A short description of Das Buch von guter spise

copyright 1993 Alia Atlas


This is a literal translation of Daz buoch von guoter spise. The original manuscript was part of a household manual which Michael de Leone, the proto-notary of the Archbishop of Würzburg, had organized. The original is in the university library of Munich. This manuscript is dated as between 1345 and 1354, and contains 101 recipes.

For the majority of these recipes, I worked from source B. Where the original recipe is given, it is from this transcription, or from my reading of the photo-facsimile in source A. All German words are in italics. The meanings of those included in the translation are given, either in footnotes, or in the translation notes. All parenthetical comments are my own addition. They are added to clarify the text, either by making the grammar and meaning of the sentence more comprehensible or by suggesting what I believe is meant by the preceeding sentences.

If you would like more information, please contact me.


Introduction to Guter Spise
Alia Atlas/ akatlas@mit.edu