Next to each bowl was placed a thick slice of day-old bread serving as a plate for any roast meats or soups.
Meals were announced by a horn blown to signal time for washing hands. Servants with ewers, basins, and towels attended the guests.

At the table, seating followed status: The most important guests were at the high table, with the loftiest place reserved for an ecclesiastical dignitary, the second for the ranking layman.

After grace, the procession of servants bearing food began.
First would come the pantler, a senior butler in charge of the pantry, with the bread and butter. Soon after the butler and his assistants would bring with them the wine and beer.

Wine, in thirteenth century England mostly imported from English-ruled Bourdeaux in France, was drunk young in the absence of an effective technique for stoppering containers.
Wine kept for more than a year became undrinkable, even to the poorest of society.

No attention was paid to vintage, and often what was served even at rich tables was of poor quality unless it was brewed nearby while still in England itself.

Castles traditionally bought wine by the barrel and decanted it into jugs. Some was spiced and sweetened by the butlers to go with the final course. Ale, made from barley, wheat, or oats, or all three, was drunk mainly by the servants. A castle household brewed its own, hiring an ale-wife for the task and using grain from its own stores.

The brewing of Wine and Beer was actually a common practice; Costing around 1 pence for 3 large gallons it provided many people clean drink and the possibly to earn a little money by temporarily turning their own homes into a Tavern for the night.

Unlike Bread which was most commonly kept for the local Lord of the town, or where people were taxed to bake it, Beer had no such tax, and the recipe could be made easily in the home, as could the ingredients needed; Oats and Wheat could easily be grown even in a small garden plot.

Innocent played a significant role in the Second Ecumenical Council at Lyons and wrote works on philosophy, theology and canon law.

Filling
● 1 cup figs
● 1 cup dates
● 1/3 cup pine nuts
● 1/4 cup currants
● 1/2 tsp. cloves
● 1/2 tsp. mace
● 1/2 tsp. sandalwood
● 1/4 tsp. pepper
● 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
● 1/4 tsp. salt
● pinch saffron

Dough
● 1 1/4 cup flour
● 1/3 cup water (approx.)
● 3 Tbsp Sugar
● 1/2 tsp. salt
● pinch saffron, ground

Preparation & Cooking:

Filling
Grind figs and dates together in a small mixing bowl, then add in pine nuts, currants and spices. Set aside for the time being.

Dough
In a second bowl mix together the flour, sugar, salt and saffron.
Add a little water at a time slowly stirring until it forms a soft dough mixture.

Roll out the dough onto a floured surface and cut into small pieces, about an inch in diameter and flatten again; repeating as necessary to use up the majority of the dough mixture.

Pick up the Filling mixture you completed earlier and place about a small teaspoon of the mixture in the middle of each surface of dough shape folding over onto each other as you go along, pressing the edges to seal together.

Cooking
With your dough mixture complete and packed with the fruit filling it's now time to cook the pies;

● Method 1: Deep fry in hot oil heated to around 170*C until golden brown.

● Method 2: Place a small amount of oil onto a frying pan and allow to heat then one by one place the pies into the pan and cook on both sides until golden brown.

Traditionally in the middle ages these would be cooked simply by dipping into a large bowl filled with water and strained oil which was brought to a boil by a flame underneigh; although they probably turned rather soggy too...

Recipe & Image Source: MedievalCookery