How The Tudors Did Their Laundry | Tudor Monastery | Absolute History

500 years ago England was emerging into a new era after years of war plague and famine the kingdom was enjoying peace and prosperity under the reign of the first Tudor King Henry the seventh a new class of business savvy farmer was thriving boosting food production while wool from their sheep was generating half the nation's wealth many of the nation's farms were under the control of the biggest landowner in England after the king the monasteries their influence could be felt in every aspect of daily life they were not just places of religion they were at the forefront of Technology education and farming but with the daily lives of monks devoted to prayer they depended increasingly on tenant farmers who worked and tended their lands now historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Tom pin fold and Peter Ginn are turning the clock back to Tudor England here at Weald and down land in West Sussex two workers ordinary farmers under the watchful eye of a monastic landlord to succeed they'll have to master long lost farming methods and get to grips with Tudor technology while immersing themselves in the beliefs customs [Music] and rituals that shaped the age this is Mary Engler for heaven's sake so to speak let's enjoy it this is the untold story of the monastic farms of Tudor England in the early 1500s no help for the poor was available from the state those in need relied solely on the charity and hospitality of others [Music] Hospitality was a vital social virtue the measure by which any good Christian would be judged and at the heart of this culture of hospitality and giving were the monasteries beyond their gates they ran arms houses and within the monastery they accommodated everyone from the destitute traveler to the wealthiest noble for what you're about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful James quite interesting is Impostors well I'm sure it's good for the soul monastic expert professor James Clark is joining the team for a meal did the monasteries do much entertaining or hospitality absolutely it's really central to the monasteries service to society the charity that is in a strict sense loving kindness to your fellow man is really at the heart of the monastic vacation at the lower end it would be akin to a kind of backpackers hostel but at the other end of the scale for the most distinguished guests there would be really lavish accommodation and food would be laid on for the monks posting an esteemed guest wasn't just hospitable it was profitable entertaining nobility was an excellent way to encourage large donations to the monastery the note was believed that supporting the monastery would guarantee that they went straight to heaven when they the abbot is planning a feast for a wealthy patron and James is enlisting the team's help to prepare for the visit well I have some particular tasks in mind for you there's going to be a lot of preparing of federal in it so that does mean laundry and that could well be need for some assistance in the kitchen because lavish meals are expected nice as pottage is [Laughter] [Music] as well as monks and workers the monastery also accommodated other members of society on a permanent basis part of the monasteries remit was to provide care for some of the elderly their retired staff or their most generous donors James is enlisting the team to renovate a room in the outer precinct of the monastery as part of something known as a koridai Acorah D is a grant which is really like a kind of pension it provides an individual with accommodation and food over the course of a year and the monastery might grant that to one of their long serving lay servant and after 20 or 30 years service instead of a gold watch they're granted this Cora D which is really going to give them room and board to live out their their days in their twilight years so it's gonna need a bit of renovation room I mean this floors in yesterday is looking past its best it's worth remembering of course that they expect something of high quality this is a valuable retirement home I'll have a chat with the boys especially about the floor see what we can do [Music] before the boys set to work on renovations they must attend to an urgent matter on the farm the pea crop [Music] well if we look closely we still got a crop but it's true almost a cat or yes please that is absolutely beautiful another taste good taste of summer peas were important in Tudor England as both food and animal fodder unlike garden peas field peas were left to dry on the plant until they were harvested it made them easier to store but also vulnerable to birds this is the thing if we start trying to scruff out here all the birds gonna be looking at and going I played on a people fight let's get in there that's a very proper feast bird control was a serious business in the later Tudor period bounty payments of a penny for three birds heads were offered and farmers often employed children to frighten away the pigeons and rooks try erecting a bird scare we're putting in Hazel poles we're gonna tie some string between them and onto that string we're gonna hang some shelves tudor-style wind chimes so happy dental work that was so we're taking advantage the wind making sure all the shells just bounce off of each other making some noise that's the thing being a Tudor farm or bring any farmer you can't afford to lose a crop but especially in Tudor times these peas were your sustenance right I'm gonna stick another steak in tom am I gonna get in trouble if I walk across the pea crop you don't walk the birds will eat I'll be delicate Ruth has begun preparations for the abbot's feast starting by making butter for the table [Music] now the reason I've transferred my milk into these dishes is to help the cream separate anybody who's a little bit older remembers the days before homogenized milk can they remember that in milk bottles it always used to rise you always used to get a bit of cream on the very top that's what's happening here each day a new bowl of milk was settled and Ruth is starting to process yesterday's batch look see I think that cream is super sick look her not only was butter an important source of calories it was also considered good for the health and a cure for chest complaints laid on to minimize brushing [Music] knowing what stage you're at is all about listening to the sounds that it makes in the church now a volume of cream like this 15 to 20 minutes butter along with other dairy produce was known as a white meat most commonly consumed by poorer members of society after all everyone had a cow the point was you could graze a cow even if you had no land yourself you could braise it on the common land you had a right to put a cow on the common which meant that you had access to some milk you could make your own butter you could make your own cream you could make your own cheese white meats therefore we're a very democratic food everybody had them and the rich smeared the dairy produce wasn't the preserve of the poor for long by 1,500 landowners were taking back farmland and also common land to establish parks for hunting it meant peasants could no longer graze their animals for free now you've got to actually rent a field to keep your cow on and that meant that increase singly from 1500 onwards cows and cows milk became something associated with the wealthier sort of peasant did you hear noises changed isn't it oh yes look at that now that looks good there we are no butter the final stage is to squeeze all the butter particles into a solid lump now obviously doing this with your hands there's a problem the warmth of your hands starts to melt the butter so instead one uses a pair of wooden hands once the buttermilk is removed Ruth adds salt which is a preservative and indeed if I put enough salt in it I can even make a product that can survive for a full year in an edible not necessarily a tasty but in an edible fashion what kind of trouble do you think Ruth has got us into now oh you never know Dean Peter and Tom are keen to get on with their monastic restoration project and the priority is laying a new floor it'll be made from a mixture of lime putty and ash known as lime ash which was strong flexible and a good heat insulator the boys have come to collect some limestone from the forest to produce their own lime putty this is the key ingredient to our floor it's chalk we're gonna heat it up that's going to dry off the carbon dioxide and put that in water that will turn it into a putty then we're going to lay it in our floor and as it dries out and reabsorbed condi oxide it's going to turn back into chalk back into a stone and make our floor absolutely solid to turn the limestone into the lime and ash mixture needed for the floor it must be roasted at a temperature of over 900 degrees Celsius just need to make sure that every piece of that chalk hits that magic number of 900 degrees chalk or limestone was hugely popular as a building material in the Tudor era while the anglo-saxons had built with wood the Tudors needed lime to make mortar for their stone built castles city walls and churches lime ash was normally gathered from the bottom of kilns where limestone was burnt lime kilns really take off in the Tudor period and that's the reason why in 1500 there's a massive surge in the fashion for lime ash floors however farmers like ours who might not be too close to a lion kill could make their own such as this so we'll cross over in technology in Tudor England the shadow of plague and disease was ever-present people worked hard to keep a clean living environment there were even systems for waste removal centuries before germs were discovered cleaning was a surprisingly rigorous affair especially in the dairy with the butter maid Ruth needs to wash her equipment at ood housewife had three lines of defense in her battle for hygiene in the dairy and not one of them included soap first and foremost came salt used with a damp cloth it helps to scrub but it also of course kills bacteria she then turned to the second line of defense boiling water all dairy utensils was finished off by being scolded over all of their surfaces and her last line of defense was sunlight more specifically the UV element of sunlight she might not have known why it worked but she knew that it did in fact the UV kills bacteria so on a nice day like today you'd have seen a very common sight outside any woman's dairy all her dairy utensils lined up in the Sun getting a good sterilizing dose of sunlight the limestone has been roasting for three hours driving off carbon dioxide and leaving a highly volatile product called quicklime it's then put in water for a process known as slaking so if we just pop that in look at it look it appears to have worked if I bring that back up there we go look at that oh that's the dangerous bit but that is that is lime slaking and it's turning into a putty the fire drives off all the carbon dioxide and it makes the chalk very very volatile when it goes into the water the water is absorbed and there's an exothermic reaction so this isn't the heat from the fire that's doing this this is the chemical reaction that's heating up this water and you can hear it and it's slowly turning into a putty look at that it's lime putty on my shovel the lime will continue to slake in the water overnight [Music] [Music] in 1500 the shape of England's waterways and wetlands was unrecognizable from today before the extensive land drainage of the later 16th century these regions provided a wealth of resources from fish and wild fowl to Pete used for fuel and something without which no Tudor home would have been complete Russia's Ruth has come to meet rush worker Linda Lou mune the rushes their harvest will be made into floor mats for the room the team are renovating brushes are rather ignored resource in modern Britain oh yeah you look at the domestic interiors of the late 15th and early 16th century and you can spot rushes here there and everywhere it's your dream them they use them for their mattresses their chair seats their cushions flooring baskets rushes were commonly cut between May and September as near to midsummer as possible because it's a harvest we've got to do it in a certain four or five weeks of the year that's all we've got all right these will all die down if you come to the River Inn in October you won't see a thing right and you come to the river in April you won't see a thing so they all died down right back into their rhizome in the mud [Music] before Ruth finishes harvesting the rushes she'll need a decent floor to put them on Peter and Tom are combining their lime ash putty with sand clay and Flint to give the mixture strength this is regular lime putty mixed with the ash the boys are adding a special ingredient to bind their floor used in concrete's like this since Roman times sour milk contains a protein called casein which bonds with the lime to make it durable and waterproof but like tiny little Baker's making a giant cake aren't we once all the ingredients are combined they can start to lay the floor if we just get it in there and stamp it now and then flatten it off a sort of Spades feeling good feeling good it's getting there before the rushes can be used they must be dried out we if we use them straight that they're so brittle that they're just snap straight away like that yeah so what what you have to do is let the cell structure dry out so here's a couple that I cut about five weeks ago and now they don't snap and if I try and just tear that I can't to make the floor mats the rushes must be plaited together I'll hold it for you right now I like the feel that's developing yeah it's as tough isn't it that's strong but it's still got a certain soft and bounciness to it now if you imagine your mattress might need about 100 feet of this flat shoe two kids one hygiene dictated that the floor mats be replaced every year so there was scarcely a time when platting Rush's wasn't on the to-do list it's the final push to finish the renovations the boys are polishing the floor with milk to give it a hard waterproof coating this is kind of it this is going to be a fantastic floor I can feel it and Ruth has almost completed the sleeping mats I've made loads of the class I should probably have to make them all but still and I'm sewing them together in two and that this floor looks so much better it's not bad I think he made a really good job thank you right where do you want your match oh yes to come out the way from Enix I got it at the hygiene to sort out first okay I've got a whole load of herbs to scatter on the floor and they serve two basic functions the first thing is about smell people in this period believe that disease was carried by evil miasmas by bad smells in the air and if you breathe that evil miasma you would get sick so wherever you lived wherever you are spending time you wanted it to smell a sweet and clean as possible but then there's also a role for insecticides things like my tan Xia my worm with fleabane therefore keeping insects out of the house things like flies or ants or or body lice fleas anything like that can be driven out and it will make the whole living experience not only healthier but much pleasant you understand at Stone then I've got a little lay down yeah in addition to the room and a provision of food the Cora D might include firewood and some cooking equipment last one I think your floor makes a huge difference you know this is easy to keep clean to look after to become three as new home sweet home the influence of the church on the people of Tudor England extended far beyond its role as landlord and welfare provider they also control the spread of ideas [Music] major centers of learning with extensive libraries the monasteries were the custodians of knowledge monasteries commissioned deluxe books costly and prestigious objects as gifts for their most distinguished patrons and Tom will be making one to present to the abbot's feast historically books had been written on vellum a material made from calf skin but by 1500 another medium had taken over paper expert Jim Patterson is showing Tom how paper was produced what we've got in here is a mixture of linen and water they are the ingredients for Tudor paper making you would start off with with waste rag it would be a recycling process and that's the pulp that would result there's no wood involved at all none whatsoever not till much much later in history now you can form a sheet on a hand mold okay yeah by dipping it in below the surface go in like that yes it in you go below the surface flood the the mould and bring it up here at that bring it clear of the back side the side called back and you'll see the sheet actually forming and it's leaving the fiber on the surface and the next stage is kucing from the French crew sure delay there's placing that on there that's right bring it up right this was the job for the assistants this was the non-technical contacting fair enough roll it from one hand to the other and it should come up wait now you see you see that's not as easy as it looks not enough weight okay we'll make another one a bit more weight next time do you dig in deep the first paper mill in England was established around 1490 but at the time paper was mainly imported from Europe making it extremely costly firmly and with confidence with confidence and manufacturers could be recognized by their watermarks not too bad there's quite a deep indentation here when the paper's pressed that will pretty much all come down to the same thickness and you really shouldn't be able to see it on the surface but when you hold it up to the light the displaced fibres will will show as a watermark [Music] the paper is pressed for an hour we'll take press off now and see what we've got quite excited boys after 50 years the novelty wears off that's brilliant how do you see the watermark papermaking tudor-style did you very much [Music] the daily running of the monasteries required many lay workers leaving the monks free for worship prayer or study usually these workers were men but certain jobs were open to older women considered by the monks to be beyond the temptations of the flesh they helped with gardening cooking and the washing of linens which is what Ruth has been commissioned to do my main cleaning chemical throughout all my housework is wood ash it's particularly good at dealing with Greece with dissolving it so that you can wash it away but when you're doing the laundry you don't necessarily want pure ash in your best napkins so what I'm going to do is filter the chemical within the ash out into a nice clean liquid inside a bucket with a hole in the bottom Ruth makes a filter of river gravel and straw and then ash just goes on top and this is you know just out of the fireplace and then I just need to pour seawater through and let that seep through leaching out every last bit of chemical into a really strong lye solution the word lie after all is just a short form of alkali with Tom and Ruth attending to monastic matters Peter is keeping the farm running the cows have eaten all the grass and there is a shortage of food to source a Tudor solution peter has come to meet Ted Green who looks after the woodlands at Knepp castle in West Sussex I said are you doing uhit not bad how are you well really pretty pleased because I've just found this tree which is going to really work for a ladder for us you're making a ladder out of this tree yeah oh well there you go bring the tools I'll bring the ladder plate in front of you toad is reviving an ancient farming practice which has existed ever since animals were domesticated harvesting hay from trees it's a perfect solution for the dry months as trees keep their leaves hydrated so the hay will provide a good source of moisture it's something which actually predates grass it's only in modern times that people start thinking about grass animals never never only grass we made them eat grass which trees are we looking at cutting in this particular case we've got two trees which are ash which they absolutely love it's one of the top trees for animals right I've been lugging this ladder around ah okay where do you want it well we're gonna try and rest it in that tree just see there you go here we go no no no no over your way a bit over see it you're in great I don't mind that go and try it I'm not only convinced about this okay so your app yeah okay so what am I going for here Ted what am I looking for this year's growth which should have leaves right down the stem too near the trunk that's brilliant that's a good dose of good size as well that's lovely for for storing these leaves Ted so they're gonna are they gonna hold their nutrients yep yep that because we're cutting on this time of the year obviously when they fall off in the autumn the tree has put all the minerals and nutrients back into itself but by doing this we're trapping them all in the in the leaves [Music] unlike coppicing where material is cut from the base of the tree harvesting tree hay like this is known as Paula Deen the leaves are cut and regrow above the height of the animal's head which meant farmers could control the crop it was one of the earliest forms of woodland management as well as laundering the linen for the upcoming Abbott's feast Ruth is also tackling some more personal garments while most laypeople had little time for bodily hygiene for monks washing was a matter of religious discipline demanded before meals and the duties of the day having clean clothes was essential [Music] according to the rule isn't Benedict a monk was supposed to wear his woollen tunic next to his skin and he had his woolen scapular over it a woollen gown and a woollen hood but by 1500 laypeople wouldn't have dreamed of wearing wool next to the skin they all wore linen underwear something that could be laundered regularly and the monks wanted some of that comfort and cleanliness themselves so there are records all monks buying underwear and there are also records as I'm having it laundered so I've put a load of sheets in if I just keep piling up coming up and up and up until the baskets full it'll all compress down and I have real difficulty getting my lye to move between so once I've got a layer make a shelf the Shelf will support the next layer of linen saving the bottom layer from being crushed so now it's the moment for my extra strong lye pour this lie on it's going to slowly filtrate its way through all the greasy dirty things dissolving any grease that's there so on it goes Tom is overseeing the production of a book which the abbot will present to his patron at the feast in medieval England hand-copied books were still a precious commodity mainly the preserve of nobility and the monasteries but by the reign of Henry the seventh a new technology from the continent was changing this the printing press with movable type developed by a German craftsman Johannes Gutenberg the press allowed individual letters to be set into text and rearranged with ease printing expert Nick Smith is setting the type for the Abbott's book so when you put these letters in you're not actually putting them in as you would read them no letter on the end of the piece of type it's going to be upside down and backwards as far as the compositor is concerned so he has to be able to read a line like that just to check that there are no errors in it and that of course means that when it's turned over inked and pressed into paper it'll come out the right way around printers used to refer to these types and sorts if you run out of the stock of a particular character you can say you're out of sorts once a page of type is set it is carefully transferred to a metal frame called a chaise and held in place with wedges known as furniture those less is moving the millimeter it becomes a smug killing it does yes you can't afford to have the type moving at all in fact some of the inks we use are so sticky the different type is at all loose the sticky ink will actually pull it out of position that's another word can be a disaster so these the ink balls these are the balls yet pick up ink from the ink block there no sheet of paper then goes on here now I'm turning they frisk it down this is a light metal frame covered in paper and this is basically a mask only the areas that want a print are going to touch the paper [Music] provide the pressure by pulling on this bar we now have to move the press bed in again so it's a double printing press a double printing process and the reason for that is simply but with this simple screw mechanism it's not possible to develop enough pressure to print a whole sheet in one go and so there's our printed sheet that so how many of these sheets would you expect to prints in a now they should print 250 in an hour but I can't really imagine that they ever managed that you could make it a little bit faster if you had a boy who was known as a princess devil taking off the printed sheets was that required no skill at all well you've got unskilled laborer here [Music] this new printing technology was developed by entrepreneurs not the church as the century progressed they made more and more affordable books which ordinary people might own it was an invention that would change the world once the lie has removed all the grease from the laundry it's time to wash it common washing places like this every community had to have some way to do their laundry the key to Tudor laundry was brute force this hard work with this but that's the point that is what does the job for you there chemicals involved it is purely mechanical action what you're doing is forcing molecules of water under tension through the fibers and it just physically mechanically dislodges the dirt it's the bashing that does it [Music] once thoroughly wrung out the laundry is laid on the grass to dry the combination of water and sunlight produces a bleaching effect so the monastery sheets are about six shades whiter than ours [Music] the abbot's book is nearly finished it just needs bindings apprentice book finder Eve Goodman is showing Tom the process one of things with printed books he's you've gotta be really really careful to make sure you don't get pages out Waldo look at the originals and there are quite a few ware of pages upside down we're an apprentice has not been quite paying attention once all the papers are folded they are sliced in half it should be one continuous movement bring a knife towards and fold it again to form sheets making sure that all the pages are the right way up nice stiff paper that's that's how quality I tell you this state the way but binding was working was you had a book binding shop and people would come in with their pages having had them printed and hand them over and say I want you to bind those this is the the point at which industrious book binding is happening where suddenly people can afford to go and buy their pages and take them to a book binder I suppose the ability to mass-produce books of this type means that when the Reformation occurred Henry the eighth was able to print the Bible in English and get it out there and making that sort of break from Rome so much easier because obviously all other Bibles were printed in Latin then he needed to have that separation exactly a small press was used to hold the pages in place while their spines were marked out and a series of slits cut right this is the vital part this is the part that halts all let's look together this is sewing on the core say a series of chords are lined up with the slits in the spine and the whole book is sewn together so you're literally just stitching a book yeah you're sewing it together okay Sachi he's very precise isn't it yeah this does feel like a book at this point yeah a proper present next the book needs to be cut to size as good a plow see there's a blade here and you'll see as soon as I got through this lot just how it's silky smooth the edge of the book is you were any finger down there it squeaks that's unbelievably smooth that's amazing a spine is rounded using a hammer you can see that there's that there's a curve on it there's a bit of a curve and all books have got that and it's all about making sure that the spine is as stable as possible this also forms a Ledge for the books cover to sit on so you can see the rounding over of the spine is so that you get this seamless you have originally covered in plain vellum by 1500 luxury books had fine leather covers and the craftsmanship required to make a book emphasizes really why they were such prestige gifts doesn't it and finally the book is put in the press to set overnight then the others will be very proud to give that to his patron thank you for letting me observe alright [Music] hey Turkish hey Georgie hey Mildred back on the farm the pigs are flourishing Peter's tree hay is going down well she absolutely loves it I'm a convert tree very fantastic and with the crop finally dry it's time to bring in the peas well our peace care has definitely worked we still have a crop I mean I think there's a lot of peace on that there's an awful lot of peace we were trying to pick these by hand we'd be here the team are using scythes first developed in Roman times by the medieval era they had spread throughout Europe the smells amazing isn't it Tom it is later now quite easy as well [Music] loading the peas into our wagon and these dried peas we can thrash to get the peas out but the stems we can feed to our cows [Music] making friends send their pizza making friends for the tudor farmer a good crop would have been a godsend feeding them and their animals and even making a little cash if there was extra to sell the crop will be beaten with sticks to release the peas a process known as thrashing yeah that's there are hundreds of piece yeah this is good the weather or but this has been a really good crop I think it's well down as well to the farming techniques to be honest or maybe I have time spent on our knees in church [Music] the abbot's feast is just days away but the elaborate food he will be serving was a far cry from the simple meals of ordinary monks Benedictus benedicat per Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum every meal began with grace talking was forbidden so instead the monks communicated over the dinner table using sign language [Music] each monk had a daily allowance of two and a half pounds of bread and a gallon of ale and two pounds of fish a fundamental part of the monastic diet but fish wasn't only important for the monks the church decreed that for three days a week and on many holy days lay people should not eat meat only fish while the general public had to make do with dried or salted fish the monasteries had become expert fish farmers they're engineered elaborate systems of ponds to grow salmon Pike and carp which will be served at the abbot's feast Ruth has come to the monastic kitchen to prepare the food starting with the carp sort of in a luxury food it's freshwater fish and for most people you know that was in itself a sign of wealth and of privilege only those who had the rights to the fishing could take the fish so freshwater fish carried a certain social cachet you knew if you were served any of the freshwater fish that you were being given the produce of the owner of the land Ruth stops the fish with anchovies bred herbs and spices a valuable commodity in Tudor England the monks obviously tried to keep a really close eye on what they were using and spending in their kitchens just the same way as they were keeping a close eye on the way their lands were being farmed so monks were supervising chefs they were in charge of the stores of keeping count of food going in and food coming out [Music] Ruth makes a cage to support the fish during the roasting [Music] the church was instrumental in the advancement of fine dining the frequent travels of the clergy meant new ideas and cooking methods spread throughout Europe Ruth is trying out an elaborate pastry dish I'm building a pastry castle according to a menu from 1500 the Bishop of London served just such a thing at a dinner it started with a moat have custard and then within it it was a great pastry castle and in each of the turrets the pastry castle there be a different filling and I rather thought well you know it's good enough for the Bishop of London maybe it's good enough for a rabbit peter has turned his attention to drinks for the feast in the 1500s wine was an expensive commodity back on there one way to make it last longer was the distill it into a spirit distiller Jack green has made us still the apparatus needed to produce brandy so as I blow air into the coals here they heat up that heats the wine but what happens then which is lower than the boiling point of water the alcohol evaporates goes up into the air condenses on here and run down this channel here and then down the spout essentially the the alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature than the rest of the wine yes this wet blanket on it I like a little tea cosy but the opposite is the role in keeping it hot okay so we're getting we're getting a few drips coming out of here yes the first alcohol that comes over is methanol and methanol is the bad stuff what happens if I drink that well you probably go blind methanol has a lower boiling point than ethanol so the first drops that come over are the methanol and we discard those when do you know that you've changed from methanol to ethanol just have to guess just have to go right okay when the ethanol starts to come through the spout is connected to a long tube which is cooled in a bucket of water this will help the ethanol fully condense we're getting some already that's fantastic is now the ethanol coming through bit faster the reason it's called spirit this is the body spirit so the the the vapor of alcohol is the spirits leaving the body of wine yeah by the way I'm looking forward to trying it oh yeah she'll be the first I'll put my thumb over the spoke just a little sip don't drink it all that's really nice that is really nice good good the food is prepared and the brandy distilled but there's one more job to do before the feast Peter and Tom have been called upon to serve at the banquet and they need a lesson in Tudor etiquette you have no idea what an honor this is you know this would be gentleman sons who've been carefully trained from childhood in how to be gracious how to bow beautifully how to serve a table with exactly the right esta kit that have special carving lessons I mean so that they could do it precisely and cleanly and quickly exactly right you put the serving towel on for serving dinner it's a symbol of what's of role you play at dinner because he's gonna be slightly different to you so you get two towels because you're carving okay badge of office I mean the Potter your servants were the Pasha you were and the better turned out your servants were the more it reflected on you what your buyers like on mushy bears bowing or genuflecting yeah it is more like a genuflect yeah you want to be doing those particular when you're serving the food you want to be able to come down with the trays held in front of you yeah that's the sort of thing you're doing that two moves I think whatever nother go I thought was pretty good the first time you see I'll try not stepping quite so far just keep it really small and then that knee can come right into your heel it's better look you're gonna go in there you're gonna be elegant you're gonna be lovely we're gonna do you proud you are gorgeous it's the day of the abbot's feast and the monasteries most important patron will be dining more than just an expression of hospitality it was a vital chance to win favor and donations as a sign of humility following the example of Christ Atheneum UNK would wash the feet of the guests before dinner benedic domine knows that hate toward owner equated to a larger tart a psalmist Centauri per Christum Dominum Nostrum amen [Music] the seating plan was meticulous only the most distinguished guests would sit on the high table with the abbot the further away you sat the lower your social status each of the elaborate dishes Ruth pastry castle with a custard moat sugar platters decorated with gold and the cop along with many other dishes would be ceremonially presented to the abbot for approval before being served [Music] coughing cost for the monastic table it's not a case of fitting the fish instead I'm running my knife around the outside of the fish cutting off the fins and the tail and the head and then the body I'm gonna cut it into equal sized portions complete the phones because when it's served it will still look like a fish but each piece can be picked up and eaten as bite-size morsels [Music] she facilitates [Music] the drinks served in cups were kept on a board the origin of the word cupboard there would be offered to the top table with the server waiting for the guests to finish before removing the cup and Tom's prestigious gift is presented as a token of our gratitude I would like to present you with this book a life of sin Dedmon in English [Music] any scraps of food were put in an arms Bowl to be given to the poor the monasteries were so dominant in the provision of welfare that it was only after the dissolution that the government was forced to confront the issue [Music] with the dining over the guests were entertained into the night by musicians revelry was not uncommon even within the monastic walls this has been a real insight into how those above us actually live it's really different I mean when you think our dining seems quite foreign and we all sit there and behave yourselves but this is a whole scale above and also the sheer amount of food in consumed it's crazy isn't it it is crazy I mean I know everything there gets eaten by somebody but that initial huge groaning board is quite a sight to see I want to stress I did not drop the custard couple times despite how much wine you drank but this sort of event it was what kept the monasteries funded yeah well they're stuffed and so their coffers [Music] next time on Tudor monastery farm it's harvest time this has taken us four and a half hours and looking like more there is produce the vital tudor resource if you think of salt as a basic ingredient having to process it down just add so much labour and enjoy some tudor entertainment i always knew that this scythe was meant for more than just harvesting peas from here they shall not pass

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 492,925

Rating: 4.9093075 out of 5

Keywords: history documentaries, quirky history, world history, ridiculous history, tudor monastery, britain at war, british history, living in britain, ruth goodman, alex langlands, peter ginn, living in a farm, historic farm, tudor era, the tudors, british kingdom, british kingdom history, history documentary

Id: gnFi96PLlFY

Length: 58min 29sec (3509 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 16 2020