Bread and ale for the brethren : the provisioning of Norwich Cathedral Priory, 1260-1536 / Philip Slavin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Slavin, Philip.

Contributor:

Constance L. Rosenthal Book Fund.

Series:

Studies in regional and local history (Hertfordshire, England) ; v. 11.

Studies in regional and local history ; v. 11

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Norwich Priory (Norwich, England)--History.

Norwich Priory (Norwich, England).

Grain trade--England--Norwich--History.

Grain trade.

Cathedrals--England--Norwich--History.

Cathedrals.

History.

England--Norwich.

Physical Description:

xvii, 220 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

Hertfordshire, UK : University of Hertfordshire Press, 2012.

Summary:

By 1300, England and other West-European countries had undergone a significant degree of commercialisation. More and more communities, both urban and rural, depended on an efficient network of local markets to obtain the goods they needed, in particular for their food.

Yet in spite of this, some landed lords and, most notably, monasteries and convents continued to rely on the produce of their own estates, even though there were significant costs and risks associated with the production, transportation and storage of their own food. Philip Slavin sets out of account for this puzzling situation through an in-depth study of the changing patterns and fortunes of the provisioning of Norwich Cathedral Priory between c.1260 and 1536. Close analysis of contemporary archival sources reveals that the Priority made a deliberate choice, dictated by various economic, social and environmental factors and which, altogether, made isolation from the market a profitable, and very rational, option.

This is a new sort of estate study that considers questions of both production and consumption as well as health issues, including the problems of overeating and obesity occurring in late-medieval monastic populations. Particular attentions is given to the production, transportations, storage and consumption by the Priory household of grain-based products. In the late-medieval period, grains were the single most important component in the daily diet, for both commoners and the higher echelons, accounting for between 50 and 80 per cent of total calorific intake.

Although focusing on one specific region, this is more than just a regional study, analysing as it does a microcosm of the late-medieval English economy and society at a time of political, socio-economic and biological shocks and crises, including years of bad weather, famine, pestilence (both human and bovine), warfare and revolts. The study of the food supply of late-medieval conventual households sheds much light on the wider process of decline and eventual collapse of direct demesne management in particular, and feudalism in general, in the post-Black Death era. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 'A puzzling economy': demesne cultivation and seigniorial autarky in the age of commercialisation 1

Commercialisation and marketisation of the late medieval economy 1

Seigniorial autarky in the age of commercialisation 4

2 Norwich Cathedral Priory: population, food requirements and provisioning channels 8

The priory population, 1096-1538 8

The grain requirements of Norwich Cathedral Priory 15

Getting grain: sources and resources 21

The grain supply of Norwich Cathedral Priory in a wider context 23

Why two channels? Economic instability, risk aversion and diversified portfolios 24

3 Norwich Cathedral Priory's grain market, 1260-1538 26

Geographic extent of the priory grain market 26

The grain trade: reputation and trust 29

Quantities of purchased grain 33

Frequency and seasonality of transactions 36

Norwich grain prices, 1264-1536: between endogenous factors and exogenous shocks 39

Market integration? 44

4 Grain production on Norwich Cathedral Priory demesnes 48

The era of direct management 48

Regional and chronological trends in crop geography 57

Crop geography determinants: environment, markets and consumption 63

Annual crop disposal: chronological and regional patterns 69

Crop disposal in a wider context 75

Production costs 77

Food farms 81

Conclusions 83

5 Shipping the produce: transportation requirements, strategies and costs 84

Grain transportation: sources and resources 84

Demesne horses 85

The 'Great Boat' (magna navis) 87

Transporting services: customary dues 87

Transporting services: harvest famuli 88

Transporting services: stipendiary famuli 102

Transporting services: priory carters and boatmen 103

Carting requirements and logistics 105

Transportation costs and savings 109

Transportation logistics: the case of Eaton carters 113

Road versus river transportation: advantages and drawbacks 115

Conclusions 116

6 Space for grain: barns and granaries 119

The medieval barn and modern scholarship 119

Demesne barns: nature, layout and capacity 120

Demesne barns: storage costs 122

The Great Granary: layout and costs 126

The almoner's granary 130

Barns and granaries: a tool for insurance, speculation or practical storage? 130

Grain storage mechanisms and depletion rates 136

Conclusions 139

7 Grain into bread and ale: processing and consumption 140

Cathedral mills 140

Cathedral bakery and brewery 142

Annual baking patterns 145

Panis monachorum 147

Panis ponderis minoris 150

Panis militum 153

Bread consumption patterns 156

Two kinds of ale 159

Annual brewing patterns 163

Turning malt into ale: gallons and calories 163

Grain consumption in a comparative perspective 167

Bread and ale consumption in a wider perspective 169

8 Economics of charity: grain alms as poor relief 173

Hermits and anchorites 173

Prisoners in the castle prison 175

Almoner's soup kitchen for Norwich paupers 179

Grain alms in a wider context, theological and social 183

Conclusions 186.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-210) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Constance L. Rosenthal Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781907396625

1907396624

9781907396632

1907396632

OCLC:

801069659

Publisher Number:

99949519060