Elinor Fettiplace facts for kids
Elinor Fettiplace (born Elinor Poole, later Elinor Rogers; around 1570 – in or after 1647) was an English writer of cookery books. She was likely born in Pauntley, Gloucestershire, into a wealthy family who owned land and farms. She later married into the well-known Fettiplace family and moved to a large manor house in the Vale of White Horse, which was then part of Berkshire.
Like many ladies of the Elizabethan era, Elinor Fettiplace wrote a special book by hand. This book is now called Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book. It contains recipes for food, ideas for medicines, and tips for managing a home. She wrote the year 1604 in the book, but she might have started it earlier, perhaps when she was still living with her mother. The book stayed in her family for many years until it was given to the husband of the writer Hilary Spurling. Ms. Spurling then researched Elinor's life and the book's contents, publishing it in 1986.
Elinor's first husband died in 1615. She then moved back to Gloucestershire and married a local man named Edward Rogers, who passed away in 1623. Elinor lived until at least 1647.
Elinor Fettiplace's Life Story
Elinor Poole was born around 1570, probably in Pauntley, Gloucestershire. Her parents were Henry Poole (who later became Sir Henry, a justice of the peace and Member of Parliament) and Anne Wroughton. Elinor had two younger sisters, Francis and Dorothy, and three brothers, Giles, Devereux, and Henry. Devereux, who was a bit older than Elinor, died at age 19 while fighting in France with his father.
The Poole family owned a lot of land across several counties, including Wiltshire, the Cotswolds, Berkshire, and near Herefordshire. Even though they had many properties, they had borrowed a lot of money against their land. The family was well-connected with other important families. Elinor's cousins included Sir Carew and Sir Walter Raleigh.
In early 1589, Elinor Poole married Richard Fettiplace from the Fettiplace family in Berkshire. This marriage connected Elinor to a very old family that owned much land in the Vale of White Horse. Elinor brought £400 with her as a dowry, which was a gift from her grandfather.
Elinor and Richard had five children: three daughters and two sons. They lived in the manor house at Appleton, Oxfordshire, which was described as "relatively modest." Sadly, two of their daughters died as babies, and another died at age 16. Their son Henry was born around 1602, but not much is known about him. Their oldest child, John, was born in 1590. In 1606, John married his cousin Margaret, and they also lived at Appleton. They had a son named Edmund the next year.
On a normal day, the manor house would feed about twenty to thirty people, including the family and staff. But during special times like the Twelve Days of Christmas, this number could double or triple, with fifty guests needing two meals a day. Elinor had a book called Countrey Farme, which helped her plan gardens and grow herbs and vegetables. She spent summers and autumns preserving food for winter with the help of the estate's workers. She used her recipes to keep her place in society, sharing ideas about cooking with friends and family.
Elinor's husband died in 1615. It seems she left Appleton Manor, giving advice to her daughter-in-law, Margaret, on how to run the household. After Elinor's father died in 1616, he left her £500 in his will. He was buried in St Kenelm's Church, Sapperton, Gloucestershire. His fancy tomb shows his son kneeling next to him and his three daughters, including Elinor, kneeling in front. This is the only known picture of Elinor.
Elinor returned to her family's area in Sapperton and married Edward Rogers, a man from Gloucester. He died in 1623 and was also buried in Sapperton's church. We don't know exactly when Elinor died, but it was in or after 1647.
Elinor Fettiplace's Personality
According to her biographer, Hilary Spurling, Elinor Fettiplace seemed to be a strong person who knew her own importance. After her first husband died, she continued to use the title "Ladyship," even though she wasn't officially allowed to. She kept using it even after she married a regular person and he had died. His memorial stone in St Kenelm's Church shows his status based on her importance and family history.
Spurling believed Elinor was a very "efficient and practised manager" of her home. When her husband was away, she also managed the family estate. She was interested in new ways of cooking and was careful and thoughtful when preparing the medicines she made.
Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book
In the Elizabethan era, ladies often kept special handwritten books. These books contained "receipts" (which meant recipes back then) for food, ideas for medicines, and tips for running a home. Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book is bound in leather and written on good quality paper. Elinor signed it and dated it 1604. Her book is one of the few such works from that time that still exists today. Food writer C. Anne Wilson thinks Elinor probably collected these recipes over several years. The historian Janet Theophano suggests Elinor might have started writing it with her mother's guidance.
In 1647, Elinor Fettiplace gave her Receipt Book to her niece and goddaughter, Anne Horner. She wrote a message in it saying, "This book I give to my dear niece and goddaughter Mrs Anne Horner desiring her to keep it for my sake: 1647." The book was passed down through generations until it reached the husband of Hilary Spurling. Ms. Spurling researched the book and Elinor's life, then published the work in 1986. The historian A. L. Rowse reviewed it, calling it a "fascinating find" that deserved to be as popular as Victorian Mrs Beeton's famous cookbook.
Hilary Spurling organized Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book into twelve chapters, one for each month. The book includes recipes for food, cures for sicknesses, and advice for managing a household. The Appleton estate was mostly self-sufficient, meaning it produced most of what it needed. The Receipt Book explains how to make many household items, like perfume, ink, toothpaste, rat poison, and weed killer. Elinor also describes how to bleach linen or wash delicate fabrics like gold weave and silks ("To wash gold and coloured silk").
Among her medical remedies, Elinor Fettiplace included treatments shared by friends. Sir Walter Raleigh gave her a recipe for "Syrup of Tobacco" to help with lung problems or a long-lasting cough, and "Tobacco Water." John Hall, a doctor and the son-in-law of William Shakespeare, shared a way to stop nosebleeds. Other medical entries in the book included remedies for a bad back, trouble sleeping, wound dressing, poor eyesight, coughs, stomach aches, and even one for the plague. It's not surprising to find a plague cure, as the disease was common in England in the early 1600s, including around Oxfordshire and Berkshire in 1604, the year Elinor wrote in her book.
After studying the recipes, Hilary Spurling concluded that Elinor's recipes were quite modern for her time. They showed new tastes and styles, moving away from older medieval cooking. They included elements of French and English cooking that are still popular today. Her book even has a recipe for meringues (which she called "White biskit bread"), which appeared before they were seen in French recipe books in 1692.
Most of the food recipes in the book used ingredients from the Appleton estate. However, some recipes included imported luxury items. For example, her recipe for "Spanish Marmalad" listed powdered pearls and gold as ingredients. This shows how some wealthy families enjoyed very fancy foods.
Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book is an important historical work. It helps us understand what daily life was like for some people in Elizabethan England. The book has been used as a source in many published works about history. Few other items from the Poole family's manor at Sapperton have survived besides Elinor's special book.
