Spice: The History of a Temptation
Page 44
Epilogue: The End of the Spice Age
Though Poivre is an occasionally untrustworthy judge of his own achievements, the best accounts of his spice odyssey remain his own – not least because they are an accurate indicator of the scope of his ambitions. His writings have been edited and abridged by Henri Cordier, in Relation abrégée des voyages faits par le Sieur [Poivre] pour le Service de la Compagnie des Indes, printed in Revue de l’histoire des colonies françaises, 6, no. 1 (1918). Also useful is Un Manuscrit inédit de Pierre Poivre: Les Mémoires d’un voyageur, edited by Louis Malleret (Paris: École française de l’Extrême-Orient, 1968). A fuller version of events may be found in Poivre’s Oeuvres complètes (Paris: Fuchs, 1797). Poivre has had no shortage of later admirers, among them Madeleine Ly-Tio-Fane, in Mauritius and the Spice Trade: The Odyssey of Pierre Poivre (Port Louis; Esclapon, 1958) and The Triumph of Jean Nicolas Céré and his Isle Bourbon collaborators (Paris: Mouton, 1970). See also the Abbé Raynal’s Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes (Geneva: J.L. Pellet, 1780) and Marthe de Fels, Pierre Poivre ou l’Amour des Épices (Paris: Hachette, 1968). On Spanish-colonial spices, see A.J.R. Russell-Wood, The Portuguese Empire, 1415–1808 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), 152–6, and N. Monardes, Historia de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias occidentales (Seville: Alonso Escrivano, 1574), 99.
The VOC’s demise and the diminishing returns on the spice trade are discussed by V. Kanapathypillai, ‘Helen or Costly Bride: The VOC and the Cinnamon Trade of Sri Lanka 1766–1796’, Modern Ceylon Studies, 2 (1987), 133–46; H. Wright, ‘The Moluccan Spice Monopoly 1770–1824’, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 31, no. 4 (1958), 1–116; and E.S. De Klerck, History of the Netherlands East Indies (Amsterdam: B.M. Israël, 1975); also Boxer, Dutch Seaborne. Fernand Braudel has a telling discussion of the VOC’s decline in Civilization and Capitalism, 15th to 18th Century, translated by Siân Reynolds (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), vol. 1, 220–4; Vol. 3, 227–35; see also B.E.L. Carl, Traité de la richesse des princes et de leurs états et des moyens simples et naturels pour y parvenir (Paris: T. Legras, 1722–23), 236; John Nickolls (pseud.), Remarques sur les désavantages et les avantages de la France et de la Grande Bretagne (London: T. Osborne, 1754), 253.
On the challenge to spices posed by other flavours, see Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, vol. 1, 224–65. The topic is also discussed by Wolfgang Schivelbusch in Tastes of Paradise, translated by David Jacobson (New York: Pantheon, 1992). See also Alan Girard, ‘Le triomphe de “La cuisinière bourgeoise”. Livres culinaires, cuisine et société en France aux XVIIe et XVIIe siècles’, Revue d’Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, 24 (1977); Barbara Wheaton, Savoring the Past: The French Kitchen and Taste from 1300 to 1789 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983). The Reformation’s implications for cuisine are discussed by Pullar, Consuming Passions, 126–30. On some enduring medicinal uses of spice see Walter Baley, A Short Discourse of the Three Kindes of Peppers in Common Use, and Certaine Special Medicines Made of the Same, Tending to the Preservation of Health (Place of publication unknown: Eliot’s Court Press, 1588); A. Mackaile, Macis Macerata: or, A Short Treatise, Concerning the Use of Mace (Aberdeen: John Forbes, 1677). On aphrodisiacs, see A.-R. de Lens, Pratiques des harems marocains: sorcellerie, médecine, beauté (Paris: Libraire orientaliste, 1925); Dan McKenzie, Aromatics and the Soul: A Study of Smells (London: W. Heinemann, 1923). The reference to Coca-Cola is from Mark Pendergrast, For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Unauthorized History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company that Makes it (New York: Scribner’s, 1993), 422.
*As of course it still is – the rate at which ‘rustic Tuscan’ cookbooks are published shows no signs of faltering.
INDEX
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Page numbers in italic refer to illustrations
Abelard, Peter 320
Abreu, António de 32, 33
Acosta, Cristobal xxi, 109, 163, 259, 305
Acts of Sharbil, The 263
Ademar III, Viscount of Limoges 113
adulteration xxxvi, 197–8
Ælfric, Abbot of Eynsham 113
Aelian 228
Aeschylus 277
Æthelred the Unready, King of England 113
Aframomum melegueta 49
Agatharchides of Cnidus 270
Ailly, Pierre d’: Imago Mundi 55
Al Biruni 202
al-Ghazali 225
al-Nefzaoui, Sheikh Mohammed: The Perfumed Garden 246–7, 255–7
Al-Tifashi 224
Alain of Lille: Nature’s Complaint 314–15
Alaric, King of the Goths 95
Alberouny of Kiva 30
Albertus Magnus: Book of Secrets 194
Albinus, Caecina: Saturnalia 94
Albuquerque, Affonso d’ 41
Alcuin 183, 292
Aldhelm, St 104–5
Aldobrandino of Siena 136, 138
ale 132–5
Alexander VI, Pope 27
Alexander the Great 66
Alexandria 22, 24, 48, 50, 66, 70, 101, 117, 184, 207
Alexis: The Apothecary 201
allspice 12, 168fn, 230, 304
Almanzor, Sultan of Tidore 32
aloes 8, 9, 191, 204, 205, 303
Alphabet of Tales, The 252–3
Alpinia officinarum 50fn
Ambon, Moluccas 41, 43, 231, 336, 341
Ambrose, St 289, 292
ambrosia 269–70
Americas xxiv, 3–14, 34
Anacreon 236
Ancrene Riwle 18
Andeli, Henri d’: ‘Battle of the Wines’ 131
Andrew, Laurence 140
Andrew, St 171
Ansegisus, St 317
Anselm of Laon 115
Anthimus 98, 99, 137
Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria 264
Antipater of Sidon 236
Antiphanes 62, 270; Anteia 237
aphrodisiacs, see sex
Apicius: De Re Coquinaria 72, 75–9, 98–9, 138
Apocalypse of Peter 46, 290
Apostolic Constitutions 286
Apuleius 68, 82, 240–1, 304;
Golden Ass 73, 239
Arabs: armies 106–7, 298
in India 18, 19, 20–1
merchants and traders 20–1, 24, 50, 66, 71, 94, 101, 330
science 187, 188–9, 212, 243
sexual medicine 222–5
and spice trade 5–6, 41, 101, 117
trade with Christendom 299
see also Islam
Archilochus 236
Arib ibn Saïd al-Katib al-Qurtubi 223
Aristion 63
Aristophanes: Birds 270–1
Clouds 237
Daetales 238
Lysistrata 236
Aristotle 214, 237
On Drunkenness 77fn
Arles 92, 93
Arnald of Villanova 193, 198, 215
On the Preservation of Youth 191
Arnulphus, St 132–3
Arsenius, St 249
Artois, Robert d’ 179
arugula 76, 213, 220fn
Asa, King of Israel 168
Asoka, Mauryan Emperor 66
Assyria 271
Athenaeus: Banquet of the Learned 83
Athenagoras 286
Attila the Hun 97
Augustine, St 48, 171, 172, 249–50, 311–12
On the Customs of the Manichaeans 226
Augustus, Roman Emperor 67, 68, 69, 86, 215
Ausonius: ‘On Food’ 93
Auvray, Jean 215
Avicenna 214, 223
Canon of Medicine 136, 188–9
Avitus of Vienne, St 47
Babu, Sultan of Ternate 42
&nb
sp; Babylon 250–1
Bachan, Moluccas xxviii, 31
Bacon, Roger 191
Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem 176–7, 180
Baley, Walter 355
Bali 170fn, 264
Ball, John 160–1
balsam 165, 168, 237, 239, 242, 268, 288, 298, 302
Bandas (South Moluccas) 31–2,41, 50, 336
banquets: clerical 319–22
early Middle Ages 97,99
medieval 147–50
Roman 82–5
barbarians 87, 92, 93, 95–7
Barcelona 3, 5, 115
Barnett, Captain 338
Barros, João de 31
Bartholomew the Englishman 215
Basil, St 286, 312
Batavia 338–9, 345
Bauhin, Gaspard 190
bdellium 168
Bede, Venerable 142, 183, 291, 294, 301–2
Ecclesiatical History 185
Bedford, Lucy, Countess of 200
Bell, Captain John 343
Benedict, St 312
Benedict XII, Pope 151fn
Benedict Crispus, St 183
Benjamin of Tudela 117
Berengar, Holy Roman Emperor 300–1
Bergens, Gerard: De Pestis Praeservatione 205
Bernard of Clairvaux, St 306–11, 313, 316–17, 319
Bible 290
Exodus 278, 281, 301, 303
Ezekiel 250, 265
Genesis 48, 272, 279
Hebrew 201, 235, 279–82, 284. 289
Kings 281–2
Proverbs 234
Revelation 250–1
Song of Songs xxv, 233–4, 250, 291–2
Vulgate 292
Black Death 202–5, 207
Black Sea 101, 116, 153, 207
Boadicea, Queen 87
Boccaccio, Giovanni 204
The Decameron 53
Bockenhym, Johannes: Registro di cucina 217
Boileau, Nicolas: The Ridiculous Meal 347
Boniface, St 299–300
Boniface VIII, Pope 151
Book of Vices and Virtues 145
Borde, Andrew 133, 137
Born, Ralf de 322
Brazil 20, 28, 344, 348
Breasted, James 274
Breda, Treaty of 43
Brettschneider, Johann 133
Brillat-Savarin, Anthelme 82, 97, 214
British Empire 343, 345, 353
Brueghel, Peter, the Elder 125–6
Bryene, Alice de 133, 144
Burchard the Venerable, Count of Vendôme 319
burials, see funeral customs
Burton, Sir Richard 247, 248
Burton, Robert 146
Byzantine Empire 101, 107–8, 116;
embalming 165
merchants 100, 101, 208, 330
plague 207
Cabral, Pedro Alvares 20–1
Caesar, Julius 87, 248, 265
Caesarius of Heisterbach 134, 325–6
The Dialogue of Miracles 324
Cairo 117
calamus xxv, 239
Calepodius, St 172–3
Calicut, India 15, 16, 19, 21, 25
Zamorin of 19, 21
Calixtus II, Pope 299
Camões, Luís Vaz de: Lusiads 14, 21, 26, 44
Canada xxix, 12
Cape Verde Islands 27
Caracalla, Roman Emperor 94
caraway 76
cardamom: as aphrodisiac 224, 255
early
Middle Ages 98
of India 17
Middle Ages 159
perfume ingredient 237, 238, 254
Roman use 76
sacred use 303
in wine 129
Carême, Antonin 353–4
Caribbean 7–12, 23, 56, 343
Caribs 4, 56
Carolingians 107, 300
Carter, Howard 168
Cartland, Barbara: Food for Love xxv–xxvi
cassia xxxvii, 97, 265
Biblical references 233, 266, 278, 281
cassia tree xxxvii; funerary use 168, 169, 170, 171
medical use 183
perfume ingredient 237, 238, 243
price 80
proliferation of 344
sacred use and associations 266, 275, 282, 292, 303
in wine 128
Cassiodorus 103, 128
Cato 86
Catullus 241
Causton, Alice 135
Cervantes, Miguel xxviii; Don Quixote 55, 143–4, 234
Ceylon, see Sri Lanka
Chajan, Avar chieftain 97
Champlain, Samuel de xxix
Chanca, Diego Alvarez 9
Chandragupta II, Mauryan Emperor 66
Chanson de Roland 177
Charas, Moses 225
Charlemagne, Emperor 102, 104, 105, 107, 108, 177–8, 200
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor 149
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 154
Charles II, King of England 331
Charles, Prince of Wales 103
Charles I the Bald, King of France 176
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy 149
Chaucer, Geoffrey 134, 156, 244
Canterbury Tales 121, 145
‘Doctour of Phisik’ of 189, 197
‘Merchant’s Tale’ 210–13; ‘Pardoner’s Tale’ 327
‘Parson’s Tale’ 295
chilli 12–13, 230 348
Chilperic II, King of Franks 102
China xxxvi–xxxvii, 65
Arab merchants in 101
Chinese traders 50
medicine 202
plague 206
spice plantations 344
travellers in 53
Chios 8fn
Chlotar III, King of Franks 102
Chrétien de Troyes: Cligés 221–2
Perceval 128
Christian Church 45, 57, 135, 279
apocryphal literature 46, 289–90
bishops’ spices 92–3
celibacy 311
chrism (anointing oil) 297–8, 300–1, 302–4
and diet 125, 311–24, 350–1
disapproval of spices 172, 226–7, 249–53, 283–6, 298. 303, 309–24
funerary customs 171–5
hell 295
incense and aromatics 287–9, 297–8, 301–2
Lent 125–6, 142, 320
modern 303–4
mysticism 310–11
Orthodox Church 303
persecutions 171, 285–6
Protestant Church 351, 358
rents 103
saints and martyrs 172–3, 185, 293–5, 358
and sex 215, 224, 225
spice’s symbolism 290–2, 349, 358
and trade 118
see also monasteries
Cicero 86, 264
Tusculan Disputations 86
Cinnamomum cassia xxxvii
C. zeylanicum xxxvi, 258
cinnamon xxiv, xxxiv, 50
as aphrodisiac 213, 216, 224, 256–8
Biblical references 278, 281
burning of 345
chrism ingredient 300–4
Christian use and associations 293, 298, 299
cinnamon oil 242, 355, 358
cinnamon tree xxxvi–xxxvii, 291, 305
defence
against plague 204, 206
disapproval of 248–52
Dutch trade 44, 344
in early Middle Ages 99, 102, 104, 107, 287
Egyptian use 274–5
funerary use 169, 170, 171, 173–4, 176, 179
Greek use 265–7
in incense 263, 304
of India 17
Judaic use 282–3
magical properties 285
medical use 183, 184, 187, 189, 191, 193, 195, 355
in medieval literature 51, 53, 111
in Middle Ages 119, 120, 127, 144, 151, 154, 159
of Moluccas 39
mythical origins of 53–4, 240–1, 266–8
New Age u
se 304
pagan use and associations 170, 262, 263, 265
perfume ingredient 237, 238–9, 242, 243, 264, 358
and phoenix myth 169, 173, 289
poison antidote 192
price 80, 242
proliferation of 344–5
quest for in Americas 4, 9
religious symbolism 291, 292
Roman use 77, 169, 170, 265, 267–8
scent of 232–3
of Sri Lanka 29, 344
toxicity 257–8
in wine 129
cinnamon leaf 65, 74fn, 97
Cipolla, Carlo: Le poivre, moteur de l’histoire xxix
Clairvaux monastery 307, 308
Claudius, Roman Emperor 191
Clement of Alexandria 248
Cleopatra 248
cloves xxiv, 50
in ancient times xxvii–xxviii, 280fn.
as aphrodisiac 213, 221, 224, 357
Chinese use 202
clove tree xxi, xxxv-xxxvi, 209
defence against plague 204, 205, 206
disapproval of 312, 328
discovery of 328fn
Dutch monopoly of trade 44, 335–6
early Middle Ages 98, 99, 102, 104
French interest in 342
funerary use 174–5, 179
in incense 263
Indian use 202
of Mauritius 342
medical use 181, 183, 191, 193, 196, 202
in medieval literature 51, 53, 111
in Middle Ages 119, 120, 127, 128, 144, 154
of Moluccas 29, 30–2, 33, 39, 42, 50, 335–6
New Age use 304
perfume ingredient 254
plantations 231
proliferation of 344
Roman use of 65, 76
sacred use 288, 303–4
scent of 232; in wine 129, 131
Cluny 46, 184, 307–9, 310, 316, 323