Food and Feast in Medieval Outlaw Texts

Sponsoring Organization(s)

International Association for Robin Hood Studies (IARHS)

Organizer Name

Alexander L. Kaufman, Melissa Ridley Elmes, Valerie B. Johnson

Organizer Affiliation

Auburn Univ.-Montgomery, Univ. of North Carolina-Greensboro , Georgia Institute of Technology

Presider Name

Melissa Ridley Elmes

Paper Title 1

Grendel's Eucharist: An Outlaw's Last Supper

Presenter 1 Name

Eric R. Carlson

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of South Carolina-Aiken

Paper Title 2

The Social Contracts of "Mete and Drink" in The Tale of Gamelyn

Presenter 2 Name

Renée Ward

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Wilfrid Laurier Univ.

Paper Title 3

Blood on the Table: The Subversion of Fellowship in The Gest of Robin Hood

Presenter 3 Name

Sarah Harlan-Haughey

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Maine

Paper Title 4

"Let os was, and to mete" (Potter 164): Preparing and Consuming Food as Signifiers of Class and Gender Identity in Select Ballads and Robin Hood Films

Presenter 4 Name

Lorraine Kochanske Stock

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Univ. of Houston

Start Date

14-5-2015 1:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1275

Description

The romances of medieval England are full of scenes of feasting and eating. Food, its preparation, and its consumption are present as central points of human interaction, community, and fellowship, providing opportunities to examine and analyze agricultural and mercantile practices as well as trade, economics, and the social standing of its producers and consumers; and feast scenes perform a wide variety of functions, serving as a cultural repository of manners and behaviors, a catalyst for the adventure, a “cute-meet” for the lovers, a moment of regrouping and redirecting the narrative, a testing ground for the chivalric and courteous skills of the attendees, an occasion on which some important revelation is made, and a culminating moment of narrative resolution, for instance. But what about in the outlaw tales comprising the Matter of the Greenwood? How important are food and feasting in the tales of Robin Hood, Gamelyn, Hereward the Wake, Eustache the Monk, and Fouke le Fitz Waryn, for example? This session will consider the presence and function of food and feast in medieval outlaw tales, with an eye to considering whether and how instances of food preparation and eating in these tales can be said to display, to develop, or to subvert the conventional ideas of community and fellowship most commonly associated with foods and feasts in secular medieval literature.

Melissa Ridley Elmes, Valerie B. Johnson, Alexander L. Kaufman

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May 14th, 1:30 PM

Food and Feast in Medieval Outlaw Texts

Schneider 1275

The romances of medieval England are full of scenes of feasting and eating. Food, its preparation, and its consumption are present as central points of human interaction, community, and fellowship, providing opportunities to examine and analyze agricultural and mercantile practices as well as trade, economics, and the social standing of its producers and consumers; and feast scenes perform a wide variety of functions, serving as a cultural repository of manners and behaviors, a catalyst for the adventure, a “cute-meet” for the lovers, a moment of regrouping and redirecting the narrative, a testing ground for the chivalric and courteous skills of the attendees, an occasion on which some important revelation is made, and a culminating moment of narrative resolution, for instance. But what about in the outlaw tales comprising the Matter of the Greenwood? How important are food and feasting in the tales of Robin Hood, Gamelyn, Hereward the Wake, Eustache the Monk, and Fouke le Fitz Waryn, for example? This session will consider the presence and function of food and feast in medieval outlaw tales, with an eye to considering whether and how instances of food preparation and eating in these tales can be said to display, to develop, or to subvert the conventional ideas of community and fellowship most commonly associated with foods and feasts in secular medieval literature.

Melissa Ridley Elmes, Valerie B. Johnson, Alexander L. Kaufman