Thursday, March the 11th, 2004
back to: title, date or indexes
The rest of today's content is food-related, for some reason, so this seems an appropriate item to include. When George Nevil, brother to the Earl of Warwick, was installed as the Archbishop of York in 1470, he arranged a banquet for the nobility, gentry and clergy, as was the custom. Here is a list of what they ate (spellings sic throughout) :
300 quartrs of wheat, 300 ton of ale, 104 ton of wine, 1 pipe of spic'd wine, 80 fat oxen, 6 wild bulls, 300 pigs, 1004 wethers, 300 hogs, 300 calves, 3000 geese, 3000 capons, 100 peacocks, 200 cranes, 200 kids, 2000 chickens, 4000 pidgeons, 4000 rabitts, 204 bitterns, 4000 ducks, 400 hernsies, 200 pheasants, 500 partridges, 4000 woodcocks, 400 plovers, 100 carlews, 100 quails, 1000 eggets, 200 rees, 4000 bucks and does and roebucks, 155 hot venison pasties, 100 dishes of jellies, 4000 cold venison pasties, 2000 hot custards, 4000 ditto cold, 400 tarts, 300 pikes, 300 breams, 8 seals, 4 porpusses.
The original written record of this menu used to be kept in the Tower of London; perhaps it still is.