Communal dining is essential for the residents of the Charterhouse, an almshouse established in the early 17th century still existing to this day, and has been ever since its foundation. We were lucky enough to experience its importance during our visit to the Charterhouse as part of a curatorial research micro-internship with the Oxford Heritage Network when we were invited to join the residents for lunch. This experience related perfectly to our research task to explore the role of food for the communities that had lived at the Charterhouse: the Carthusians who inhabited it as a monastery, the courtiers repurposing the buildings as a Tudor mansion after the dissolution of the monasteries, and finally the resident schoolboys (until 1872) and ‘Brothers’ of the almshouse since 1611 until the present day.
The communities linked to the Charterhouse had very different food culture, from the Carthusians with their very restricted, fish-centric meat-free diet that included lots of fasting and decidedly no communal dining (except for feast days and Sundays), to the nobles who occupied the Charterhouse and hosted monarchs such as Elizabeth I (and must have had lavish feasts!) and the Brothers and schoolboys with both diets including a lot of bread with butter, and tea. Despite these differences, there were two common threads that connected those communities: complaints about food and the restriction of food as a means of control.
An elderly Carthusian monk, for example, complained about the quality of his fish and stated he would rather eat toads than the food served to the monks. Ironically, his cell was infested with toads after this complaint and he failed to get rid of them for three months in spite of various creative attempts! On another occasion, an Italian monk had to return home because he could not deal with English food (and the weather!). Later, the schoolboys would riot against the poor quality of their food in the dining hall in the 1630s, with remarks about the insufficient and monotone nature of the food continuing up until the early 20th century. The Brothers must have been discontented with their food, since in 1715 a rule was established that two Brothers would join the staff on their daily trips to the market. This must have been fairly fruitless given that seven years later the command was issued that a Brother should “take thankfully what is provided for them without Muttering, Murmuring, or Grudging”.
The restriction of food in monastic contexts was not only limited to fasts but could also be used as a means of discipline and punishment. This was prevalent during the Dissolution when the Charterhouse monks were especially vocal in their revolt against Henry VIII. Catholic historians of the 19th century argue that the revolting Charterhouse monks were punished with the reduction of their meals to a single piece of cheese. The story of the monks’ martyrdom is also one of starvation: some Victorian historians claim that the monks who had not been executed had been chained up in a prison and left without food. Margaret Clement, the adopted daughter of Thomas More, was said to have bribed her way into the dungeon, dressed as a milkmaid and carrying a pail full of meat on her head with which she fed the monks.
Perhaps not as dramatic in the later periods of the Charterhouse’s history, restriction of food was still present: if a Brother of the almshouse was late to the communal meal, he would not be served and needed to effectively fast until the next day. If the schoolboys caused any form of trouble, the Headmaster would cut the food supplies. ‘Returning to food’ therefore became a sign of issues being resolved.
Luckily all of these appear to be things of the past, because this was definitely not our experience at the lunch with the residents. The company was lovely and the food excellent and plentiful – to the point where residents gave us parts of their desserts. Our site visit really made it clear to us how important those communal meals are for the community at the Charterhouse – and just how delicious food at the Charterhouse can be.
Mina Yücelen & Marlene Schilling
Mina and Marlene completed micro-internships with the Oxford University Heritage Network and the Charterhouse in 2024. Their research topic was “Food, Glorious Food!” for which they were tasked with researching the history of food, diet and dining practices at the site through time.
Marlene is studying for a PhD in Medieval and Modern Languages. She is particularly interested in medieval female devotional cultures and living heritage sites since many of the convents she is studying have been lived in since the Middle Ages, just like the Charterhouse. Mina is studying for a joint schools undergraduate degree in History and English Literature, and is interested in late medieval religion and popular belief in the British Isles.