History Daily bread
Bread was the main food for most people in medieval Europe. Wealthy people ate fine white wheat bread; poorer people ate darker bread of rye, barley or mixed grains.
Big ovens needed lots of fuel, and fires were dangerous in timber towns, so many families did not bake at home. In towns they bought from bakers. In many villages, the lord owned the only oven and the mill, and villagers had to pay to use them, a right called banalité in France.
History Honest loaves
Because bread was so important, it was strictly controlled. In England, the Assize of Bread and Ale tied the weight of a loaf to the price of wheat. Bakers who sold loaves that were too light could be fined or put in the pillory. Some people think this is why bakers began giving 13 loaves for a dozen, the "baker's dozen", to be safe.
Art In this artwork
The round oven, loaves on the counter and bread sign are drawn in a friendly storybook way.
Look closer
- Find the oven.
- Look at the sign. How does it show what is sold without any words?
Think about it
- Why would a shop sign use a picture instead of words?
- Why did the price and weight of bread matter so much?
- What food do you eat at almost every meal?
Key words
- Assize
- A law setting standards, such as the weight of bread.
- Pillory
- A wooden frame that held a person for public shaming.
- Rye
- A grain that grows well in cold places.
Use it in class
- What was daily life like in the Middle Ages? (Explainer, grades 3-8)
- Medieval market day: a lesson on guilds and trade (Lesson, grades 3-7)
Sources
The history on this page is a short summary based on these sources:
- The Assize of Bread and Ale (England, about 1266)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Banalité"
