Cuisine and Conquest: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Food, Continuity and Change in 11th-Century England and Beyond

Jervis, Ben; Whelan, Fiona; Livarda, Alexandra

doi:10.4324/9781315312934-13

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Previous analyses of diet in England during the 11th-century Norman Conquest have focussed on changes in food culture brought about by French cultural influences. These include increased consumption of domesticated pigs and wild species, as well as changes in cooking practices, such as a greater frequency of roasting and new methods of slow cooking, which have been shown to be most marked among the political and economic elite [ 8 , 9 ]. These changes can be set against developments in food culture, which characterise the early centuries of the late medieval period, such as the increasing consumption of fish, which have been linked to the growth of urban centres and tighter observance of religious proscriptions [ 8 , 10 ], and a shift away from dairying towards meat production at rural ‘producer’ sites [ 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK

et al. 2020

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Archaeology has yet to capitalise on the opportunities offered by bioarchaeological approaches to examine the impact of the 11th-century AD Norman Conquest of England. This study utilises an integrated multiproxy analytical approach to identify and explain changes and continuities in diet and foodways between the 10th and 13th centuries in the city of Oxford, UK. The integration of organic residue analysis of ceramics, carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope analysis of human and animal bones, incremental analysis of δ 13 C and δ 15 N from human tooth dentine and palaeopathological analysis of human skeletal remains has revealed a broad pattern of increasing intensification and marketisation across various areas of economic practice, with a much lesser and more short-term impact of the Conquest on everyday lifestyles than is suggested by documentary sources. Nonetheless, isotope data indicate short-term periods of instability, particularly food insecurity, did impact individuals. Evidence of preferences for certain foodstuffs and cooking techniques documented among the elite classes were also observed among lower-status townspeople, suggesting that Anglo-Norman fashions could be adopted across the social spectrum. This study demonstrates the potential for future archaeological research to generate more nuanced understanding of the cultural impact of the Norman Conquest of England, while showcasing a method which can be used to elucidate the undocumented, everyday implications of other large-scale political events on non-elites.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK

et al. 2020

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“…61 Other contributions have highlighted practices such as food choices and dress accessories on multiple levels of society, particularly in urban areas, illustrating how market forces and cultural changes began to create post-Conquest cultures where the difference between urban and rural may have mattered far more than the difference between Saxon and Norman. 62 The potential for archaeology to draw out the rise of the elusive 'middling sort' of medieval society may be particularly pronounced in research on urban small inds and the built environment. In all of these cases, however, it is clear that we have just begun to scratch the surface of archaeology's potential with non-elite communities.…”

Section: New Agendas For the Archaeology Of The Eleventh And Twelfth mentioning

confidence: 99%

New Archaeologies of the Norman Conquest

McClain¹,

Sykes²

2019

Anglo-Norman Studies XLI

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It is becoming clear that the Norman Conquest both initiated and intensiied farreaching changes at all levels of society, including culture and identity, social structure, economy, diet, art and architecture, portable material culture, rural and urban settlement, manorial and community landscapes, religion and mortuary practice, and the management of the environment. Many of these elements are either inaccessible from documentary evidence alone or have distinct material implications, and recent archaeological research is beginning to show that they have the potential to complicate traditional historical narratives of the Conquest, or take our understanding of the period in new directions. Nevertheless, the vast majority of academic scholarship on the Conquest has been carried out without reference to the abundant archaeological evidence from the eleventh and twelfth centuries that has been recovered in excavation and still survives above ground. As a result, both academic and public understanding of the Conquest has been predicated primarily on its impact on the elite social classes, and on narratives that have been derived almost entirely from the wealth of documentary history available for the period. The comprehensive archaeology of the Norman Conquest and Anglo-Norman transition is therefore a story that is yet to be told. This paper articulates key themes, research directions, and a new case study emerging from the project 'Archaeologies of the Norman Conquest', an AHRC research network led jointly by the authors. The chief objective of the project has been to create and sustain a research community linked by an interest in revitalizing archaeological research in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in order to examine the cultural, social, and political implications of the Norman Conquest and its aftermath through an explicit focus on material culture. The network has brought together the humanistic, scientiic, academic, professional and public-engagement arms of archaeology, as well as key participants from cognate disciplines, in a range of workshops focusing on themes of interpretative agendas, methodologies, international perspectives and public outreach. The central aim has been to create a materially focused research framework for the period which can be engaged with and taken forward by both archaeological and interdisciplinary audiences. This article is a irst step in that direction. The network and its activities address a prominent gap in the current research environment focusing on the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The Battle and Haskins

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“…It could be argued that the Jewish inhabitants of the houses (or their forbears) may have absorbed influences from Norman foodways during their period of settlement in Northern France. Certainly, following the Conquest, zooarchaeological evidence suggests an increase in the consumption of both young pig and domestic fowl, this being most apparent in towns and at elite sites, such as castles, which is thought to reflect the influence of the Norman elite (Sykes 2007;Jervis et al 2017). This trend was also observed among Oxford's Saxo-Norman population (Craig-Atkins et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding Oxford’s medieval Jewry using organic residue analysis, faunal records and historical documents

Dunne

Biddulph

Manix³

et al. 2021

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Food is often one of the most distinctive expressions of social, religious, cultural or ethnic groups. However, the archaeological identification of specific religious dietary practices, including the Jewish tradition of keeping kosher, associated with ritual food practices and taboos, is very rare. This is arguably one of the oldest known diets across the world and, for an observant Jew, maintaining dietary laws (known as Kashruth) is a fundamental part of everyday life. Recent excavations in the early medieval Oxford Jewish quarter yielded a remarkable assemblage of animal bones, marked by a complete absence of pig specimens and a dominance of kosher (permitted) birds, domestic fowl and goose. To our knowledge, this is the first identification of a Jewish dietary signature in British zooarchaeology, which contrasted markedly with the previous Saxon phase where pig bones were present in quantity and bird bones were barely seen. Lipid residue analysis of pottery from St Aldates showed that vessels from the possible Jewish houses were solely used to process ruminant carcass products, with an avoidance of pig product processing, correlating well with the faunal data. In contrast, lipid analysis of pottery from comparative assemblages from the previous Saxon phase at the site and a contemporaneous site in the city, The Queen’s College, shows that the majority of these vessels appear to have been used to process mixtures of both ruminant and non-ruminant (pig) products. Here, the combination of organic residue analysis, site excavation and animal and fish bone evidence was consistent with the presence of Jewish houses in eleventh- and twelfth-century St Aldates, Oxford, hitherto only suspected through documentary information. This is the first identification of specific religious dietary practices using lipid residue analysis, verifying that, at least 800 years ago, medieval Jewish Oxford communities practised dietary laws known as Kashruth.

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Cuisine and Conquest: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Food, Continuity and Change in 11th-Century England and Beyond

Abstract: Multiple strands of evidence are combined to determine the impact of the NormanFood is a central component of culture and identity. The study of continuity and change in food practices should, therefore, offer fruitful avenues for understanding these processes in all

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK

The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK

New Archaeologies of the Norman Conquest

Finding Oxford’s medieval Jewry using organic residue analysis, faunal records and historical documents

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