The earliest detailed document we have about food in Dark Ages Europe is the set of regulations that Emperor Charlemagne imposed on his archipelago of manor farms. A king’s court was too large to stay in one place for long, and it was part of a king’s method of control to travel frequently to different parts of his territory. Medieval kings tended to own many properties, and additionally they often imposed their presence on barons or abbots for a few days. Charlemagne was concerned about good property management; the first section of Capitulare de Villis describes the types of corruption he won’t put up with, including “our people” (the serfs) bribing the stewards (who could be hired and fired) with any gift bigger than a chicken or a bottle of wine.
So while the document is really an outline of what each manor’s steward must do in order to keep his job, some of the later sections discuss the king’s expectations about home-grown food to be available when he shows up with his court. His regulations are very detailed and they constitute a detailed record of which foods were known at that time and in that climate. In a few cases, he gives some hints about how the food should be prepared.
Wine shows up first in the regulations. Charlemagne expected that every manor would keep a vineyard and stock barrels of wine for when his court came around. Additionally, his stewards are instructed to regulate the quantity. If there’s a bad year, they’re supposed to buy extra; if the wine comes out to a surplus, the thrifty king wanted it sold at a profit.
Three of the regulations aren’t about food directly, but stipulate how the king’s horse breeding program should be organized. Around the year 800, Europe did not have many horses, so the king wanted special care paid to counting and culling the stallions, rotating them to different mares, and organizing the colts and fillies into new herds. The king apparently had a special “winter farm” set aside for weaned foals, perhaps in a place where the winter was less severe, and all foals were supposed to arrive there by early November.
Every manor farm had a watermill, and every mill was directed to keep geese on its pond. Large farms were directed not to let the flocks fall below 30 geese and 100 chickens (who lived in barns, not on the millpond); smaller farms had to keep at least 50 chickens and 12 geese. It seems likely that the Emperor’s chief cooks were consulted about these numbers: if the entourage showed up for three days, how many eggs and roast geese would be required, and how big should the flock be in order not to deplete it too badly? In addition to the geese on the millpond, the estate was supposed to develop a fishpond if at all possible, and keep it stocked. When the king’s entourage was not in residence, fish should be sold in order to keep up a stream of revenue.
Beekeeping was required; the king had no intention of going without sweets. The steward was to appoint “as many men as he has estates in his district,” which sounds like one full-time beekeeper per manor farm. In an entry soon, I’ll discuss the state of beekeeping at this time.
Every manor farm was directed to be as heavily stocked with cattle, horses, sheep, goats and pigs as possible. The king mentioned that they should never be afflicted with mange, either. (One line makes it rather unclear if the horses being free of mange had something to do with having roasted horse at banquets—the taboo against eating horses was still in process at this time.) The farms were supposed to keep enough cattle and horses on hand that even when they were eaten, there were always plenty of plow teams on hand for spring.
Foresters were supposed to keep the woods always ready for hunting wild game, including having trained dogs and falcons on hand. Pigs were permitted to forage in the woods, as part of their role on the farm, but not to do any serious damage. Every winter, the pigs were rounded up into barns, and the stewards had to make sure pig food was on hand for the winter.
All this food had to be processed: smoked, churned, salted, fermented, and brewed. Charlemagne made a point of stipulating that all food workers must keep everything very clean.
The manor farms were clearly used as craft workshops, too. Stewards had to make sure that “the women” had on hand whatever they needed for cloth production. Cloth production was probably not yet a specialized craft, but even if it was beginning to move out of home production in larger towns, a king’s manor functioned as its own self-sustaining town. Spinning, dyeing, weaving, and sewing all took place in dedicated workshops to keep the farm’s workers decently dressed.
The manor farms were supposed to ship some of their products to the king’s main palace at Aachen. He lists wax and soap in particular; additionally, every farm had to keep a few fattened cows just for tallow, to make cheaper candles. Every farm was also supposed to churn out saddles, harness, carts and wagons (including extra-watertight ones, equipped with minimal weapons, for the army), barrels, rope, lumber, hay, leather, shields, shoes, and iron. A certain amount went straight to Aachen for the army; the rest was to be sold, which was basically the king’s main income. Every Christmas, he wanted a full accounting from each steward about exactly what each farm had sold: young animals, excess wine or soap, timber, iron, and so on.
In Pt. 2 of Charlemagne’s farming exploits, we’ll look at the lists of known vegetables of the time.