Medieval Cookbook Find

Philippa of Hainault (Wikimedia Commons)

Tonight, my husband drew my attention to a post by Peter da Silva on Google Plus, which referenced this article about a 14th century cookbook manuscript, recently relocated in the British Museum.  Apparently the manuscript had gone missing for years.  The manuscript was compiled by Geoffrey Fule, who worked in the kitchens of Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England from 1328 to 1369.  The article reproduces images from the cookbook, including one of a unicorn's head on a platter--apparently roast unicorn was one of the recipes.

The article pokes at bit of fun at the text, citing the roast unicorn recipe, among other things.  However, the newly-found book will be useful, even if it is not a source of practical recipes for the average person, or even for medieval reenactors.  By comparing its recipes to other European cookbooks of the same period, scholars can get a better idea of the parameters of period food.  For that reason, I am pleased at the book's rediscovery, though I'm rather appalled at the record-keeping practices that allowed the book to go missing for years.

EDIT:  I seem to have been taken in by a hoax!  See the first comment on this entry.  It appears that I should have looked at the dateline of the article before I posted this.  I apologize if I've misled anyone; it was inadvertent.