ESM 4 Early evidence of spinach in various European written medieval sources

Earliest descriptions of spinach in Christian Europe

Date of occurrence / Book title / Author, date / Status, profession of the author / Reference
1260 / De Vegetabilibus, libri VII / Albrecht von Bollstädt (1193?- 1280) / Bavarian theologian and philosopher / Harvey 1981
Basel edition 1585 / Opera medica omnia vol.17 (r): translatio libri albuzale de medicinis simplicibus / Arnau de Vilanova (1240/1250-1311) / French or Catalan physician, theologian, diplomat, astrologer and alchemist / Bois 1927
1305 or 1306 / Ruralium commodorum opus / Pietro de' Crescenzi (1230-1320) / Italian agronomist / Harvey 1981

Evidence for the cultivation and trade of spinach in Europe, as recorded in agronomic treatise and account books

Date of occurrence / Sources / Location of the practice / Type of mention (original term) / Reference
11th - 12th cent. / Ibn al-‘Awwâm, Kitâb al-filâha / Seville (Andalusia, Spain) / Cultivation / El Faïz 2000
12th - 13th cent. / Leudes / Barcelona (Catalonia),
Perpignan (southern France) / Rate of foodstuff toll (spinargiis) / Puig 2003
1321 - 1322 / List of the gardener to the Archibishop of Canterbury / Lambeth Palace (England) / Sowing of seeds (spynhach) / Harvey 1981
1331 / Counts of the Hesdin Hospital (for garden) / Hesdin (northern France) / Purchase of seeds (espinarde) / Richard 1892: 411-412

Earliest evidence for the consumption of spinach, as recorded in European medieval recipe books

Date of occurrence / Book title / Author / Origin of the author / Original term / Cooking and Use / Reference
1306, 1360 - 1366 / Liber de Coquina / Anonymous / Paris (France) / spiniargia / Boiled then eaten cold with oil / Mulon 1971
1324 / Libre de Sent Soví / Anonymous / Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) / Puig 2003
1392 - 1393 / Ménagier de Paris / Anonymous, Parisian burgher / Paris (France) / espinars, espinoches / Beginning of Lent: fried and in water (in soup) / Pichon 1992
15th cent. / Viandier dit de Taillevent / Guillaume Tirel (1326-1395), cook of king Charles V / Paris (France) / espinoches / Pie (with other green vegetables) / Pichon et al. 1991

References

Bois D (1927) Les plantes alimentaires chez tous les peuples et à travers les âges. Histoire, utilisation, culture. Les phanérogames légumières. Encyclopédie biologique. Paul Lechevalier, Paris

El Faïz M (ed) (2000) Ibn al-‘Awwâm, Kitâb al-Filâha (Le livre de l'agriculture 12th c. A.D.), French translation by J-J Clément-Mullet (edn 1866), Actes Sud, Arles

Harvey J (1981) Medieval gardens. Batsford, London

Mulon M (1971) Deux traités inédits d'art culinaire médiéval. Bulletin philologique et historique (jusqu'à 1610) du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, Les problèmes de l’alimentation, année 1968, 1:369-435

Pichon J (ed) (1992) Le Ménagier de Paris. Traité de morale et d’économie domestique, composé vers 1393 par un bourgeois parisien. Régis Lehoucq, Paris

Pichon J, Vicaire G, Aebischer P (eds) (1991) Le Viandier de Taillevent. Régis Lehoucq, Paris

Puig C (2003) Les campagnes roussillonnaises au Moyen Age : dynamiques agricoles et paysagères entre le XIIe et la première moitié du XIVe siècle. Thèse, Université Toulouse-Le Mirail

Richard J-M (1892) Thierry d'Hireçon, agriculteur artésien (13..-1328). Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes 53:383-416