[MR] New Book on Mills & Milling

[Garth Groff]

Noble friends,

New at the UVA Fine Arts Library: BREAD FOR THE PEOPLE, THE ARCHAEOLOGY 
OF MILLS AND MILLING . . . (BAR International Series 2274) edited by 
David Williams and David Peacock (ISBN 9781407308487; our call number 
TS2130 .B74 2011). This book is collection of articles on the history of 
mills and milling in Europe from pre-Roman times to the near-present. Of 
particular interest to us are three articles on the medieval period in 
English: "Querns as markers for the determination of medieval northern 
European trade spheres" by M. Pohl, "Of cakes and kings: bread-making in 
early medieval England" by C. Coulter, and "Rotary hand-querns in 
volcanic stone in the medieval Mediterranean" by P. Arthur. There is an 
additional article on medieval ore grinding in English, and one article 
each in Italian and French. Other articles are more general, but have 
historical interest, including those on quarrying and production of mill 
stones. I found Coulter's article, which is mainly about the Saxon 
period, to be very interesting. I was intrigued to learn that the term 
"lord" comes from old Saxon for "loaf guardian"--hlafweard, and "lady" 
is derived from "loaf kneader"--hlaefdige. The book is well illustrated 
with period illuminations of mills and milling machinery, many 
contemporary photographs, plus charts and maps. Each article has its own 
bibliography. This is a scholarly work, but the articles are well 
written and easily comprehensible to a lay person. If you are a lover of 
historical cookery, this book will be useful background reading. If you 
just love old mills (as I do!), it is a fascinating look at some great 
early-period subjects not often explored in print.

Now if only someone would write something about the history of milling 
in Scotland, I would be in hog heaven.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot