Mollie had picked up a book of spices again (she seems like to collecting scientific books on spices). I was reading through it and saw they had a recipe for Wygges, which are cited as a 15th century Lenten recipe. I felt this was not accurate, since Wygges are enriched dough – the recipe in the book added eggs, sugar and butter – and that’s a no-no for Lent.
So I decided to search up the term Wygge in google books and see what turned up.
One hit was a 19th century reprint of various pieces of trivia from the records of Oxford University. Since Oxford was founded 30 years after Hastings, there’s a lot of history to select from. The quote:
Memorandum, quod eodem die mensis Octobris, anno Domini millesimo quadringentesimo sexagesimo quarto, Nos, Rogerus Bulkeley, sacrae theologiae professor, reverendi in Christo patris et dimini domini Georgii Exoniae episcopi, hujus almae Universitatis Cancellarii, Commissarius generalis, licentiavimus quendam Johannim Wysdom, de parochia Omnium Sanctorum Oxoniae, ad pinsendum sive pistandum in furno suo quoties opus fuerit, in vigiliis Sanctorum et Sanctarum jejunabilibus, ac etiam in quadragesima, panes vulgariter nincupatos, “Wygges” et “Symnelles,” sic quod non fiat in praejudicium artis communis, sed ad proficuum Universitatis et villae praedictae Oxoniae
Roger Bulkeley
Had to feed it a phrase at a time into google translate, but I came out with:
It must be remembered that on the same day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred and sixty-four, We, Roger Bulkeley, professor of sacred theology, the reverend father in Christ and Lord George Bishop of Exeter, this nurturing Chancellor, Commissary General, we have licensed a man named John Wysdom, from the parish of All Saints in Oxford, to knead or bake in the oven as often as needed during the fasting vigils of Saints and Saints, and even during Lent, the common loaves named “Wygges” and “Symnelles” so that it is not done to the prejudice of the general art, but to the profits of the University and the said town of Oxford
Also Roger Bulkeley
(anyway, Symnelles are also known as Simnel cake which is a end of Lenten dish) Interestingly, John Wysdom gets explicit permission to bake Wygges during Lent.
xxij Februarij, 1537. It is agreed by the hole Court that it shalbe liefull to every of the Company this Lent following to bake soden ware, as symnelles and cracknelles, and also to bake wygges.
Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society
Seems that around the 15th or 16th century Wygges are OK (liefull or lawful) to serve during Lent. Some people still don’t agree with it, and feel it’s not in the spirit of Lent…
Some wax dronke in Lent of wygges and cracknels; and yet ye wolde not, I trust, that Lent were fordone.
Southey’s Common-place Book (1849)
(for the record, “wax” can mean increase in size (in case you wondered where a waxing moon comes from) and “dronke” can mean drunk or filled with love/joy/happiness, “fordone” is also spelled “fordon”, meaning destroyed)
If you look at the context, it’s saying “sure, people eat Wygges during Lent, but that doesn’t mean Lent is destroyed, does it?”
Bonus: Cracknel recipe from Hannah Glasse:
Take half a pound of the whitest flour, and a pound of sugar beaten small, two ounces of butter cold, one spoonful of caraway-seeds, steeped all night in vinegar; then put in three yolks of eggs, and a little rose-water, work your paste all together, and after that beat it with a rolling-pin, till it be light; then roll it out thin, and cut it with a glass, lay it thin on plates buttered, and prick them with a pin; then take the yolks of two eggs, beaten with rose water, and rub them over with it; then set them into a pretty quick oven, and when they are brown take them out and lay them in a dry place.
Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy
Chris' Feed 