A History of Irish Baking (Part 6)

The arrival of the Anglo-Normans and the beginning of 'baked goods'

The Anglo-Norman were, to say the least, a mixed bunch of people. The ruling class in England, who would subsequentially conquer large areas of Ireland (and so begin 800 years of British rule in Ireland), were actually made up of a mix of ‘Normans, Bretons, Flemings, Frenchmen, Anglo-Saxons and Celtic Britons’. What this means for our food history is that there was anything but consistency or a single dominant voice which emerged in the aftermath of the invasion. Considering the Normans were a mixture of Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia, it certianly makes our food history more interesting. We fail to consider this when we go in search of our food history.

The conception that Irish food was one thing (or nothing at all) is dismantled by the fact that Anglo-Norman were a not coherent bunch of folks. Furthermore, they in turn would intermarry with native Irish people and create a further hyphenated identity that would in turn affect the evolution of our food culture. We are a hybrid people on this island and our food story should reflect this. There is no grand narrative of Irish food but rather many minor ones which make up a rich history of diversity and conflict.

Just as the Vikings had brought changes to Irish food culture, the Anglo-Norman conquest of parts of Ireland, between the years 1169–1536, also brought about changes that built upon the already existing food culture. There was no dramatic big bang but rather a gradual transformation of the foodscape and the foodways of the country. While the core Irish diet remained based on dairy, grains, and meat, the Normans introduced new foods, farming techniques, and feudal estates, which reshaped Ireland’s food culture in both urban and rural areas.

Raymond le Gros in a 13th century manuscript, MS 700 of the National Library of Ireland, illustrating the text of the Expugnatio Hibernica, written by Gerald of Wales, a cousin of Raymond, on the Norman invasion of Ireland.

The Normans replaced the Gaelic land system with feudal estates, leading to changes in farming and food production. Before the Normans, Irish farms were small, kin-based plots, focused on cattle herding and subsistence agriculture. After the Normans, large feudal estates were established, with enclosed fields and tenant farmers. Farming became more structured and commercial, rather than just for local use. Large scale hay making was introduced to provide fodder for animals for the winter (Duffy, Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia, Routledge: 2005).

While wheat existed before in Ireland, the Norman expanded its cultivation, making wheat bread more common. More rye and legumes (peas, beans) were planted for crop rotation as well as consumption for those further down the social ladder. Norman settlers planted more orchards, increasing fruit production. More apples, pears, cherries, plums appear both for consumption and to be used in the production of cider and perry. In terms of vegetables, cabbage, the nemesis of my youth, became more widely grown, along with carrots (which were brought by the Vikings) and parsnips.

The Normans also used more herbs (rosemary, thyme, and sage - my holy trinity for cooking) and imported spices, such as black pepper for cooking (white pepper would take a little longer to get to Ireland. Spices like cinnamon and cloves were used in elite households or in bakeries. In all, the Normans diversified Ireland’s food crops, especially in monasteries, feudal estates, and towns.

Territorial map of Ireland, 1300.

Food laws changed as well with the arrival of the Normans. Land laws, hunting rights and agricultural practice were all more regulated and society became more stratified. After the Normans, Deer parks were created, and hunting was restricted to Norman lords. Rabbit farming was introduced (rabbits were not native to Ireland) and poultry farming expanded, increasing the availability of chickens and ducks. The Normans also introduced pike, carp, and perch as well as larger white-fleeced breeds of sheep (Duffy, 2005).

The Normans expanded Viking-founded towns (Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, Cork), making them major food markets with much imported foods such as salted fish & preserved meats from England and France. Wine, which already existed in Ireland in limited supply became more common among the wealthy and was drunk at noisy feasts of barons, bishops, knights, and merchants.

In terms of bread and baking, the Norman invasion of Ireland brought new baking techniques, ingredients, and social changes that influenced Irish food culture, particularly in the use of wheat, the expansion of oven baking, and the introduction of more sweet foods. Pastries, a favourite of Irish people to this day, had finally arrived.

As I have already observed, before the Normans, the native Irish primarily baked barley and oat breads, often as flatbreads cooked on griddles or baked in ashes. Of course, monasteries and Viking towns had changed that introducing clay oven, but wheat was a till luxury, used mainly by the elite and monasteries. The Normans expanded wheat cultivation, making wheat bread more widely available, especially in towns. Oven-baked wheat loaves became more common in Norman-controlled areas, replacing some traditional griddle-baked oat cakes. New baking techniques were introduced, including sourdough-style leavening and enriched doughs.

While rural Gaelic areas continued to eat oat and barley breads, Norman towns and monasteries baked wheat-based bread more frequently. As we have seen, these changes had already begun in monasteries and Viking towns, but the Normans brought about the expansion of baking ovens. They built stone and clay ovens in monasteries, castles, and urban bakeries. This allowed for better bread baking, from Leavened wheat loaves, pastries, enriched breads, and Tart-like baked goods with fruits and nuts.

The latter three were an altogether new phenomenon in towns in Ireland. The Normans introduced more refined sweet baking, including honey cakes & spiced breads, and sweetened dairy puddings – custard-like dishes using milk, eggs, and honey. Fruit filled tarts with figs or dates, seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger were now possible on the island of Ireland. As Brid Mahon observes in Land of Milk and Honey: The Story of Traditional Irish Food and Drink (1990):

These Norman lords brought with them retainers who knew their ways and cooks who knew their palates. They introduced new and exotic spiced dishes: roasted head of a boar with tusks served on a silver dish, stuffed sucking pig, great pastry pies, containing fowl and game, cooked with minced beef, marrow, egg yolks, spices, dried fruits, and wine; as well, sugar sweetmeats, marzipans, baked custards in pastry with dried fruits (71).

The arrival of the Normans did not witness the demise of the monasteries. On the contrary, monasteries became key centers of baking after the Normans arrived and monks copied Norman recipes, producing wheat loaves for church feasts, sweetened cakes & puddings for special occasions as well as mead-based sweets using fermented honey. Thus, Norman monasteries helped preserve and spread new baking techniques across Ireland.

Luxury baked goods became a status symbol under Norman rule and this led to increased social divisions in relation to baking. These division would continue up until the latter half of the 19th century and in some cases into the first half of the 20th century.

However it was not all plain sailing for the Normans. From 1250 onwards, Hiberno-Normans faced continual attacks by Gaelic clans. Gaelic Irish lords began reclaiming lost lands as Norman rule weakened around the country. Many Norman lords adopted Gaelic customs, leading to "Gaelicization" of the settlers. Many Norman families re-adopted the Irish language, Brehon Laws, and Irish warfare styles. By the 1400s, many "Old English" Normans were indistinguishable from Gaelic Irish.

Another massive fork in the road was the Black Death (1347–1350). The Black Death arrived in Ireland in 1348, devastating the Norman-controlled towns and reducing their populations. Many Norman settlements were abandoned, while Gaelic rural areas suffered less due to dispersed populations (still between 30% and 50% of the population died). The loss of urban populations meant fewer taxes, weaker armies, and economic decline for Norman Ireland. As Gaelic Irish recovered faster, while Norman Ireland struggled to maintain control. By 1450, the map of Ireland looked hugely different from 150 years earlier (see above).

Territorial map of Ireland, 1450.

The Black Death weakened Norman food traditions and reinforced Gaelic food culture, shifting Ireland’s diet back to dairy, meat, and oats. Wheat bread and imported goods became luxuries, while self-sufficient farming became the norm again in rural areas. Regarding food production, Norman-style wheat farming declined, while Gaelic cattle farming expanded. This led to a drop in bread production and oats, dairy, and meat became even more dominant.

Following a failed rebellion by the Earl of Kildare in the 1530s, the English Crown set about restoring its authority in Ireland. Henry VIII of England was declared ‘King of Ireland’ by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542. The conquest of Ireland involved assimilating the Gaelic nobility by way of ‘surrender and regrant’, as well as the confiscation and colonisation of lands with people from Britain. This would in turn change Irish food culture again.

English laws would replace the Brehon laws. The English language would replace the Irish language. Protestantism would replace Catholicism. These changes had a profound effect on Irish food culture, further stratifying Irish society into levels based on identity, status, education, and religion where political power and influence lay in the hands of the landed class.

This landed class (which came to be called the Anglo-Irish) would produce Ireland’s first recipe books and further connect Irish food to the mainland of Europe and to the rest of the world: coffee, chocolate and sugar were all on their way to Ireland.

Best, Jp