Carnival Food Imagery in Chaucer’s Description of the Franklin

Carnival Food Imagery in Chaucer's Description of the Franklin Frederick B. Jonassen University ofPuerto Rico, Mayagiiez T,worlat fraystez flesch wyth pe fysche and fode more symple" (Gawain 502503 ).9 The poet apparently considers Shrovetide part of the Christmas season, whose feasting he has exemplified by the New Year's celebration. Such holiday indulgence, he indicates, is immediately followed by the Lenten austerities of fish and simple food. 8 The references to mete do not denote "meat" in the modem sense of animal flesh as opposed to fish. According to the OED, Middle English mete refers to "Food in general . . . in contradistinction to drink." Bake mete (line 343) is defined by the OED as "Pastry, a pie." In the popular imagination, franklins might have been associated with the maintenance of seasonal customs. See Thomas Overbury's description of a franklin (1614): "Rocke Monday, and the Wake in Summer, shrovings, and wakeful! ketches in Christmas Eve, the Hoky, or Seed Cake, these he yearly keepes; yet holdes them no reliques of Popecy"; W.J. Paylor, ed., The Overburian Characters (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1936), pp. 78---79. 9 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed.J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, rev. Norman Davis (1968; rpt., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970); hereafter cited as Gawain. The poem evinces a strong awareness of seasonal activities. H. L. Savage, "The Feast of Fools and Boy Bishop in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,"JEGP 51 (1952): 537-44, sees a reference to the Feast of Fools and Boy Bishop in the festivities at Camelot. Savage also notes, in The "Gawain" Poet: Studies in His Personality and Background(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1956), p. 27, that Gawain receives the nick on the neck from the Green Knight on rhe Feast of theCircumcision.G. B. Pace, "Gawain and Michaelmas," Traditio 25 (1969): 404-11, points out that it is appropriate for Gawain to remember his New Year's appointment with the Green Knight on Michaelmas Day, September 29, since this was a traditional quarter day during the Middle Ages when rents came due. Gawain sets out on his quest of the Green Knight's chapel the day after All Saints' Day, which, according toJohn Scow, A Survey of London (1598), ed. C. L. Kingsford, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908), 1:97, marks the beginning of the reign of the Lord of Misrule, a time of games in many English households during the early sixteenth century and perhaps much earlier. Much of the romance is in face influenced by seasonal customs such as mumming and the Mummers' Play. See Claude Luttrell, "The Folk-Tale Element in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," SP 77 (1980): 105-27; and Frederick B.Jonassen, "Elements from rhe Traditional Drama of England in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," Viator 17 (1986): 221-54. 102 CARNIVAL FOOD IMAGERY Later on in the poem, at the castle of Sir Bercilak, Gawain enjoys a sumptuous dinner featuring fish (lines 887-900): l>e wY3e wesche at his wylle, and went to his mete. Seggez hym serued semly inno3e Wyth sere sewes and sete, sesounde of ]:,e best, Double-felde, as hit fallez, and fele kyn fischez, Summe baken in bred, summe brad on the gledez, Summe so]:,en, summe in sewe sauered with spyces, And ay sawes so sle3e that the segge lyked. l>e freke calde hit a fest ful frely and ofte Ful hendely, quen alle the ha]:,eles rehayted hym at onez, "As hende, l>is penaunce now 3e take; And eft hit schal amende." l>at mon much mer]:,e con make, For wyn in his hed ]:,at wende. It is appropriate for Gawain to be served fish since it is Christmas Eve, a fasting day.10 Although the many kinds offish ("fele kyn fischez") prepared in a variety of ways (baked in bread, broiled on the grill, boiled in spiced sauces) strikes Gawain as a feast, he is still doing his "penaunce" by main­ taining the fish diet.11 His hosts say, tongue in cheek, "eft hit schal amende," implying that meat dishes will later make up for this day's...