Dining with our medieval ancestors - 1/4

It’s time for your taste buds!

Discover what our medieval ancestors ate, drank… and how they laid their table. What an art!
In the 12th and 13th centuries, people ate according to their quality: “Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are”… So, just like clothing, the medieval meal was also a social marker.

For the working man, it’s mainly vegetarian, but the vegetables aren’t really those of today, and on his humble table, the king of foods is bread.

Aristocratic food, on the other hand, was rich in taste and color, higher in protein and spicier, and the conviviality of the meal was often characterized by a highly codified ritual: expressions still used today such as “Dresser la table”, “Mettre le couvert” and “Faire bonne chère” bear witness to this.

In the cathedral, the images of aristocratic meals engraved in glass and stone are not only “Windows to the Middle Ages”, they also often have a religious connotation… Among them, that of the Eucharistic meal, with bread and wine omnipresent.

The main foods and their symbolism…

Parable of the Prodigal Son stained glass window © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread – High choir window (donated by bakers) © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread – High glass roof in the nave (donated by bakers) © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread – Detail from the stained glass window of Saint Sylvester © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread – Stained glass window of Saint Eustace (left), and south portal trumeau (right) © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread, the fruit of the earth and human labour

From sowing to harvesting… to threshing… North portal: the Signs of the Zodiac (sculpture on left); Signs of the Zodiac stained glass window © NDC – fonds Gaud

…to the grains – Joseph’s stained glass window © NDC – fonds Gaud

…to the kneading of flour and water – Apostles stained glass window © NDC – fonds Gaud

…to the bread “balls” – Apostles’ stained glass window © NDC – fonds Gaud

…at the “bakery”, at the talemaker’s – Stained glass window of the Apostles © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread: the first Eucharistic species – In the Old Testament: Melchizedek in the north portal (sculpture), and in the lancet under the north rose © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread: the first Eucharistic species – In the New Testament *“Take and eat, this is my body given up for you”*: The Last Supper, Apostles’ stained glass window © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread: the first Eucharistic species – Glass window of Saint Catherine © NDC – fonds Gaud

Bread: first Eucharistic species – The communion: Stained glass window of Saint Andrew (left); stained glass window of Saint Julian the Hospitaller (right)

Apostles’ stained glass window © NDC – fonds Gaud

The Epiphany cake: January at the north portal (on the left); and on the right at the royal portal (12th century) © NDC – fonds Gaud

The waffles: the pastry chefs, donors of the Saint Peter stained glass window (nave) © NDC – fonds Gaud

The practice of almsgiving… in times of famine: on the left, the Saint Anthony stained glass window; on the right, the Saint Thomas stained glass window © NDC – fonds Gaud

Article taken from the lecture “Dining with our medieval ancestors” by Véronique des Boscs,
from the Cathedral’s Visitor Service,
as part of the 2023 Autumn Cycle