#  Table Manners 

 



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> She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle,  
> Ne wette hir fyngres in hir sauce depe;  
> Wel koude she carie a morsel and wel kepe  
> That no drope ne fille upon hire brest.  
> In curteisie was set ful muchel hir lest.  
> (General Prologue, I.128-32)

Books of manners -- courtesy books -- were a popular genre in the later Middle Ages, as manners and language became increasingly important in defining the "gentle" classes. The *Roman de la rose* devotes a great deal of attention to the mattes, notably to the table manners proper to a would-be lady, portions of which are echoed in the portrait of the Prioress in the General Prologue:

[The Duenna's advice on table manners](/duennas-advice-table-manners)

The genre of the courtesy book may have had its origin in the monasteries, where young boys were trained to take their part in the community. One such, the Latin *Vrbanitatis,* intended originally for young monastics, was translated into English in the fifteenth century:

[Vrbanitatis](/vrbanitatis-handbook-manners-ms-c-1460)

A similar work is "The Little Childrenes Little Boke," which is especially interesting because of its association of good manners with religion (as in the Middle English poem *Pearl*), and its frequent reminders that manners define social class (at least as it is perceived by others):

[The Little Childrenes Little Boke](/little-childrens-little-book-courtesy-book-c-1480)

The two English texts listed above are from *The Babees Book*, ed. F. J. Furnivall, EETS 32, 1868 \[Wid 11472.32.1\], a fascinating collection of such materials.

For an interesting study of the importance of courtesy books to an understanding of the literature of the time, see:

Jonathan Nicholls, *The Matter of Courtesy: Medieval Courtesy Books and the Gawin-Poet*, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1985 \[PR 1972.G353 N5 1985\].