At Tyndal, two daily meals were served in which the flesh of any quadruped was banned, except for the sick and in other rare situations. At each meal, two cooked dishes were presented and a third of fresh fruit or vegetables, if such were available. A monastery affluent enough to build fish ponds (Tyndal Priory has them), would salt or air-dry their own fish to eat during the winter months, although other houses might purchase fish from fish mongers if close to rivers or the coast. Chicken would likely be fresh, although a bit tough since aged birds would be killed first, or else sun-dried or smoked for preservation. A quarter liter of wine per day was allowed (ale is drunk primarily at Tyndal by the religious), and all meals must be finished before dark. It was both an inconvenience and exception when the abbots in this story ate their supper so late, but courtesy and their rank demanded that the common practice be changed for that one meal.
Research into historical weather can be fun, but looking for specific thirteenth-century data on regional storms or unique episodes is a challenge. For this book, I hoped to find a cold winter to cause travel problems as well as provide atmosphere. Luckily, I found a site that gave me information based on written descriptions. The winter of 1281/1282 was perfect, as nasty a one as I had longed for. Snow lasted from Christmas to March. The Thames froze so solidly that people could walk across it. My favorite detail was the ice damage done to five arches of the medieval London Bridge, perhaps causing collapse. This gave me confidence that East Anglia was snowy, bridges could crumble, and the road to Norwich might well have become impassable.
Unlike the Saint Skallagrim I mentioned in Sorrow Without End, Saint Wilgyth of Cholsey was real, and I discovered her during one of those moments of wanton browsing which often produce the most fun tidbits. Although little is known about her, she was a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon saint venerated locally in Berkshire. Legend says her father may have been a Cornish or Welsh chieftain from Glamorgan and that a few other siblings were either bishops or saints. She appears in this book because I needed a female saint with a noted facial paleness. Since Saint Wilgyth was forced to watch while her stepmother killed two of her sisters after their father died, I felt certain she would have the requisite pallor.
Bibliography
The following is a list of tempting books that discuss food, recipes, and manners in the medieval period. I also added a delightful summary of papal histories, some interesting information on monastic sign language, and yet another treasure on medieval medicine. May you enjoy!
Food in Medieval Times, by Melitta Weiss Adamson, Greenwood Press, 2004.
Monasteriales Indicia: The Anglo-Saxon Monastic Sign Language, edited and translated by Debby Banham, Anglo-Saxon Books, 1996.
The Medieval Cookbook (revised edition), by Maggie Black, Getty Publications, 2012.
Silence and Sign Language in Medieval Monasticism: The Cluniac Tradition c. 900-1200, by Scott Bruce, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Medieval Medicine: The Art of Healing, from Head to Toe, by Luke Demaitre, Praeger, 2013.
Food and Feast in Medieval England, by P. W. Hammond, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1993.
Oxford Dictionary of Popes, by J. N. D. Kelly, Oxford University Press, 1986.
Medieval Tastes: Food, Cooking, and the Table, by Massimo Montanari (trans, Beth Archer Brombert), Columbia University Press, 2015.
Food in Medieval England: Diet and Nutrition, edited by C. M. Woolgar, D. Serjeantson, and T. Waldron, Oxford University Press, 2006.
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