Three Princesses - Three Forks In The Road
Forks. You might not think of eating with a fork as a big innovation, but there has to be a first time for everything. In this case, it was three first times.
The place setting of a mighty lord’s table in Western Europe in the mid-900’s didn’t have a fork. You might get a spoon, and of course you would be expected to bring your own knife, but you wouldn’t find a fork next to anyone’s plate. That’s because nobody in Western Europe ate with a fork. At least, not yet.
It seems like such an obvious thing to do now, but it would take not one, not two, but three princesses from Byzantium to get the trend from Constantinople to the courts of the fancy folk in the west.
Fork the First:
By the 970s, the Second Golden Age of Byzantium was in full swing. Constantinople was by far the wealthiest Christian city in Europe, enjoying a good deal of international prestige. The Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, was looking for a bride for his son, Otto II, and managed to arrange a marriage for him to Theophanu, niece of the emperor in Constantinople.
Otto II and Theophanu were married in Rome by the pope in 972. When Otto I died the next year, Otto II became emperor and Theophanu became imperatrix, which, you have to admit, is a pretty cool job title.
Theophanu arrived at court draped in luxurious silks and the finest jewelry. She insisted on bathing daily, a practice which earned her some criticism for its decadence. She also caused a stir by using “a golden double prong” to bring bite-sized bits of food to her mouth, rather than just eating with her hands like everybody else.
Maybe this could have caused Theophanu trouble down the line, but Otto II died in 983 and she became regent for her son, Otto III, so everybody at court in Cologne just played it cool around their suddenly-powerful imperatrix and her miniature food-stabby thing.
Fork the Second:
In 1004, Maria Argyropoulina married the son of the doge of Venice. The ceremony took place in Constantinople, where they were crowned by Maria’s uncle, the Byzantine Emperor Basil II (Basil The Bulgar Slayer), possibly the most intimidating father-of-the-bride figure of all time.
When they sailed for Venice, she brought with her a huge dowry, several sacred relics, and a tiny golden fork. Maria had her eunuchs cut her food into tiny pieces that she would use the fork to eat, daintily, one supposes. Unfortunately, Maria and her husband both died in 1007 when plague swept through Venice. After her death, she was criticized by the clerical authorities in Rome for her extravagance, and they particularly disdained her use of a fork to eat.
Fork the Third:
The third time would be the charm. In 1071, Theodora Doukaina, sister of the Byzantine emperor, married the doge of Venice. At this point, you may be shocked to discover that the Venetians considered a Byzantine princess fancy and extravagant. The legend is that she would not bathe in regular water, but only be washed by the morning dew that was collected by her army of servants.
Yes, she was highly perfumed. Yes, she ate with a fork. But this time, eating with a fork caught on with others at court. This is probably due less to the open-mindedness of the swinging 1070s in Venice, and more that Italians were starting to eat pasta, and pasta is best enjoyed with a fork, even if you do enjoy slurping it from time to time.
One day, you might be recruited away to join another company. You’ll be recruited for your skills, yes, and maybe some of those skills will be way ahead of the methods of your new coworkers.
You might be astonished to find that tasks are still scribbled on the whiteboard, not a synced team calendar. You might see a wall full of sticky notes and despair that these essential new product requirements are not tracked in a fancy software tool. You might try to shove these cave people into the modern era with medieval force.
But slow down, Princess. If you try to enforce these new methods (or at least new methods to your new troglodyte colleagues), they may be met with resistance. Or worse yet, you might be seen as an out-of-touch snob, and then nobody will follow your lead, even if your way is objectively better (or at least objectively better to anyone who knows anything about anything).
The best way to bring your colleagues along to your new way of doing things is to show them how it works better. It’s important to understand that here, “better” means almost nothing about efficiency, and has everything to do with making life easier for the person you’re trying to change, or better yet, making them look better to their boss.
So take your time, lead them instead of forcing them, and soon enough you’ll be bathing in perfume-scented dew brought to you by your many loyal servants.
