206Chapter 11
utensils. Castles and manor houses might contain a
bedstead for the lord and cupboards for the storage of
leftovers. Chairs were rare enough to be considered
symbols of royalty. Much of medieval life was lived on
the floor.
This material simplicity extended to purely per-
sonal possessions as well. Like the lord in his hall, the
peasant ate with his fingers and a knife. Stews and gru-
els were served from a wooden bowl or straight from
the pot and eaten with wooden spoons. Soups were of-
ten drunk. Among the rich, a piece of coarse bread
served as a plate for meat and was ideally given to the
poor after it had absorbed the juices of the meal. On
special occasions, the wealthy might eat from wooden
trenchers. Even at formal banquets, two people might
be expected to share a plate, a custom that sometimes
contributed violence to the day’s entertainment.
Clothing, for the peasant, consisted of little more
than a homespun smock, leggings, and perhaps a hat
for men, and a simple smock or dress for women. Shoes
were normally reserved for bad weather. Until the late
fourteenth century, peasants who could afford to do
otherwise appear to have ignored the dictates of fash-
ion. Most people seem to have owned only one set of
working clothes and another outfit of better quality forDOCUMENT 11.2
The Timber Problem
in Medieval Europe
In 1140 Suger, abbot of Saint-Denis (near Paris), decided to
construct a new church that would require twelve thirty-five-
foot beams. His experience in a landscape virtually denuded of
large trees indicates how serious the problem of adequate timber
supplies had become.On a certain night, when I had returned from
Matins, I began to think in bed that I myself
should go through all the forests of these parts....
Quickly disposing of all duties and hurrying up in
the early morning, we hastened with our carpen-
ters, and with the measurements of the beams, to
the forest called Ivelines. When we traversed our
possession in the Valley of Chevreuse we sum-
moned... the keepers of our own forests as well
as men who know about the other woods, and
questioned them under oath whether we would
find there, no matter with how much trouble, any
timbers of that measure. At this they smiled, or
rather would have laughed at us if they had dared;
they wondered whether we were quite ignorant of
the fact that nothing of the kind could be found in
the entire region, especially since Milon, the
Castellan of Chevreuse... had left nothing unim-
paired or untouched that could be used for pal-
isades and bulwarks while he was long subjected to
wars both by our Lord the King and Amaury de
Montfort. We however—scorning what they
might say—began with the courage of our faith as
it were, to search the woods; and toward the first
hour we found one timber adequate to our mea-
sure. Why say more? By the ninth hour or sooner,
we had, through the thickets, the depths of the
forest and the dense, thorny tangles, marked down
twelve timbers (for so many were necessary) to the
astonishment of all.
Panovsky, Erwin, trans. and ed. Abbot Suger, on the Abbey
Church of St. Denis.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
1973.Illustration 11.5
A Peasant Cottage in Winter.This depiction of a peasant
cottage is from the Tres riches heuresof the Duc de Berry by Paul,
Herman, and Jean Limbourg (1413–16). The beehives, the num-
ber of animals in the close, and even the dresses of the women
indicate that this was a wealthy household. The magnificent
prayer book from which this illustration comes was intended to
provide an idealized view of rural life.