Medieval masculinities and diet
Lecture at the Lecture hall, National Museum of Iceland, Suðurgata 41, Reykjavik. September 28th 2017 at 12 pm.
In medieval northern Europe, food and diet could be used to signal different identities, including different masculinities. Furthermore, the consumption of food was not only forming masculine identities and attitudes towards the body, but also actual male bodies. Here, I will contrast the masculinities of medieval elite lay men and clerics, and their different diets. While meat was considered excellent food, giving strength and virility, its association with heat and carnality also made it pose a threat to the abstinence and chastity of the religious. Using examples from medieval Iceland and Sweden, I will discuss how the skeletal remains of male bodies can give information on medieval masculinities and diet.
Elin Ahlin Sundman is a PhD student in archaeology at the University of Iceland. She has an MA in archaeology and osteology from Stockholm University, Sweden. Her current research focuses on medieval gender relations.