Feasts

FEASTS

One of the most enjoyable activities available in mediaeval re-enactment is the feast or banquet.

It is an uproarious affair where everyone has a good, noisy time and plenty of fun. It’s a chance to eat and drink and be very silly.

One of the few rules is that it should look as much like a genuine mediaeval feast as possible, so don’t smoke inside the hall, and keep modern bottles and cans out of sight, usually under the table.

There is no rule saying you can only discuss mediaeval matters - if you want to compare the performance of different types of computer, go right ahead (though you’ll probably have to shout to be heard over all the noise).

It’s usually fairly easy to get basic feasting equipment - Op shops are often a good place.

Try to suit your eating gear to the culture/race you are planning to re-enact, but keep in mind that the Empire was a crossroads of trade routes.

For instance, as well as his own Viking crockery, a Varangian Guard could have bought pottery made in Byzantium, Persia, or even Egypt. Also, as bowls etc. broke, they would be replaced with what was available in the markets.

BOWLS & PLATES

The Vikings used bowls and plates made of wood or earthenware, and occasionally metal or soapstone.

The Byzantine and Muslim cultures were more likely to use glazed pottery, and bronze or tin-plated copper, and the rich had silver and even gold. Plates don’t seem to have been as common as bowls - you could even get by without one.

At some feasts you will be given a trencher, which is a plate made out of hard bread. It soaks up the sauces of the different courses you are served, and when the meal is over, you eat the plate.

Wooden bowls and plates are often available from op shops, and plain pottery ones

(without obviously Chinese, Mexican or modern patterns) would probably be quite acceptable.

But please DON’T use those woven wooden ones, usually made in Taiwan, that you can get in remainder stores. They really look terrible.

Viking bowls

Byzantine bowls (11th-12th centuries)

FLASKS, JUGS & DRINKING VESSELS

Flasks and jugs could be made of pottery, metal or glass. A few examples are below.

Frankish jug found in a Viking burial

Islamic bronze pitcher found in a ship wrecked on its way to Byzantium

The Vikings and Anglo-Saxons quite often drank from cows’ horns.

These may have had designs carved into them, and the rim and the tip were often decorated with bronze.

There were also drinking vessels of glass which could be horn-shaped, round-footed or conical, plus others of clay or metal, sometimes with ornate decorations.

The Islamic cultures used cups that looked amazingly like the modern teacup!

9th century Frankish glass found in Birka, Sweden

Arabic cup found in Sweden

KNIVES & SPOONS

The eating knife commonly used by Anglo-Saxons, Normans and Vikings was the sax, the same knife they used to fight with. However, a modern wooden handled fruit-knife would be quite acceptable for most feasts, as this was also a common shape at the time, particularly in the Byzantine Empire.

A 10th century sax (29.6 cm) found in England

Spoons could be made of wood, bone or horn, or if you were well off, silver or pewter.

A simple modern wooden spoon will get you by, but you should look at some examples and try to get a more accurate one as time goes by.

Bone spoons from the late Viking period A wooden spoon found at a Viking site

Viking candleholder from the Gokstad ship burial, Norway, c. 850-900 AD. One of 4 discovered, and the only one with carved decorations. Longest side 185mm. Two of the others were circular, 150mm diameter, and the other was a 170mm square with quadrants cut out of the corners; the thinnest one is 5mm thick. The black mark is charred wood.