Cassandra Clark's Blog

Medieval food can be really surprising. It wasn't all thin gruel, pottage and a handful of beans. If the cookery books are to be believed at least some people, the townsfolk, the manorial lords for instance, ate well and loved special recipes which were gathered for the first time by Richard II's master chef at Eltham Palace. There were dozens of different meats, not only venison, but hare, peacocks, song birds, rabbits and in fact anything feathered that flew. On none meat days there was a wealth of fresh water fish from the ponds (Handale Priory had its own fish ponds) and sea-fishing included porpoise as well as herring, mackerel, bass and halibut. Oysters, of course, were eaten by everyone. Surprisingly, risotto, couscous, with aromatic spices and sweet and sour dishes familiar to us today were available with ingredients brought in from Outremer (the middle east to us). Almond sauces were popular as was blancmanger made of rice and almond milk eaten with shredded white meat such as chicken. Something called mawnmenee was a spicy, red coloured concoction with pomegranate and flaked almonds. And frumenty was as popular then as it is in some kitchens even now. I like to think of Hildegard and Hubert de Courcy sitting down to a feast of delicacies although Ulf would be sure to go for a simple haunch of venison and some strong ale. If you want the recipes you can find them in 'The Forme of Cury' - Richard II's cook book.

I'm still finding my way around this site. It seems brilliant if only I can get to grips with it. I'm really excited by the look of my new book with a@b. It came out in paperback this week and the response from readers at signings and bookshop events has been so positive. It's The Law of Angels, third in the Abbess of Meaux medieval mystery series, and takes place in York during the corpus Christi plays on the anniversary of Wat Tyler's murder during the Peaople's rising. He was the one who wanted free specch, an end to bonded labour and a limiting of royal and church power over the individual. It took another couple of hundred years for many of his demands to be met. It should be St Wat really! Hildegard has to escape to York with two runaway girls but finds even greater danger there (of course) and the whole thing culminates in the carnivalesque pageant through the streets of York when the killer makes his final move.
I hope people read it and enjoy being time travellers back to a fascinating period of history.
All the best
C

Curl up with Hildegard this winter. A thriller that starts in the Gothic wilds of Yorkshire where Hildegard is entrusted with a secret mission, to go to Rome to bring back the legendary cross of Constantine. But many enemies are determined she will not succeed. This is a story about a strong and determined women, not as unlikely as some people assume for the time. There were many women living in the Saxon tradition who were considered the equal of men and took a prominent part in politics and everyday life. Hildegard is one such and although she missed the great days when a former prioress of her house at Swyne was excommunicated three times for standing up to the rapacious Abbot of Meaux she is still a woman to be reckoned with.
Read and rejoice!