The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages Quotes

“Food in a castle was served in the great hall, a large room usually on an upper floor. The lord’s table was set up along one wall on a small dais, the rest of the tables were positioned in a perpendicular fashion to the lord’s dais. Lower tables were called trestle tables, and when the meals were not being eaten, these tables were taken down and stacked in designated areas. The lord, his guests and family who all sat at the lord’s table were the only ones to have chairs; everyone else sat on a bench. Breakfast was a small snack usually served after morning mass. It consisted of a hunk of bread and ale or cider for the retainers and servants. The lord, his family and guests might be served white bread with a”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles From 500-1500

“Dinner, served between 10:00 A.M. and noon, was the main meal of the day. A trumpeter or crier would announce the meal at a castle. When a guest entered, the ladies would curtsey and take their seats. The lord might give the guest a light, quick kiss before showing the guest to his seat at the lord’s table. Attendants or pages would bring a washbowl forward and pour water for the guest and lord out of an aquanmanile (an elaborate pitcher). The rest of the diners would wash their hands in a lavabo-type dispenser in the great hall and dry their hands on a long towel. They would then take their seats at the lower trestle tables on benches that often served as their beds at night. The diners were served in order: first the visiting clergy, the visiting nobles, the lord and his family, then the retainers.”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles From 500-1500

“A large trencher made of bread was set on the table (one for every two people). One person sliced the trencher and kept half, and the other person used the second half as a plate. Plates are not found in England until the very end of the fourteenth century. Dinner began with a blessing from the chaplain followed by a procession led from the unoccupied side of the lord’s table by the steward who oversaw the staff.”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles From 500-1500

“(forks did not appear until the late fourteenth century and weren’t commonly used until the Renaissance).”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles From 500-1500