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I am looking for ideas for madrigal dinners. Our high school is performing one in early December and I need some type of menus to start with. If anyone has done this in the past or has experience in this area please let me know. If you know of any websites that would help I would take those too. Thanks

Hi
I have done renaissance dinners in the past for fun and I guess madrigal dinners follow that tradition. There is a good website about food of that period at renaissance.dn.net/compendium/19. or just type 'Life in Elizabethan England' into Google.
The University of Iowa site gives a menu of wassail bowl (of course!) salade of apple, butternut. watercress and cabbage with honey mustard dressing, 3 peppercorn-roasted loin of beef, a melange(mixture) of winter vegetables, country bread and butter and minted lemon creme brulee. Well, the country bread and butter is not renaissance. Butter was not used to spread on bread. Bread mopped up the juices. I suspect the creme brulee is not strictly period either. Since meat was a luxury back then, loads of meat was served at feasts: goose, pork, duck, chicken, and beef. Roast a whole stack of vegetables as well ( potatoes were only just discovered so maybe you should forget about them) and you are on your way.I shall look up some old papers and see if I can find a real dessert for you.
Cheers

Here are the desserts I found. They are authentic but quantities are not given.
The first is ROSEE, a universal kind of custard, coloured pink.
Make a custard with milk, rice flour, ground almonds and sugar to taste.Add a pinch of cinnamon and of ginger and colour with rosewater. This can be used as an accompaniment. One may steep dates in wine, drain, cut up and add to custard with pinenuts as a dessert on its own.
PEARS in WINE SYRUP. Peel and quarter pears. Poach in water for only a couple of minutes. Into a saucepan place honey, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cardamon, pink colouring, a little ground pepper and white wine . Cook the pears in this for a few minutes, let cool in liquid. Drain liquid into another pan, add red wine vinegar and simmer down to a syrup. Serve over pears with creme fraiche or Rosee or ice cream. (Yes, they had icecream.)
TOFFEE ORANGES. Carefully peel and segment oranges, leaving no white pith. Put a segment on a stick and dip in toffee at crackle point. Serve with creme fraiche to dip and eat.
Carrots became known at the end of the 1500s, although 'wild carrots' were given to horses before that. Here is a carrot tart from diarist John Evelyn.
CARROT TART. Make a 'coffin' ( a shortcrust flan shell). Grate carrots, mix with flour and cream to a runny 'custard.' Add two egg yolks and one whole egg, some melted butter, sugar, nutmeg and orange flour water. Fill flan and bake moderate oven until set.