Living And Dining In Medieval Paris

The Household of a Fourteenth-Century Knight

Nicole Crossley-Holland

A richly detailed account of the culinary world of fourteenth-century Paris. At the centre of this account lies the Ménagier de Paris, a medieval manuscript covering all aspects of food preparation and household skills, written by a well-to-do knight for his fifteen-year-old wife. Through her meticulous study of the manuscript, Nicole Crossley-Holland paints a vivid picture of life in the knight's household: his city residence with its walled vegetable and herb garden; his home farm which provided meat and dairy produce; the country estate where he trained sparrowhawks and hunted wild boar.

The author gives a comprehensive description of medieval food economy. Methods of food preservation, cooking techniques, recipes and presentation are thoroughly explored. Menus, ranging from the simple and everyday to elaborate wedding feasts, are described in detail.

The author of the Ménagier has remained anonymous for over six hundred years. Now, in a remarkable piece of scholarly detective work, Nicole Crossley-Holland reveals his identity. . .

'Crossley-Holland with her usual thoroughness and painstaking scholarship provides convincing proof of the menagier's identity . . . a fascinating and exhaustive tableau of the lives of medieval gentry and their cohorts . . . Judiciously illustrated . . . Crossley-Holland shows a keen perception of society in the Middle Ages.' (French Review)

‘ . . . Crossley-Holland’s tome offered a happy surprise: the menagier’s text serves as a springboard to delve into many aspects of daily life in the fourteenth century, and features a detective-style inquiry into the identity of the man and his residences. Crossley-Holland, with her usual thoroughness and painstaking scholarship, provides convincing proof of the menagier’s identity . . . the author has fashioned a fascinating and exhaustive tableau of the lives of medieval gentry and their cohorts . . . judiciously illustrated . . . Crossley-Holland shows a keen perception of society in the Middle Ages.’ (French Review)

' . . . it is when she comes, in part 3, to understanding and interpreting medieval recipes and culinary techniques that the author really comes into her own. The effect is positively mouth-watering as she all but cooks the dishes in front of the reader . . . The book is attractively illustrated . . . Altogether it is a most agreeable, not to say salivating, read.' (Economic History Review)

' . . . an enthralling account of domestic life at the time . . . This book is clearly based on a lightly worn scholarship and meticulous research. It is immensely readable . . . The book has wide appeal, is attractively produced and has illustrations of elucidatory charm. (New Welsh Review)

'Through her meticulous study of the manuscript, Nicole Crossley-Holland paints a vivid picture of life in the knight's household . . . a masterpiece of scholastic research and will be of intense interest to anyone with an interest in medieval studies.' (Wisconsin Bookwatch)

'The impressive achievement of historian Nicole Crossley-Holland's study Living and Dining in Medieval Paris, is not just that she vividly recreates the everyday existence of the people. She also manages to make many of their customs seems as familiar to us as our own . . . Dr Crossley-Holland's loving account of life in Medieval Paris is richly detailed.' (Western Mail)

Nicole Crossley-Holland is Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales where she teaches medieval history (at Lampeter and Aberystwyth).