Napkin History Begins with Children

“… the table napkin, was first used only by children and was adopted by elder members of the family about the middle of the fifteenth century.” – Napkins at first were for children, but it would be centuries before bib clips were created for attaching the squares of cloth around the necks of toddlers.

The Table Napkin

Curiously enough, that article now considered almost indispensable, the table napkin, was first used only by children and was adopted by elder members of the family about the middle of the fifteenth century. In etiquette books of an earlier date than this, among other sage pieces of advice for children, are instructions about wiping their fingers and lips with their napkins. It seems that the tablecloth was long enough to reach the floor and served the grown people in place of napkins. When they did begin to use napkins, they placed them first on the shoulder, then on the left arm and finally tied them about the neck.– Tit Bits, 1902

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Napkin and Etiquette History

In etiquette books of an earlier date than this, among other sage pieces of advice for children, are instructions about wiping their fingers and lips with their napkins.

The Table Napkin

Curiously enough, that article now considered almost indispensable, the table napkin, was first used only by children and was adopted by elder members of the family about the middle of the fifteenth century. In etiquette books of an earlier date than this, among other sage pieces of advice for children, are instructions about wiping their fingers and lips with their napkins.

It seems that the tablecloth was long enough to reach the floor and served the grown people in place of napkins. When they did begin to use napkins, they placed them first on the shoulder, then on the left arm and finally tied them about the neck. – Chico Record, 1902

 

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia  

Table Manners of Olden Eras

A 1920’s depiction of a 15th C. spatulate Pea Knife,  alongside an ancient fork and later style knife with a rounded blade. – The knife and fork combination utensil on left, and the spatulate knife, at right, some say are lacking the beauty of the modern knife of sterling with which they are compared.

Table Manners of Yesterday Bring Chuckles to Club Women

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Mrs. Norman Hutt Imparts Ancient “Tips on Etiquette” for Comparison

Fifteenth century guests at the dinner table of a “person of quality” kept themselves uncovered until the “person of quality” put on his hat, according to one of the ancient rules of etiquette translated from Old English by Mrs. Norman Hutt yesterday for the Sherman Oaks Woman's Club.

Mrs. Hutt, in turning back the pages of history to early eras related many interesting and amusing facts on table manners and menus for her listeners. 

She described the cave man’s table, the old Roman table and the 15th century table, observing the changes of modes and some of the fundamentals which are incorporated in present-day ways of living.

An old French book on etiquette to which Mrs. Hutt referred, admonished dinner guests “not to dip fingers in sauce or lick when having don, nor to gnaw bones and sprawl upon the floor.” 

Another suggestion was to “place hat or napkin in front of face” if a guest was forced to cough while at the table. And always to “put the knife out of harm's way” when finished using it.

A quaint verse which the audience enjoyed for its unique usage and spelling was this one:

“Pyke not thy teeth at the tabylle syttynge 

Nor useth thy mete over much spytynge,

Ley not thy elbows nor thy fyst 

Upon the tabylle whist thou etist: 

*Bulk not as a bean were yn thy throte.”

 

*Bulk is the old word for hiccup and the late word, burp.

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor or the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

 

Dining Etiquette from the 15th C. On

Jacopo del Sellaio, an Italian painter of the fifteenth century, depicts King Ahasuerus at a table set up on a dais with a heavy sideboard in the background. The diners, wearing elaborate hats, sit in the courtyard and are approached by groups who wish to speak with the King.

In Europe, in the late fifteenth century, there was a definite rule that it was wrong to grab food with two hands and that meat should be taken with three fingers and not too much put in the mouth at the same time. There was, however, a common joke in the early sixteenth century that three fingers in the salt could be taken as the sign of a villain- for salt, owing to its preciousness, was to be taken from the cellar with a knife. It was also not considered good manners to lick greasy fingers or rub them on a jacket instead of using a piece of bread or a napkin.

Americans born in the elite circle in the seventeenth century had the charming custom of wearing elaborate and highly fashionable hats to dinner, a custom dating from fourteenth-century Europe and shown in the photo above. Hats were removed only when a toast was given; to be uncovered at meals was, until the eighteenth century, not etiquette.

In the mid-eighteenth century, however, the eating habits of the lower classes in many countries, including America, were still on a rather primitive level. Farmers and their families stood around the table while they served themselves with a wooden spoon from a large wooden bowl. They took their meat in their fingers and put it on a piece of bread that was used as a trencher, then ate it sitting or standing anywhere in the room. Fingers and knives were the tools, and forks were by no means commonplace. According to Helen Sprackling's book Customs on the Table Top, an Englishwoman traveling in America in 1827 wrote to her sister that “Americans, male and female, were invariable and indefatigable eaters with their knives.”

Still, some distinctions were made by those who cared to do things properly, as noted in The School of Good Manners, by Eleazar Moody: “Bite not thy bread, but break it; but not with slovenly fingers nor the same wherewith thou takest up thy meat. Dip not thy knife upright in thy hand, but sloping and lay it down at thy right hand, with the blade upon the plate.”— Patricia Easterbrook Roberts

🍽️ Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette and Making Ends Meet

Before the coming of the napkin, which appeared about the middle of the 15th century, the table cloth took its place, and was drawn over the knees of the guests as they took their seats.

It is said that the proverb about the trouble of making ends meet originated when it was still the fashion to put the table napkin around the neck and tie it behind. At that time, ruffs were so high and voluminous, that it was next to impossible to follow this point of etiquette. Before the coming of the napkin, which appeared about the middle of the fifteenth century, the table cloth took its place, and was drawn over the knees of the guests as they took their seats. – The Morning Press, 1892

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette's Knife for Peas

The knife and fork combination utensil on left, and the spatulate knife, at right,  some say are lacking the beauty of the modern knife of sterling with which they are compared.

Eating Peas with a Knife 
There Was a Day, Long Before Sterling Silver and Etiquette Books, When the Practice Was Condoned

LONG before the days of books on etiquette and elaborate sterling silver services—in the 15th century to be exact—there was a curiously constructed knife which was recommended "for the eatinge of pease and jelleys.” It had a broad or spatulate end opposite the cutting edge and was considered excellent form in the days when the first requirement of politeness was to “smack thy lips resoundingly if thou would show due appreciation to thy host.”

The evolution of knives, their origin as implements of the hunt to the graceful sterling dining utensils of today, shows several interesting variations. Thus, a point was reached in the development when a set of three knives set in a scabbard was a smart thing for the young man about Venice. These knives, of steel and sterling silver performed successively the three functions of slaughtering, cutting up and conveying the meat to the mouth.

As city life developed and the diner became more remote from his food in its natural condition, the scabbard came to contain only one knife, or a knife and spoon. A 17th century novelty was the combination knife and fork which, though doubtless of enormity, must have required marvelous skill in manipulating. —Madera Tribune, 1928

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor or the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia