236 EVERYDAY LIFE
The above rations, however, must not be looked on as normal,
but as something superior to the ordinary daily meals which
most men were able to afford themselves. On special occasions,
no doubt, poultry or a hare or rabbit found its way to the pot,
or even a piece of salted beef, or perhaps a cut of tainted
mutton (dead of the plague) was passed off by an unscrupulous
master to his serfs. As an earlier chapter has shown, rabbits
were very plentiful, and at times even game preserves, or the
sacred forests themselves, were raided. Poaching was common,
and one of the most spirited pieces of medieval literature tells
of a poacher's adventures in quest of his quarry; while the
manorial courts were constantly called on to repress such ad-
venturers.1
We have little evidence to guide us as to the number or the
times of medieval meals for the humbler folk. In default of
anything certain, it may be hazarded that most of them had
a hunk of bread and a mug of ale in the morning; and a lump of
cheese and bread, with perhaps an onion or two to flavour it, and
more ale for their midday meal. At the end of the day (as is still
common among Continental peasants) the main meal was served.
It was not very varied, nor very palatable to modern ways of
thinking. A thick soup or pottage was the main dish, and bread
and cheese followed to complete the meal, on most occasions.
Rarely a dish of meat was forthcoming, and the poultry, which
ran in and out of the medieval home, also served to garnish some
special occasion when the villager put his best on the table.
Drink was equally monotonous: ale was the most usual drink for
all humble folk (although cider took its place in some parts), and
even this was a thin and not very heady liquid. The " moist and
corny ale" only came on rare evenings when the lord entertained
his men, or some very exceptional village celebration demanded
such an unusual extravagance.
Hence, when all has been said, despite his occasional feasts
and the short seasons of harvest and abundance, the lot of the
medieval peasant, as M. Henri See concludes from his study of
French conditions, was "assez miserable".2 He draws attention
to the limited number of things the peasant could grow, and to
1 See above, p. 218, and for the poem, see below, p. 271.
2 Op. tit. p. 547-