Lecture 11: Europe’s Dark Ages and Charlemagne
The system of rule they initiated was the ancestor of feudalism
and had lots of semi-independent dukedoms that involve fealty
as well as “counties.” Rather than the large slave-run latifundia
of Roman times, the model that emerges is called serfdom, which
involves very small holdings farmed
by people legally bound to the soil,
who have to work a certain amount
of time on their lord’s demesne and
pay various taxes to the lord. Charlemagne is important to the
history of food because he issued
orders to his leading vassals to
plant various foods throughout his
empire, presumably so that he could
be supplied on his campaigns. In
fact, certain vegetables were directly
reintroduced to Europe through his
sponsorship, as well as fruits that are
harder to maintain and take time. Charlemagne also sponsored setting
up fi sh ponds that could be stocked
with fi sh like carp and trout and
ordered that all of his farms keep 100 hens and 30 geese so that he
could have fresh eggs on his campaigns. He also tried to regulate
the food trades. Charlemagne almost hated his doctors because they told him to
eat less roast meat. He customarily had four courses as well as the
roasts, which the hunters brought in on long spits. We also know that
they used big cauldrons to boil food, which leads to the assumption
that they made pretty simple fare: boiled pulses or grains, bread,
wine or beer, stews, and some vegetables. The fare had to be simple because there were no trade routes,
which meant no more spices. There was also no time to developCharlemagne (747–814) was
Holy Roman emperor from
year 800 until his death.© Photos.com/Thinkstock.