Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Richard W. Unger

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2004

Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Richard W. Unger

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812203745

Overview
Contents

About this book

The beer of today—brewed from malted grain and hops, manufactured by large and often multinational corporations, frequently associated with young adults, sports, and drunkenness—is largely the result of scientific and industrial developments of the nineteenth century. Modern beer, however, has little in common with the drink that carried that name through the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Looking at a time when beer was often a nutritional necessity, was sometimes used as medicine, could be flavored with everything from the bark of fir trees to thyme and fresh eggs, and was consumed by men, women, and children alike, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance presents an extraordinarily detailed history of the business, art, and governance of brewing.

During the medieval and early modern periods beer was as much a daily necessity as a source of inebriation and amusement. It was the beverage of choice of urban populations that lacked access to secure sources of potable water; a commodity of economic as well as social importance; a safe drink for daily consumption that was less expensive than wine; and a major source of tax revenue for the state. In Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Richard W. Unger has written an encompassing study of beer as both a product and an economic force in Europe.

Drawing from archives in the Low Countries and England to assemble an impressively complete history, Unger describes the transformation of the industry from small-scale production that was a basic part of housewifery to a highly regulated commercial enterprise dominated by the wealthy and overseen by government authorities. Looking at the intersecting technological, economic, cultural, and political changes that influenced the transformation of brewing over centuries, he traces how improvements in technology and in the distribution of information combined to standardize quality, showing how the process of urbanization created the concentrated markets essential for commercial production.

Weaving together the stories of prosperous businessmen, skilled brewmasters, and small producers, this impressively researched overview of the social and cultural practices that surrounded the beer industry is rich in implication for the history of the period as a whole.

Author / Editor information

Richard W. Unger is Professor of History at the University of British Columbia. He is also author of A History of Brewing in Holland, 900-1900: Economy, Technology, and the State, The Art of Medieval Technology: Images of Noah the Shipbuilder, and The Ship in the Medieval Economy, 600-1600.

Reviews

"An important book, going beyond what is usually found in a synthesis. [Unger's] analysis has important implications for the nature and comparative development of technology diffusion and social and industrial organization, as well as more obviously local and interregional trade."—The Medieval Review

"This is an important book on the history of beer and brewing and is a valuable resource."—Choice

"Entertainingly written and amply illustrated and referenced, Unger's book on the beginnings of commercial brewing will be of interest to beer lovers; experts in economic, social, cultural, legal, medical, and food history; anthropologists; philologists; and feminists."—Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Tables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvii
Chapter 1. Introduction: Understanding the History of Brewing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 2. Early Medieval Brewing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Chapter 3. Urbanization and the Rise of Commercial Brewing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
Chapter 4. Hopped Beer, Hanse Towns, and the Origins of the Trade in Beer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Chapter 5. The Spread of Hopped Beer Brewing: The Northern Low Countries Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Chapter 6. The Spread of Hopped Beer Brewing: The Southern Low Countries, England, and Scandinavia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Chapter 7. The Mature Industry: Levels of Production Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
Chapter 8. The Mature Industry: Levels of Consumption Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
Chapter 9. The Mature Industry: Technology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Chapter 10. The Mature Industry: Capital Investment and Innovation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
Chapter 11. Types of Beer and Their International Exchange Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
Chapter 12. Taxes and Protection Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Chapter 13. Guilds, Brewery Workers, and Work in Breweries Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Chapter 14. Epilogue: The Decline of Brewing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Appendix. On Classification and Measurement Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 344
Illustrations
- Other: 23 illus.
Keywords: History; Business; Economics; Medieval and Renaissance Studies; European History; World History; Business

eBook

Published: May 22, 2013
ISBN: 9780812203745