Feeding body and soul

In his recent book The Monastic World, Andrew Jotischky looks at how from the late Roman Empire onwards, monasteries and convents were a common sight throughout Europe. The history of monasticism is defined by the fierce and passionate abandonment of the ordinary comforts of life, the most striking being food and drink. What foods were eaten within medieval monasteries and what informed monastic views on food?

Professor Andrew Jotischky explores these questions in this month's Virtual Branch talk, drawing upon his extensive research that has informed previous works on monastic food such as A Hermit's cookbook: Monks, food and fasting in the Middle Ages.

Andrew Jotischky is a Professor of Medieval History at Royal Holloway University of London on medieval religion and culture. His research focuses on the relationship between belief and lived experiences, and how religious institutions in the Middle Ages worked.