forgery 267but sometimes supplemented by millet, chickpeas, or
chestnuts. These were consumed in the form of a soup.
White bread made from more thoroughly milled wheat
was reserved for the elite. The medieval menu was pre-
dominantly vegetarian for almost everyone, consisting
of soups, porridges, mushes of millet and oats, vegeta-
bles, fish, bread, unsweetened cakes and pies, and
domestic fowl. There is some evidence that the con-
sumption of meat, eggs, and cheese was gradually
increasing in the central Middle Ages, probably reflect-
ing an improvement in agricultural production and
transport.
MEAT AND BEVERAGES IN
THE LATER MIDDLE AGESFourteenth-century French and Italian recipes include
much more meat on the tables of the rich. Mutton
was the food of the poor, and pork, both fresh and
preserved, was consumed in abundance. Pork, during
the Middle Ages, was not from pigs but swine, which
were the products of a breeding with wild boars.
Beef was very uncommon, since oxen were used
mainly as work animals. Game other than deer was
usually considered of little value, so anyone who could
catch it could eat it. Fish, especially freshwater, were
caught for religious dietary reasons and economical
sustenance.
Legumes from the 10th century, such as chickpeas,
beans, peas, or lentils, were eaten by all. Vegetables such
as chicory, cabbage, turnips, carrots, beets, and onions
were eaten. Seasonal fruit was gathered for consump-
tion, such as apples, pears, plums, chestnuts, peaches,
quinces, hazelnuts, almonds, mulberries, figs, walnuts,
and cherries. Spices, some exotic and imported,
appeared on the tables of the wealthy, especially from
the 11th century. Costly spices were supplemented by
herbs, such as basil, mint, garlic, parsley, or paprika.
Olive oil was used in southern or Mediterranean
countries, while lard or butter was characteristic of
northern regions. Butter was expensive and was mostly
consumed uncooked.
Drinks in the Middle Ages consisted of water, WINE,
beer, and milk. Wine and beer were indispensable as safe
drinks. The only widespread liqueur was aqua vitae, a
rough brandy used for medicinal purposes.
See alsoANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; COOKING
AND COOKERY; FAMINE; FASTS, FASTING, AND ABSTINENCE;
FORESTS; HUNTING AND FOWLING; VINES AND VINEYARDS.
Further reading:Piero Camporesi, The Magic Har-
vest: Food, Folklore, and Society,trans. Joan Krakover Hall
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993); Felipe Fernández-
Armesto, Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food(New
York: Free Press, 2002); Massimo Montanari, The Culture
of Food,trans. Carl Ipsen (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell,
1994); Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari, eds.
Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present,
trans. Clarissa Botsford, et al. (1996; reprint, New York:
Columbia University Press, 1999).forests and forest law The word forestawas initially
applied from the MEROVINGIANperiod to spaces, wooded
or not, that were protected for landholders, kings, or
lords. The landholders exercised their right to hunt
without restraint. Cultivation and settlement were not
permitted. The term forest designated such protected
wooded zones.
During the Middle Ages, agricultural estates usually
comprised wooded areas. Towns and lords tried to ensure
the preservation of forests for firewood for domestic and
industrial purposes and lumber for buildings, SHIPS, tools,
and FURNITURE. In terms of FOOD, forests offered plant
and animal resources such as honey, mushrooms, medici-
nal plants, berries, wild game, and pasturage for domestic
animals. In times of danger they could provide refuge for
inhabitants threatened by the incursions of undisciplined
nobles or invading armies. They could also shelter out-
laws, brigands, or opponents of rulers. In forests pagan
traditions might have been preserved longer and, accord-
ing to superstition, strange supernatural or diabolical
beings lurked among the trees.
In the 11th century, security and improved climatic
conditions promoted a rapid growth in population. Since
the yields of food crops was often low, farmers and peas-
ants had to develop new cultivable lands, most cleared at
the expense of woodlands. The great clearances, until the
end of the 13th century, reduced the size of the forests,
modified their contents in terms of trees and under-
growth, and lowered the availability of timber. In the 14th
century, WARFAREand plagues reduced the population by
nearly one-third, allowing the forests to develop once
again over the course of the late 14th and 15th centuries.
See alsoROBINHOOD; OUTLAWRY.
Further reading:Roland Bechmann, Trees and Man:
The Forest in the Middle Ages,trans. Katharyn Dunham
(1984; reprint, England: New York: Paragon House,
1990); Raymond Grant, The Royal Forests of England
(Stroud, England: Alan Sutton, 1991); C. R. Young, The
Royal Forests of Medieval England(Leicester: University of
Leicester Press, 1979).forgery Forgeries, phony attributions, and creative
falsifications were commonly attempted in the Middle
Ages. CHARTERS, diplomas, and other legal instruments
were forged, “corrected,” or interpolated with spurious
information. Among the most famous were the DONA-
TION OFCONSTANTINE and collections of secular and
canon law such as the FALSE DECRETALS, and even
complex theological treatises, histories or chronicles,
biographical and hagiographical writings, disputed
liturgical texts, sacred Scripture, letters, RELICS, TOMBS,
and inscriptions.