Where does this come from, and can I check it?

A Venetian doge's wife used one in the eleventh century and clergy disapproved. The figure is taken from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The fork reached Europe through a Byzantine bride

A Venetian doge's wife used one in the eleventh century and clergy disapproved When Theodora Doukaina, a Byzantine princess, married Doge Domenico Selvo around 1075, she reportedly brought gold forks to Venice and used them instead of fingers. Clerics condemned the habit as excessive refinement. The implement spread slowly, and forks only became common at European tables in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It sits in Mondo's history collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: forks, etiquette, byzantium

The fork reached Europe through a Byzantine bride: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: A Venetian doge's wife used one in the eleventh century and clergy disapproved. The figure is taken from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?: Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.