Work

From Table to Throne: Social Stratification and Culinary Culture in the High Medieval German-Speaking Lands 1050–1350 CE

Year: 2026

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: This article examines the relationship between dietary practices and social hierarchy in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire during the High Middle Ages (circa 1050-1350 CE).Drawing upon archaeological findings, manorial records, sumptuary legislation, and vernacular culinary manuscripts, the study argues that food consumption functioned as a performative lexicon of power that actively constituted social identity rather than merely reflecting it.Isotopic evidence from medieval Thuringia and Cambridge directly correlates dietary patterns with social status (Rafał A. Fetner 2025;Dittmar et al. 2024;Meyer and Prufer 2024).The analysis traces a dietary structure corresponding to the medieval ordines: the coarse rye and pottage of the peasantry, and the ostentatious consumption of game, white bread, and exotic spices among the nobility.The article concludes that the medieval table constituted a contested site where the journey from coarse sustenance to refined gastronomy mirrored the broader dynamics of social power and mobility.

Source: Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research/Advances in social science, education and humanities research

DOI: 10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_141

Author: Yihang Zhong

Institution: Xi'an Jiaotong University

Language: English

Topic: Medieval Literature and History

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W7208829259

FWCI:

Cites: 6

Cited by:

Related to: 3