Bakers are generally a distinct group from cooks; baking bread (and pies) required different skills and tools than cooking in general.
(Some related topics have been moved to their own linkspages on this website: bakers’ molds, wafers & wafer irons, and pretzels & pretzel-sellers.)
See Medieval Bread FAQ and these links for information on bread and bakers in the Middle Ages. See A Feast for the Eyes: Kitchens, Cooking, & Equipment and Bäcker-Zeichen for additional related illustrations.
- Men kneading bread dough and bakers preparing loaves of bread for baking, The Apostles Window at Chartes Cathedral, c. 1210-1225
- December, calendar (BNF Fr. 786, fol. 3v), fourth quarter of the 13th century
- December: a baker works at a brick oven, psalter (Douce 49, fol. 9v), end of the 13th century
- December in a psalter (KB 128 G 29, fol. 5v), c. 1300
- Baking matzah, The Hispano-Moresque Haggadah (British Library Oriental 2737, fol. 87v), c. 1300
- December: a baker stands at a brick oven, psalter (Douce 38, fol. 6v), c. 1300
- A man and a woman bake bread, Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17, fol. 211r), 1st quarter of the 14th century
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A bad baker is being dragged on a horse-drawn hurdle with his deficient loaf of bread around his neck (fol. 94r),
a baker puts a loaf in his oven (fol. 145),
a man puts loaves into a basket while a baker takes them out of the oven (fol. 145v), The Smithfield Decretals (British Library Royal 10 E IV), c. 1340
- An iron shovel probably used for bread making in medieval York
- December in a missal (MMW 10 A 14, fol. 6v), 1366
- Baking bread, Tacuinum sanitatis (ÖNB Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644), c. 1370-1400
- Baking unleavened bread (fol. 55), baking millet bread (fol. 56), Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF NAL 1673), c. 1390-1400
- Baking white bread (fol. 61) and selling millet bread (fol. 62v), Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF Latin 9333), early 15th century
- December in the prayerbook of Maria of Geldern (SBB germ. qu. 42, fol. 14), c. 1415-1425
- Bakers in the Mendel Hausbuch:
Zenner (c. 1425),
Quetrer Peck (c. 1425),
Jokob Deygel (1455),
Heincz Dittenhoffer (1460),
Vlrich Galster (1465),
Heincz Peuchlein (1466),
Hanns von Poczen (1480),
Kloß Peck (1486),
Vllein von Stein (1487),
Herman Straubinger (1505),
Lienhart filß hoffer (1509),
Wolff Peck (1514),
Hans Korn (1541),
Hans Peck (1545),
Jorg Urlaub (1568),
Lienhartt Rueger (1575),
Ott Castner (1585),
Caspar Sauer (1590),
Jacob Kramer (1614)
- Cisti in front of his oven, The Decameron (BNF Italien 63, fol. 196v), 1427
- The bakery of Cisti, The Decameron (BNF Arsenal 5070, fol. 223v), 1432
- Bakers, The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (PML M.917, fol. 226), c. 1440; see also the pretzels and wafers at fol. 228
- October in a book of hours (PML M.358, fol. 10r), c. 1440-1450
- The seals of a shoemaker, a butcher, and a baker (note pretzels), 1442
- The Baker from a deck of cards for Hofämterspiel, c. 1450
- November in a prayerbook (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Cod. Lat. 10103), c. 1453-1456
Un to the full Worshipfull and Governor the Maior of the Cite of London and all your Worshipfull Bretherne Aldermen of the same Cite
Plese hit to youre wyse discrecions to have knowlech of the old reule usid by tuene the Whit Bakers and the broune Bakers of the seid Cite be which rewle and use the Whit bakers may knowe her part of their occupacion by hem selfe and the broune bakers by hem selfe That is to say the White by shall bake all maner of brede that thei can make of whete that is to wete white loofe brede wastell bunnys and all maner of whyte brede that hath be used of old tyme Also the seid Whit bakers mow bake whete brede that was called sum tyme cribill brede, and also basket brede such as is sold in chepe for pore men Bote the seid White bakers shall bake no hors brede of no assise nother of her owne nother of none other mennys for to sell
The rewle of the broune bakers is this and theire occupacioun that is for to sey the seid broune bakers shall bake whete brede as it comyth grounde fro the mylle w toute ony bultyng of the same Also the seid broune bakers shall bake hors brede of clene benys and pesyn And also brede that is called housholdersbrede and they shall take j d. for every busshell bakyng But the said broune bakers shall bake no whit brede of ony assise nother of there owne nor of other mennys for to sell Besechyng your gracious lordship that this maner of gouvernauns and reule may be kept as well in whit bakers as in broune bakers as hit hath be of old tyme.
Also hit is fully acordid that what persone that brekith ony of thes artiklis aforeseid shall pay vj s. viij d. half to the use of the chaumbir of London and halfe to the use of Mister' of broun Bakers. Guildhall LetBk K, fol. 196, 1441
- A baker slips bread into an oven, a book of hours (MMW 10 F 50, fol. 89r), c. 1460
- A baking-oven, Konzil von Konstanz (Rosgartenmuseum, fol. 23r), 1465; notice that the oven itself is portable, and the pole where pretzels are cooling.
- A pie-baker, Konzil von Konstanz (ÖNB 3044, fol. 48v), c. 1465-1475; Here again, the illustrator has included a pole where pretzels are cooling, and a portable oven.
- December from a book of hours (KB 76 G 14, fol. 12r), c. 1470-1475
- December form a book of hours (KB 76 G 19, fol. 12r), c. 1475-1500
- December, the Hours of Charles d’Angouléme (BNF Latin 1173, fol. 6v), c. 1475-1500
- The children of the planets: the children of the Moon, Wilhelm von Rang manuscript (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Cod. lat. 4394), 1477
- December from a book of hours (KB 76 F 14, fol. 14r), c. 1490-1500
- A baker makes pies, fresco at Issogne, late 15th-early 16th century
- Baker at an oven, book of hours (Rawl. liturg. e. 36, fol. 6v), first quarter of the 16th century
- Scenes from the life of St. Wenzel: St. Wenzel bakes the Host, c. 1509
- Bakers in the Landauer Hausbuch:
Gorg Menger (1514),
Hanns Buel (1520),
Hainrich Stoltz (1528),
Endres Meichsner (1594),
Peter Kertzinger (1599),
Gerg Flieger (1610)
- December, The Golf Book (British Library MS Add. 24098, fol. 29v), c. 1520-1530
- The birth of Jan de Weisses from the Life of Jan de Weisses, c. 1551-1600
- The baker, Das Ständebuch, 1568
- A covered silver cup with a baker holding a pretzel, made by Christoph Epfenhauser III c. 1590-1595
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