Guillaume Tirel, alias Taillevent (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

: "slicewind") (born ca. 1310 in Pont-Audemer

Pont-Audemer

Pont-Audemer is a commune in the Eure department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Population:-Sights:The commune was spared substantial damage to its historic buildings during the Battle of Normandy. Nowadays the half-timbered buildings and the canals running between them are a...

 – 1395) was cook to the Court of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 at the time of the first Valois kings and the Hundred Years War. His first position was enfent de cuisine (kitchen boy) to Queen Jeanne d'Évreux

Jeanne d'Evreux

Jeanne d'Évreux was the third wife of King Charles IV of France, daughter of his uncle Louis d'Évreux and Margaret of Artois. She bore no male heir, thus "causing" the end of the direct line of the Capetian dynasty. Because she was his first cousin, the couple required papal permission to marry...

. From 1326 he was queux, head chef, to Philip VI

Philip VI of France

Philip VI , known as the Fortunate and of Valois, was the King of France from 1328 to his death. He was also Count of Anjou, Maine, and Valois from 1325 to 1328...

. In 1347, he became squire to the Dauphin de Viennois

Dauphin de Viennois

The Counts of Albon were minor French nobles in south-eastern France, in the Rhône Alps region.Under Guigues IV, Count of Albon, who was nicknamed le Dauphin or the Dolphin from the dolphin on his coat of arms, they took a new hereditary title, Dauphin of Viennois , named for the region around...

 and his queux in 1349. In 1355 he became squire to the Duke of Normandy

Duke of Normandy

The Duke of Normandy is the title of the reigning monarch of the British Crown Dependancies of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. The title traces its roots to the Duchy of Normandy . Whether the reigning sovereign is a male or female, they are always titled as the "Duke of...

, in 1359 his queux and in 1361 his sergeant-at-arms. The Duke of Normandy became Charles V

Charles V of France

Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...

 in 1368 and Tirel continued in his service. From 1381 he was in service to Charles VI

Charles VI of France

Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...

. He died in 1395 at around 80 years of age.

He wrote a famous book on cookery named Le Viandier

Viandier

Le Viandier is a recipe collection largely credited to Guillaume Tirel, alias Taillevent. However, the earliest version of the book has been dated to around 1300, about 10 years before the birth of Tirel...

 that was influential on subsequent books on French cuisine

French cuisine

French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...

 and important to food historians as a detailed source on the medieval cuisine

Medieval cuisine

Medieval cuisine includes the foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, a period roughly dating from the 5th to the 16th century...

 of northern France. During the reign of Philip VI, Taillevent was a major influence in the rise of imperial favor for the strong red wines being produced in the south of France as well as those coming out of Burgundy.

Today, many restaurants named "Taillevent" capitalize on the reputation of Guillaume Tirel. "Guillaume Tirel" was also the name of a catering business in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

(1989–1999).