Medieval Food Timeline

541	The Roman-Byzantine world is in the grips of the Great (bubonic) Plague of Justinian that brings farming to a halt and causes famine in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It is to last for nearly 70 years.
550–650	A new, lightweight plow equipped with a coulter (knife blade) and pulled by eight oxen is invented by the Slavs. The new agriculture leads to a population explosion in northern and western Europe.
610	A new faith, to be called Islam, is preached secretly by the prophet Muhammad.
629	The sharia, a complex legal system, is recognized by Muslims. Pork, animals of prey, and intoxicating beverages are among the foodstuffs Muslims are forbidden to consume.
687	Venice begins its rise to power in the Mediterranean, and elects its first doge (person holding the chief office in the city-state of Venice).
700–800	Oriental spices are introduced by Arab merchants into Mediterranean markets.
711	Arabs and Berbers from North Africa invade the Iberian Peninsula and defeat the Visigoths. New methods in agriculture introduced by them include intensive irrigation, the use of animal droppings as fertilizers, improved plows, and crop rotation. New foodstuffs introduced by the Arabs include rice, sugar, and saffron.
716	A shipment of cinnamon, cloves, and pepper arrives at the monastery of Corbie in Normandy, France.
732	Christian converts in Hesse, Germany, are forbidden by Pope Gregory II to eat horseflesh.
750	Famine is followed by plague on the Iberian Peninsula.
765	Three-field crop rotation system first mentioned in European sources. Instead of the traditional one in two fields lying fallow in a given year, it is now one in three, which means a substantial increase in agricultural production.
780	Three-field crop rotation is promoted by Charlemagne in his realm.
795	An export ban on grain is imposed by Charlemagne in the Frankish kingdom.
809	Cold weather results in poor harvests and famine in the domain of Charlemagne.
812	Anise, coriander, fennel, flax, fenugreek, and sage are among the plants to be grown on Charlemagne’s farms.
827	North-African Arabs invade Sicily, and introduce the Persian plant spinach and many other foodstuffs to the island.
857	Thousands die in the Rhine Valley from ergotism, a disease caused by the consumption of rye bread made from grain infected with the ergot fungus. Symptoms include diarrhea, seizures, headaches, nausea, vomiting, hallucinations, mania, and psychosis.
915, 919	Crop failure causes a famine on the Iberian Peninsula that is ruled in the south by the Arabs, and in the north by Christian princes.
943	Some 40,000 people die of ergotism in Limoges, France.
961	The Arabs begin the production of the spice saffron on the Iberian Peninsula.
1000–1100	Europe suffers recurring famines while food production is gradually being increased thanks to innovations such as the iron plow with wheels that replaces the wooden plow in northern Europe.
1066	Among the effects of the Norman Conquest is the introduction of French food terminology into English. (Examples: pork, beef, and mutton, from French porc, boeuf, and mouton.)
1071	Two-pronged fork reaches Venice from the east via Byzantium.
1110	Les Halles, until the twentieth century the central food market of Paris, is established by Louis VI of France.
1123	Smithfield meat market, later the site of the famous Saint Bartholomew’s Fair, is established in London.
1148	Sugar is brought back to Europe by crusaders returning from the Holy Land.
1176	Domestic rabbits are introduced to England from continental Europe.
1189	Crusader pub The Trip to Jerusalem is opened in Nottingham, England.
1191	On the Third Crusade Richard the Lion-Hearted of England defeats the Saracens under Sultan Saladin and is introduced to sorbet (the word derived from Arabic charbet).
1200–1300	The Balkans and Baltic Sea region supply much of Europe with cheap grain. Barley malt from the Baltic leads to a booming brewing industry in northern Germany and the Low Countries.
1204	Members of the Fourth Crusade bring damson plum trees from Damascus back to Europe. Citrus fruits, sugar, rice, and other foodstuffs used in Arab cookery are becoming part of European upper-class cuisine.
1241	The northern European trade organization known as the Hanseatic League is established in Germany.
1243	Famine in Germany, rat infestation across Europe.
1258	Germany and Italy suffer crop failures that lead to widespread famine and disease.
1265	Covent Garden Market established in London where monks initially sell surplus fruit and vegetables.
1266	Assize of Bread, a law regulating the quality, weight, and price of bread, and forcing bakers to mark their bread, is instituted in England.
1275–92	The Venetian merchant and explorer, Marco Polo, is in the employ of Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire and future Emperor of China.
1280	Marco Polo arrives in the bustling city of Hangchow, China, whose sophisticated food culture he later records.
1284	Ravioli and other pasta dishes are on the menu of many Romans. Rats continue to plague Europeans by spreading disease and eating their food supplies.
1296	Marco Polo brings oriental foodstuffs and food ideas back to Venice.
ca. 1300	The first cookbook manuscripts in England are written in Anglo-Norman. The Hanseatic League, an alliance of trading cities in northern Europe and the Baltic, is well established; its fisheries improve the production of salt herring. The Montpellier, France, professor of medicine and alchemist Arnald de Villanova experiments with distillation and produces brandy.
1305	The Italian Petrus de Crescentiis writes an extensive book on farming, the first manual of this kind since Roman times.
1314	Wheat prices soar as Europe is in the grip of a famine that lasts several years.
1333	Beginnings of the Black Death in China.
1343	Genoese merchants returning from the Far East are attacked by Tartars infected with the plague, and subsequently introduce the disease to Constantinople, Venice, and other ports in the Mediterranean.
1347	The Black Death spreads to Cyprus.
1348	In April, Florence, Italy, falls victim to the plague, to be followed in the summer by much of France and England. Eventually between a third to half of Europe’s population succumbs to the disease.
1349	Severe labor shortages and wage hikes across Europe as a result of the Black Death. Much arable land lies fallow or is turned into pastures because they are less labor-intensive.
ca. 1350	The oldest German cookbook, Daz buoch von guoter spise (The Book of Good Food), is written in Würzburg.
1364	Crop failure leads to famine and another plague epidemic in France.
1375	The French cookbook Le Viandier (The Provisioner) by Guillaume Tirel, called Taillevent, cook of King Charles V of France, is written.
1383	The Bavarian brewery Löwenbräu is founded in Munich.
1390	The English cookbook The Forme of Cury (The [Proper] Method of Cookery) with recipes from the kitchen of King Richard II of England is written.
ca. 1393	The French household manual and cookbook Le Menagier de Paris (The Householder of Paris) is com piled by a Parisian bourgeois.
1400	Durum wheat pasta is produced commercially in Italy. The population of Paris reaches 200,000, that of London 50,000, Cologne 30,000, and Lübeck and Nuremberg each 20,000.
1403	Near-complete monopoly held by the Hanseatic League on goods from northern Europe.
1418	Sugarcane from Sicily is first planted in Madeira by a Portuguese explorer.
1419	The City of London forbids by decree the blending of different wines.
1420	The cookbook Du fait de cuisine (On Cookery) by Chiquart, cook to the duke of Savoy, Amadeus VIII, is written. Grapevines from Crete are planted in Madeira. In time sweet Madeira wines will rival Spanish sherries
1429	The London Pepperers’ Guild is allowed by charter to sell spices, drugs, and dyes wholesale, or en gros, and is renamed the Grocers’ Company.
1430	Sugarcane is refined on the Madeira islands.
1444	Increased efforts by Venice to find new spice routes to the Orient.
1453	End of the Byzantine Empire with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks on May 29. The Middle Eastern beverage coffee reaches Constantinople via the Turks. End of the Hundred Years’ War. The English lose nearly all their holdings in France, including the wine-growing region of Bordeaux.
1454	At a famous banquet given by Philippe le Bon of Burgundy, noblemen take the “vow of the pheasant” and swear to fight the Turks.
1468	Rice is planted in northern Italy.
1473	Venice takes control of Cyprus, an important sugar producer.
1475	The world’s first printed cookbook, De honesta voluptate et valetudine (On Right Pleasure and Good Health) by Platina (Bartolomeo Sacchi), appears in Italy and is subsequently translated from Latin into Italian, French, and German. In Constantinople the first coffeehouse opens its doors.
1485	The first printed German cookbook, Kuchenmeysterey (Kitchen Masterey), appears in Nuremberg. It, too, is translated into other European languages, and in the next two centuries is reprinted numerous times.
1492	In an attempt to reach Asia, Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus lands by accident in the Bahamas. His discovery of the New World will lead to the introduction of many new foods to Europe, among them potatoes, peppers, maize, tomatoes, pineapples, allspice, cacao, and turkey.
1495	Growing orange trees in sheltered gardens, known as“orangeries,” becomes the rage at European courts.
1497	The Venetian Giovanni Caboto, better known in North America as John Cabot, lands in Labrador, Canada, and reports of an abundance of codfish off the coast of Newfoundland.
1498	Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama discovers a sea route to India and the Spice Islands of southeast Asia. In cutting out the Arab and Venetian spice dealers, the Portuguese manage to bring down the price of oriental spices such as pepper, cinnamon, and cloves, and control the spice trade for centuries to come.
1500	Headed for India, Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral accidentally discovers Brazil and later continues his journey to India past the Cape of Good Hope, which is to become a favorite shipping route in the spice trade.