Medieval Madness (A show idea challenge)

Ooooh... Matrix moment

legend has it forks were introduced because a certain queen got tired of food fights involving fatalities.

It may have originated in Scandinavia, but 18th century ships captains DID use the acronym of the 'F' word to stand in for 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' in their ships logs. I did actually see an example of this in a old ships captain's log on display at the Royal Maritime Museum in London about 10 years ago.

I heard forks were introduce into Europe by knight returning from the Crusades.

The French Knights had to dismount - those who were on horseback ran off to attack the supply train of the English Army and took no part in the battle. This was because King Henry had the sense to have his troops set up anti-cavalry spikes in front of the English positions and the ground didn't allow the French cavalry to flank those defences. Cavalry who charged pikemen head on never faired well - as evidenced several hundred years later by the inability of cavalry units to break the square infantry formations. (A musket with a bayonet in place is basically a pike after all). So rather than commit suicide (and loose valuable horses) the French Knights advanced on foot with the men-at-arms.

The condition of the ground played a major factor in slowing the French advance down, but just as importantly the English had positioned themselves so the French could only really attack their line head on and down a fairly narrow corridor. By the time the French reached the English line they were worn out, and had been subjected to heavy fire (although it seems that the main effect of the archery was to further tire out the advancing troops, who had to keep their shields up, and demoralise them rather than inflicting heavy causalities*.) Even so there was very heavy fighting when the French hit the English lines, especially around the Royal Standard, and it seems that this was where most of the casualties were taken - Especially since the troops at the front could not withdraw with the press of men behind them.

(*No one bothered to mention how many men had fallen during the advance compared to those who had fallen on the English lines. However the records do seem to indicate that there were far more bodies in front of the English line than elsewhere. If we have references to men having fallen during the advance, I suspect that this was so unusual to be worthy of noting rather than par for the course. It certainly seems unlikely that so many French Knights would have been captured by the English if they had fallen during the advance and been twice walked over by the rest of the army.)

Forks seem to have been introduced from Italy, then to the French courts and probably to England through Scotland (The Scottish Royal Family was usually closer to the French Court than the English one.)

Based on what little reading I've done, it seems likely that if a British Queen was responsible for introducing forks to the UK it would be Queen Anne. And then it would have been down to fashion rather than a desire to stop people from fighting at the table.

Even so, it does seem that in Britain the fork remained an upper class utensil for at least another 100-150 years*. It is probable that the fork was adopted by the middle classes to ape the upper classes, and eventually made its way to the lower classes as they became cheaper.

(*Sailors were still eating with a knife and spoon in the early part of the 1800's. Only officers, who were gentlemen, used forks.)

Most likely Catherine de'Medici, Queen Consort to Henry II of France (1547-1559). She was Italian by birth and raised there, so it seems probable that she passed on the trend in Italian courts to use forks to the French (especially her sons). Most other Kings tended to copy French styles and trends - probably because French was the diplomatic language and spoken by most of them even if it was as a second language. So it would make sense if Catherine's influence brought the fork to the French, and from there to the rest of Europe.

It is highly unlikely that food fights had anything to do with the introduction/adoption of the fork. Knives were always in evidence, so if you wanted to stop people from killing each other at the table you'd presumably restrict everyone to using their fingers rather than giving them something else pointy they could use on each other.

Besides, all cultures I can think of have or had strong cultural rules against killing people at the dinner table even if you were eating with an enemy. Indeed the fact that people would offer and accept meals with an enemy is a rather clear indication that such actions were usually unthinkable.

Where we do have stories about people being killed at a dinner table they are usually in regards someone who had a reputation for being ruthless to put it mildly - and who were usually powerful enough to get away with it. This would not hold with guests at a Kings dining table, especially since the Royal Guards would be armed, standing nearby and tended to react to any potential threat to the King by stabbing it repeatedly. (And probably charging the next of kin with the cost of replacing the blood stained furnishings).

As does the fact that in Europe the fork is traditionally held in the left hand and the knife in the right. Logically if you wanted to stop someone from attacking a dinner guest with the knife you'd have people holding the knife in the left, as they are more likely to attack with the dominant hand.

(Similar to the reason a trusted assistant became known as 'the right hand man'. The person sitting to your right is in the ideal position to grab your sword arm, preventing you from drawing a blade to defend yourself with should you be attacked. Bet you never thought of that...)

I hope they kept with tradition and mentioned that after you'd belted the guy over the head for the first time.

You know, your mention of left-handedness reminds me of a myth I've heard...Think I'll go and post it.