What was lent in the Middle Ages? Nice question! Stick around to find out!
Lent in the Middle Ages was the 40 days of fasting before Easter. People today give up things like chocolate or alcohol. However, in the Middle Ages, Lent was a lot more strict. Everyone had to give up meat, dairy, and eggs. The priests also couldn’t preform marriages, and married couples couldn’t have sex during that time.
People lived off of vegetables, grains, and seafood. While peasants had a predominantly vegetarian diet similar to Lenten fasting, people also had to give up gluttony and adequate sustenance. During Lent, people generally ate one meal per day. They also had restrictions placed to control how much they ate.
What diet restrictions did people have during Lent in the Middle Ages? When where the other fasting days?
What was Lent in the Middle Ages?
Lent was the longest, most important time of fasting in the Middle Ages. It came from the story of Jesus fasting for 40 days in the wilderness in the Bible. There were also other prophets such as Elijah and Moses who did the same thing.
Lent was also a time for people to pray for mercy and forgiveness. In general, people really disliked it. Who wants to fast for 40 days? The church encouraged all adults to join the fast unless they were too old or sick. Kids were generally exempt or at least had it a little easier.
What were the Diet Restrictions?
Simple Restrictions
People know some of the diet restrictions from Lent in the Middle Ages better than others. First, people could not eat meat. Most folks know that. That included no beef, pork, lamb, etc. They couldn’t eat animals that lived on Noah’s ark during the flood.
It was also symbolic of Christ’s 40-day fast, so they gave up all rich foods. They were trying to get as close to his fast as possible while respecting that they couldn’t go 40 days without food. That was divine power on his part. Next, they couldn’t eat animal by-products like dairy or eggs.
That included milk, cheese, butter, and anything else they could dream up. If that isn’t bad enough, sometimes people couldn’t even eat on certain days like Ash Wednesday. People who observed Lent in the Middle Ages ate lots of bread, vegetables, salt, and fish. They also drank beer and wine.
Fish from Lent in the Middle Ages… Including Fake Fish
In place of meat, people ate fish. The type of fish you would eat was based on who you were and where you lived. For the poorer class that lived inland, you would eat loads of salted fish, including cod and red herring. People liked fishing because it put fresh fish on the table rather than salted fish.
Sometimes people ate eels or pike as well. Medieval people didn’t like salted fish by any means. One medieval schoolboy wrote…
Thou will not believe how weary I am of fish, and how much I desire that flesh were come in again. For I have eat none other than salt fish this Lent, and it has engendered so much phlegm within me that it stops my pipes that I can scarcely speak nor breathe.
Medieval Schoolboy from his personal notebook
However, wealthy people who lived inland often had multiple estates. They could simply move to one of their estates closer to rivers. Then they could have freshwater fish. Finally, the people who lived by the sea, both rich and poor, could eat a variety of fresh saltwater fish and other seafood. Lent in the Middle Ages would not have been as hard for them.
Medieval people had to deal with lots of fasting, so they stretched the definition of fish pretty thin. For example, they considered puffins fish because they lived in the ocean and ate fish. That is like saying a fox is a mouse because they live in the forest, and foxes eat mice (No one says that. That is just an absurd example.).
Other “fish” included beaver’s tails, little baby bunnies, and barnacle geese. Medieval people didn’t understand migration. All they knew was that the geese didn’t lay eggs in Europe; they also appeared on logs covered with barnacles. Therefore, they concluded that they hatch from barnacles. One man opened up a barnacle and didn’t find anything resembling a goose. He and those who listened to him started to doubt the “barnacle geese” claim.
Meal Times
Another burdensome part of Lent were meals and meal times. People could only have one meal in a day during Lent and sometimes had restrictions on the amount they could eat. Usually, they would eat two or three meals. Their meal came either in the evening after Vespers, which was about 6:00 pm or after sunset, or nones which was 3:00 pm.
Eventually, they read Vespers at nones. Later, nones was moved to 12:00. Because of that, we refer to 12:00 as noon. Then people could actually eat during the day. They found every opportunity to eat a little earlier. Sometimes, people could have a little snack before bed.
Drinking and Breweries During Lent in the Middle Ages
People could drink beer, wine, and ale, which seems a little against the whole fast. Breweries made good money all year round. Because drinking profuse amounts of alcohol was not against the fast, people drank quite a bit. They could get calories in their body through that, and beer was like the bread of alcohol. You can’t forbid bread! They could also drink at all hours of the day.
Another item breweries excelled at making was mustard because it was ground mustard seed mixed with alcohol. Eventually, people would get to the point they didn’t want to taste fish anymore. So, they would cover the fish with mustard. Mustard was cheap enough for the masses.
Dessert
Hmm, no cake, cream-based treats, or egg-based treats. What was the medieval person with a sweet tooth to do? Well, the wealthy could buy things like crystalized ginger or spiced berries.
They could import fruits such as dates, figs, and occasionally an orange or two. They ate nuts. Some genius had discovered almond milk already, so they could use that in the place of cow or goat milk. They could make almond milk porridge and, in fact, left recipes for both almond milk and Bruet of Almaynne in Lente.
Bruet of Almaynne in lente-Take fyne þikke (thick) Mylke of Almaundys (almonds); take datys, an mynce hem (them) smal þer-on; take Sugre y-nowe (enough), & straw þer-on (strew theron), & a lytil flowre of Rys (rice); sylt (sprinkle), & serue forth whyte, & loke þat (that) it be rennyng (runny).
Originally found in the Harleian Manuscript is used a copy from Bruet of Almaynne in Lente – A Dollop of History
(original recipe with a few trick words interpreted)
Other times they made a mixture of almond milk, sugar, and a flavoring such as cinnamon or rosewater. Some people ate the Lenten treats so quickly that it seemed almost against the fast. Needless to say, wealthy medieval people, and even a few poorer people, found plenty of ways to satisfy their sweet tooth.
Mock Foods
Sometimes the Lenten restrictions became too much. So what was the medieval person to do? They made fake foods. First, phony bacon was prevalent. People would take salmon and put stripes of white pike roe posing for fat.
Another ridiculous food was the mock egg. It tasted nothing like an egg. Its main ingredient was almonds. The chef would first blow the egg. Then, they filled it with a pudding/jelly substance made from almond milk. The fake yolk was dyed with saffron and cinnamon.
The yolk was also sometimes crunchy. It probably tasted like pudding or baby food. Even though it tastes nothing like an egg, this fake hard-boiled egg was surprisingly popular. However, almond milk was super popular in everything; it replaced cow milk in baking.
Butter Indulgence from Lent in the Middle Ages
Medieval people had a hard time giving up their butter. It was a pretty hard thing for them to live without. Therefore, people occasionally risked their souls to eat butter during Lent. They would also eat tons of straight butter as soon as Lent ended. Finally, some priests came up with a brilliant idea.
They sold butter indulgences. People could pay to eat butter, and sometimes even milk, without endangering their souls. The idea caught on fast, and they made a lot of money. The Butter Tower on the Cathedral at Rouen was built with the proceeds from the butter indulgences.
Other Fasting Days…
Other fasting days throughout the year included Advent, right before Christmas, and three days each week. First was Wednesday, the day Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ. Then again, on Friday, because that is the day of the week he died. They saw it as a way to achieve penance for all the bad things that happened to Him that day. Finally, they had to fast on Saturday in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Medieval people had a hard time with Lent. I’m sure modern people are quite thankful. Today, Lent is much more laid back and people can pick and choose how or if they observe it at all. Did you learn anything about Lent you enjoyed? Let me know in the comments! Also let me know if you have any questions or if you have any other topics you’d like me to cover.
To Learn More…
(and check out my sources)
Lent…
A medieval experience of Lent – King Richard III Visitor Centre
Medieval Lent was harder than you think
Mock meats, fish, and Fasting Days…
How Medieval Chefs Tackled Meat-Free Days – Gastro Obscura
Some of my related posts…
What Happened During Easter in the Middle Ages?
Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras in the Middle Ages
A few posts you may enjoy…
The Origin of Saint Patricks Day in the Middle Ages
Did People Celebrate Birthdays in the Middle Ages?
Valentine’s Poems and Love Letters in the Middle Ages
What Was Christmas Like in the Middle Ages?
Why Did People in the Middle Ages Celebrate Saints?
Did People Have Holidays in the Middle Ages?
2 responses to “What was Lent in the Middle Ages?”
Thank you for this! I had no idea that lent used to be like this. You are doing an amazing job teaching us and I hope you are having fun learning as well. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much!