Henri IV at the table

At the court of the 11th-century Salian emperors, meals were not served as starter-main-dessert but as a succession of dishes brought by carvers according to the guests' rank and the Church calendar. On meat days, roasted game basted with Eastern spices asserted imperial power; the many fast and abstinence days imposed fish and porridges. Above all reigned Rhine wine, spiced and honeyed for great occasions. White wheat bread marked rank; dark bread and water marked penance.

Pepper, cinnamon, ginger: brought from afar at great cost, they were not mere flavor but a sign of power. At Henry IV's table, to spice generously was to show that one commanded the world — and could afford what few princes dared.