Surprised Eel Historian, PhDさんのイラストまとめ

@TrudnowskiDiana

A quick note here...the roll actually counts a combined total of 14,600 *binds*, which is 365 million eels.

This seems improbably for a bunch of reasons, & it's likely that someone has mistaken binds for sticks.

Scribes, man. Always putting you in a bind.
/fin

In about 1200, people in England paid 540,000+ eels in rent every year. That's a lot, right?

Yes. But.

Those were *just* the eels for rent. People were catching & eating LOTS more. In 1290, fishermen in the village of Ramsey caught 365,000 eels, above & beyond rent eels. 1/4

Eel pie was so common that not knowing how to cook one was recognized sign of stupidity. In King Lear, there's a cook who was so far gone that she tried to eels in the pie w/o killing them first.

It doesn't mean much to us, but Shakespeare's audience knew better.

Hilarious! 2/8

You know who had a great name? Turkillus de Culeham

And Big T. had an awesome an eel-debt to go along with that name. He owed 500 eels/yr in c.1180 to the kitchen at Abingdon Abbey.

'Cause even if you've got a kick-ass name, you still gotta pony up the eels.

Tomorrow is the start of Lent, when a lot of medieval eel-rents were due. And if you were a peasant in 11th C. Harmston, you've been catching, curing, and smoking eels since early autumn.

'Cause now, you & you neighbors owe Earl Hugh of Chester a rent payment of 75,000 eels.

The Romans ate a savory eel flan, & the dish lasted through the medieval period as a kinda popular Lenten dessert. It was more popular on the Continent than in England, though. 11/13

I get asked sometimes about how medieval people prepared and cooked eels. So...let's talk about.

That's right, folks...buckle up. It's a historic eel cooking thread! #CookingWithEels 1/13

Are you sitting around, waiting for your eel delivery? What if they never come?

It's happened before! In 1333, Lackenheath merchant Thomas Doune agreed to deliver 8,000 eels to a business partner.

When he didn't show w/ the fish, his partner had to sue him to get a £7 refund.

Alright...now he's done! Sometime soon I'll get this guy up on the Surprise of Eels! store, so you can get him on t-shirts, coasters, and more.

Without a staff, you're just an aardvark in a bathrobe. But with a staff...