Medieval Lecture - Food Culture After the Baltic Crusades

From the late 12th century and throughout much of the 13th century, crusading armies unleashed a relentless holy war against the native societies of the eastern Baltic, defined as threatening pagans by their Christian neighbours.The conquered territories were reorganised as Catholic polities called Livonia and Prussia, largely governed by a militarised theocracy, consisting of the Teutonic Order, bishops, and their cathedral chapters. They constructed imposing fortified monasteries, encouraged migrants to settle in newly established towns and, in some regions, populate the countryside. The result was a hybrid society, where migrants and their descendants coexisted alongside conquered native communities, and where pre-Christian practices persisted for generations or were syncretised with Catholicism. The regular presence of crusading armies and fledging urban colonies, and later growing towns and rural settlements, prompted an intensification in environmental exploitation, particularly for subsistence. This talk will draw on a range of archaeological, palaeoenvironmental and historical data to explore the food culture of medieval Prussia and Livonia, where the use of native plants and animal stock was combined with luxury foodstuffs imported through the Hanseatic trading network. The talk will be complemented by a carefully selected menu, emulating some of the foods and flavours of the eastern Baltic following the pivotal events of the crusades.