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Timothy Ladd wrote: 'what makes black bread black?' Well, basically, the use of rye flour instead of wheat. Think German pumpernickel! Rye grows better than wheat in a wet cold climate, so would have been cheaper to produce. However, it is poor in gluten, so unless you mix it with wheat you are going to end up with quite a heavy loaf. This would have been poor man's fare, though I believe trenchers (the flat breads used as plates) were also often brown. Using wholemeal would also have produced a browner bread; the most expensive bread being sifted wheat bread. Poor people would also have used flours such as oat, millet, barley, peas and beans. Another standard fare would have been salted herring, of course; if you have a Scandinavian food store near by, you may still be able to try this delight. If you want to get into the spirit of medieval things for your book, Timothy, cookery might be a good place to start (also a useful thing to do with the kids on a rainy day, speaking as one house-parent to another!). There are several books on the market, a quick trawl through Amazon should come up with a few titles. As I remember it, Odile Redon's The Medieval Kitchen concentrates on Italian and French recipes, but contains a lot of useful general information; she does seem to know quite a bit about it. Maggie Black's Medieval Food (?) I haven't tried, but it looks quite good. One I have tried is Lorna Sass, To the King's Taste, which has less information, but the recipes work well; it may not still be in print, though. Afraid I can't answer your question as to the relative frequency of praying and drunkenness. It would have depended on what circles you moved in. Even today, I know some people who certainly spend more time praying than getting drunk- and some who tend to the other side... I suppose, in a period where both alcohol and prayers were circulating more freely, the one need not have excluded the other... Best of luck with your book. Lena Wahlgren-Smith