My guest on The British Food History Podcast today is historian Mark Truesdale, scholar of the fifteenth-century King and Commoner tradition and its early modern afterlife and author of The King and Commoner Tradition: Carnivalesque Politics in Medieval and Early Modern Literature, published by Routledge.
We talk about medieval carnival, the plot of a king and commoner tale, spying foresters, rude monks, the love of eating tiny birds, who the audience might be, and the ridiculousness of baking a venison pasty in Sherwood Forest – amongst many other things.
The British Food History Podcast is available on all podcast apps, YouTube, and can be streamed here via this Spotify embed:
Those listening to the secret podcast can hear about Henry VIII’s love of Robin Hood tales, cowardly herons, and Mark tells me who the king in these tales may (or may not) be referring to.
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This episode was mixed and engineered by Thomas Ntinas of the Delicious Legacy podcast.
Things mentioned in today’s episode
Mark’s article The Medieval Robin Hood: Folk Carnivals and Ballads on Folklore Thursday
My blog post about King Alfred burning the cakes
The Great Household in Late Medieval England by C.M. Woolgar
Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales
Sentimental and Humorous Romances
Serve it Forth website – You can still receive 25% off the ticket price using the code SERVE25 at the checkout!
Serve it Forth Eventbrite page
Previous pertinent podcast episodes
Medieval Meals & Manners with Danièle Cybulskie
Neil’s blogs and YouTube channel
The British Food History Channel
Neil’s books
Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper
Knead to Know: a History of Baking
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email me at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or leave a comment, below.
British Food: A History 