Banal oven

Banal oven

The four banal (English: banal oven) was a common municipal institution in medieval France. Generally ovens were owned by the feudal lord of the municipality and operated by an ovenmaster or "fournier"; personal ovens were generally outlawed, requiring users of the communal oven to pay a fee to the fournier to cook their food. Such ovens were masonry ovens built on the Roman plan, and were large enough to hold an entire community's ration of bread.

The oven design, but not the feudal monopoly on oven operation, was carried to French colonies, particularly Quebec. The banal system seems to have died out during the 18th century, though traditions surrounding it may have lasted as late as World War II. In some rural areas of France, the old banal ovens are still extant and are sometimes used for community celebrations.


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  • Communal oven — Four banal at Urval, Dordogne, France The four banal (English: common oven) was a common municipal institution in medieval France. Generally ovens were owned by the feudal lord of the municipality and operated by an ovenmaster or fournier;… …   Wikipedia

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  • Four banal — The community oven in France but common in English villages, where the bread was baked not as well as it could be. This bread was called banal as it came from something of common use from which we have our use of the word banal = ordinary or… …   Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases

  • Banalité — Banalités were essentially the dues that peasants owed their lords in France until the 18th century. These included the required use for payment of the lord s, or Seigneur s, mill to grind grain and his oven to bake bread.The peasants may also be …   Wikipedia

  • four — /fur/ In old French law, an oven or bakehouse. Four banal, an oven, owned by the seignior of the estate, to which the tenants were obliged to bring their bread for baking. Also the proprietary right to maintain such an oven …   Black's law dictionary

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  • Europe, history of — Introduction       history of European peoples and cultures from prehistoric times to the present. Europe is a more ambiguous term than most geographic expressions. Its etymology is doubtful, as is the physical extent of the area it designates.… …   Universalium

  • Banality — The fees a feudal lord imposed for various usages, such as his mill, oven, etc. It might have included part of a fish catch or a proportion of the catch from a rabbit warren. Cf. Fornagium; Four banal …   Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases

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