I know they are very popular in reenactor circles, and that fact makes me doubly suspicious. Although I have seen loads of spoons, knives, plates and cups of every description in use in visual sources, I can't think of a single visual reference for prickers.

I've seen them in museums so I know they exist, but how common were they? How often were they used? As much as I know about food and etiquette this is a very grey area for me.

Bob thinks that they were awls and basically from his reading of the Babee's book, he thinks that food was generally cut to finger or spoon size.

"why else would forks at the table have been considered such an innovation?"

Bob used to be inclined to believe that prickers were used at the table, but thinks it is a re-enactorism the more he reads.

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Why are they often found as part of dresser sets, where there are several knives and a pricker?

Thing is, we have lots of surviving etiquette instructions telling us about how to take food from the common plate gracefully and cleanly with the fingers, and nothing about prickers, yet they exist in the archaeological record.

Chaucer commented on how the [brain cramp] ate so daintily that she never put more than the first knuckle of her fingers in the sauce.

hahahah indeed.

that list is particularly long.

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re prickers, no, not really thought about them as I have only used spoon and knife. As you say they seem to appear a lot but why and what for well..

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This all comes up because a UK client wrote me a rather indignant message, complaining about the 'obvious lack' of prickers in our line. My knee jerk reaction was to blow her off, but then I started thinking about it. Since I seem to be all about reexamining my views on things recently I thought I'd see what I could find for real as opposed to depending on current fads in Reenactorville.

Short term I sent her to Tod's Stuf because he has boatloads of them, but I'm still curious as to whether there is any clear evidence for their use.

Sure wish we had that pokey stick emoticon over here......

More things that make me go hmmm...or maybe I just need more coffee.

when greys does it large fancy pants dinners i really dont think anyone uses a knife. we in the kitchen cut everything up small etc. (i'm tring to remember cause i never get to sit down to eat, i always serve)

the only things on the table infront of the people is a spoon, cup and bowl. and some have trenchers. i cant rememebr anyone putting knives up on the tables or prickers.

on to prickers. i think most of use use the ones people have for undoing knots on tent ropes hehehe

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J

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Pg. 22, lower left. Listed as 'illumination from a French Arthurian romance, 12th C.', but is clearly 14th C.
plates of food served 1 for each 2 diners, small bread rolls, blear beakers full of red liquid, a few footed bowl shaped cups, knives, trenchers.

Pg. 25 Chroniques de Charles V, 14th C- Clear (?) and gold beakers, bread trenchers, half rolls and what look to be boat-shaped dishes. No flatware at all.

Pg. 63, from Gaston Phoebus' 'Book of the hunt'
Plates, large serving bowls, knives, bread, rolls. No drinking vessels of any kind, one guy drinking out of a costrel.

Pg. 64, Marriage of Renault de Montauban
large plates with small birds served one plate for every 2 diners, 1 large covered vessel, 2 footed plates. Nothing else at all.

74, interior scene from the de costa hours
Bowl, plate, what looks like it could be a folded cloth (to keep the tablecloth clean under the plate the woman is putting on it?) covered cup, treen (?) beaker) candlestick w/ candle. No flatware

Pg. 78, January from the Tres Riches Heures.
Plates, plates and more plates, platters, bowl, covered cup and a ship with plates in it (maybe that's where they bussed the dirty dishes to? Dunno), 2 servers have knives but noone else does. No cups, spoons or anything else.

Hmmmm, I'm really starting to smell a reenactor myth now.

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What Gwen is looking at and asking is: do they appear in inventories? Do they appear in books of manners and if so, what is the user allowed to do or not do with them in social settings? Do they appear in the iconographic records and if so, does the image show how they are being used? Do they appear in the archaeological record?

So, Gwen's question goes beyond sheer numbers of surviving finds.

[ 11-28-2006: Message edited by: Fire Stryker ]

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i'm not up to snuff on all the details of the table mannors etc. and brent would be the guy to go to on teh inventory part

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If the prickers are found associated with daggers rather than knives, eating for the use of, then that suggests a very different use, pricking something, yes, but not food.

Brent, no doubt you have also looked up pick, which is synonymous with prick in this instance? or even pike.

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We find 'sets' of carving knife and pricker. But not everyone had a set as we would find more of them. Also they are not shown as sets in depictions of people actually sitting to eat. Therefore they could have been used behind the scenes, ie the kitchen. It could have been a 'badge' of rank for the head cook. Much like the 'chef' hat is today. My mother used a thin iron, pointed rod with a round looped end to test the 'doneness' of meet and pies, etc.

Could this have been what a 'pricker' was for? In an age of no temperature gauges, how did you tell if the joint was done? Keep slicing at it, or poke it? I have yet to read of original direction to use a pricker to test the 'doneness' of the food. Medieval cooking directions assume alot of knowledge of cooking on behalf of the reader.

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are there any true analysis of prickers? If these were for sharpening knives or swords or whatever, they should have been very hard and moreover had to have grooves.
Those I know are smooth...

[ 12-07-2006: Message edited by: jboerner ]

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Diu Minnezīt
Reconstruction of textiles, armour and daily life
1250,1350,1475
Nuremberg and Paris
http://www.diu-minnezit.de

IG Meisterhauw
Reconstruction of late medieval and early renaissance fencing techniques
http://www.meisterhauw.de

I do think sharpening knives is one of the things that they may be for. The fact that they may have another function is also possibly why the name pricker does not seam to come up in written accounts?

I have seen known knife steels (as how I know them called) from the late 19th and early 20th c that have been round, oval, square and triangular. Most of them are not very pointy, but some are. Some are also very rough on the surface others very smooth. The style of knife steel depends a bit on what the knife is intended to cut, as well as the knifes edge geometry and steel hardness.

The medieval prickers may be more of a multi tool, I know I have used mine for poking holes in leather and in cloth for making new points as well as in testing meet when cooking and sharpening various knives (mostly used for regular touch ups of an already sharp knife rather than trying to sharpen a dull or blunt knife, which you need a wet stone for).

However I have never seen reference to them for use at the table in any of the books on ettiquette I have read (Het boekje van goede zeden, The babees's Book; Medieval Manners for the Young, The Book of Kervynge). Most of the books, do however refer to making sure your knives are sharp for serving at the table, however they dont actually mention how to do that.
Most of the references to carving meet also refer to using 2 knives, one for holding the meet in place (as we would use the carving fork today) the other for cutting the meet, then using both knives like tongs for transfering the cut meet to the person being served.

Cheers
Joram

[ 12-07-2006: Message edited by: Joram van Essen ]

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