Copyright Alistair Ramsden 1997

• Camp Site Construction

• Camp Cooking & Cookware

• Food Storage - Cork & Glass

Since I plan to do a C15th. encampment regardless of what other BS happens to be going on, it’s time I pulled finger and put something down on paper. PS. I don’t care who uses this research as long as it’s got my name on it. Besides, if it’s wrong and I didn’t put my name on it, who would you complain to?

- L. Stefano d’Urbino
Shire of St. Florian
Po’Lochac, Ko’t’West

Research concentrating on the Burgundian and other armies has raised several important points. The Dukes of Burgundy styled their encampments after those of Julius Caesar and the Roman armies of antiquity. A look at Roman army encampments reveals their precision and their neatness and orderliness. It was with this in mind that the Dukes of Burgundy empowered their encampment officials, the “Master of Tents” et al. Riding before the bulk of the army, these engineers and other camp personnel would scout suitable locations for setting up camp, peg them out and supervise the rest of the army putting them up.

The style of these encampments, particularly 50 years either side of 1500, is fairly regular. The wagons and carts of the army would be laagered into walls around the encampment. Most usually there would be two circles of wagons, the inner one a bowshot away from the outer one. The inner laager housed the Lord, his entourage, and presumably those popular or rich enough to wangle their way in, while the outer area housed everyone else, except presumably those poor unfortunates who were not even important enough to be let into camp! All the tents are of the typical round one-centre pole construction, or rectangular two- or more centre pole construction, with or without outer poles and/or rounded ends.

Individual encampments inside the whole could be regimented or laissez-faire depending on the individuals involved. The Lord’s tents and encampments were of tremendous proportions indeed. Many illustrations are shown of what might be termed regulation tents, pitched haphazardly, but still giving way to the authority of the camp officials with regards to keeping main roadways clear. Of particular attention are the lengths people went to keep cooking and ablutions away from their main living area.

Soldiers are depicted in situ, but without cooking facilities - in the case of soldiers it is not unlikely cooking had been centralised. Certainly whilst at court soldiers were probably fed by their Lord. Other illustrations show cooking backed up against the wagon laager walls of the encampment, with sleeping tents and other pavilions surrounding them and separating them from the main roadway, so as to put the kitchen away from public view. Depictions of people defecating are always on the outer edge of camp, and not necessarily too far away from the cooking facilities! It is probable that more important individuals have bed pans or other containers for their waste, which were emptied on the edge of camp by servants et al.

In general, the closer to the centre of the camp, the more important people are and the more organisational attention is applied. It is recommended that in any household, at least one person is put in charge of layout, regardless of the size. It is simply a case of the more people and equipment you bring, the more organisation is required.

An Example Encampment

Camp Cooking in the late 15th Century relied on four basic cooking forms; pots, pans, spits and gridirons.

Pots were used for cooking food, heating water, and simmering old food so that it didn’t spoil. Pans were used for cooking food, and spits and gridirons were used to cook whole or jointed animals. “Dutch oven” pots, which have a lip around their lid so as to put coals on it for the purpose of baking, do not seem to be in use. Nor do tea-kettles; water boiling was done in a pot, although a “kettle” was a particular type of pot for boiling fish or ham.

Pots were made from substances that had not changed since Roman times, primarily pottery, copper, copper-tin and copper-zinc alloys, and cast iron. Of these, cast iron was the most rare and most expensive (cast iron production was more difficult before coke smelting superseded coal smelting in the early C18th.). Pots could have feet or no feet, and they could be flat bottomed or round bottomed. Pots without feet could be hung above the fire by a chain or metal hook, or placed on a separate set of feet called a brandeth, or if they were flat bottomed, on a trivet (a brandeth with a top surface instead of just a ring) or a gridiron. A cauldron was a large pot. A skillet, pouset or pipkin was a small pot, almost certainly with a long handle for ease of use over a fire.

One pot cooking is commonly depicted, but probably necessitated the use of wooden grating or linen bags inside the pot to keep foodstuffs separate from each other and from the water, or possibly a pot with an internal wall. It seems most advantageous for modern food hygiene to use different pots for each task, so a convenient camp kitchen would have at least three pots; one for boiling water, one for cooking new food and one for simmering uneaten food for later.

Pans can be made from anything pots are made of, and presumably were. Large pans could be hung from chain or hooks over a fire like large pots. Whilst a pan can be used instead of a gridiron, the reverse is not possible for many food items; fried eggs, for example. Spits and gridirons were presumably only made of metal, and in 1500 seem to have been fairly simply designed. Mechanical spit turners probably dates from about 1580; Gridiron style becomes circular in the C16th, but in 1500 were probably rectangular, with a skillet-like handle for removal from the fire.

A variety of devices were used to store food. Pottery, stoneware, casks, sacks, glassware, wooden and metal boxes and wicker ware were presumably all in use.

Glassware was experiencing the renaissance through new Venetian techniques in glass production which were superseding the then Rhineland-based techniques. Venice started to produce cristallo manganese decoloured soda glass during the mid 1400’s (in imitation of techniques used in the Middle East), and by 1500 was the leader in European glassware. Cristallo was made as a substitute for rock crystal, and was considered superior to the thick, green “forest” glass made elsewhere in Europe. Venice also innovated in glassware stylistically. They made great use of etching and pictorial enamel decoration, and discarded some of the Gothic design traits previously in use. Glassware however remained the domain of the rich, and in general was only used for windows and tableware - glasses, bowls, plates and jugs, and possibly bottles.

Cork was used from ancient times to seal pottery, in particular wine amphora (tar was applied to the seal to make it airtight). It is probable that during the C15th. cork remained a preferred material for stoppering jars, jugs, bottles and casks, as well as being used for shoes and insulation. Modern corked wine bottles are a C17th. invention.