This handout accompanies a talk; there is no separate text article. The handout includes images, quotes, and references pertaining to table manners in the high and late middle ages:
Illustrations of feasts or meals. Note how diners are seated, which items are shared:
Bosch (c.1480, p1)
Romance of Renaud de Montauban (15th c, p2)
Lutrtrell Psalter (c.1325, p3)
Chronique d’Angleterre (c.1475, p3 and p5)
Tre Riches Heures (c.1410 p7)
Romance of the Saint Graal (13th c, p8-9)
Lord Cobham (1567, p10)
Treatises on serving or attending feasts or meals:
Boke of Nurture (1577, p2,3)
Good Manners for Children (c.1530, p4)
Household Statutes (c.1450, p4)
School of Vertue (1557, p6)
Babees Book (c.1475, p6)
Boke of Curtasye (c.1430, p6-7, 9)
S’ensuivent les Contenances de la Table (15th c, p9)
Instructions for a christmas feast for tenants. (c.1250, p1)
Bill of fare for an extravagant feast. (1452, p4)
Sumptuary law attempting to restrict feasts. (1336, p5)
Maintaining cleanliness in royal kitchens (1526, p6)
Weaponising table manners in the Romance of the Rose (c.1230, p8)
Picture of a trencher knife (c.1400, p10)
References (p11)
There is a considerable emphasis on cleanliness. There were no forks, cups were shared, and groups of diners shared served plates, so good manners had a lot to do with sharing, and not making or leaving messes.