not the right etymology of our English word _Gormandize_, since it is
rather the French _Gourmand_, or the British _Gormod_ [20]. So that

we have little to say as to the Danes.

I shall take the later English and the Normans together, on account
of the intermixture of the two nations after the Conquest, since, as
lord Lyttelton observes, the English accommodated them elves to the
Norman manners, except in point of temperance in eating and drinking,
and communicated to them their own habits of drunkenness and
immoderate feasting [21]. Erasmus also remarks, that the English in
his time were attached to _plentiful and splendid tables_; and the
same is observed by Harrison [22]. As to the Normans, both William I.
and Rufus made grand entertainments [23]; the former was remarkable
for an immense paunch, and withal was so exact, so nice and curious
in his repasts [24], that when his prime favourite William Fitz-
Osberne, who as steward of the household had the charge of the Cury,
served him with the flesh of a crane scarcely half-roasted, he was so
highly exasperated, that he lifted up his fist, and would have
strucken him, had not Eudo, appointed _Dapiser_ immediately after,
warded off the blow [25].

_Dapiser_, by which is usually understood _steward of the king's
household_ [26], was a high officer amongst the Normans; and
_Larderarius_ was another, clergymen then often occupying this post,
and sometimes made bishops from it [27]. He was under the _Dapiser_,
as was likewise the _Cocus Dominica Coquina_, concerning whom, his
assistants and allowances, the _Liber Niger_ may be consulted [28].
It appears further from _Fleta_, that the chief cooks were often
providers, as well as dressers, of victuals [29]. But _Magister