This May, Charles III will officially be crowned king of the United Kingdom. Maybe you care about the pomp and pageantry—or the Royal Family drama—but if you’re anything like this writer, you’re mostly concerned with the food.
The Royal Family recently announced that the official dish of the Coronation Big Lunch—a charity event held at various locations across the country—will be quiche with spinach, fava beans, tarragon, and cheddar. It’s a tasty if rather safe choice. But had Charles really wanted to make a splash, he could have taken the lead from another past king—one who, almost 350 years ago, went all out at his coronation feast.
A Most Excellent Monarch
James II ascended to the throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1685. He came from a family who knew how to party: his older brother, the previous King Charles II, was nicknamed the “Merry Monarch” for lavishing a fortune on his mistresses. When James took the throne, he threw one of the most extravagant coronations the British Isles had ever seen.
But that was all part of the job, says Stefaniia Demchuk, an art historian at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and Getty Library Research Grant recipient, who studies food in visual cultures of early modern Europe. “In order to be a good ruler, you had to show the magnificence of the court.”
And magnificent it was. According to a detailed account of the feast held at Westminster Hall, described in The History of the Coronation of the Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent Monarch, James II by Francis Sandford, there were almost 1,500 dishes served.
“It was deliberately way more food than they could consume—I think it would be considered a disgrace if they finished it all!” says Demchuk. In fact, customs of the time dictated that guests control themselves despite the mountain of food in front of them. That’s because the ritual really wasn’t about eating; it was about appearances. An etching from The History of the Coronation shows rafters full of spectators—who would have been members of the lower gentry—looking down on the feast, where the A-listers sat. So the party was very much on display, which meant good table manners were key. “You had to behave yourself. You couldn’t eat like you were too hungry or drink too much or pick your teeth with your knife. Food was not the purpose of the gathering; it was a way of showing your courtliness,” says Demchuk.
Another illustration from an earlier medieval text depicts how important this idea was for European courts. It shows in the foreground peasants drunkenly carousing at their meal, while at the upper right the nobles sit politely with their hands in their laps, barely touching the food.
But even if James’s coronation food was largely for show, it still presents a snapshot of what kinds of ingredients were popular during the early modern period. And one that immediately stands out is sugar.
Pyramids of Sweets
In the 16th century, with the advent of transatlantic trade and plantation slavery in the Caribbean (where sugarcane was produced), Europe experienced an influx of the sweetener. London was one of the main ports, and as a result, sweets became all the rage among English nobility. Queen Elizabeth I indulged so much that she became known for having bad teeth.
Early modern aristocratic tables were often loaded down with sweetmeats, a term that refers to candied seeds or fruits. In some cases, banquets consisted only of sweetmeats and other sugary goods! James’s coronation feast included sweetmeats that were interspersed with savory foods like beef, salad, seafood, and venison, “with Plates and Glasses to fill up every little Vacancy between the Dishes, which were set upon Stands of several heights, and all so equally mixed, that it made an extraordinary good appearance.” There were even food pyramids “rising from twelve Dishes in the Circumference…containing the several Fruits in season, and all manner of Sweet-Meats” (Sandford).
But there was a practical side to the sugar craze: it was believed that sugar was good for digestion. Candied fennel seed (which has fiber and anti-inflammatory properties) was a popular sweetmeat for that reason. Sugar was also considered medicinal and used to cure a variety of ailments. An important medieval handbook on health, Tacuinum Sanitatis, describes sugar in the following terms: “Usefulness: It purifies the body, is good for the chest, the kidneys, and the bladder.…Effects: Produces blood that is not bad. It is good for all temperaments, at all ages, in every season and region.” Try telling that to your general practitioner.
As sugar became more affordable, it started to fall out of vogue. That’s because once common people could buy it, it was no longer a sign of wealth. “All this high cuisine was based on uniqueness and exclusiveness,” says Demchuk.
Let Them Eat Cake!
While you might not have the budget for a 1,500-dish meal, you can still get a taste of James’s feast. In 1710 a cookbook was published that collected the recipes attributed to Patrick Lamb, James’s master cook who provided the menu for his coronation. Aptly titled Royal-Cookery, it includes table layouts and menus served at real royal dinners. Try apple pupton, a kind of early modern marmalade served as its own dish. Marmalade had been a royal favorite since Henry VIII, who preferred it made with oranges. Or there’s blamangee (Fr. “blanc-manger”), a white molded gelatin made from almond milk that would have definitely graced James’s table.
So, while your invite to this year’s coronation might have gotten lost in the mail, at least you can still eat like a king.
The Anne Willan and Mark Cherniavsky Gastronomy Collection at the Getty Research Institute contains hundreds of food-related books from the 15th through 20th centuries. Explore more digitized cookbooks through the Getty Research Portal.
