18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A new study reveals, Anglo-Saxon Kings were generally vegetarian, but peasants treated them to huge meat feasts

Very few people in England ate large amounts of meat before the Vikings settled, and there is no evidence that elites ate more meat than other people, a major new bioarchaeological study suggests. Its sister study also argues that peasants occasionally hosted lavish meat feasts for their rulers. The findings overturn major assumptions about early medieval English history.

Picture medieval England and royal feasts involving copious amounts of meat immediately spring to mind. Historians have long assumed that royals and nobles ate far more meat than the rest of the population and that free peasants were forced to hand over food to sustain their rulers throughout the year in an exploitative system known as feorm or food-rent.

But a pair of Cambridge co-authored studies published today in the journal Anglo-Saxon England present a very different picture, one which could transform our understanding of early medieval kingship and society.

While completing a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, bioarchaeologist Sam Leggett gave a presentation which intrigued historian Tom Lambert (Sidney Sussex College). Now at the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Leggett had analyzed chemical signatures of diets preserved in the bones of 2,023 people buried in England from the 5th—to 11th centuries. She then cross-referenced these isotopic findings with evidence for social statuses such as grave goods, body position, and grave orientation. Leggett’s research revealed no correlation between social status and high protein diets.

That surprised Tom Lambert because so many medieval texts and historical studies suggest that Anglo-Saxon elites did eat large quantities of meat. The pair started to work together to find out what was really going on.

Food list was compiled during the reign of King Ine of Wessex (c. 688-726), part of the Textus Roffensis. Image: Chapter of Rochester Cathedral
The food list was compiled during the reign of King Ine of Wessex (c. 688-726), part of the Textus Roffensis. Image: Chapter of Rochester Cathedral

They began by deciphering a food list compiled during the reign of King Ine of Wessex (c. 688-726) to estimate how much food it records and what its calorie content might have been. They estimated that the supplies amounted to 1.24 million kcal, over half of which came from animal protein. The list included 300 bread rolls so the researchers worked on the basis that one bun was served to each diner to calculate overall portions. Each guest would have received 4,140 kcal from 500g of mutton; 500g of beef; another 500g of salmon, eel and poultry; plus cheese, honey and ale.

The researchers studied ten other comparable food lists from southern England and discovered a remarkably similar pattern: a modest amount of bread, a huge amount of meat, a decent but not excessive quantity of ale, and no mention of vegetables (although some probably were served).

Lambert says: “The scale and proportions of these food lists strongly suggests that they were provisions for occasional grand feasts, and not general food supplies sustaining royal households on a daily basis. These were not blueprints for everyday elite diets as historians have assumed.”

“I’ve been to plenty of barbecues where friends have cooked ludicrous amounts of meat so we shouldn’t be too surprised. The guests probably ate the best bits and then leftovers might have been stewed up for later.”

A diverse history. Witan hexateuch via Wikimedia Commons
A diverse history. Witan Hexateuch via Wikimedia Commons

Leggett says: “I’ve found no evidence of people eating anything like this much animal protein on a regular basis. If they were, we would find isotopic evidence of excess protein and signs of diseases like gout from the bones. But we’re just not finding that.”

“The isotopic evidence suggests that diets in this period were much more similar across social groups than we’ve been led to believe. We should imagine a wide range of people livening up bread with small quantities of meat and cheese, or eating pottages of leeks and whole grains with a little meat thrown in.”

The researchers believe that even royals would have eaten a cereal-based diet and that these occasional feasts would have been a treat for them too.

Peasants feeding kings

These feasts would have been lavish outdoor events at which whole oxen were roasted in huge pits, examples of which have been excavated in East Anglia.

Lambert says: “Historians generally assume that medieval feasts were exclusively for elites. But these food lists show that even if you allow for huge appetites, 300 or more people must have attended. That means that a lot of ordinary farmers must have been there, and this has big political implications.”

Kings in this period—including Rædwald, the early seventh-century East Anglian king perhaps buried at Sutton Hoo—are thought to have received renders of food, known in Old English as feorm or food-rent, from the free peasants of their kingdoms. It is often assumed that these were the primary source of food for royal households and that kings’ own lands played a minor supporting role at best. As kingdoms expanded, it has also been assumed that food-rent was redirected by royal grants to sustain a broader elite, making them even more influential over time.

Early-medieval skeleton excavated with grave goods in 2015 in Warwickshire
Early-medieval skeleton excavated with grave goods in 2015 in Warwickshire

But Lambert studied the use of the word feorm in different contexts, including aristocratic wills, and concludes that the term referred to a single feast and not this primitive form of tax. This is significant because food-rent required no personal involvement from a king or lord and no show of respect to the peasants who were duty-bound to provide it. When kings and lords attended communal feasts in person, however, the dynamics would have been very different.

Lambert says: “We’re looking at kings traveling to massive barbecues hosted by free peasants, people who owned their own farms and sometimes slaves to work on them. You could compare it to a modern presidential campaign dinner in the US. This was a crucial form of political engagement.”

This rethinking could have far-reaching implications for medieval studies and English political history more generally. Food renders have informed theories about the beginnings of English kingship and land-based patronage politics, and are central to ongoing debates about what led to the subjection of England’s once-free peasantry.

Leggett and Lambert are now eagerly awaiting the publication of isotopic data from the Winchester Mortuary Chests which are thought to contain the remains of Egbert, Canute, and other Anglo-Saxon royals. These results should provide unprecedented insights into the period’s most elite eating habits.

University of Cambridge 

More information: SAM LEGGETT et al, Food and Power in Early Medieval England: a lack of (isotopic) enrichment, Anglo-Saxon England (2022). DOI: 10.1017/S0263675122000072

Tom Lambert et al, Food and Power in Early Medieval England: Rethinking Feorm, Anglo-Saxon England (2022). DOI: 10.1017/S0263675122000084

Related Articles

Tomb of a Roman doctor buried with unique surgical tools unearthed in Hungary

28 April 2023

28 April 2023

Hungarian archaeologists discovered the tomb of a Roman doctor 1st-century man buried with high-quality surgical tools near the city of...

Mosaic Discovered in Illegal Dig in Zile Points to Ancient Roman Public Structure

12 July 2025

12 July 2025

Zile, a district in the Tokat province of northern Türkiye, has long been recognized as one of Anatolia’s most historically...

Outrage in Türkiye: 3,000-Year-Old Unesco Tomb in Phrygian Valley Turned Into Café

1 July 2025

1 July 2025

A 3,000-year-old rock-cut tomb located in the historical Phrygian Valley—hailed as Türkiye’s “second Cappadocia” and listed on the UNESCO World...

25 Qing Dynasty tombs found in China’s Hunan

25 May 2022

25 May 2022

25 graves dating from the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1644–1912) have been uncovered in the Houbeishan tomb complex in southern China,...

8,000-year-old Yarmukian ‘Mother Goddess’ figurine discovered in Israel

9 July 2022

9 July 2022

An 8,000-year-old Yarmukian Mother Goddess figurine was found at Sha’ar HaGolan archaeological site, located on the northern bank of the...

İnteresting Relief on the Roman Millstone

20 February 2021

20 February 2021

During the Cambridgeshire A14 road improvement work, workers found an interesting millstone. A large penis was engraved in the Roman-era...

1,800-Year-Old Sanctuary to Mithras discovered in Spain

8 February 2023

8 February 2023

Archaeologists excavating at Villa del Mitra in Cabra, Spain, have uncovered a sanctuary dedicated to the god Mithras, along with...

A mosaic floor from the 2nd century BC depicting the muse Kalliope was discovered in ancient city of Side, southern Türkiye

24 May 2024

24 May 2024

During the excavations carried out in the ancient city of Side, a mosaic floor from the second century BC, depicting...

Remains of the summer palace of Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulagu Khan, found in eastern Turkey

7 July 2022

7 July 2022

The archeology study team, consisting of Turkish and Mongolian scientists, found important findings in the study carried out to find...

New discoveries found under demolished historic Tawfiq Pasha Andraos Palace in Egypt

31 October 2021

31 October 2021

An Egyptian archaeological mission excavating at the site of the recently demolished Tawfiq Pasha Andraos Palace discovered a number of...

Artifacts used for ancient magic rituals discovered on Darb al-Hajj route from Cairo to Mecca

11 September 2023

11 September 2023

The artifacts, found in the 1990s on the ancient Darb al-Hajj route from Cairo to Mecca, may have been in...

Return of a 4,250-year-old Hattian golden beak-spouted ewer to Turkey

27 October 2021

27 October 2021

The 4,250-year-old golden beak-spouted ewer was returned to the Anatolian Civilizations Museum by the Gilbert Art Foundation. Culture and Tourism...

The famous archaeologist says he will announce the discovery of the mummy of Queen Nefertiti, one of Egyptology’s main riddles, next month

14 September 2022

14 September 2022

On December 9, 2021, Egypt’s archaeological mission, headed by renowned Egyptologist and former Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass, resumed its search...

A new study shows that the cave paintings at Cueva Ardales are the work of Neanderthals

21 August 2021

21 August 2021

A study of pigments used in murals in the Cueva Ardales caves in southern Spain has revealed that Neanderthals, long...

Ancient eggshell in the Northern Cape hiding 300,000 years of history

12 July 2021

12 July 2021

Evidence from an ancient eggshell has revealed important new information about the extreme climate change faced by human early ancestors....