Feeding the workers: potage and mixture

Let them eat porridge!

In her study Temple Balsall, The Warwickshire preceptory of the Templars and their Fate (Chichester: Phillimore, 1995), Eileen Gooder discussed the payments to farm workers: cash for specified full-time roles such as bailiff, plough overseer, carter, cowherd, etc., and potage and a grain mixture (pp. 31–2). She did not differentiate between the general famuli and the farmworkers with named roles, although the fact that the accounts do differentiate suggests that some famuli were simply labourers. The potage was a porridge made of a quarter of oatmeal and salt: Gooder notes that in one year a bushel of salt was bought for the potage.  The farm workers were also paid a ‘mixture’ of 7.5 quarters of wheat, 15 quarters one bushel of dredge (mixed oats and barley) and two bushels of peas (p. 31). Gooder reckoned that the ‘mixture’ food payment would amount to 4,000 calories a day, ‘which, with the potage, would give more than enough nourishment, taking no account of palatability, need for vitamins and variety of diet. In other words, even the least favoured of the famuli were in no danger of starving’ (p. 32).
But how did this compare to other former Templar manors? Looking at the accounts I have transcribed to date, the potage was invariably made of oats and salt, but ‘mixture’ varied.

Shropshire and Staffordshire: mixture was wheat and rye.

At Lydley in Shropshire (TNA: E 358/18 rot 4): The potage was made by an ancilla or maid, also called a Daye or cook-dairyman. A quarter of salt was purchased for the potage at Lydley, which  contained 1 quarter 7 bushels of oat flour; in year two it contained 1 quarter 6 bushels of oat flour. The employees in named roles, such as the carter, ploughmen, forester, the maid, the reeve and the men looking after the livestock received a ration of ‘mixture’, which in the first year comprised purely wheat. There were also cash payments to employees in Shropshire and Staffordshire.

At Long Stanton there was an ancilla domus ( a house maid), who may have had the same responsibility for potage as her colleague at Lydley. One and a half quarters of oat flour went into the potage. No ‘mixture’ is mentioned in year one; in year two it was purely wheat.

At Holt Preen a garcio (a ‘boy’ or lad) made the potage. One and half bushels of salt were bought in the first year for potage , and one and half quarters of oat flour went into the potage. The grain handed out was purely wheat.

At Keele, a quarter of flour from the mill went into the potage. ‘Mixture’ comprised 13 quarters of wheat, 16.5 bushels of rye, and 13 quarters 3 bushels blad’ molendini – presumably ‘toll corn taken for grinding the grain of all the tenants, a regular right of the lord of any manor’ (Gooder, p. 32).

 Worcestershire: mixture was wheat and peas.

At Hill Croome in Worcestershire (TNA: E 358/19 rot 47 dorse) the potage was made by an ancilla. It contained a quarter of oat flour. The employees in named roles (such as the ploughmen and the maid) received a ration of ‘mixture’, which comprised 6 quarters 1 bushel of wheat and 4.5 quarters of peas.

At Temple Broughton in Worcestershire the potage was apparently made by an ancilla (she is listed among the employees but not specified as the potage-maker). The potage comprised a quarter of oat flour. The employees in named roles received ‘mixture’ (comprising 7 quarters of wheat to 5 quarters 7 bushels of peas). TNA: E 358/19 rot 50: In year three at Temple Broughton two bushels of salt were bought for potage, but presumably – as no salt was bought in year one – this was more than a year’s supply.

Herefordshire: the mixture was made of wheat and peas.

At Garway in Herefordshire: TNA: E 358/18, rot. 2 [year 1] potage was made by a garcio or lad, called in subsequent years a daye or cook-dairyman. 6 quarters of oat flour went into the potage. The employees in named roles (such as the ploughmen and the garcio) received a ration of mixture, comprising 100 quarters of wheat and 29 quarters 2 bushels of peas. They also received payment in cash. At Garway in the expenses for year two (rot. 2d) the account notes that the famuli receive additional food and drink at Christmas and Easter by custom, at a cost of 5 shillings and three pence: ‘Et in exp[e]n’ o[mniu]m fam[ulorum] hui[us] Maner[ij] in p[r]^ando + potu ex cons[uetudine] usit’ dieb[us] Nat[al’] d[omin]i + pasch’, v s iij d.’

At Upleadon, again a garcio made the potage. An unspecified quantity of salt was bought for the potage and six quarters of oat flour went into it. The employees such as the ploughmen and the reapers received mixture comprising 40 quarters 5 bushels of wheat and 12 quarters 6 bushels one peck of peas. Again, they also received payment in cash.

Norfolk and Suffolk: ‘mixture’ was varying proportions of wheat, rye, barley, peas and toll grain.

At Gislingham in Norfolk (TNA: E 358/18 rot.3) in year one, 4 bushels of oat flour went into the potage; in year two it contained an unspecified quantity of salt and six bushels of oat flour. There was also mixture paid to ‘famuli’ who were specified by job title: the ploughmen, the shepherd, the maid (presumably maker of the potage), and the carter. This ‘mixture’ comprised two bushels of wheat, 3 quarters 2 bushels and 1 peck of barley, 3.5 quarters of peas and 6 quarters of ‘multure molendini’. In year two the ‘mixture’ comprised 4 quarters 3 bushels of wheat,1 quarter 3 bushels of barley, 5 quarters 7 bushels of peas and 6 quarters of ‘multure molendini’, which Eileen Gooder identifies as the ‘toll corn taken for grinding the grain of all the tenants, a regular right of the lord of any manor’ (p. 32). As in Herefordshire, there were also cash payments to some employees.

At Togrind in Norfolk/Suffolk there was no potage but ‘mixture’ was paid to farmworkers specified by job title, and some also received payments in cash. The ‘mixture’ comprised 1 quarter of rye and 6 quarters 3 bushels of barley.

At Haddiscoe in Norfolk, again there was no potage but ‘mixture’ was paid to specified farmworkers. In year one this comprised 2 quarters of rye, 2 quarters of barley and 2 bushels of peas. In year two it was made of 2 quarters 2.5 bushels of rye, one quarter 2.5 bushels of barley and a quarter of peas.

At Dunwich in Suffolk, again there was no potage but specified farmworkers were paid ‘mixture’. In year one this was made of 3 bushels of wheat, 3 quarters of rye and 1.5 quarters of barley. In year two it was 3 quarters one bushel of rye, 2 quarters 3 bushels of barley, but no wheat; apparently no wheat was grown in that year.

In Bedfordshire: ‘mixture’ was made of wheat or rye and peas. Only at Staughton was porridge provided, made of oat flour (TNA E 358/18 rot. 25 dorse).
At Swanton, the mixture comprised nine quarters three bushels of wheat and seven quarters seven bushels of peas. This was paid out to a reeve, a carter, six ploughmen and a cook at the rate of a quarter each ten weeks and to a cowman and a shepherd at the rate of a quarter each twelve weeks. There was no mention of potage.

At Sharnbrook, the mixture was made of five quarters and four and a half bushels of wheat and four quarters and half a bushel of peas, paid to a ‘servant’ (‘the servant of the manor’ or bailiff, who also received a cash wage of 3 d. a week) and four ploughmen at the higher rate of a quarter each ten weeks; and to a shepherd and a cook at a quarter each sixteen weeks. Again, there was no potage.

At Staughton, the mixture was made of six and a half quarters and a bushel of wheat and five quarters three bushels of peas, and was paid to a reeve, a carter, three ploughmen and a shepherd at the rate of a quarter each ten weeks. There was also oat potage for the household.

At Millbrook, the mixture was made of 6 bushels of rye and two bushels of peas, and was handed out to two shepherds over five weeks. There was no potage.

In Hertfordshire, at Chelsing, oat potage was supplied to the farmworkers and there was also mixture made of 16 quarters, 6.5 bushels and one peck of wheat and 12 quarters one bushel of rye. It was handed out to a bailiff, a reeve, a carter and 6 ploughmen at the rate of one quarter each 10 weeks; a cook, a smith, two shepherds and a cowherd at the rate of a quarter each 12 weeks; and to the lad who helped the shepherd during lambing and then looked after the lambs, and the harrower at the rate of one quarter each 16 weeks. The above and a potter also received payment in cash (TNA E 358/18 rot. 24 dorse).

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In short, the level of nourishment that the former Templars’ workforce received varied from one part of the country to another. Of those set out above, the workers in Norfolk and Suffolk received the most varied diet, while Shropshire and Staffordshire lacked peas. The potage in Shrops and Staffs and at Staughton in Bedfordshire was made of flour, whereas elsewhere it was made of oats and there was no mention of these having been ground or milled. There is no mention of liquid being added to the potage, so presumably like modern ‘Scottish’ porridge it was made with water rather than milk.