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Byland Abbey: History
Byland Abbey: Buildings
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The procedure at mealtimes Think of how many people worked to prepare you food,
and
The monks ate in the refectory once a day in winter but twice daily in summer, when a light supper was served to supplement dinner and to sustain the community through the longer day and greater time spent on manual labour. The monks also entered the refectory for drinks such as those served after Nones. As soon as the monks heard the bell ringing to announce dinner (prandium) they made their way to wash their hands at stone basins. These usually stood to either side of the refectory entrance and were supplied with water through lead pipes. There are no remains of these basins at Byland but it is thought they may have stood opposite, rather than adjacent to, the refectory door.(42) Once the monks had washed their hands, they proceeded to the refectory where the tables were arranged in a U-shape around the walls. The monks sat on stone benches facing inwards; at Meaux Abbey, backs were added to the seats in the late fourteenth century. The food was already set on the tables, for the kitchener and cellarer, two monastic officers [obedientiaries], were to place the dishes on the table before the bell announcing dinner was rung. Food would have been passed from the kitchen to the refectory through a dumb-waiter-style hatch in the west wall; the remains of a similar hatch that served the lay-brothers’ refectory can still be seen. The monks stood while a blessing was read in Latin and then took their seats. Nobody, however, was to begin until the prior (or whoever was presiding), had uncovered his bread. The prior sat on a dais at the southern end of the refectory, and a crucifix would have hung on the wall above his head. The monks usually drank ale and ate vegetables and bread, but on special occasions, such as feast days, they might receive fish, eggs or a similar treat. Meat was not to be eaten in the refectory but was later permitted in a separate building, the misericord.
The monastic community required a considerable amount of fish to feed the monks, lay-brothers and guests, and whilst the monastery fished in rivers and created its own freshwater ponds, it also purchased fish or received supplies as payment in kind. Indeed, in 1239 the abbot of Byland sued Peter de Brus for 8000 haddocks as Peter, it seems, had agreed to pay the abbot 1000 haddocks a year and was eight years in arrears.(43) |
