Mapping Peafowl Management and Consumption in Late Medieval Europe, c. 1250-1550

• In Event: Digitizing the Medieval Environment: GIS and Recreations of the Past

Abstract

Food is one of the most basic ways that humans interact with the environment on a regular basis. Although pre-industrial diets in Europe were dominated by grains, foodstuffs derived from animals played a significant role, often reinforcing social hierarchies. The foods most suitable for the noble were precisely those that only significant wealth allowed one to consume, chief among which was the peacock. Typically served roasted but with their plumage—feathered heads, wings, and tails—replaced on the cooked bird, the peacock was only one of many animals served so that it appeared to be alive, but unique in that it was almost exclusively served in its feathers so that it could be identified as a peacock. I argue that this practice highlighted the diversity of animals available in grand parks at the table.
Although bred as far northeast as England from at least the fifth century AD, the Indian blue peacock was always regarded as exotic throughout the medieval period. I theorize that the use of peacocks both at the table and in aristocratic game parks was in fact due to a persistent but imprecise association with “the East”, beginning with Alexander's conquest of Persia and continuing following the crusades. In this paper, I demonstrate the extent to which this bird was made to symbolize control over the environment through the cultivation of non-native flora and fauna. The research and ArcGIS maps I discuss are based on an examination of culinary recipe collections, household accounts books, menus, eyewitness descriptions of banquets, sumptuary laws regulating the consumption of peafowl, and archaeological remains. The paper analyses chronological and geographic differences in rearing, disposal, and consumption patterns of peafowl, finally linking these to larger processes within the shifting political environment of late medieval Europe.

Author

• Eileen Morgan, University of Notre Dame