Creating Community With Food and Drink in Merovingian Gaul [Hardcover]

Bonnie Effros (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312227361 | ISBN-13: 978-0312227364 | Publication Date: November 30, 2002

Feasting and fasting rituals were a central facet of social interaction in early medieval Gaul. With the adoption of Christianity in the third and fourth centuries in cosmopolitan centers and in the fifth and sixth centuries in rural communities, clerics faced the challenge of guiding recent converts with little understanding of Christianity beyond the rudimentary catechism necessary for baptism. While priests condemned blatantly pagan celebrations, they could not eliminate the powerful networks sustained by food and drink rituals. Accommodation of existing rites did not, however, represent pagan survivals. Using contemporary saints' lives, canonical legislation, penitentials, theological tracts, monastic Rules and cemeterial remains, Bonnie Effros presents five essays addressing the ways in which clerical authors portrayed rites involving food and drink in their attempts to define membership in religious communities, strengthen their relationships with the laity, highlight gender differences, bring about the healing of the sick and maintain ties to deceased ancestors.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bonnie Effros is Assistant Professor of History at Binghamton University (SUNY), and during 2001-2002, Sylvan C. Colman and Pamela Coleman Memorial Fund Fellow in the Department of Medieval Art and the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (November 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312227361
• ISBN-13: 978-0312227364
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,343,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Appetizers Only, November 10, 2003

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Vernon Strength (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Community With Food and Drink in Merovingian Gaul (Hardcover)

During the Dark Ages kings and Christians exploited every resource available to gain and institutionalize power. "Creating Community with Food and Drink in Merovingian Gaul" provides some good insights into the importance of food in shaping human relationships, and how customs related to food were engineered to help establish order in Merovingian society.

The subject matter is of general interest but Dr. Effros did not write to a wide audience. This is a minimal book of 5 short essays written in an academic style. The essays end on page 91, followed by 52 pages of footnotes (mostly citations), with the bibliography and index taking the book to 174 pages.

So much is missing from this book! For example, the feasts of Pre-Christians (Romans and Barbarians) and Christians are contrasted in the abstract but never described in any detail. What was on the table? Dr. Effros explains that she didn't write about the food that was eaten or how it was prepared in Merovingian Gaul because "these questions had already been addressed elsewhere more capably than I could have undertaken myself." Yet her footnote directs the reader to multiple sources, none of which address the questions directly.