Medieval Monday: How Healthy was Medieval Food?

It can be hard to stick to a diet in modern times when eating out. It was much the same for a medieval knight, so when he was dining in his own household his personal physician would work with his cook to keep their master in peak condition. In this episode, Jason and food historian Chris Carr discuss the medieval understanding of nutrition and how it affected the knight’s diet, as well as the influence of spices and how they defined one’s social standing.


Use the Medieval Monday Index to discover other topics relating to daily life in the Middle Ages.

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Medieval Monday: What did a Knight’s Vassal Eat?

Stopping off at the farmhouse of one of his yeomen, the knight would experience more personal treatment and finer fare than at a poor roadside inn. Food historian Chris Carr takes Jason through the making of hot beans, bacon and leeks, pork in sage sauce and lamb pie, explaining how medieval pies differed from those we eat today.


Use the Medieval Monday Index to discover other topics relating to daily life in the Middle Ages.

Medieval Monday: Shield Wall Battle

Jason looks back at our shield wall experiment day that we filmed in the summer of 2017. We put shieldmaker Luke’s handiwork to the test with a group of twenty brave volunteers, who clashed together in various formations of shield wall. In doing so, we explored some of the events recounted in ancient sagas to determine whether they were flights of narrative fancy or genuine reports of the flow of battle.


Use the Medieval Monday Index to discover other topics relating to daily life in the Middle Ages.