The Hlafclaenness Dom
(The Anglo-Saxon Bread Purity Law of 1047)

Much has been written on the Reinheitsgebot, or the Beer Purity Law ("the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be Barley, Hops and Water."), proclaimed by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria in 1516. It is commonly thought of as one of the oldest consumer protection laws, a predecessor to today's "truth in labeling" requirements.

However, similar laws were enacted elsewhere much earlier. Limitations on bread prices, quality, weight, and freshness have been documented to very early on: the Roman emperor Aurelian set minimum weights and maximum prices around 275 AD and the emperor Constantine enacted similar laws in 330. More specifically, the idea of regulating allowable ingredients in bread was conceived in England half a millennium before the German law! This was embodied in the Hlafclaenness Dom, or Bread Purity Law (alternately, Decree). It was proclaimed in 1047 by Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066). A description written in the period reads: (English has been modernized)

"King Edward kept Christmas with all due solemnity at York and immediately afterwards set out by the direct road for London. In this journey he found a deficiency in the measures of bread, for it seemed to him the baking trade was more indifferently observed than it should be, what he had formerly commanded. He broke some loaves and tasted others, and, finding the character lacking, he ordered the bread to be made of fairer ingredients. Henceforth in the realm bread should be made from only these four things: fine flour, water, barm [yeast], and salt. And those who broke this law should be heavily fined; for the first offence, with xxx [thirty] shillings; and for the second offense, the like; and for the third, with cxx [120] shillings to the king."
Another, more ethereal reason for assuring bread's purity was its use in the trial by ordeal: a man's innocence or guilt was proven by eating food. If the person died, he was guilty by a "heavenly judgment". One story goes that King Edward believed that Earl Godwin had murdered his brother Alfred, while a court of law had found him innocent. Godwin submitted himself to a trial by ordeal with bread, and died, thus "proving" his guilt. If impure ingredients were put into bread used in trial by ordeal, it would be sacrilege - attempting to interfere with what should be God's rightful judgment.

The Hlafclaenness Dom continued to be enforced after the Norman Conquest. It remained in effect, with some modifications (principally to fine amounts), until it was superseded by the Assize of Bread in 1266. This is a principal reason why few bread recipes from the period survive: in order to be called "bread", it could only contain the four listed ingredients. There was little point in writing down a recipe when everyone knew its components.

Bibliography

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