Henry VIII's Christmas Feast

Henry VIII's Christmas Feast. King Henry VIII of England liked to live large and luxurious, but especially at Christmas. He and his wife of the moment enjoyed decadent feasts including classics we know today, like mince pie and gingerbread, and more surprising fare like roasted swan, brawn, and boar's head, all washed down with copious quantities of mead, grout, and wine. His Majesty received gobsmackingly expensive and highly political Christmas presents. He partied, played games, and generally made himself a very merry monarch indeed. So don your dashing doublet and pull up your hose, or lace up your loveliest corset and gown. Not too tight, and let's enjoy King Henry VIII's Christmas Feast. On the Christian calendar, the four weeks before Christmas are Advent. In the Middle Ages, this was a time of fasting and penitence in preparation for the birth of Christ. Meat, dairy, and eggs were banned, but fish was alright. Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was zealous about religious fasting, and often shunned food altogether. Some scholars believe this may be why she struggled to maintain healthy pregnancies. Fasting also meant abstaining from sex, but we know this rule was not strictly followed. Henry's daughter, Elizabeth, was born on September 7th, meaning she was conceived bang in the middle of Advent. Of all his palaces, Henry preferred to spend the festive season at Greenwich, the place of his birth and the site of many happy childhood memories. Later, when he acquired the dazzling Hampton Court Palace and built himself a massive feasting hall, Christmas moved there. Throughout Advent, the palace kitchens would be a din of activity, with cooks and apprentices working hard to prepare dazzling delicacies. And on Christmas Eve, servants decked the halls with boughs of holly, ivy, and other festive and fragrant evergreens. The king loved music and even wrote a Christmas carol called Green Groweth the Holly. I'll eat. The song was first published in 1522, when he had been married to Catherine for 13 years. The lyrics comparing his faithfulness to his lady to the unchanging green of the holly became rather ironic when five years later, he began divorce proceedings against his wife in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Indeed, the holly doth grow greener than King Henry's love for Queen Catherine Members of the court had new clothes for Christmas, and on December 24th, they donned their finest and went to chapel to attend Midnight Mass. This service heralded the birth of Christ, said to have been born in a manger at midnight. The candlelit ceremony and tolling bells kicked off the 12 days of Christmas. On Christmas morning, everyone returned to the chapel for mass at dawn. After church, they proceeded to the great hall for a spectacular all-day feast. As the mighty yule log crackled in the hearth and carolers sang, the assemblage would take their allotted seats. Courtiers and guests sat on either side of several long tables lined up in the great hall. The top table was reserved for the king, queen, other royals, and the highest-ranking courtiers and honored guests. The lower your rank, the further you were from the top table. The same went for the food. The very finest dishes were presented with ceremony to the top table, while those on the other end of the hall tucked in to still very nice, but not quite as luxurious fare Tudor feasts were served a la Francaise, meaning various dishes were brought out at the same time, and diners helped themselves to whatever they fancied. Though the king had a personal carver to place the finest morsels on his plate. In 1532, a temporary kitchen was set up at Greenwich Palace to make 200 dishes for a single Christmas feast. About a thousand people dined at court during the whole Yuletide season. Platters piled high with delicious food came out in waves. Pottage, pies and salads first, roast meats second, and finally desserts, fruit and cheese, known as the banqueting course. First course, plum pottage, traditionally kicked off the Christmas meal. Pottage or porridge was a stew of vegetables thickened with grains or breadcrumbs. In the Middle Ages, everyone from the king to beggars ate pottage regularly. It was a staple for peasants who threw whatever vegetables they had on hand into a hot cauldron on the fire. The wealthy added luxury ingredients like meat and imported dried fruits, spices, and wine. In the Middle Ages, a plum referred to all dried fruits, including raisins, prunes, dates, figs, and currants. These and spices like pepper, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, cloves, mace, and nutmeg were popularized in England by crusaders who gained a taste for them while trying to conquer the Holy Lands in the ten hundreds. Because spices and many dried fruits had to be imported from Asia and the Middle East, they were extremely expensive and were thus the pinnacle of the aspirational medieval palate. We might think their food tasted overspiced, but to the Tudors, the more spice the better. They would have adored pumpkin spice latte. The combination of meat, dried fruit, spice, and booze evolved over time to form two more English Christmas favorites. Mince pies are also called shred pies, as all the above ingredients were shredded fine, mixed together, and baked in a pie crust. Pie tins weren't mass produced until 1871. Before that, a crust had to be thick enough to support its own weight. Crusts were also called coffins and were made from flour and water. Unlike the buttery, flaky pie crusts we're used to today, they didn't actually taste very nice. Tudor people only ate the filling. Decorative crusts might be stamped with the king's badge, the tudor rose, or elaborately sculpted into castles or animals, painted or covered in gold leaf Traditionally, the Christmas mince pie was shaped into a cradle to honor the baby Jesus. And all that artistry didn't go to waste. A sturdy crust could be used again and again. Once it was worn out, the soggy bottom would be thrown to the dogs. Or the peasants. Plum pudding is the evolution of plum pottage most recognizable today. Many believe this quintessential British Christmas dish dates back to the middle ages, though recipes don't appear until the 17th century, so we can't be sure that it would have been on Henry VIII's table. According to custom, the dessert is made on the 25th Sunday after Trinity in late November, called Stir Up Sunday. Each member of the family takes a turn to stir the ingredients from east to west to honor the journey of the Magi. The pudding is traditionally made with 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, including Lamb Suet, in remembrance of the shepherds who visited Jesus in the manger. A coin for prosperity, a ring for marriage, and a thimble for luck are mixed in. The ingredients are placed in cloth, molded into a ball, and steamed. Then the pudding is soaked in brandy, decorated with a sprig of holly, and set on fire when it's presented to the table. It is often served with hard sauce, a creamy custard fortified with more brandy. The Tudors loved mixing sweet and savory, so they had their plum pottage at the beginning of the meal. Plum pudding remains a popular Christmas dish in the UK, though it is usually served for dessert and is meat-free. Vegetables were looked down on by English nobles who saw them as peasant food. But when Catherine of Aragon arrived at court, she hired a Dutch gardener to produce the salads she'd grown up with back home in Spain. Thus, the queen's five-a-day became fashionable. Tudor salads were highly seasonal. In the spring, one might enjoy mint, lettuce, tender hawthorn, violets, marigolds, and spinach dressed in oil and vinegar. The winter featured a lot of pickles. Things we would recognize today like gherkins, olives, and wild garlic, as well as long-forgotten varietals like sea holly root, similar to parsnips, alexanders, related to celery, and broom buds, similar to capers, were preserved in floral vinegars, made from gilly flowers, carnations, roses, elderflower, and cowslip. Carrots were in season, as were Brussels sprouts, which were first recorded on the English Christmas table in 1538. King Henry's favorite was the globe artichoke, possibly because it is considered an aphrodisiac. It was only found in the gardens of the rich. Charles I cooks stewed artichokes in a spiced marrow bone sauce. Tudor cooks didn't miss the opportunity to turn these colorful plants into a feast for the eyes as well as the palate. One court visitor recorded a salad course incorporating edible flowers to make a dazzling display around a pastry castle with moats of pickles. Figurines on the castle balconies bore cruets of oil and vinegar for dressing. Roast course. Meat was a show of wealth and virility, both very important to Henry VIII. His tables were piled high with a variety of roast beasts. Chicken was for commoners. Henry wanted the good stuff. Elegant swans and peacocks were skinned, roasted, and then redressed with their feathers to appear lifelike. They were carried into the hall and presented to the the king at the top table with much fanfare. Small, wild game birds, including pheasants, woodcock, quail, and partridge, appeared on the Tudor table. They didn't have much meat on their bones, but because they were hunted using falcons, which only the wealthy could afford, they were highly prized. Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour, was particularly fond of quail. A noble family bought their daughter a place as a maid of honor by sending the queen a large consignment of her favorite fowl. The turkey was first imported from the Americas during Henry's reign. He had one on his Christmas table in 1527, so the popular image of the king chowing down on on a giant turkey leg is on point. Turkey got its name because it was similar to the guinea fowl being imported by Turkish merchants. Goose remained the centerpiece on the peasant Christmas table until the late 1800s, when turkey farming was well established in East Anglia. Today, this largest of domestic poultry is the most popular holiday main dish in the US and UK. Water fowl was believed to dampen virility and was therefore commonly eaten by monks and priests. But King Henry was all about enhancing his manliness, so he insisted on plenty of red meat. Giant joints of beef and pork were roasted for hours on the kitchen's open fire. The roasts were turned slowly by a spit boy to ensure they were evenly cooked and delicious. Venison was particularly prized as it could only be hunted on land owned by the wealthy. Tudor cooks used everything but the squeal. Bits of leftover meat were chopped up and put into a dish called brawn. This Tudor version of meatloaf mixed meat scraps with fruit and herbs and set it in aspic jelly, made by boiling pigs' trotters for hours to extract the collagen. Brawn was so popular that space in the kitchens was reserved just for making this delicacy. Are you searching for the perfect holiday gift to give yourself or your favorite history lover? How about an unforgettable trip to Scotland? I'll be hosting a historic group tour from Highlands to Lowlands on May 15th to 21st, 2024. Use promo code HOLIDAY50 to get $50 off your trip. That will buy a lot of haggis, or shortbread cookies if you prefer. We'll see breathtaking Eilean Donan Castle, the Crown Jewels at Edinburgh Castle, Bronze Age burial chambers at Balnairne of Clava, take a boat ride to the mystical Isle of Skye, and so much more. And most amazingly, we'll do it all with a group of fellow history lovers and a local guide. Bring a buddy or fly solo. We'll all become friends along the way. There are only a few spots left, so click the link in the description to reserve yours today. Only 25% is due at booking, the rest 90 days before departure. Use promo code HOLIDAY50 to get $50 off your trip. Happy holidays, and I can't wait to meet you in Scotland. In the halls of the wealthy, the centerpiece of the Christmas feast was a wild boar's head, decorated with holly and served with mustard sauce. A wild boar is a ferocious creature, weighing some 200 pounds and wielding razor-sharp tusks. It can easily kill a man. Hunting this creature took a good deal of bravery. And showing off the trophy of a wild boar you had slain was a great show of strength and virility. Pagans sacrificed a boar during Yule celebrations. At Christmas, it came to symbolize Christ's triumph over evil. Boar's head was likely served to Anglo-Saxon kings, but we know it appeared on the table of Henry II in the 1100s. The skull would be carefully cut out, and the bristles burned off. The skin was brined for several days in red wine or vinegar, mustard, and herbs. Then it was stuffed with a mixture of pork, spices, and dried fruit, sewn back together, and boiled until tender. It was shaped on a platter to appear lifelike, and decorated with holly and ivy. Often the tusks would be gilded, red-dyed vegetables used to make menacing eyes, and an apple stuck in its mouth. And it was served with mustard sauce. The entrance of the boar's head was the pinnacle of the Christmas feast. One of the earliest recorded Christmas carols was sung as the head was carried into the great hall and presented. The Boar's Head as I love is the rarest dish in all the land when thus be decked with a gay garland let us serve here a cantico caput apri defero bread and slough is all we know Boar's head continued to appear on royal holiday tables into the 19th century. Prince Albert was especially fond of the tradition. After his death, his grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, sent Queen Victoria a boar's head every Christmas, along with two giant hampers of German cakes and cookies. Banqueting course Meals ended with a banqueting course, made up of sweets, fruits, and cheeses. It was the most visually dazzling of all. Towards the end of the Tudor period and into the Stuart era, special banqueting halls were built where the spectacular culinary finale could be set up beforehand. Stuffed diners would proceed from the Great Hall into the banqueting hall to marvel at chess sets sculpted from marzipan, trees made from sugar plate, and castles formed in royal icing. Imported sugar cane was phenomenally expensive. The poor would go their entire lives without tasting it, but would use honey to sweeten their foods. Marzipan, also called marchpane, was made from crushed almonds, another expensive ingredient. It was easy to color and mold into a variety of shapes. Sugar plate describes the various techniques used to transform sucrose into edible art. It could be mixed with water poured into molds and left to dry, or whipped with eggs to make royal icing. Confeets, tiny hard candies, were formed by coating a single aniseed with sugar in a special kettle for days. Sugar was mixed with gelatin to make gums or jellies. Leach, jellies made with milk, were a particular favorite of Elizabeth I, who ate them throughout the day to freshen her breath. She needed it as after a lifetime of conspicuous sugar consumption, Her Majesty's teeth were rotten black. Tudor cooks were endlessly creative in their use of sugar. They incorporated a number of flavorings, including nuts, dates, dried fruit, citrus peel, rose water, ginger, aniseed, cinnamon, and mint. Tudors did have chocolate, which was first brought from the New World in 1520, but the bitter bean didn't become popular until it was mixed with sugar and milk in Switzerland in the 1800s. Gingerbread was brought to France by an Armenian monk in 992. From there, the spicy biscuits spread throughout Europe and were especially popular painted and hung in windows as decorations and to ease indigestion. Tudors liked to add white pepper to give it an extra kick. Elizabeth I was the first to enjoy gingerbread men, which she served to foreign dignitaries. Drinks King Henry had plenty to wash down his decadent feast. Mead may have been the first alcohol consumed before the development of agriculture. Paleolithic Africans discovered that putting a bee's nest into water for a few days made a delicious drink. Archaeologists in China have found jugs with traces of mead dating back to 7000 BCE. Ancient Greeks, Aristotle and Pliny the Elder enjoyed mead, as did the Vikings. Henry VIII served a Welsh recipe called methagolin. He was keen to emphasize his Welsh roots. In addition to the honey base, methagolin incorporated any number of other herbs, some of which were mildly poisonous. These might include thyme, cloves, strawberry leaves, lemon balm, fennel, liverwort, marshmallow root, scurvy grass, and majorum. The drink had a perfumed, crisp, and refreshing flavor. Groot Ale Once humans began farming grain in the Fertile Crescent around 10,000 BCE, they quickly found a way to turn it into alcohol. Enter beer. This drink is made from wheat, barley, corn, rice, or oats, mixed with water and left to ferment for several days. The fermentation process sterilizes the water and makes it safe to drink. In Tudor times, when sanitation systems were non-existent, and one bad drink could kill you, most people, even children, drank small ale, which was low in alcohol rather than water. A variety of other herbs and spices were added to balance the malty flavor of the grain. These were called Groot and commonly included sage, rosemary, bog myrtle, heather, bay leaves, ground ivy, hoarhound, mugwort, sweetgale, and yarrow. Hops were first cultivated in the 700s in Germany. Charlemagne's father, Pippin the Short, willed his hop garden to the cloisters at Saint-Denis. Hopped beer didn't make its way to England until the 1400s. It was viewed with suspicion, called a wicked weed, and banned in some parts of the country. Henry VIII wasn't a fan. He believed hops ruined the wholesomeness of beer. He preferred older recipes with Groot, which were referred to as ale, while the hoppy stuff was called beer. In the end, hops won out. They were cheaper than the herbs used for Groot, and they extended the shelf life of the drink. Today, nearly all beer and ale contains hops. Wine. Grapes do not thrive in England, so wine had to be imported from mainland Europe. Thus, it was a luxury item on the Tudor table and was mixed with other luxury flavors, like imported spices, plums, and orange peel to make a festive mulled wine, which is still popular at Christmas. Entertainment Christmastide meant a lot of leisure time. An Italian visitor at Hampton Court noted the guests remained at the table for over seven hours. Once, King Henry got bored and started throwing candied plums at his ministers. Acrobats, jugglers, musicians, actors, and jesters were hired to keep the king and his guests happy during their long, luxurious meal. Games were played, jokes were told, and songs were sung. In charge of keeping His Majesty diverted at Christmas was the Lord of Misrule, a courtier who was dressed as a jester and crowned the King of Christmas. In addition to his MC duties, he could order anyone to wait on him or perform a trick, like jumping on one leg or talking backwards. Even the King had to obey him. One year, the Lord of Misrule demanded five pounds from the Sovereign, which amused Henry inordinately. The Lord of Misrule may be a forerunner to Santa Claus. In the Middle Ages, Christmas Day was just the first of the 12 days of Christmas. The extended celebrations included games and sports, gift-giving, wassailing, and concluded with the biggest, rowdiest party of the year on January 6th, called Twelfth Night. To find out more about what people got up to during Christmastide, check out last year's holiday video, The 12 Days of Medieval Christmas. But for now, let's remain at Hampton Court in the 1500s to find out how King Henry rang in the new year. On New Year's Eve, mummers performed a play depicting St. George, patron saint of England, slaying the dragon. Afterward, the children of the Chapel Royal would sing carols, while courtiers played chess, backgammon, cards and dice. On New Year's Day, everyone at the Tudor court was expected to present King Henry and his Queen of the Moment with a spectacular present. Courtiers bestowed their gifts in front of the whole court. Nobles broke the bank trying to impress the king and everyone else. Henry raked in gold cups, paintings, purses of coins, hand-sewn shirts from the ladies, trained hunting dogs, and wild animals. One year he was given a pet marmoset. The sovereign's response to gifts had a great and sometimes grave political significance. In 1532, Henry refused his wife Catherine's present, while accepting the one offered by Anne Boleyn. She gave the king a carved and gilded bascinet dart used for hunting boar. It insinuated that she wanted him to hunt her down. The monarch sometimes gave gifts in return as a sign of royal favor. In 1540, Hans Holbein presented a painting of baby Prince Edward. The king was so pleased he rewarded the artist with a silver gilt cup. Henry spent over 800 pounds, about 400,000 pounds today each year on Christmas presents. Still, Henry usually turned a profit on New Year's Day. The twelve days of Christmas ended with Twelfth Night, the biggest feast and party of the year. Much of the same fare as Christmas was enjoyed, with the addition of the Twelfth Night cake. Henry's was over a yard wide, This giant fruit and spice filled brioche was baked with a bean and a pea hidden in each half. Men and women took slices from opposite sides. The man who found the bean in his portion would be king of the bean, and the lady was queen of the pea. It was their job to host the evening's festivities and keep the fun going into the wee hours. Courtiers dressed up and performed in masks. In 1510, a 19-year-old Henry and his men surprised his new bride Catherine by appearing in her chamber dressed as Robin Hood and his merry men. The cheerful party proceeded to the great hall, where they all shared in a wassail bowl full of spiced ale. Thirty years later, Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, from whom he'd recently amicably separated, attended the twelfth-night party hosted by the king and his fifth wife, sixteen-year-old Catherine Howard. The two queens were friendly with each other, and they danced together after grumpy King Henry went to bed to sleep off all the food and drink of his very merry Christmas. Wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, I wish you a jolly holiday season and a very happy new year. Want even more tea on history? Check out the History Tea Time podcast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. If you enjoyed this video, please like, subscribe, comment your thoughts, and check out my other Royal History videos. 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