Open AccessButlers and dish‐bearers in Anglo‐Saxon courts: household officers at the royal table
Author(s) -
Gautier Alban
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
historical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.203
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1468-2281
pISSN - 0950-3471
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2281.12181
Subject(s) - honour , history , table (database) , context (archaeology) , conquest , anglo saxon , law , rank (graph theory) , variety (cybernetics) , ancient history , classics , political science , archaeology , mathematics , combinatorics , artificial intelligence , computer science , data mining
Abstract In Anglo‐Saxon courts, from the eighth century down to the Norman conquest, ‘officers of the mouth’, bore household titles and served the king and his guests during meals, at least on major occasions. Those butlers ( pincernae ) and dish‐bearers ( dapiferi , disciferi ) were not mere ‘waiters’ but members of great aristocratic families; serving the king's table was an honour for them, with all the implications of that word in an early medieval context. Using a variety of sources, particularly the subscription lists of charters, this article examines their rank at court, social origin, degree of proximity to kings and queens, and the nature of their occupation.