Nineteen Centuries of Drink in England: A HistoryFrench, Richard Valpy
History
Nineteen Centuries of Drink in England: A History
French, Richard Valpy
Drinking customs -- England; Drinking of alcoholic beverages -- Great Britain; England -- Social life and customs
Vinous preparations of a fancy character were much in use. We read of
an order for the delivery of two tuns of white and one of red wine to
make garhiofilac and clarry for the king’s table at York. The names of
some of these preparations are painfully significant. Recipes are found
for making _Bishop_, _Cardinal_, _Pope_.
Whether in consequence of the royal statute upon ale, or for some
other reason, the first mention I can find of the _Crown_ as an inn
sign occurs in this reign. The tavern was in that part of Cheapside
called, after the inn, Crown Field. The king was evidently a moderate,
plain-living man; the only festivities that he seemed to care for being
those at Christmastide.
Inns, even at this time, were uncommon. In the time of Edward I. Lord
Berkeley’s farmhouses were used instead. Travellers would not only
inquire for hospitable persons, but even go to the king’s palaces for
refreshment. Knights were known to lodge in barns. But, though few
in number, they had already proved a nuisance. In the statutes for
the regulation of the city of London in the time of Edward I., it is
stated that ‘divers persons do resort unto the city:’ some who had
been banished, or who had fled from their own country, also foreigners
and others, many of them suspicious characters; and ‘of these, some do
become brokers, hostlers, and innkeepers, within the city, as freely
as though they were good and lawful men of the franchise of the city;
and some do nothing but run up and down through the streets, more by
night than by day, and are well attired in clothing and array, and
have their food of delicate meats and costly; neither do they use any
craft or merchandise; nor have they any lands or tenements whereof to
live, nor any friend to find them; and through such persons many perils
do often happen in the city.’ In addition to this, it was complained
that ‘offenders, going about by night, do commonly resort and have
their meetings, and evil talk in taverns more than elsewhere, and
there do seek for shelter, lying in wait and watching their time to do
mischief.’ To do away with this grievance, taverns were not allowed to
be opened for the sale of wine and ale after the tolling of the curfew.
In the first year of Edward I.’s reign was abolished the old impost
called _Prisage_, and in its place a duty imposed of 2_s._ on every tun
of wine imported. This tax afterwards obtained the name of _Butlerage_,
because it was paid to the king’s butler. It was abolished in 1311, in
consequence of a petition urged upon Edward II. for the redress of this
and many other grievances.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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