food payments (rents) it seems that estates were expected to produce excess bread and the "whole meal flour" was more common than white.

12 Well seasoned loaves are mentioned (possible special) in food rents

12 On feast days, at least in a religious context, the ordinary bread was replaced by a fine kind, or spiced cakes

12 Guild loaves were also to be wel bes ewn, which probably means sprinkled with seeds

12 Dill, caraway, poppy, fennel and sweet cecily seeds could have been used

13 Leechdoms recipe for cake with cumin and march seeds

13 the crumpet may have been available in AS period

13 Illustration of bread in Grube 1934 manuscript illustration

Hagen Handbook 1 Chapter II Dairying

16 Leechdoms mention goat, cow and ewe milk

16 both whey and buttermilk mentioned

17 unimproved breeds such as small Kerry cow are similar to AS cows

17 Calves, lambs and kids would presumably been eaten

17 Monasteries used calf velum would presumably had more available veal to eat

17 records of dairy farms by middle AS period, could have been any dairy animal

18 Colloquy says shepherd made cheese and butter

19 references to drinking skimmed milk, buttermilk and whey are much more common than drinking milk

19/20 unsalted butter may have been made for immediate consumption, but butter was usually salted

21 Anglo Saxons had rennet

21 Wild thistle, safflower seeds and 'lady's bedstraw' all could have been used to curdle milk for cheese

22 Leechdoms tell about making cheese with rennet

22 While some cheese was eaten fresh (and could have been unsalted) the addition if salt seemed to be standard practice

22 Welch seem to have used brine bath for preserving cheese

22 Cheese was hung and may have been smoked either on purpose or accidently

22 It is not known if there were blue cheeses in AS

23 Mature cheese was a novelty for the rich, poor people ate fresh cheese

23 cheese is often a food rent, butter very rarely

24 Butter was produced for the lords table

Hagen Handbook 1 Chapter III Butchery

27 By the end of the 10th cen oxen had to be slaughtered in front of two witnesses

28 There is some evidence that sheep and cattle were hung after slaughter from middle AS period on

29 Evidence of sharp knives for jointing and possible use of saws. Most common for cattle was heavy chopper

29 Less evidence of the careful modern separation of cuts, they ate everything and didn’t seem to differentiate as much as modern butchers

29 Cutting animals lengthwise drastically increased in frequency from the 9th to 12th cen

29 Bayeux shows pig missing lower limbs but with head probably for spit roasting

29 hooves and lowest bones removed, may have been considered waste/not worth transporting

29 Some meat may have been de-boned, non-cooked bones split for marrow extraction have been found

30 Ample evidence of tongue and brain extraction

30 Evidence for extraction of marrow for ointments but also for enriched soups/stews

30 Chopping and lengthwise splitting of bones for boiling common, especially late in AS period

30 Offal probably low status food

30 Grease, bacon fat, lard and suet mentioned in Leechdoms

Hagen Handbook 1 Chapter IV Preservation & Storage

33 Drying in the sun, open air, by the fire or in ovens/kilns was used for cereal crops and beans

33 Some evidence for ceramic fish smokers being used to flavor, rather than cure, the fish

33 Smoking foods may have occurred both on purpose and accidently

34 Pickling in acid or honey were both likely used in AS times

34 Boiling down fruit, and possibly adding honey was most likely used

34 Salting was essential to food preservation in AS times

35 Leechdoms indicate meat and dairy were often salted

35 Use of saltpeter for curing was probably not used yet

35 Whatever the method, bacon was produced in quantity

35 Highest quality bacon comes from lean-fleshed primitive bread pigs that have not been crossed with Chinese breads 

36 Most of the large number of fish referred to in food rents must have been preserved, very often by salting

Hagen Handbook 1 Chapter V Methods of Cooking

46 It seems that even fires which could call on the best fuels were what we would regard as excessively smokey

46 Cooking can be done by direct heat from fire or in a container (pot/pan) over said fire

47 Stones could be heated and added to vessels that can't go on the fire (like wood buckets)

47 Earthen ovens used heated stones in a pit with the meat in clay or wrapped in leaves

47 Hot air ovens existed

49 It seems that large monastic establishments would have specialized cooks

49 Cooks are recognized in the Domesday

50 A large variety of leaves were eaten as green salad

50 Mixtures of cereals, offal, blood etc. were often made into sausage or pudding

51 Salt meat/fish and dried foods were soaked before cooking

51 The principle of marinating was known, beef was marinated in vinegar and herbs (Leechdoms)

51 Vegetables and apples were marinated - the latter overnight in wine and honey

52 cauldrons seem to be the cooking vessel most in evidence in the AS period

53 The AS seem to have boiled food which we (modernly) would expect to be roasted

53 Salt fish would also be boiled, traditionally in milk or butter

54 Honey and butter used together in 3 leechdoms

54 Apples, pears and meddlers were stewed in vinegar, wine or both

54 Broth may have been enriched with milk or butter

54 Bean soup, pea soup, carrot broth and mint broth are mentioned in the leechdoms also hen and mallow leaf

54 Hen and mallow leaf recipe shows AS broth was relatively liquid

55 Groats (grytta) could have been threshes and pounded in a mortar, If the grain had been parched, it needed little further cooking to make it digestible.

55 Unroasted grain soaked in water gelatinized into digestible frumenty

55 Lacnunga says "boil [cropleek] in butter, and shred up… add … barley meal and plenty of white salt, boil for a long time and eat hot"

55 While townsfolk may have eaten more bread, cereals eaten as gruel or porridge probably formed a significant part of the diet

55 Stews were a mainstay of AS cuisine

56 OE gebrædan means to cook by direct application of heat from a fire

56 Fish could be grilled as could cheese and apples

56 10th cen York, cattle vertebrae chopped across transversely in a manner consistent w

with the production of modern for-rib or T-bone cuts

56 9th cen Flaxengate  has archeological evidence of meat cooked on the bone and was probably roasted

56 Only complete cooking spit in Britain is from the "pagan lady" in the isle of man, found with goose remains

56  Poultry on spits in Bayeux tapestry

56 10th cen manuscript shows 3 diners being offered food on a spit, possibly eel

56/57 Bede's commentaries on the first book of Samuel contain talk about both griddle and frying pan

57 Archeological evidence for frying pan start in the early 9th cen

57 OE Rysele meaning lard/pork fat used for frying was probably most common with butter/oil being possible

57 Written sources indicate that fried dishes often contained eggs

57 Leechdoms contain recipes for omelets

58 Oven roasted meat may have been encased in a flour/water paste before baking so that , technically, it was steam baked

58 OE osterhlafas = oyster loaves, probably made by filling a hollowed out loaf with oysters, suet, minced meat, egg and seasoning

58 Sweet omelets contain flowers or fruit were a possibility, as were egg custard mixtures

58 Bread with fruit, such as blackberries, raspberries or whortle berries possible

58 Cereal derived flummery possible

58 OE eft-meltas after meat or dessert were considered morally dubious as, a path to gluttony

58/59 Short bread may have existed as well as bread fortified with butter/oil. Cakes were small possibly 2-5" in diameter

59 Leechdoms mention vinegar, honey and herb sauces as appetizing, no reason this would not have been used with non-medical meals

59 "Prepared Mustard" was apparently used as a flavoring with bread or other food

59 Both cumin and mustard were found in the Oseberg ship burial in Norway (820AD)

59 Cumin mentioned as sauce ingredient in Leechdoms

60 Some basic procedure known: Clarifying butter, whipping cream, salting vegetables and serving with butter or oil and vinegar

60 Hazelnut flour mentioned

Hagen Handbook 1 VI Consumption

67 According to VI Athelstan "meat or cheese or beans, or what ever one eats with bread according to the season"

67 Aelfric's Homily on the life of St. Benedict says Italians "they eat oil…with their food as we do butter"

67 Bread seems to have been eaten with any kind of OE smeoru including drippings, new cheese or lard. If there was nothing more substantial read might be eaten with relish of herbs like OE gilte = black cumin, "The southern wort that is good to eat on bread"

68/69 About 25kg of meat/person/year. More than half would have come from beef. Pigs provided the second largest amount with sheep providing only a small amount

69 Venison seems to have been a fairly scarce meat

69 Wild fowling provided a continuous supply of meat

69 Fish are often shown whole in illustrations of feasting

69 Poultry - fowl and goose where present on sites throughout the period

69 Vegetables, particularly early types of cabbage, onion and leeks and wild plants such as Chenopodium

69 By midsummer grass beef … mackerel was plentiful

70 "Rule of Chrodegang" feast course order: 1) Soft new cheese 2)delicacies i.e. meat pudding/sausages 3) fish or vegetables as the OE þriddan sand = third sending. Also may have gone 2,1,3

Hagen Handbook 1 VII Fasting and VIII Feasting 

no notes

Hagen Handbook 1 IX Special Regimes

96 Plan for the monastery garden of St. Gall included the following trees: Apple, pear, plum, service, medlar, bay, chestnut, fig, quince, peach, hazel, almond, mulberry and walnut

96 In the garden bed included following vegetables: Onions, leeks, celery, radish, carrots, garlic, shallots, lettuce, parsnip, cabbage, parsley, dill, chervil, marigold, coriander, poppy and corn campion (corncockle)

‘In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread’: Cereals and cereal production in the Anglo-Saxon Landscape

D. Banham, “‘In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread’: Cereals and cereal production in the Anglo-Saxon Landscape,” The Landscape Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 175–192, Oct. 2010. doi:10.1017/9781846158780.010

• Food rents often called for wheat bread, white bread or wheat bread flour. When barley was called for it was usually for beer. From this it can be inferred that the elite seem to have a preference for wheat bread.

• The terms "white" and "wheat" are closely related in many Germanic languages.

• The following table shows what percentage of fields each cereal grain was found in. Some fields contained multiple grain types therefore they don't total to 100%.

• The exact origin date of the Ridge and Furrow methodology of farming in England is unknown, but it is speculated it may have been during the Anglo Saxon period. This method allows for wheat to be grown in fields that would not otherwise allowed it. This is due to wheat being (in the Anglo Saxon time period) a fall planted crop that is susceptible to being drown in the wet English winter as opposed to Barley which is a spring planted crop. This is a theory without any concrete evidence.

Language and society in Post-Conquest England: Farming and fishing

W. Rothwell, “Language and society in Post-Conquest England: Farming and fishing,” Modern Language Review, vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 389–407, 2012. doi:10.1353/mlr.2012.0116

Le Viandier de taillevent (English Translation)

J. Prescott, “Le Viandier de taillevent (English Translation),” James Prescott - Le Viandier de Taillevent - Title Page and Table of Contents, https://jpnet.ca/data/viandier/viandier1.html (accessed Oct. 18, 2025).

14th Century Cookery. Based on the Vatican Library Manuscript, Translated into English by James Prescott

The Lusíads

L. de Camões and L. White, The Lusíads. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Middle Anglo-Saxon Cereal Processing Ovens in Chalkpit Field, Sedgeford, Norfolk.

J. Jolleys, I. Drummond, N. Faulkner, and S. Calow, SHARP, rep.

Monasteriales Indicia: The Anglo-Saxon Monastic Sign Language

D. Banham, Monasteriales Indicia: The Anglo-Saxon Monastic Sign Language. Pinner: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1993.

This book offers a introduction discussing the history of monastic sign language in the continent and Anglo-Saxon England as well as the original text of the Anglo-Saxon text side by side with a modern English translation. 

• This monastic sign langue seems to have come out of the Benedictine reform movement of the 10th century which included monks taking vows of silence. It seems to have started with the monastery of Cluny in Burgundy founded in the year 910.

• This manuscript is from the British Library, Tiberius A.III, from Christ church, Canterbury, mid eleventh century.

• There may have been a form of sign monastic language before the Benedictine reform, but no evidence of it survives.

• The similarities between the text in England and those (earlier) texts on the continent make it most likely that it was brought in and then translated and shaped to fit the Anglo-Saxon monks needs.

• There is no other evidence of sign language in the Anglo-Saxon world outside the monasteries.

• There is eveidence that monks used Indicia in thier daily lives and that it was not just something copied down from the continental sources.

• Most of the Anglo-Saxon signs are the same as the continental, but some have been added or altered and others removed. 

• This manuscript that contains this also contains AElfric's Colloquy

• All signs for fancy types of bread are absent from the English list, as is the sign for pancakes

• The sign for a drink flavored with wormwood is also missing

• The sign for butter/animal fat is added in the English and German lists, but not those of southern Europe. Some southern lists have a sign for oil that the northern lists do not.

• This is most likely among the last manuscripts made at Canterbury before the Norman Conquest.

• Food and Drink or things related to them with signs (number in list)

  • • mass bread (21)

    • wine (22)

    • wine flask (23)

    • cloth or napkin (52)

    • dish (53)

    • bread (54)

    • knife (55)

    • skewer (56)

    • boiled vegetables (57)

    • raw vegetables (58)

    • leeks (59)

    • pottage (60)

    • pepper (61)

    • beans (62)

    • peas (63)

    • cheese (64)

    • butter or fat (65)

    • milk (66)

    • eggs (67)

    • salt (68)

    • honey (69)

    • fish (70)

    • eel (71)

    • oyster (72)

    • apple (73)

    • pear (74)

    • plums (75)

    • cherries (76)

    • sloes (77)

    • salt meat (78)

    • cup or a measure (79)

    • lid (80)

    • large bowl (81)

    • little drinking vessel (82)

    • want to drink (83)

    • dripped wine (84)

    • beer (85)

    • herbal drink (86)

    • water (97) - Note: the sign for this is "as if you were going to wash your hands", this may not be thought of as for drinking

    • bake house (111)

The Natural History

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, trans. J. Bostock trans. London: Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, 1855.

accessed from: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137

Book 18, chapter 18 the NATURE OF BARLEY

"Barley-meal, too, is employed for medicinal purposes; and it is a curious fact, that for beasts of burden they make a paste of it, which is first hardened by the action of fire, and then ground. It is then made up into balls, which are introduced with the hand into the paunch, the result of which is, that the vigour and muscular strength of the animal is considerably increased. In some kinds of barley, the ears have two rows of grains,1 and in others more; in some cases, as many as six.2 The grain itself, too, presents certain differences, being long and thin, or else short or round, white, black,3 or, in some instances, of a purple colour. This last kind is employed for making polenta: the white is ill adapted for standing the severity of the weather. Barley is the softest of all the grains: it can only be sown in a dry, loose soil,4 but fertile withal. The chaff of barley ranks among the very best; indeed, for litter there is none that can be compared with it. Of all grain, barley is the least exposed to accidents, as it is gathered before the time that mildew begins to attack wheat; for which reason it is that the provident agriculturist sows only as much wheat as may be required for food. The saying is, that "barley is sown in a money-bag," because it so soon returns a profit. The most prolific kind of all is that which is got in at Carthage,5 in Spain, in the month of April. It is in the same month that it is sown in Celtiberia, and yet it yields two harvests in the same year. All kinds of barley are cut sooner than other grain, and immediately after they are ripe; for the straw is extremely brittle, and the grain is enclosed in a husk of remarkable thinness. It is said, too, that a better polenta6 is made from it, if it is gathered before it is perfectly ripe. "

Book 18, Chapter 23 THE MODE OF GRINDING CORN

"All the grains aræ not easily broken. In Etruria they first parch the spelt in the ear, and then pound it with a pestle shod with iron at the end. In this instrument the iron is notched1 at the bottom, sharp ridges running out like the edge of a knife, and concentrating in the form of a star; so that if care is not taken to hold the pestle perpendicularly while pounding, the grains will only be splintered and the iron teeth broken. Throughout the greater part of Italy, however, they employ a pestle that is only rough2 at the end, and wheels turned by water, by means of which the corn is gradually ground. I shall here set forth the opinions given by Mago as to the best method of pounding corn. He says that the wheat should be steeped first of all in water, and then cleaned from the husk; after which it should be dried in the sun, and then pounded with the pestle; the same plan, he says, should be adopted in the preparation of barley. In the latter case, however, twenty sextarii of grain require only two sextarii of water. When lentils are used, they should be first parched, and then lightly pounded with, the bran; or else, adopting another method, a piece of unbaked brick and half a modius of sand3 should be added to every twenty sextarii of lentils.

Ervilia should be treated in the same way as lentils. Sesame should be first steeped in warm water, and then laid out to dry, after which it should be rubbed out briskly, and then thrown into cold water, so that the chaff may be disengaged by floating to the surface. After this is done, the grain should again be spread out in the sun, upon linen cloths, to dry. Care, however, should be taken to lose no time in doing this, as it is apt to turn musty, and assume a dull, livid colour. The grains, too, which are just cleaned from the husk, require various methods of pounding. When the beard is ground by itself, without the grain, the result is known as "acus,"4 but it is only used by goldsmiths.5 If, on the other hand, it is beaten out on the threshing-floor, together with the straw, the chaff has the name of "palea," * * * * and in most parts of the world is employed as fodder for beasts of burden. The residue of millet, panic, and sesame, is known to us as "apluda;" but in other countries it is called by various other names."

Book 18, Chapter 27 THE METHOD OF MAKING BREAD: ORIGIN OF THE ART.

It seems to me quite unnecessary to enter into an account of the various kinds of bread that are made. Some kinds, we find, receive their names from the dishes with which they are eaten, the oyster-bread,1 for instance: others, again, from their peculiar delicacy, the artolaganus,2 or cake-bread, for example; and others from the expedition with which they are prepared, such as the "speusticus,"3 or "hurry-bread." Other varieties receive their names from the peculiar method of baking them, such as oven-bread,4 tin-bread,5 and mould-bread.6 It is not so very long since that we had a bread introduced from Parthia, known as water-bread,7 from a method in kneading it, of drawing out the dough by the aid of water, a process which renders it remarkably light, and full of holes. like a sponge: some call this Parthian bread. The excellence of the finest kinds of bread depends principally on the goodness of the wheat, and the fineness of the bolter. Some persons knead the dough with eggs or milk, and butter even has been employed for the purpose by nations that have had leisure to cultivate the arts of peace, and to give their attention to the art of making pastry. Picenum still maintains its ancient reputation for making the bread which it was the first to invent, alica8 being the grain employed. The flour is kept in soak for nine days, and is kneaded on the tenth with raisin juice, in the shape of long rolls; after which it is baked in an oven in earthen pots, till they break. This bread, however, is never eaten till it has been well9 soaked, which is mostly done in milk mixed with honey.

Objects and social change: A case study from Saxo-Norman Southampton

B. Jervis, “Objects and social change: A case study from Saxo-Norman Southampton,” Archaeology After Interpretation, pp. 219–234, Jun. 2016. doi:10.4324/9781315434254-11

Old English Beor

C. Fell, “Old English Beor,” Leeds Studies in English, vol. 8, pp. 76–95, 1975.

The Origin and Early History of the Cultivated Barleys: A Botanical and Archaeological Synthesis

H. H. Clark, “The Origin and Early History of the Cultivated Barleys: A Botanical and Archaeological Synthesis,” The Agricultural History Review, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1–18, 1967.

Origin and evolution of the genus piper in peninsular India

S. Sen et al., “Origin and evolution of the genus piper in peninsular India,” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, vol. 138, pp. 102–113, Sep. 2019. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2019.05.033

Origins, evolution, domestication and diversity of saccharomyces beer yeasts

B. Gallone et al., “Origins, evolution, domestication and diversity of saccharomyces beer yeasts,” Current Opinion in Biotechnology, vol. 49, pp. 148–155, Feb. 2018. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2017.08.005

Oven Building

“Oven building,” Regia Anglorum - Experiment in Building an Anglo-Saxon Style Oven, https://regia.org/research/life/ovens.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com (accessed Feb. 22, 2025).

The Padre Island Crossbows

J. B. Arnold, D. R. Watson, and D. H. Keith, “The Padre Island Crossbows,” Historical Archaeology, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 4–19, 1995.

The Plan of St. Gall: A Study of the Architecture & Economy of & Life in a Paradigmatic Carolingian Monastery

W. Horn et al., The Plan of St. Gall: A Study of the Architecture & Economy of & Life in a Paradigmatic Carolingian Monastery. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.

Accessed at: https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=2007_04/uvaBook/tei/b000555300.xml

The Plan of St. Gall in Brief

L. Price, W. Horn, and E. Born, The Plan of St. Gall in Brief. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982.

Portuguese Calligraphy of the XVI Century

A. L. Pino Duque, Portuguese Calligraphy of the XVI Century. Accessed: Sep. 6, 2025.

Mostly covers information about the 1590 calligraphy text "Exemplares de diversas sorted de letras" written by Manuel Barata. It compares it to other European texts that are similar, mainly from Italy.

Lists Barata's work as the first frinted in Portugal (1590) and says that Giraldo Fernandez's is the first manuscrit (1560).

Post-Roman and Medieval Drying Kilns: Foundations of Archaeological Research

R. Rickett and M. McKerracher, Post-Roman and Medieval Drying Kilns: Foundations of Archaeological Research. Oxford: Archaeopress Access Archaeology, 2021.

Regional Characteristics of 16th- and 17th-Century European Printing Paper

X. Xiaojie, “Regional Characteristics of 16th- and 17th-Century European Printing Paper,” Paper stories – paper and book history in early modern europe, pp. 73–90, Mar. 2023. doi:10.1515/9783111162768

Article goes over paper making differences from 24 pieces ranging the 16th and 17th century from different European countries with a brief comparison to asian production at the same time.

A second handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food and drink: Production and distribution

A. Hagen, A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food and Drink: Production and Distribution. Hockwold cum Wilton: Anglo-Saxon Books, 2002.

The Sedgeford Ovens

A. C. Wolff, “The Sedgeford Ovens: An Anglo-Saxon Cereal Processing Case Study,” thesis, Department of Archaeology, 2017

This site has been dated 720AD to 850AD

Tastes of Anglo-Saxon England

M. Savelli, Tastes of Anglo-Saxon England. Norfolk, England: Anglo-Saxon, 2002.

Thetford-type ware production in Norwich

M. Atkin, B. Ayers, and S. Jennings. "Thetford-type ware production in Norwich," E Anglian Archaeol, Rep 17, pp. 61-104, 1983. 

Two Anglo-norman culinary collections

C. B. Hieatt and R. F. Jones, “Two Anglo-norman culinary collections edited from British Library Manuscripts Additional 32085 and Royal 12.C.XII,” Speculum, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 859–882, Oct. 1986. doi:10.2307/2853971

Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages

P. E. McGovern, Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 2010.

West Stow: The Anglo-Saxon Village Volume 1:Text

S. West, “West Stow: The Anglo-Saxon Village Volume 1:Text,” East Anglian Archaeology, vol. 24, 1985.

Early Anglo-Saxon Site

Hall 1: Burt sand 2ft across, no hearth

Hall 2: Burt sand, no hearth

Hall 3: A patch of collapsed, partially burnt clay overlapped the central part of the west end and contained a fragment of plain Anglo-Saxon pottery

Hall 4: No hearth found

Hall 5: Three hearths

Hall 5: No hearth found

Hall 6: Indications of industry, small clay pit 1ft6in x 1ft3in

Hearths outside of buildings

7 hearths total, 6 conclusively Anglo-Saxon in date, the remaining (H3) is of same tupe and closely associated with a group of Anglo-Saxon pits which produced carburized grain.

H1: A circular burnt area, 4ft in diameter, of reddened earth and burnt flints; 6in thick

H2: An irregular area of burnt clay 3ft 6in to 4ft across and 3-5in thick, based on large flints

H3: An irregular and patch area of burnt clay 8ft across and 3-6in thick. Closely associated with pits that contained carburized grain

H4: A small area of Roman tile fragments laid to form a small hearth 1ft 6in by 2ft 6in

H5: An oval area of fired clay with fragments of Roman tile and flint nodules 4ft by 3ft and 5in thick

H6: Small patch of burnt clay and stones 1ft 6in square

H7: Small patch of burnt clay and flints, 2ft square

What was `welsh ale’ in Anglo-saxon england?

A. Breeze, “What was `welsh ale’ in Anglo-saxon england?,” Neophilologus, vol. 88, no. 2, pp. 299–301, Apr. 2004. doi:10.1023/b:neop.0000016447.55476.be

The yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae - the main character in Beer Brewing

E. J. Lodolo, J. L. F. Kock, B. C. Axcell, and M. Brooks, “The yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae - the main character in Beer Brewing,” FEMS Yeast Research, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 1018–1036, Sep. 2008. doi:10.1111/j.1567-1364.2008.00433.x

Texts yet to be located:

Anglo-Saxon Charters, Robertson 1939

• Is said to have a partial shopping list for a funeral feast from 12th cen England (Banham pg 176)

https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Anglo-Saxon-Charters-Cambridge-Studies-English-Legal/31611315505/bd

https://www.amazon.com/Anglo-Saxon-Charters-Cambridge-Studies-English/dp/0521178320

The Knowledge and uses of food plants in Anglo-Saxon England

https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/3d4b9f74-fb4b-41c7-83f6-840865e37ba9

Conquest, ceramics, continuity and change. Beyond representational approaches to

continuity and change in early medieval England: a case study from Anglo-Norman Southampton, Jervis

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/emed.12026

Anglo-Saxon Pottery: A Symposium

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00766097.1959.11735584

Saxon and Norman Pottery from Colchester Castle Park

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquaries-journal/article/abs/saxon-and-norman-pottery-from-colchester-castle- park/118BA55352C7AFE90AE145DABC85E0AC

Eating and Drinking in Roman Britain

Anglo-Saxon Appetites: Food and Drink and Their Consumption in Old English and Related Literature

H. Magennis, Anglo-Saxon Appetites: Food and Drink and Their Consumption in Old English and Related Literature. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts Press, 1999.

England and the Continent in the Eighth Century: The Ford Lectures Delivered in the Univ. of Oxford in the Hilary Term,1943

Ordered: 

W. Levison, England and the Continent in the Eighth Century: The Ford Lectures Delivered in the Univ. of Oxford in the Hilary Term,1943. Oxford: Clarendon Pr, 1973.

Beer and Brewing in Medieval Culture and Contemporary Medievalism

J. A. Geck, R. O’Neill, and N. Phillips, Beer and Brewing in Medieval Culture and Contemporary Medievalism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.

Umbelliferous minor crops - Riggs - 1995

Ely Farming Memoranda - Robertson - 1956 -  in Anglo Saxon Charters?

The Norman Conquest: A Zooarchaeological Perspective