Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

ISBN:

9780812203745

Title:

Author:

Unger, Richard W.

Personal Author:

Unger, Richard W.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (338 pages)

Contents:

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Tables -- Preface -- List of Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction: Understanding the History of Brewing -- 2 Early Medieval Brewing -- 3 Urbanization and the Rise of Commercial Brewing -- 4 Hopped Beer, Hanse Towns, and the Origins of the Trade in Beer -- 5 The Spread of Hopped Beer Brewing: The Northern Low Countries -- 6 The Spread of Hopped Beer Brewing: The Southern Low Countries, England, and Scandinavia -- 7 The Mature Industry: Levels of Production -- 8 The Mature Industry: Levels of Consumption -- 9 The Mature Industry: Technology -- 10 The Mature Industry: Capital Investment and Innovation -- 11 Types of Beer and Their International Exchange -- 12 Taxes and Protection -- 13 Guilds, Brewery Workers, and Work in Breweries -- 14 Epilogue: The Decline of Brewing -- Appendix: On Classification and Measurement -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

Local Note:

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

Subject Term:

Beer -- Europe -- History -- 16th century.

Beer -- Europe -- History -- To 1500.

Brewing industry -- Europe -- History -- 16th century.

Brewing industry -- Europe -- History -- To 1500.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view book

Publication Date:

2007

Publication Information:

Philadelphia :

University of Pennsylvania Press,

2007.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
641.230940902	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ON-DEMAND	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

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 Notes

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 (1)

Choice Review

Brewing and beer consumption were integral, important elements in the economy and culture of medieval and renaissance Europe. As power and wealth shifted west and north during this period, brewing-related activities increased also. To appreciate beer's pervasive influence one must understand that it was considered a nutritional necessity by many, was frequently used medicinally, and was consumed by men, women, and children alike. In some parts of northern Germany the beer trade was even the primary economic activity. Using a vast storehouse of resources primarily from England and the Low Countries, Unger (Univ. of British Columbia) describes the transformation of the industry from small-scale, household production to a highly regulated commercial enterprise dominated by the wealthy and overseen by government authorities. This is an important book on the history of beer and brewing and is a valuable resource for scholars of Middle Age and Renaissance history. This is Unger's fourth work on the history of medieval and Renaissance commerce and technology; it includes extensive bibliography and notes. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Graduate students; faculty. S. D. Johnson Clemson University