Because it was based on the boardgame's neccesarily simple model. It could easily have been made more complex. In fact, the middle to late period of CK(1200-1500) could well be considered the most techologically inventive period in Europe prior to the industrial revolution. Farming technology, for example - the basis for how large a population an area can support - was extensively developed and implemented in this period.
I would say that the 6 categories(and probably a few more) listed above are so intertwined that it is meaningless to seperate them in a discussion. Political and social organization were extremely closely related in the CK era, for example.
Right....the clergy controlled people's cutlery preference and all medieval people ate with dirty hands...which is of course why hand-washing with scented water before and after each dish and eating with the knife and spoon are described as standard in virtually every good-conduct manual and cookbook from the early 12th century onwards....as far from Italy as Norway...
Laws and prescriptions from clergymen and secular rulers used as one-off examples are a very silly way of trying to understand the society of the middle ages. The myriad examples, like the one cited above, are a small drop of water in an ocean of prescriptions handed down from the middle ages. Many were meant simpy to mark disapproval, many others connected to other circumstances.
The use of different types of cutlery is a fashion thing and has nothing to do with practicality at all If it was a sign of development, chopsticks would not be used by anyone familiar with the knife&fork.
