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In the days of old when knights were bold– dinner featured a poison tester for the king and a bread trench for the poor!

On Thursday Dec. 2, Botetourt Classical Conversation (CC) a homeschooling group of 32 students, held a medieval feast at Colonial Baptist Church in Blue Ridge to celebrate the first 12 weeks of school from Charlemagne to past the great Russian rulers. The particular group of CC  school age children in the age ranges of 3- 6 grade equivalents, even dressed for the occasion which featured a real Boar’s head  as the center piece of the food table!

“Lady” Laura Griffith who served as “surveyor of ceremonies” advised the  students and their parents and siblings, ” Be of good cheer and let us make  merry.”

Court Jester Jennifer Blugerman entertained the youngsters with magic tricks, played medieval flute tunes and  even lead the group in the 12 Days of CC, that followed the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas but used a course study which included instead of five golden rings– five plague- infested rats. Now that is enough to whet the appetite of medieval dinners.

“Servitors” ( waitresses of olde) brought every thing from precious salt to roasted meat and delicate mince meat pies. The  apple cider  had to be tasted before the king and queen could partake of the beverage as you never know what evil lurked in the medievel rival’s heart! The King Thompson and Queen Capuano were very generous to the feast attendants!

Medieval music played through out the meal and included a special Wassail song sung by Minstrel Phillips and helped along by the feast goers. Later ribbon dancers–little maids in lovely dresses entertained the guests. Eating in the Dark Ages was very entertaining!

The Essentials class students concentrate on writing skills, grammar and math skills.  Prepared histories of Salt and Heraldry, Falconry and Seige warfare were presented by Lady Blugerman and  Sir Murphy. Lady Matzco described the Knighting Ceremony and Chivalry.

So what did the Botetourt View learn from the students and parents?  First– salt was a precious commodity and the City of Munich grew up on the European salt route. Salt was considered the fridge of the middle ages as it served as a preservative and was a luxury of the rich. Food was served in bread bowls. Meat and juices soaked into the bread. After a feast the bread bowls called trenches were given to the poor. If a poor person saved the bowl too long and ate from it often they got a sore mouth– that’s right– trench mouth!  Incidentally  a full meal can be eaten off of a pita instead of a plate. By the way, leek soup is tasty!

Upper crust came from the first servings of bread given to the royals and the ruling class. Thus if you were upper crust– well you got the best bread!

It was a fun feast and the children seemed to enjoy it very much– the adults were good sports. Really where else can you dress like an knight and have a real Boar’s head replete with an apple and fruit centerpiece found these days?

Grade: A+!