Elizabethan Dining

In Elizabethan England, the Queen rarely ate with her subjects, however the ceremonies remained even though she was not present. This was somewhat extraordinary in a country where there were no longer altars nor Christ's presence in bread and wine. It is possible that the royal table and meal had become substitues for the Mass.

It is interesting that the lack of the actual presence of the host did not detract from the need to perform the rituals of the meal. The fact that presence of Christ at his supper is not corporeal has not detracted from the need for the ritual that surrounds it. The meal and its eucharistic equivilent have much to say to each other.