Lecture 11: Europe’s Dark Ages and Charlemagne
wild fruits, and letting their herds of pigs forage for themselves in
the forests on acorns or beechnuts. Above all else, for the Germanic tribes, meat was the central
element in the diet rather than bread and grain. They didn’t even
have a major staple grain crop. Instead of wine, they drank cider
from fermented apples, mead from honey, or beer (for which they
did grow barley). Drinking beer was not just a matter of refreshment
or relaxation; it was the central social ritual among the Germans. Instead of oil, they used butter from their cattle or lard. This has a
lot to do with geography and climate, but also with major cultural
differences. There was this perception among early medieval
writers that the barbarians not only ate more wild food, but they
also ate more uncooked, raw meats and uncooked foods—or rough
foods that were diffi cult to digest, like turnips and leeks.The Mixture of Christian and Germanic Ideals
Grain, wine, and oil had to be grown for sacramental purposes in
Christianity, and it was usually the monasteries that maintained
vineyards left over from classical times. Monks at these monasteries
are the only people preserving even the last shreds of classical
medicine, which has also now been mixed with Germanic folk
remedies. They are also among the few people who still know how
to graft fruit trees and cultivate wine grapes. The culture of wine did not replace that of beer overnight,
especially because the Germans also used beer as a sacrifi ce. The
Christians had a hard time getting these newly converted Germans
to give up their eating and drinking habits. This is especially the
case—and, in fact, a sticking point until the 16th century—when
they institute a compulsory fast for Lent (which means no animal
or dairy products). The early Christians only had voluntary fasts. Apostles fasted on
Friday to commemorate the death of Jesus on the day, but there
were no universal fasting periods across all of Christendom until