The History of Bread From Pre-historic to Modern Times

5. Edward II., A.D. 1311. ‘The bread taken from William de Somersete, baker, on the Thursday next before the Feast of St. Laurence (10th August) in the fifth year of the reign of King Edward, was examined and adjudged upon befor Richer de Refham, Mayor, Thomas Romayn, John de Wengrave, and other Aldermen; and, because it was found that such bread was putrid, and altogether rotten, and made of putrid wheat, so that persons by eating that bread would be poisoned and choked, the Sheriff was ordered to take him, and have him here on the Friday next after the Feast of St. Laurence; then to receive judgment for the same.’

In the 1 Ed. III. (1327) a curious fraud was brought to light, and John Brid and seven other bakers, and two bakeresses, were tried before the Mayor and Aldermen, ‘for that the said John, for falsely and maliciously obtaining his own private advantage, did skilfully and artfully cause a certain hole to be made upon a table of his, called a molding borde pertaining to his bakehouse, after the manner of a mouse-trap, in which mice are caught, there being a certain wicket warily provided for closing and opening such hole.

‘And when his neighbours and others, who were wont to bake their bread at his oven, came with their dough, or material for making bread, the said John used to put the said dough or other material upon the said table, called a molding borde, as aforesaid, and over the hole before mentioned, for the purpose of making loaves therefrom for baking; and such dough or material being so placed upon the table aforesaid, the same John had one of his household, ready provided for the same, sitting in secret beneath such table; which servant of his, so seated beneath the hole, and carefully opening it, piecemeal, and bit by bit, craftily withdrew some of the dough aforesaid, frequently collecting great quantities of such dough, falsely, wickedly, and maliciously, to the great loss of all his neighbours and persons living near, and of others who had come to him with such dough to bake, and to the scandal and disgrace of the whole City, and, in especial, of the Mayor and Bailiffs for the safe keeping of the assizes of the City assigned. Which hole, so found in his table, aforesaid, was made of aforethought; and, in like manner, a great quantity of such dough that had been drawn through the said hole was found beneath the hole, and was, by William de Hertynge, serjeant-at-mace, and Thomas de Morle, clerk of Richard de Rothynge, one of the Sheriffs of the City aforesaid, who had found such material, or dough, in the suspected place before mentioned, upon oath brought here into Court.’

All the prisoners pleaded Not Guilty; but the case was too clear against them, and ‘It was agreed, and ordained, that all those of the bakers aforesaid, beneath whose tables with holes dough had been found, should be put upon the pillory, with a certain quantity of such dough hung from their necks; and that those bakers in whose houses dough was not found beneath the tables aforesaid, should be put upon the pillory, but without dough hung from their necks; and that they should so remain upon the pillory until Vespers at St. Paul’s in London should be ended.’ The women were committed to Newgate.

There was another punishment by which bakers, in common with all who told lies, or libelled, or scandalised their neighbour, had to stand in the pillory with a whetstone hung round their neck.

England suffered much from dearth. Holinshed tells us how, in 1149, ‘The great raine that fell in the summer season did much hurt unto corne standing on the ground, so that a great dearth followed. 1175. – The same yeare both England and the countries adjoining were sore vexed with great mortalitie of people, and immediatlie after followed a sore dearth and famine. 1196. – Here is also to be noted, that in this seventh yeare of King Richard, chanced a dearth through this realme of England, and in the coasts about the same. 1199. – Furthermore I find that in the daies of this King Richard a great dearth reigned in England, and also in France, for the space of three or foure yeares during the wars betweene him and King Philip, so that, after his returne out of Germaine, and from imprisonment, a quarter of wheat was sold at eighteen shillings eight pence, no small price in those daies, if you consider the alay of monie then currant.

‘1222. – Likewise on the day of the exaltation of the Crosse, a generall thunder happened throughout the realme, and thereupon followed a continuall season of foule weather and wet, till Candlemas next after, which caused a dearth of corne, so as wheat was sold at twelve shillings the quarter.

‘1245. – Again the King, of purpose, had consumed all the provision of corne and vittels which remained in the marshes, so that in Cheshire, and other parts adjoining, there was such dearth that the people scarse could get sufficient vittels to susteine themselves withall.

‘1258. – In this yeare was an exceeding great dearth, insomuch that a quarter of wheat was sold at London for foure and twentie shillings, whereas within two or three yeares before, a quarter was sold at two shillings. It had been more dearer, if great store had not come out of Almaine; for in France and in Normandie it also failed. But there came fiftie great ships fraught with wheat and barlie, with meale and bread out of Dutch land, by the procurement of Richard, King of Almaine, which greatlie releeved the poore; for proclamation was made, and order taken by the King, that none of the citizens of London should buy anie of that graine to laie it up in store, whereby it might be sold at an higher price unto the needie. But, though this provision did much ease, yet the want was great over all the realme. For it was certainlie affirmed that in three shires within the realme there was not found so much graine of that yeare’s growth as came over in those fiftie ships. The proclamation was set forth to restrein the Londoners from ingrossing up that graine, and not without cause; for the wealthie citizens were evill spoken of in that season, bicause in time of scarcitie they would either staie such ships as, fraught with vittels, were comming towards the citie, and send them some other way forth, or else buy the whole, that they might sell it by retaile, at their pleasure, to the needie. By means of this great dearth and scarcitie, the common people were constrained to live upon herbs and roots, and a great number of the poore people died through famine. They died so thicke that there were great pits made in churchyards to laie the dead bodies in, one upon another.

‘1289. – There insued such continuall raine, so distempering the ground, that corne waxed verie deare, so that whereas wheat was sold before at three pence a bushell, the market so rose by little and little that it was sold for two shillings a bushell, and so the dearth increased still almost for the space of 40 yeares, till the death of Edward the Second, in so much that sometimes a bushel of wheat, London measure, was sold at ten shillings. 1294. – This yeare in England was a great dearth and scarcity of corne, so that a quarter of wheat in manie places was sold for thirtie shillings; by reason whereof poor people died in manie places for lack of sustnance.

‘1316. – The dearth, by reason of the unseasonable weather in the summer and harvest last past, still increased, for that which with much ado was inned, after, when it came to the proofe, yeelded nothing to the value of that which in sheafe it seemed to conteine, so that wheat and other graine which was at a sore price before, now was inhanced to a farre higher rate, the scarcitie thereof being so great that a quarter of wheat was sold for fortie shillings, which was a great price, if we shall consider the allaie of monie then currant. Also, by reason of the murren that fell among cattell, beefes and muttons were unreasonablie priced… In this season vittles were so scant and deere, and wheat and other graine brought to so high a price, that the poore people were constreined through famine to eat the flesh of horses, dogs, and other vile beasts, which is wonderfull to beleeve, and yet, for default, there died a great multitude of people in divers places of the land. Foure pence in bread of the coarser sort would not suffice one man a daie. Wheat was sold at London for foure marks a quarter and above. Then after this dearth and scarcitie of vittels issued a great death and mortalitie of people; so that what by warres of the Scots, and what by this mortalitie and death, the people of the land were wonderfullie wasted and consumed. O pitifull depopulation!

‘1335. – This yeare there fell great abundance of raine, and thereupon insued morren of beasts; also corne so failed this yeare that a quarter of wheat was sold at fortie shillings. 1353. – In the summer of this season and twentieth yeare, was so great a drought that from the latter end of March fell little raine till the latter end of Julie, by reason whereof manie inconveniences insued; and one thing is specially to be noted, that corne the yeare following waxed scant, and the price began this yeare to be greatlie inhanced. Also beeves and muttons waxed deare for the want of grasse; and this chanced both in England and France, so that this was called the deere summer. The Lord William, Duke of Baviere or Bavaria, and Earl of Zelund brought manie ships in London fraught with rie for the releefe of the people, who otherwise had, through their present pinching penurie, if not utterlie perished yet pittifullie pined.

‘1370. – By reason of the great wet and raine that fell this yeare in more abundance than had been accustomed much corne was lost, so that the price thereof was sore inhanced, in so much that wheat was sold at three shillings four pence the bushell. 1389. – Herewith followed a great dearth of corne, so that a bushell of wheat in some places was sold at thirteen pence, which was thought to be a great price. 1394. – In this yeare was a great dearth in all parts of England, and this dearth or scarcitie of corne began under the sickle, and lasted till the feast of Saint Peter ad Vincula– to wit, till the time of new corne. This scarcitie did greatly oppresse the people, and chieflie the commoners of the poorer sort. For a man might see infants and children in streets and houses, through hunger, howling, crieing, and craving bread, whose mothers had it not (God wot) to breake unto them. But yet there was such plentie and abundance of manie years before, that it was thought and spoken of manie housekeepers and husbandmen, that if the seed were not sowen in the ground, which was hoorded up and stored in barnes, lofts, and garners, there would be enough to find and susteine all the people by the space of five years following… The scarcity of victuals was of greatest force in Leicestershire, and in the middle parts of the realme. And although it was a great want, yet was not the price of corne out of reason. For a quarter of wheat, when it was at the highest, was sold at Leicester for 16 shillings 8 pence at one time, and at other times for a market of 14 shillings; at London and other places of the land a quarter of wheat was sold for 10 shillings, or for little more or lesse. For there arrived eleven ships laden with great plentie of victuals at diverse places of the land, for the reliefe of the people. Besides this, the citizens of London laid out two thousand marks to buy food out of the common chest of orphans, and the foure and twentie aldermen, everie of them put in his twentie pounds apeece for necessarie provision, for feare of famine likelie to fall upon the cities. And they laid up their store in sundrie of the fittest and most convenient places they could choose, that the needie and such as were wrong with want might come and buy at a certaine price so much as might suffice them and their families; and they which had not readie monie to paie downe presentlie in hand, their word and credit was taken for a yeare’s space next following, and their turn served. Thus was provision made that people should be relieved, and that none might perish for hunger.

‘1439. – This yeare (by reason of great tempests, raging winds, and raine) there arose such scarsitie that wheat was sold at three shillings foure pence the bushell… Whereupon Steven Browne, at the same season maior of London, tendering the state of the Citie in this want of bread corne, sent into Pruse certeine ships, which returned laden with plentie of rie; wherewith he did much good to the people in that hard time, speciallie to them of the Citie, where the want of corne was not so extreame as in some other places of the land, where the poore distressed people that were hunger-bitten made them bred of ferne roots, and used other hard shifts, till God provided remedie for their penurie by good successe of husbandrie. 1527. – By reason of the great wet that fell in the sowing time of the corne, and in the beginning of the last yeare; now, in the beginning of this, corne so failed, that in the Citie of London, for a while, bread was scant, by reason that the commissioners appointed to see order taken in shires about, ordeined that none should be conveied out of one shire into another. Which order had like to have bred disorder, for that everie countrie and place was not provided alike, and namelie London, that maketh her provision out of other places, felt great inconvenience thereby, till the merchants of the Stillard and others out of the Dutch countries brought such plentie that it was better cheape in London than in anie other part of England, for the King also releeved the citizens in time of their need with a thousand quarters, by waie of lone, of his owne provision.’

By the foregoing we see that the bad dearths came at longer intervals, probably owing to better husbandry, and the regular importation of foreign corn before a scarcity could arise. But, on the other side, I have to chronicle a few (unfortunately only too few) years of exceeding plenty. The first one recorded was in 1288, and is thus recorded by Stow: ‘The summer was so exceeding hote this yeere that many men died through heate, and yet wheate was solde at London for three shillings foure pence the quarter when it was dearest, and in other partes abroad the same was sold for twentie pence or sixteen pence the quarter; yea, for twelve pence the quarter, and in the west and north parts for eight pence the quarter; barley for six pence, and oats for foure pence the quarter, and such cheapnesse of beanes and pease as the like had not been heard. 1317. – This yeere was an early harvest, so that all the corne was inned before St Giles day (Sep. 1). A bushel of wheat that was before for X shillings was solde for ten pence; and a bushel of otes that before was eyght shillings was solde for eyght pence.’

Holinshed tells us that in 1493 wheat was sold in London at 6d. the bushel; and in 1557. – ‘This yeare, before harvest wheat was sold for foure marks the quarter, malt at foure and fortie shillings the quarter, and pease at six and fortie shillings and eight pence; but, after harvest, wheat was sold for five shillings the quarter, malt at six shillings eight pence, rie at three shillings foure pence. So that the penie wheat loafe that weied in London the last yeere but eleven ounces Troie weied now six and fiftie ounces Troie. In the countrie wheat was sold for foure shillings the quarter, malt at foure shillings eight pence; and, in some places a bushell of rie for a pound of candles, which were foure pence.’

CHAPTER VIII

HOW GRAIN BECOMES FLOUR

In order to make bread, the first operation is to grind the corn, be it wheat, rye, barley, or oats, and we have already seen the rough methods used by primitive man and others to effect this; we have noted the mealing stones, the pestle and mortar, the hand quern, and the grinding of corn by the Greeks and Romans. They soon gave up man as a motive power, and substituted mules or horses; these in their time gave place to water, which is a cheap and, if there be anything like a fall, a very powerful motor – hence the mills dotted all over the country, by the side of brook or river, with their water-wheels either over or undershot Very picturesque are they mostly, and the drowsy murmur of the wheel and the gentle splashing of the water are very pleasant We are seeing the last of them; they have done their work and must be thrown aside, for no one in his senses, who had water-power, would now erect water-wheels when he could get a turbine.

As with the water-wheel, so its congener, the windmill, beloved of artists, is going. A motive power as cheap as water is the wind, but, unfortunately, it is not so reliable. It is believed that the Chinese were the first to use the wind as a motive power for mills, and we have no record as to when they were introduced into Europe; we only know they were in use in the twelfth century. As a rule, in England, windmills have four arms, or ‘whips,’ but sometimes they have six. These arms are generally covered with strong canvas, but occasionally they are covered with thin boarding; they are set at an angle, which varies according to the fancy of the miller, but the shaft to which they are attached (called the ‘wind shaft’) is invariably placed at an inclination of 10 or 15 degrees, in order that the revolving arms should clear the bottom portion of the mill.

The oldest kind of windmill is called a post mill, because the whole structure is centred on a post, or pivot, and, when the wind shifts, the mill has to be turned bodily to meet it, by means of a long lever. The smock, or frock, windmill is an improvement upon the post mill; the building itself is stationary and permanent, but the head or cap, where is the wind shaft, rotates, and this is more easily managed.

For hundreds of years people were contented with the four and six arms to their windmills, and it was only in modern times that Messrs. J. Warner and Sons, of Cripplegate, London, patented their annular sails, which, as is plain to the meanest capacity, are vastly superior. The shutters, or ‘vanes,’ are connected with spiral springs, which keep them up to the best angle of ‘weather, for light winds. If the strength of the wind increases, the vanes give to the wind, forcing back the springs, and thus the area on which the wind acts diminishes. In addition, there are a striking lever and tackle for setting the vanes edgeways to the wind, when the mill is stopped, or a storm expected.

We have seen how from the very first man used stones wherewith to triturate his corn, and to this day stones are still used for grinding, although their days are in all probability numbered, and in a very little time they, with the windmill, will be relegated to limbo. The Encyclopædia Britannica gives such an excellent description of these mill-stones, that I quote it in its entirety.

‘They consist of two flat cylindrical masses inclosed within a wooden or sheet metal case, the lower, or bed-stone, being permanently fixed, while the upper, or runner, is accurately pivoted and balanced over it The average size of millstones is about four feet two inches in diameter, by twelve inches in thickness, and they are made of a hard but cellular siliceous stone, called buhr-stone, the best qualities of which are obtained from La-Ferté-sous-Jouarre, department of Seine et Marne, France. Millstones are generally built up of segments, bound together round the circumference by an iron hoop, and backed with plaster of Paris. The bed-stone is dressed to a perfectly flat plane surface, and a series of grooves, or shallow depressions, are cut in it, generally in the manner shown, which represents the grinding surface of an upper or running stone. The grooves on both are made to correspond exactly, so that when the one is rotated over the other the sharp edges of the grooves, meeting each other, operate like a rough pair of scissors, and thus the effect of the stones on grain submitted to their action is at once that of cutting, squeezing, and crushing. The dressing and grooving of millstones is generally done by hand picking, but sometimes black amorphous diamonds (carbonado) are used, and emery wheel dressers have likewise been suggested. The upper stone, or runner, is set in motion by a spindle on which it is mounted, which passes up through the centre of the bed-stone, and there are screws and other appliances for adjusting and balancing the stone. Further provision is made within the stone case for passing through air to prevent too high a heat being developed in the grinding operation, and sweepers for conveying the flour to the meal spout are also provided.

‘The ground meal delivered by the spout is carried forward in a conveyor, or creeper box, by means of an Archimedean screw, to the elevators, by which it is lifted to an upper floor to the bolting or flour-dressing machine. The form in which this apparatus was formerly employed consisted of a cylinder mounted on an inclined plane, and covered externally with wire cloth of different degrees of fineness, the finest being at the upper part of the cylinder, where the meal is admitted. Within the cylinder, which was stationary, a circular brush revolved, by which the meal was pressed against the wire cloth, and, at the same time, carried gradually towards the lower extremity, sifting out, as it proceeded, the mill products into different grades of fineness, and finally delivering the coarse bran at the extremity of the cylinder. For the operation of bolting or dressing, hexagonal or octagonal cylinders, about three feet in diameter, and from 20 to 25 feet long, are now commonly employed. These are mounted horizontally on a spindle for revolving, and externally they are covered with silk of different degrees of fineness, whence they are called “silks,” or “silk dressers.” Radiating arms or other devices for carrying the meal gradually forward as the apparatus revolved, are fixed within the cylinders; and there is also an arrangement of beaters, which gives the segments of cloth a sharp tap, and thereby facilitates the sifting action of the apparatus. Like all other mill machines, the modifications of the silk dresser are numerous,’

We have seen the ordinary operation of grinding flour in the old-fashioned way; now let us notice the improvements in making wheat into flour.

‘We will suppose that the wheat has arrived by lighter at one of the large mills on the Thames, and that it has been shovelled into sacks and hoisted into the warehouse. The process by which it is turned into flour may be divided into three stages: (1) cleaning, (2) breaking, (3) grinding; but the number and complexity of the operations included in these stages are astounding. It must be understood that the following description refers to a first-class London mill – that is, one which has, certainly no superior, and, probably, no equal, in the world.

‘In the first stage the wheat is merely prepared for the mill, and this is done in the cleaning department, which is separate from the mill proper. From the warehouse the grain is passed to a sifter or “separator,” which is a kind of sieve. Here the grosser impurities – straw, sticks, stones, earth, seeds, and what not – are removed. Thence to an “elevator,” precisely similar in principle to that previously described, and by the elevator straight to the top of the building. Here it enters a wire sieve in the form of a revolving hexagonal “reel,” by which the smaller heavy impurities with which it is still mixed are separated. Passing through this, it drops into the next storey, to be subjected to the “aspirator,” an apparatus by means of which currents of air are blown through the grain as it falls and carry off the lighter and more volatile rubbish mixed with it. In the next floor is an ingenious instrument with a special purpose. Among the wheat is still a quantity of small black seeds, known as “cockle” seeds, and to get rid of these the “cockle cylinder” is employed. It is a revolving metal cylinder, the inner surface of which is fitted with small holes; the grain passes into the interior of the cylinder, and as the latter goes round and round the cockle seeds stick in the small holes and are carried up to a certain height, when they fall out and are caught by an “apron”; while the wheat, which is too large to stick in the holes, continually falls back into the bottom of the cylinder. Again our corn drops a storey, and encounters the “decorcitator.” The object of this apparatus is to knock off the dust and dirt adhering to the grains, and it is effected by agitating them between two metal surfaces at a high rate of speed. The amount of dust removed by this method from apparently clean grain is astonishing. In the next storey is another decorcitator, and below that a second aspirator, which brings us once more to the ground.