During A Siege In 1590, Parisians Were So Desperate For Food That They Resorted To Baking Bread Made From Human Bones
France is known as the land of bread– and during the fifteen and sixteenth centuries, this could not have been more true.
Back then, the average French person consumed anywhere between one and a half to two and a half pounds of bread every single day. Those in the upper echelons also enjoyed dining on meat and washing it down with two liters of wine every evening.
For the poorer residents, though, bread made up the bulk of their diet. And even though the gluten was enough to keep the French kicking during standard periods in history, times of wheat scarcity threatened widespread starvation.
Although, this reality was never more serious in Paris than during a siege.
The capital and highly populated city had suffered multiple sieges throughout history– beginning when the Vikings besieged in 1845 to 1870 at the hands of the Prussians.
And amidst those times of scarcity, Parisians were forced to eat anything they could get their hands on. They ended up cooking everything from street rats and military horses to even zoo animals to curb their hunger.
Still, nothing compared to what occurred in 1589– when the Parisians were so desperate for food that they actually ate bread made from human bones.
That year, following King Henri III’s death, his cousin– Henri III of Navarre– was next in line to take over the French throne. Despite being baptized as a Catholic, though, the King of Navarre had been raised in Protestantism.
This made things very complicated since France had been in the middle of the Wars of Religion– a prolonged time of conflict between the Catholics and Protestants that lasted thirty-six years and claimed about three million lives.
petrrgoskov – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual bread
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So, it makes sense why Henri’s succession as King was not very welcomed. In fact, it took a civil war, which lasted four years against the Catholic League, before Henri actually claimed the throne.
And following his victory, he ultimately thrust Parisians into a food disaster of unmatched proportions.
First, he took over the control of numerous neighboring towns, such as Provins and Nogent-sur-Seine. This immediately endangered the Parisian food supply.
Then, Henri actually ordered all windmills to be burned– which made it virtually impossible for any Parisians to produce bread.
So sadly, by May of that year, the city’s residents were literally starving. They first turned to mules and horses as meals before resorting to dining on pet cats and dogs.
And afterward, once the supply of these animals diminished, Parisians actually began grazing on the grass at local parks.
Of course, though, grass would not be able to sustain the people of Paris through the siege. This meant they had just one last option– a loaf known as “Madame de Montpensier’s bread.”
According to a diary entry penned by Pierre L’Estoile on August 25, 1590, this bread was made from “the bones of our forefathers.” And it was named after Madame de Montpensier because she was a powerful force within the Catholic League who “exalted its invention.”
How exactly does one bake bread from the bones of loved ones past, you might ask? Well, the Parisians began by digging up mass graves at the Holy Innocents Cemetery.
And after collecting the skeletal pieces, they ground the bones into fine flour before using them for baking bread.
Of course, flour made from bone was nowhere near an adequate replacement for wheat. Primarily, it lacked gluten– a vital part of what holds bread together– and was also not exactly a food packed with nutritional value.
Still, like Gabriel Venel said in his book Précis de matière médicale, the “invention” of bone bread was forged out of necessity– not luxury.
“The idea of reducing human bones to power could only come from a mind essentially ignorant and overcome by hunger and by despair. Bones are not floury, and when they are spent by a long stay in humid soil, they contain no nourishing element,” Venel wrote.
So, bone bread continued to be the Parisian’s last attempt at sustenance until the city suffered between forty to fifty thousand deaths due to starvation. It was at that point that King Henri finally realized his mistakes and allowed his army to give food to the Parisians.
Then, not long afterward, he actually lifted the siege completely and, ironically, converted to Catholicism anyway.
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