Setting the stage : a banquet for a Knight

Abstract

In May 1701, the treasurer of the Gozo Università (Gozo Municipal Government) drafted a bill of costs incurred following an oicial visit by the Seneschal of the Portuguese Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Roccaful (1697-1720). The treasurer’s account is catalogued in the Acta et Negotia section within the Università Gaudisii collection found in the Gozo National Archives. Spread over both sides of a folio, the list of forty-two items recorded by treasurer Michele Agius allows the historian to open a window into aspects of food and foodways. Hosting a high-ranking official within the Office of the Grand Master required attention to detail. As a Knight Grand Cross, the Seneschal remained in office for life, and his appointment happened either through the Order’s Council or directly by the Pope. He enjoyed precedence over all the members involved in the upkeep of the Grand Master’s household. The importance of this office gave the Seneschal the right to dine with the Grand Master and to sit next to the Bishop when attending service in the Conventual Church. Apart from administering the Grand Master’s Palace, he also held the rank of Brigadier-General of the Forces of the Order of St John. The Gozo Università gave this visit its due importance, and treated the Seneschal on a par with other dignitaries visiting Malta’s sister island. Michele Agius’s account illustrates how the Gozo Municipal Government made available the necessary provisions for the Seneschal and any other guests as required. In fact, the total sum of 109 scudi was paid for the several items of food acquired and a variety of services associated with the same visit. Food consumption generates an intimate experience between the host and the guest. Decisions about the kind of meals, the choice of ingredients and the mode of preparation do not happen haphazardly. Hosts are expected to think about the ‘production of consumption’ when aspiring to communicate the right message to the right guest. As the curtains draw open on the stage, the banquet becomes open to judgement, as is the host’s ‘taste’, social connections and the ability to manage and organise such dinners. The ‘backstage crew’ of the Gozo Università laid the plans and carried out a series of preparations, the prelude for the ‘performance’ of food-related meanings to unfold. In this case, an attempt will be made to explore what it entailed to ‘set the stage’ when entrusting the Gozo Municipal Government to host the Knight Grand Cross