30-04-2025
Unusual 1580s manuscript on cheese surfaced at an auction. It's been transcribed
In 2023, an unusual, unpublished book dating back to the 1580s surfaced at an auction.
The 112-page manuscript bound in animal skin is believed to be the oldest known English book on cheese.
For the first time, a transcription of 'A pamflyt compiled of Cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodnes, of the same' is available to the public, according to an April 24 news release from the University of Leeds, which acquired the work in 2023.
'It's probably the first comprehensive academic study of a single foodstuff to be written in the English language,' food historian Peter Brears said in the news release.
'It's a substantial piece of work: 'Treatise' might be a better word to describe it,' Alex Bamji, associate professor of early modern history at the University of Leeds, said in the release.
The pages discuss the best time to eat cheese and recommend enjoying it at the end of a meal because 'cheese doth presse downe the meate to the botome of the stomake,' the release said.
The author also alludes to the concept of lactose intolerance, providing guidance for people who must 'judge whether cheese be a convenyent foode for him,' according to the release.
The book warns that cheese made from dog milk would cause a woman to deliver her baby prematurely and also notes that in some places, cheese was made from the milk of camels, mares and donkeys.
One passage likely added for its 'comic and repulsive oddity,' according to Bamji, describes an ancient Greek physician smearing rancid cheese and fat on the joints of a man with gout until his skin broke open, allowing the cause of the gout to 'runne owt,'' per the release.
'There's so much more to be learnt from this manuscript,' experts said.
The book was transcribed by Ruth Bramley, a Tudor reenactor at Kentwell Hall, a 16th-century manor that hosts 'immersive historical events,' according to the release.
