They were dainty in the matter of bread. The commoner kinds were known as “tourte,” “his,” or “trete” and white. The finer kinds were “simnel,” “painman,” or “payn de main,” i.e. panis domini, from the figure of our Lord stamped upon it; and manchet. The finer kinds were not allowed to be made in Lent. The kinds called “pouffe” and “Fraunceise” seem to have been the same as the “simnel” and the manchet. The bread of the working classes was of oats, of rye, of beans and bran, or of beans and acorns.
Among river fish and fish of ponds or stews, carp was extremely scarce. Dame Juliana Berners, in her Book of St. Alban’s, says, “And of the carp that it is a deyntous fyssche, but there ben but fewe in Englande.” It is said to have been naturalised by one Leonard Mascal in Sussex about the year 1514.
“Hops and turkeys, carp and beer,
Came into England all in a year.”
This is not true so far as the hop is concerned, for it seems to have been introduced by Edward I. Wine was made in England down to the fifteenth century. The Vale of Gloucester produced the finest wine, which was said to be in no way inferior to the wine of Gascony. Richard II. planted vines at Windsor, and made a large quantity of wine, some of which was sold, and the rest used by the Court. The reason why this industry fell into disuse was the discovery that wine could be imported from Bordeaux cheaper and better than it could be made at home.
London has always been well supplied with taverns and drinking-places; its people have never taken kindly to ways of temperance. We must, however, distinguish between an inn and a tavern. At first the inn—hostel, hostelry—was a lodging-house only; it received the traveller and gave him a room, but not much else; and, as we have seen, after one day and night the hosteller must become responsible for his guest unless he could get special license from the authorities. The visitor was not allowed to carry a sword or any weapon, or to wear armour in the City boundaries; and he must not go about the streets after curfew; also he must buy his food, bread and beer, and meat and wine, from the dealer, and not from the hosteller.
When the inn became a house that supplied food and drink to the guest I know not, yet in Stow’s time it would seem that it did so. The point to remember, however, is that the inn was not a tavern or an eating-house.
Of taverns Stow mentions some, as the “Pope’s Head” and the “Cardinal’s Hat” in Cornhill Ward; certain “tippling” houses in Mountgodard Street, and others. The ale-house and the tavern which proclaimed their trade by the “ale-stake” had often the extra adornment of a garland or hoop. The garland was decorated with ribbons, and was attached to the “ale-stake” with the “bush” of ivy leaves, which dangled from the pole before every tavern. We have seen what is said in Liber Albus as to the regulation length of the pole. The signs of the taverns were not at first different from other trade signs; there were the Swan, the Bull, the Dog, the Boar’s Head, and so forth. But this practice of hanging out a garland in addition to the old sign caused the names of tavern signs to undergo change: thus, the Swan became the Swan on the Hoop; the Star became the Star on the Hoop. Riley enumerates many of these signs: thus Hugh atte Cocke, Thomas atte Red Door, Walter atte Gote, John atte Belle, the Catfethele (Cat and Fiddle), the Lion atte Dore, Le Sonner, Le Mone, and others.
For drink, the common and national drink was ale, of which the people consumed immense quantities. It seems to have been served out to any member of the household in any reasonable quantity whenever he asked for it. Of course there were no hot drinks such as tea and coffee, although herbs were often infused with hot water for medicine. The principal wines were red wine from Bordeaux, white wine from Bordeaux, also from the Rhine, strong wine from Spain, Portugal, Tuscany, Sicily, Cyprus, Gaza. There were also cider, perry, mead, and strong ale—anything but water, and many drinks were compounded. Thus the people made “Claré,” “Bragot,” “Hippocras,” the receipts for which are given in Skeat’s Chaucer.[9] Thus to make claré, “Take a galoun of honi, and skome (skim) it wel, and loke whanne it is isoden (boiled), that ther be a galoun; thanne take viii galouns of red wyn, than take a pound of pouder canel (cinnamon) and half a pounde of pouder gynger and a quarter of a pounde of pouder pepper, and medle (mix) alle these thynges togeder and (with) the wyn; and do hym in a clene barelle, and stoppe it fast, and rolle it well ofte sithes, as men don verious 3 dayes.”
In the fifteenth century home-brewed beer cost 1½d. a gallon. Since beer is now 16d. a gallon, the inference would be that money then could buy thirteen times as much as at present. But this inference, as I shall show presently, would not be sound. Wine cost 8d. or 12d. a gallon. Good wine can hardly be had now under 15s. a gallon or 30s. a dozen. It would not, however, be fair to conclude that money then would buy twenty times as much as it does now.