{"id":1612,"date":"2017-11-23T09:42:16","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T14:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/?p=1612"},"modified":"2017-11-23T09:42:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-23T14:42:16","slug":"the-medieval-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/23\/the-medieval-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"The Medieval Turkey? Or, Why Vikings Didn’t Celebrate Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do Renaissance Faires and Thanksgiving have in common? Well, both are occasions when you’re likely to see people chowing down on turkey legs. That makes sense in the latter case\u2014turkeys are widespread in North America, they’re delicious when served with gravy and a healthy dollop of starch, and Benjamin Franklin even proposed, tongue-in-cheek, making them the national bird of the U.S.<\/a> They make a good centrepiece for an American secular harvest festival\u2014but why do they show up in recreations of pre-modern Europe?<\/p>\n

Part of that is likely down to convenience: a fried turkey leg is a highly portable meal for someone strolling around a fairground. It mostly comes down to bang-for-the-buck, though. Turkey legs are relatively cheap bits of meat, especially in comparison to more authentic offerings. Medieval nobility indulged in birds like pheasants, peacocks, even swans\u2014pretty difficult to get hold of nowadays, expensive, and a lot less palatable to modern sensibilities.<\/p>\n

Gnawing away at a turkey leg is also a fun way of engaging with a particular kind of neo-medieval fantasy, and fulfilling modern ideas of the Middle Ages as one long bout of carnivorism, mead quaffing, and tankard throwing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Charles Laughton, in character as Henry VIII, chows down on some fowl in The Private Life of Henry VIII<\/em> (1933)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet no matter how much American fast-food chains like Arby’s try to get “in on the medieval-themed action”<\/a> by selling smoked turkey legs, during the Middle Ages nobody in Europe was dining on turkey. In fact, they didn’t even know it existed. The bird is indigenous to the Americas, and was first sold in England in perhaps the 1520s<\/a>, brought across the Atlantic by a Yorkshire trader. So it’s possible that Henry VIII may have eaten turkey, but it was hardly the most popular meat consumed in Tudor England.<\/p>\n

For the most part, putting turkeys on the menu for a quasi-medieval feast is a fairly harmless kind of anachronism: vaguely irritating to medieval historians, sure, but no more so than most of the menu offered at dinner theatre venue, Medieval Times<\/a> (which uses tomato soup, buttered sweet corn and coffee to bring eleventh-century Spain “to life before your eyes.” Authenticity isn’t exactly high on the owners’ agenda.)<\/p>\n

But there is another way in which turkeys have been associated with the medieval past, and it’s a little more insidious than fast food chains selling dubiously historical food.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Schleswig Cathedral, ca. 1894. [Source<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the late 1930s, when Nazi Germany was at the height of its powers, father and son art historians Ernst and Dietrich Fey, together with painter Lothar Malskat, arrived in the northern German town of Schleswig. They’d been tasked with restoring the renowned medieval artwork<\/a> which adorned the walls of the town’s Romanesque cathedral cloister. Dating to around 1300, this fine series of paintings depicted biblical scenes, but they had been badly damaged by damp over the centuries.<\/p>\n

An attempt had been made to restore the paintings once before, by artist August Olbers in 1888. His efforts were of a piece with how many ninteenth-century experts approached conservation\u2014if something was very badly damaged, then imagine what might have originally been there and create that in order to give the viewer a sense of what the Middle Ages had been like. By the 1930s, Olbers’ approach was out of fashion, but when the Feys and Malskat attempted to remove his work, they inadvertently also scraped away most of the original, priceless medieval paintings. Aware that he was legally on the hook for this, the elder Fey got Malskat to secretly produce a new set of murals to replace those that were destroyed. Malskat proved to be skilled at imitating the artistic styles of the later Middle Ages, even though he drew on family members and movie stars to provide the faces of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.<\/p>\n

When the “restored” wall paintings were unveiled, they immediately attracted the praise of the Nazi elite, who interpreted them as supporting their strain of racialised nationalism. Here were some fine Germanic works of art, which depicted figures conforming to “Aryan” stereotypes. In 1940, SS leader Heinrich Himmler even ordered that a book on the cathedral and its paintings<\/a> be distributed to every school in Germany.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A detail of the 19th-century turkeys added to the existing medieval artwork on the walls of Schleswig Cathedral. [Source<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now here’s the thing. While Malskat’s work might have been good enough on a technical level to fool those who weren’t experts in art history, you’d think<\/em> that pretty much anyone who looked at these now very famous paintings would pick up on the fact that, trooping along the bottom of a depiction of the Massacre of the Innocents were no fewer than eight turkeys. Their presence in a medieval European painting could be most charitably described as “surprising”; “downright suspicious” might be a better term.<\/p>\n

But such was the force of Nazi ideology that the turkeys were not seen as proof of artistic malfeasance, but rather that “Aryan” explorers had found the Americas long before Columbus and brought turkeys back to the Fatherland. (Far from the only time that Viking voyages to the Americas were used to justify white supremacist ideologies<\/a>.) The elderly August Olbers emerged from retirement to explain that he had added the turkeys, not expecting that anyone would think them truly medieval. He’d just wanted to fill a small bit of empty wall space with a fox and turkey motif that would metaphorically echo the tale of the murderous King Herod shown above. Malskat, not exactly a skilled ornithologist, had thought they were truly medieval and expanded on Olbers’ out-of-place turkeys. Olbers’ explanation was greeted with cries of “Fake news!”, Nazis on the whole being less than keen on things like evidence.<\/p>\n

It was only after the war\u2014particularly once Dietrich Fey and Lothar Malskat were convicted of forgery following another fraudulent “restoration” job<\/a>, this time on the Marienkirche at L\u00fcbeck\u2014that people came to realise that the turkey paintings were not actually<\/em> evidence that Vikings had ever sat down to a Ren-Faire-style feast.<\/p>\n

They were just proof that, medieval or not, there’s more than one way to be a turkey.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
If you say so, Sarasota Medieval Fair. [Source<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do Renaissance Faires and Thanksgiving have in common? Well, both are occasions when you’re likely to see people chowing down on turkey legs. That …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medievalism"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/wills-dublin\/","url_meta":{"origin":1612,"position":0},"title":"Family and Finances in Fifteenth-Century Dublin","author":"Yvonne Seale","date":"April 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I first came across the marvellously named Register of Wills and Inventories of the Diocese of Dublin in the Time of Archbishops Tregury and Walton, 1457-1483, when taking a course on the history of medieval Dublin as an undergrad. The Register is one of our best sources of information for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Medieval Ireland"","block_context":{"text":"Medieval Ireland","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/medieval-ireland\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/map-1-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/map-1-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/map-1-2.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/map-1-2.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/map-1-2.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/map-1-2.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/29\/the-rhetoric-of-the-flesh-april-25\/","url_meta":{"origin":1612,"position":1},"title":"The Rhetoric of the Flesh – April 25","author":"Yvonne Seale","date":"April 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"You know, this was probably the first lecture I've been to which has asked me to pay particularly close attention to artistic representations of Christ's nipples! Or which included the phrase \"transgressive sado-erotic response to sacred nudity.\" Art historians clearly have all the fun! Prof. Sherry Lindquist's lecture, \"The Rhetoric\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Lectures"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Lectures","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/conferences-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"6a013486c64e2e970c01901baf5fad970b","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/6a013486c64e2e970c01901baf5fad970b-256x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2047,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/23\/medieval-history-podcasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1612,"position":2},"title":"Medieval History Podcasts","author":"admin","date":"December 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Podcasts are my companion on my walk to work in the morning, and my frequent diversion during some of the household chores of which I'm not so fond. (I know laundry has to be folded... but then again, does it?) Whether you're a walker, a laundry folder, or just someone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/links\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mama1_resized.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mama1_resized.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mama1_resized.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mama1_resized.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mama1_resized.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mama1_resized.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2249,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/01\/public-talk-the-lost-women-of-premontre-finding-and-following-the-footsteps-of-medieval-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":1612,"position":3},"title":"Public Talk: The Lost Women of Pr\u00e9montr\u00e9: Finding and Following the Footsteps of Medieval Women","author":"admin","date":"October 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"On Tuesday, October 3, at 6:3 0p.m. I will be giving a talk at St. Norbert College, WI, entitled \u201cThe Lost Women of Pr\u00e9montr\u00e9: Finding and Following the Footsteps of Medieval Women.\u201d Come along to learn what the traditional story told about the Premonstratensian sisters of medieval France gets wrong,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Lectures"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Lectures","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/conferences-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/gettyimages-152232575-1024x1024-e1569939676624.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/gettyimages-152232575-1024x1024-e1569939676624.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/gettyimages-152232575-1024x1024-e1569939676624.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/gettyimages-152232575-1024x1024-e1569939676624.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1288,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/15\/beginners-guide-medievaleurope\/","url_meta":{"origin":1612,"position":4},"title":"A Beginner’s Reading List: Medieval Europe","author":"admin","date":"August 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It's difficult for an academic historian to critique popular history books on the Middle Ages without sounding snotty, or dry, or some unappetising combination of both. 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