The Roles In a great household, the following roles are part of the household management and dining service. : Steward - oversees all the domestic management. For purposes of this event, the autocrat can be considered the steward Marshall of the Feast - coordinates the service. Jehan du Lac. Ewerer - in charge of the laving vessels, handwashing, and table linen. Mistress Rose Otter will act as chief ewerer, along with Mistress Caitlin Davies. They will serve high table only.  A ewerer may have grooms to help. The liveried servants will be performing this task for the rest of the guests. Pantler - in charge of the bread. For the first course and third course, this will be Tibor. For the second course it will be Master Toshi. A pantler may have grooms to help with this task (but we will not for this feast). Kerver - carves the meat (roasts, birds, etc.). For the second course, this will be Tibor. No kerver is needed for the other courses. Butler - in charge of wine and ale. This will be Yevsha for the first & second courses, Julian for the third. The butler will have a groom or two who will handle the cupbearing tasks. Cupbearer - fills the cups, takes them to the guests, rinses them out, and puts them on the cupboard to be used again when asked for. The lord and special guests often have their own. There will be  grooms from the liveried servants serving this function at high table. They will be under the direction of the butler. The Sewer - the head waiter. The Marshall is going to act as sewer. Gentlemen Waiters - in a royal household, these are gentlemen of the chamber. They serve the dishes to the guests at high table. There will be two for each course. Taster - someone usually has the job of tasting the food (and the wash water, and the linens, etc). It varies who does this -- sometimes the head cook, the steward, the marshal, the sewer or a combination (typically those in responsibility who might have the opportunity to corrupt the food). Queen Elizabeth used her Yeoman Guard to do it. If it is the baron and baroness's will, we'll find someone and make them taste the food :). It will be up to the Gentlemen Waiters to cut a piece of a dish and offer it to the taster. Preparing for the Feast Setting the Table The ewerer and the marshall normally lay out the table linens. The are typically 3 cloths at the high table: one is laid down the center of the table and the other two are laid at its edges so as to hang down on the sides. Clean linen is highly desirable, and neatly pressed into fine sharp squares all the more desirable. The laying down of the cloths is often accompanied with a certain amount of kneeling and hand kissing (kissing one's own hand, a common method of showing respect). We will skip doing this as a formal activity and set up the tables and dress them with linen ahead of time. We will also preset the ordinary tables and the cupboard for high table.with pitchers of water  and ladles for the soup that will come in the first course. Next the trenchers, knives & napkins are normally laid out at each place. In our case, knives will be provided by the diners themselves and not by the host. Napkins will be provided to the high table, but not to other guests. Trenchers (in the sense of plates) will be provided by the guests themselve from their SCA feastgear. This table setting is typically done before the guests process in to the table, but this will not be possible for  us to do for all the guests. However, we will set the table for high table. The pantler and his yeomen will be in charge of setting the table for the high table. This will involve putting out the guests trenchers (plates), with their drinking vessels and knives to the right of the trencher, and covering it all with a folded napkin. If there are bread trenchers, then we will put them on top of the plates (under the napkin) We will have to collect the feastgear ahead of time from the high table guests in order to do this. Drinking vessels are typically kept on the cupboard, then brought to each diner when requested, rinsed out, and placed back on the cupboard to be shared. Laving Next the laving will occur before anyone does anything else. We will have a musical fanfare and two highborn ladies will enter with a ewer and basin and towels over their left arms. They will curtsey, and then wash the hands of the Queen, the baron, the baroness, and any other high table guests. The washing should be done by VERY CAREFULLY and slowly pouring water from the ewer over the guests hands, with the other lady holding the basin below to catch the drops. The ewerer will then offer the towel on their arm for the guests to dry their hands. The ladies will curtsey again and then leave. Meanwhile, the liveried servants will bring basins to each guest in the hall to use as a fingerbowl. Each server will have a towel over their left arm. Guests will wash their fingers in the bowl & dry them with the server's towel. Bread and Salt We will adapt the ceremony used by Queen Elizabeth for bringing in the bread & salt. There will be a brief fanfare and two highborn ladies and a maiden will process to high table with the bread on a plate, the salt cellar, and a tasting knife. They will kneel and then place the salt to the right hand of the lord. Our baron & baroness will have the Queen as guest. She will sit to the baron's right hand and the salt should be placed between her & the baron. The bread will be set down and the one of the ladies will cut a small piece and give it to the designated taster (probably the marshal). The ladies will then leave. The pantler will carve up the bread into perfectly rectangular pieces, without crusts, and make neat little pyramids of slices before the baron, baroness, and Queen. The pantler should use a bread knife to do this job. Then the pieces that have been cut should be laid before the master or guest using a presentoir.  This is a broad-bladed round-ended knife, rather like a long spatula or a cake server. We may have to wing it on the presentoir and use a large cooking knife. Meanwhile, the liveried servants will carry trenchers and salt to the other guests. Depending on the number of salt cellars available, there may be either one or two per table. These should be arranged as symmetrically as possible along the center axis of the table. Serving the Dishes The dishes will be brought out from the kitchen by the liveried servants in procession. The servants at the head of the procession will go to high table.  The servants will present each dish for high table to a Gentlemen Waiter, go down on one knee, and retire.You don't have to hit the ground with this motion -- think genuflect, or a deep reverence. We are doing this after presenting the dish because we don't have the experience that period servers did of being able to serve directly from bended knee. It would be very bad to lose the soup all over the Queen.  The Gentlemen will then either 1.)place the dish on the table to be kerved, or 2.) take it around to the guests to choose what they want and then put it on the table. It is important the the dishes be properly arranged in a symmetrical pattern. If there are dirty dishes to take away, the Gentleman Waiter will take the dish and pass it to a servant. Precedence is very important in terms of who is served first. It is the baron's hall. He is the lord of it and has the highest precedence. In the SCA order of precedence, no one outranks a sitting baron in his own territory except the King. The Queen will be his honored guest. All dishes should be brought to the baron first, who then may defer to his guest if he so chooses. Serve the right hand side of the table before the left. When putting down dishes, always serve from the left side of the guest. When taking dishes away, clear from the right side of the guest. Since high table will only have guests seated on one side, this will make service much easier. In a typical period meal, each prepared "dish" would be apportioned into "messes." Two to four people would be expected to share a "messe." It would normally be two at high table and four elsewhere. Most likely we will have four people sharing a dish at high table and eight at other tables, depending on what the dish is. Since we will probably more than two persons to a messe at high table, the grooms or Gentlmen Waiters at high table may have to take care of the high table guests desires if they want some of a dish that is not within reaching distance. Guests normally get food from the messe onto their trenchers using their knives. The kerver will take care of cutting meat and fowl and putting the pieces on the guests' trenchers. The pantler will cut and pare the bread and put it to the left of the guests trenchers'. For other dishes, like sallets or soup, the Gentlemen Waiters should see about serving portions out to the guests, at least the first time around. As soon as the servants for high table have handed over their dishes to the Gentlemen, then liveried servants will bring dishes to the other guests. In laying down the dishes, they should try to keep a nice symmetrical order in the middle of the table, observing the above rules about placing and clearing dishes. The guests at the other tables will serve themselves from the messes. Serving Drinks The drinks for high table will be kept on a cupboard near the high table. The butler will be in charge of it. Only water is being served at this feast. However, wine will be provided to high table, and it is very likely that high table will also provide their own additional ale or wine. These should be collected before dinner and decanted (if possible) into period vessels, then set on the cupboard. Normally the cups themselves are also kept on the cupboard. When a diner wants a drink, the cupbearer fetches & fills a cup and presents to the guest. It is considered bad manners to drain the cup completely. When done, the cupbearer takes the cup, empties it, rinses it, and puts it back on the cupboard. Given the small number of people at the high table, we should  be able to keep track of whose cup is whose. In period, of course, these cups would be shared. The  grooms at high table will assits the butler in getting the guests cups when they indicate that they want a drink, bringing them to the cupboard, filling them, and bringing them back to the guest. Cups should be set to the right of the trencher. Customarily, wine is mixed with water to be drunk. Most people don't take it that way nowadays, but you might want to ask the guest how much they want their wine to be watered. For everyone else except high table, only pitchers of water will be provided. These will be kept on the table. Servants should see to it that these pitchers are kept full. Notes on using period drinking vessels: Earthenware vessels are porous even when they are well-glazed. When they are filled with liquid they are heavy. If you are pouring anything from an earthenware jug, always grip the handle in one hand, and put your other hand underneath the bottom of the jug to support it. Do not carry all its weight from the handle only, it might come right off. Eating the Dishes A lot of SCA people do not actually know how to eat their food at table. There isn't much you can do about this, but if anyone asks you can advise them.  The normal procedure is to take food from the messe onto your trencher using your knife.You do the same with salt, scooping out a little from the salt cellar with the tip of your knife. It is considered bad manners to put a dirty knife into the salt; the knife should be cleaned with bread before putting it into anything. You do not put your knife into your mouth. Once you have gotten your food onto your trencher, you eat it with your hands. That is what God gave us napkins for. You wear the napkin over your left shoulder and use it to clean your hands as required. If there are sauces, you dip your bits of meat into the sauce and then eat it. If you have a kerver, he may kerve pieces of meat in strips with a little "handle" so that you can use the handle for dipping the meat. As for liquid items, you can eat them with a spoon out of the common dish, or spoon them onto your bread and eat it as sops. Since most modern people will object to eating soup out of a common dish, you can recommend the bread sops option. Many SCA folk bring a bowl with them to feasts, but this is not a common item on a formal table in our time period.

James I dining with the Spanish ambassadors. They are being served by Gentlemen Waiters of the king's household. They are going down on one knee when they present the dishes. Note the marshal of the feast with the rod in the center. Serving royalty in the 15th c. Serving men have their towels over the left shoulder. The sewer is wearing his across his body like a baldric. The pantler carving up the king's bread. He is cutting the bread with a pantler's knife and then serving it with a "presentoir." He is making a little pile of bread before the king. Note the big salt cellar on the table. There are servers bringing in the dishes to the right. They are stacked up and held together with a towel. There are musicians playing as the servants bring int he dishes.(15th c.) The kerver at the Duc de Berry's table. Note the lovely linen towel on his shoulder, which has blue embroidery on it. The sewer is next to him on hte left (Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry). The Butler at the Duc de Berry's table. Behind him to the left is the cupboard, with an extravagant display of gilt plate. Besides the cups, it displayed the lord's weath through all the lovely dishes which were not currently in use. Serving at table before the hunt (14th c.) The servant on the left is presenting the great salt celler, the one on the right a dish of fish. Both are semi-kneeling on one knee.

1. sallet
2. sauce for sallet
3. chickpeas
4. soup.

Serving soup is a challenge. The servant will have to bring a ladle with the soup. At high table when the Gentlemen Waiters have set the soup on the table, they should serve each guest, ladling soup out for them (from the left side). In period, people would have eaten their soup with a spoon from the common dish or poured it over bread to make sops. Since SCA folks tend to bring  their own bowls, ladle the soup into their bowls. However, if they don't have bowls, ladle it onto their bread (let them know that you are going to do this).  For the non-high table guests, place the soup bowl down and let them worry about ladling it out themselves.

5. manchets

Place a manchet roll in front of each high table guest, to their left. By rights, the higher ranking guests should receive more manchets.  We will determine on the day of the feast how many to give each guest at high table. We will put the manchets into little baskets for each of the other tables.

Note on Drinks: The wine is normally first poured out when the first roast comes in. Sine there is no roast in this dinner, the butler should pour wine for the high table after the first course dishes are set out.
 

There will be a brief fanfare and then the dishes will come out in the following order:

1. roast chicken

The kerver will kerve the chicken at high table, giving pieces to each guest according to their precedence and their desire. At the other tables, the guests will kerve for themselves. It is a courtesy to kerve meat for someone, so dinner guests might want to take advantage of the opportunity :).

2. pigeon sauce and pear sauce (one in each hand :)
3. carrots and parsnips
4. bread

The bread will be wrapped in towels. A loaf will be set down at each table. At high table it will be set down to the left of the baron. The pantler can carve it up into nice pared rectangles for the high table guests.

The butler should see that the guests at high table have more wine or ale if they need it.

The will be a brief fanfare and then the dishes will come out in the following order:

1. fish pie
2. asparagus
3. pear pie

At the high table, the pantler will cut the pies and serve them out to the guests in order of precedence.
The butler should see that everyone has what they want to drink.

At high table, two servants will collect all the dishes, both serving dishes and personal dishes, and take them back to the kitchen. The personal dishes will be washed and returned to their owners.

As soon as people can be chased away from the tables, the servants will strip the linens, return them to the kitchen, and then knock down all tables (except for high table and the cupboard) and put them away.