The Cornish Pasty |
The Cornish Pasty notes that "Pasties" occurs in a list of expenses on a page in the Borough of Plymouth Audit Book, 1510. The book is housed at Plymouth & West Devon Record Office (Ref. 1/130) and was found in November, 2006. The expenses relate mainly to work done on the Castle, street repairs and a big celebration of some sort in the "yeldehalle" (= Guildhall). This is put into a possible historical context below.
An image of the phrase "the pasties"
The "f" is really the "long s" used in Middle English
The blue text is our digitally overlain transcription
Reproduced with permission of Plymouth &
West Devon Record Office,
Reference 1/130, Borough of Plymouth Audit Book, 1510
The "f" is pronounced as an "s" as in modern usage - the "f" is merely the written form (called the "long s") of a non-capital S, coming into usage as lower case letters came into being at the end of the eighth century. It persisted into Middle English (1100-1487 AD) and beyond, into Chancery Standard English. It was used in 1746 on the front of Mrs Barriball's letter to John Tremayne.
Below, see:
"Itm for the cooke is labor to make the pasties ....... X d"
digitally
outlined on the document below
(X d = 10 d, which is 4.16
pence in today's money)
Reproduced with permission of Plymouth &
West Devon Record Office,
Reference 1/130, Borough of Plymouth Audit Book, 1510
The Audit Book is written in a style of hand-writing that dates from the early 16th Century. This was the period at the end of Middle English (the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William Caxton in the 1470s) and Modern English (the form of the English language spoken since the great vowel shift, completed in roughly 1550). Source: Wikipedia_Middle English
An interpretation below, by paleaographic analysis, was worked on by my learnéd friend and fellow Pasty Antiquarian, Mr Henry "Oggy" Trelissick.
Below is a version of the transcription of the deciphered of the Middle English that the document is written in .....
Reproduced with permission of Plymouth &
West Devon Record Office,
Reference 1/130, Borough of Plymouth Audit Book, 1510
(but modified here with the modern blue typescript digitally overlain)
The section for the feast where pasties were eaten, in the grey outlined box above, seems to read as ....
Itm for flowre to bake the venyfun of the 2 bukks
that
Maister Edgecumbe sende to the
town......................................... 2 s 4 d
(NB 1. flowre = flour, NB 2. venyfun = venison, NB 3. bukks = bucks = male deer)
Item for the cook is labour to make the pasties ............................ 10 d
Itm for a pownde of pep[per] to the same
...................................... 14 d
(NB ?14 d, counting sometimes only in pennies?)
Itm for the bakynge therof ................................................................ 8 d
Itm for bredde occupyed at yeldhall at etynge of
the venyfun ... 9 d
(NB ?yeldhall = guildhall?)
Itm for xij gallons of clarett wyne at (vj d) the
gallon and .... 8 s 4d
iij galons and a potell of redde wyne at (vij d) the gallon
occupyed in the yeldehall that tyme
The transcription so far ..... [ ] = unsure, italics = guesswork ..... bearing in mind that sometimes different words were used at that time and words were sometimes spelt in seemingly strange ways .....
blue = original 1510 AD Middle English
black = Modern English
1 |
Itm for iij of laytthe nayles |
iij d |
Itm for 3 of lathe nails |
3 d |
|
2 |
Itm to John heydon willm heydon and John hykks for helynge vppon the Caftell & the yeldehall j day & [di]ewy of them /v d/ a day |
XXij d [ob] |
Itm to John
Heydon Willm Heydon and John Hicks for healing upon the Castle & the Guildhall 1 day & delivery of them (5 d) a day |
24 d (??) |
|
3 |
Itm to a man to serve them that tyme |
vj d |
Itm to a man to help them that time |
6 d |
|
4 |
Itm for carage of helynge stones to the Caftell |
j d |
Itm for carriage of healing stones to the Castle |
1 d |
|
5 |
Itm for iij qrts of a C of Rosen for the Caftell dore |
ij d |
Itm for 3 qtrs of a cwt of Resin for the Castle door |
2 d |
|
6 |
Itm for a qrt of a C of pyche for the same |
viij d |
Itm for a qtr of a cwt of pitch for the same |
8 d |
|
7 |
Itm for a Stone of tallows for the same |
XX d |
Itm for a stone of tallows for the same |
20 d |
|
8 |
Itm to Nicolas Serle for his labor a bowte makynge cleane of the Caftell Xiiij dayes /iiij d/ a day and fynde himselfe |
iiij s viij d |
Itm to
Nicholas Searle for his labour about making clean of the Castle 14 days (4 d) a day and find himself |
4 s 8 d |
|
9 |
Itm for flowre to bake the venyfun of the ij bukks that Maister Eggcomb sende to the towne |
ij s iiij d |
Itm for flour
to bake the venison of the 2 bucks that Mister Edgecumbe send to the town |
2 s 4 d |
|
10 |
Itm for the Cooke is labor to make the pafties |
X d |
Itm for the Cook is labour to make the pasties |
10 d |
|
11 |
Itm for a pownde of pep[per] to the same |
Xiiij d |
Itm for a pound of pepper to the same |
14 d |
|
12 |
Itm for the bakynge ther of |
viij d |
Itm for the baking thereof |
8 d |
|
13 |
Itm for bredde occupyed at yeldehall at etynge of the venyfun |
iX d |
Itm for bread supplied at Guildhall at eating of the venison |
9 d |
|
14 |
Itm for Xij gallons of clarett wyne at / vj d / the gallon and
iij galons and a potell of
redde wyne at / vij d / the gallon |
viij s iiij d |
Itm for 12
gallons of claret wine at (6 d) the gallon and 3 galons (miss-spelt) and a bottle of red wine at (7 d) the gallon supplied in the Guildhall that time Total |
8 s 8 d |
|
15 |
Itm to Nicolas ( of the strete before the to wne shoppe that Wat. Pains holdes |
Xij d [ob] |
Itm to
Nicholas ( of the street before the town shop that Wat. Paines holds |
12 d (??) |
|
16 |
Itm for carage of gra[v]ell to the same |
iiij d |
Itm for carriage of gravel to the same |
4 d |
|
17 |
Itm to Nicolas Chugge for hokes & twyftes weyenge viij [lb] for the towne shoppe that Richard Walshe holdes |
Xij d |
Itm to
Nicholas Chugg for hooks and screws weighing 8 [lb] for the town shop that Richard Walsh holds |
12 d |
|
18 |
Itm to the towne clerke for pchement pap[er] & inke this yere |
?j s 8 d |
Itm to the Town Clerk for parchment paper & ink this year |
?1 s 8 d |
|
19 |
Itm for makynge of the Reweynour is acompte |
iij s iiij d |
Itm for making of the Revenuer's account |
3 s 4 d |
|
20 |
Itm for the Reweynour is [gollus] this yere |
X d |
Itm for the tax man is gloves this yere |
10 d |
|
|
|
|
|
Sum Xlvijj s ij d |
|
|
Total 48 s 2 d |
|
NB - The items are numbered here for easy reference.
Notes: Itm 1: healing = reparation; Itm 3: serve = help; Itm 5: rosen = resin/rosin; Itm 7: tallows = candles/fats; Itm 19: Reweynour = Revenuer, Revenue man, tax man.
The grand total on the account appears to be 48s 2d, or 48/2 as we used to write it pre-decimalisation on 15 Feb. 1971 (we remember!), or, more properly, £2.18s.2d: in today's money - £2.91.
If you see errors or you have transcription suggestions for this document, please email me. Any good corrections will be gratefully acknowledged, if you permit.
To put the Plymouth Pasty, 1510, into some sort of historical context, Plymouth Castle was (and some remains are still) located above the Barbican, some of the construction being done by 1403 AD. It was eventually replaced by the construction of The Citadel in 1665 AD on partly the same site.
My learnéd friend and fellow
Pasty Antiquarian, "Oggy"
Trelissick, has suggested that the Castle was being renovated in
celebration of King Henry VIII's
accession (21 April 1509), marriage to Catherine of Aragon (11 June
1509) and/or Coronation (24 June 1509). This is a distinct possibility. Henry VIII was the
father of Queen Elizabeth I (1553-1603 AD). Another possibility is that in
1512 there was a war against France, across the Channel from Plymouth, and
perhaps the towne was making prudent preparations with regard to the castle.
There is more comment about this pasty item on the following websites:
BBC news - Devon invented the Cornish pasty - 13 November 2006.
BBC news (Chinese) - 馅饼来源的争议 - 对英国饮食习惯感兴趣的读者肯定知道,在英国西南部的康沃尔(Cornwall)出产的一种称为Cornish pasties的馅饼是远近知名的,而且,不少人也冒名不顾千里迢迢,前往该地一尝这种美食的滋味。
BBC news - Cornish pasties actually from Devon? - 13 Nov 2006. Quote: "and the spokesman for the Cornish Pasty Association, seem to think that it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint the first instance of a pasty being made and, since pastry/bread vessels were fairly common "as early as the 1100s," the fact that there is a dated, "official" recipe for the modern pasty proves little about the actual origin."
Legendary Dartmoor - The Devon Pasty War - 2006, with a less than respectful 'take' on the find, if you are Cornish!
Sydney Morning Herald - Pasties at 20 paces: English counties duel
over origin of filled pastry - 14 November 2006
incl. quote: "Kevin Pyne, a poet and ferryman from Dartmouth, said: "I
admire the Cornish for their gallant efforts in defending what is now
factually a hopeless position."
The Guardian - Devon claims 200-year lead on the Cornish pasty 13 November 2006.
The Independent - Who invented the
Cornish pasty? 13 November 2006 .
incl. quote: "and venison from the
Mount Edgecumbe estate in Devon" ....... ahem?
and "In
fact, despite Dr Gray's
confidence, the earliest literary reference to a Cornish pasty dates from
the 12th-century work of a Frenchman, Chretien
de Troyes,
who wrote several Arthurian romances for the Countess of Champagne. One of
them, "Eric and Enide",
mentions pasties: "Next
Guivret opened a chest and
took out two pasties. 'My friend,' says he, 'now try a little of these
cold pasties ...'" Guivret
and Eric are believed to have come from various parts of what today is
considered Cornwall."
NB 1 -
Mount Edgcumbe is in Cornwall!
NB 2 - our emboldening, this latter statement also appears elsewhere on
this web site, see: Chretien
de Troyes 1190 AD
also .....
"By the Middle Ages, pasties were commonplace
in Europe. They were mentioned in the ballads that were the source of the
story of Robin Hood, and a French chronicler, Jean Froissart, wrote, sometime in
the late 14th or early 15th century, of people "with botelles of wyne
trusses at their sadelles, and pastyes of samonde, troutes, and eyls,
wrapped in towels". Today the French call the pasty the tourtiere.
They became a dish of the nobility and filled with salmon, or, as in the
Devon version, venison. Henry VIII's wife Jane Seymour was said to be
partial to pasties, and Shakespeare writes, in The Merry Wives of Windsor
(1600), "Come, we have a hot pasty to dinner."
NB 3 - "the French call the pasty the tourtiere" -
perhaps not,
we have looked at many Google'd images of tourtieres, and find them to be
circular pies (like tarts) with a decorated top crust with a plain base,
however, they are similar to the old circular pasty shown on this web site,
here: Historic Pasties.
Wikipedia - entry for "Pasty".
The Plymouth and West Devon Records Office web page about
Archives in focus reports that the find was featured on BBC TV's
"Spotlight" news programme. We have also seen reference to it being
featured in the "Western Morning News" local newspaper, although we cannot
give web links for these reports due to the passage of time and the
updating policies of newspaper web sites. The
Archives in focus page also reports: "Our pasty has now become a legend, being discussed across
the Internet, appearing in blogs and newsgroups and has even had a poem
written in its honour."
Acknowledgement:
We are grateful to the staff of
Plymouth & West Devon Record Office for their
help.
As you can see, we are proud to present the facts on The Cornish Pasty!