Since Antiquity, fermented drinks have

played an important role in European

culture. In eastern and northern areas,

ale - and from the close of the Middle

Ages hopped beer - formed part of people's

diets, provided livelihoods for rural

alewives as well as urban brewers and

accompanied countless forms of social

exchange. These drinks came in different

varieties and strengths, were consumed

in large quantities (especially during

feasts and rites of passage) and the

potential consequences exercised secular

and ecclesiastical authorities in great

measure

Kümin, Beat A.

English

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 University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap  This paper is made available online in accordance with publisher policies. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item and our policy information available from the repository home page for further information.  To see the final version of this paper please visit the publisher’s website. Access to the published version may require a subscription. Author(s):  Beat Kümin Article Title: 'Introduction' [to special issue 'Brewing Cultures in Early Modern Towns' Year of publication: 2010 Link to published article:  http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/135/Introduction.pdf Publisher statement:  None   Since Antiquity, fermented drinks haveplayed an important role in Europeanculture. In eastern and northern areas,ale - and from the close of the MiddleAges hopped beer - formed part of peo-ple's diets, provided livelihoods for ruralalewives as well as urban brewers andaccompanied countless forms of socialexchange. These drinks came in differentvarieties and strengths, were consumedin large quantities (especially duringfeasts and rites of passage) and thepotential consequences exercised secu-lar and ecclesiastical authorities in greatmeasure.1The early modern centuries transformedEurope in fundamental respects.Population levels increased from about75 million in 1500 to c.190 million in1800, with disproportionate urban growthin areas like England and the DutchRepublic.2 From the fifteenth century,state building entailed increasing centralregulation of areas previously undermanorial or municipal control. Such sec-ular efforts at enhancing 'good police'coincided with the moral fervour of theReformation(s) from the early 1500s,prompting all major confessions tomonitor religious orthodoxy and moralbehaviour more closely than everbefore.3 From about the same time,overseas expansion facilitated theglobalization of market exchange andthe gradual emergence of a consumersociety, even in rural areas of theContinent. In the 1700s, the Enlighten-ment established 'reason', 'utility' and'progress' as new yardsticks for all areasof public life, striving to enhance collec-tive welfare and ultimately eroding thepolitical foundations of the AncienRégime.4 Throughout, major military con-flicts - ranging from the French Wars ofReligion in the late sixteenth and theThirty Years' War in the early seventeenthto the Seven Years' War in the mid-eighteenth century - disrupted social andeconomic life, albeit to a much lesscomprehensive extent than in the 'totalwars' of the modern period.  In which ways did these processesimpact on European brewing cultures?Recent work detects tendencies towardsprofessionalization (of production, withincreasing dominance of large urbanbreweries), commercialization (within thegeneral context of urbanization andproto-capitalist economic relations) and -at best partially successful - attempts at2 Journal of the Brewery History SocietyBrewing cultures in early modern towns: an introductionBeat Küminsocial disciplining (of consumers).Calvinist Churches in particular empha-sized the need for discipline and godlybehaviour - something that most defi-nitely did not include the haunting ofalehouses.5 The Reformation - whoseadoption shows an intriguing (albeit nottotal) correlation with beer-drinkingregions6 - also brought the end of monas-tic breweries and traditional fasting rules.Over and beyond the classic range ofwine, beer, mead and cider, early modernconsumers gained access to strongerdrinks (especially brandy and gin) as wellas colonial imports like tea, coffee andchocolate.7 State building, however, rest-ed very strongly on the proceeds ofalcohol taxes, bringing authorities into adelicate balancing act between upholding'the good order of the commonwealth'and maximizing sales for financial rea-sons.8 Towards the end of the period,beer drinkers faced renewed calls formoderation, this time in the form of asecularized Enlightenment critique ofunproductive lifestyles and the wasting ofnatural resources. Within the medicalprofession, meanwhile, responses toalcohol abuse shifted from mere moralcensure towards the recognition of addic-tion as a clinical illness.9This special issue of Brewery Historyillustrates different approaches to brew-ing cultures in southern England andeastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire,two of the most prominent European beerregions. Focusing on a diverse range ofurban settings, including a capital, provin-cial towns and a port, the authors drawon recent doctoral work to exemplify thegrowing interest in the social and culturalhistory of the trade. James Brown andKatja Lindenau offer general surveys forSouthampton and Görlitz in UpperLusatia, Masatake Wasa reconstructs theoperations of the university brewery ofFrankfurt an der Oder in the late 1600sand Tim Reinke-Williams examines ale-house sociability in London from a genderperspective. Extrapolating from a widerange of archival materials (like breweryrecords, council minutes, governmentmandates, fiscal registers, court proceed-ings, wills, inventories and travel reports)as well as visual and material evidence,the articles provide both specific andmore general conclusions. Some of thelatter shall be briefly discussed here.On the production side, we learn muchabout the economic and social status ofthe people who worked in the trade. AtGörlitz, brewing was a fiercely defendedprerogative of the urban elite who simul-taneously monopolized town government,quite in contrast to Southampton, wherehumbler members of the middling sortand even women continued to playnotable roles. Another difference betweenEngland and eastern Germany was theexistence of formal monopolies, convey-ing individual brewers the exclusive rightto supply certain areas. 'Tied' housesemerged in early modern England aswell, but as a result of the commercialpower of leading firms, not legal privi-leges granted by secular authorities.10'Low-tech' procedures, dependence onvolatile grain supplies, problems of3Brewery History Number 135preservation and the strong influence ofnon-economic factors, which emergefrom Wasa's account, may strike pres-ent-day readers as early modern pecu-liarities, while the need for clean waterand skilled labour exemplifies some ofthe long-term continuities. Then as now,furthermore, architecturally distinctivebrewery premises formed conspicuousurban landmarks.   In terms of retailing, the density of drink-ing outlets - especially in areas ofwidespread home-brewing - is astound-ing: according to calculations by Brownand Reinke-Williams, the ratio of ale-houses to towndwellers could be as lowas 1:12-13, while for Europe as a wholefigures of 1:100 (market towns) and1:200-300 (rural environments) weremore typical.12 Early modern publicans4 Journal of the Brewery History SocietyFigure 1. The late gothic inn at Erdweg, located on a highway in the Bavarian district of Dachau,was first recorded in 1468 (when Rudolf and Katharina acted as keepers). On its multi-storey prem-ises (which include a large first-floor hall used for weddings, assemblies and dances), beer haslubricated social exchange between locals and strangers for centuries. In addition, early modernlandlords exercised baking, butchering and shopkeeping rights, accommodated travellers and col-lected tolls from a nearby bridge. Such establishments represented major economic assets. In1621, the inn changed hands for 4,250 fl., the equivalent of 106,009 l. of beer or 21,250 days' payfor a labourer.11 (Photo: Beat Kümin).easily sold 1000s of litres of alcohol eachyear: for the Bavarian inn of Fahrenz-hausen, to adduce an (extreme) examplefrom another region, tax collectorsrecorded a staggering 37,400 l. of brownbeer in the tax year of 1787-88 (on aver-age 102 l. a day).13 As if to counteracttheir potentially harmful social impact,Southampton publicans were chargedwith various types of poor relief. Görlitzdiverged from the northern Europeantrend to separate the brewing and retail-ing of beer in this period: it did have asmall number of inns without productionfacilities, but also a rotation systemallowing brewers to act as publicans fora few weeks each year.14 Typologicaldifferences mattered not only in termsof distinct rights and services, whichwere most extensive in the period's mul-tifunctional inns (Figure 1). As Reinke-Williams suggests in a close reading ofone court case, London taverns mayhave been particularly suited for meetingsof a public or professional nature, whilealehouses afforded semi-private facilitiesfor more informal and even sexualencounters. His article also underlinesthat, subject to certain informal conven-tions, women could be an active andassertive part of public house sociability.15The articles underline the (situationally)high levels of consumption in premodernsociety. Depending on wealth, sex, age,profession and situation, personalintakes ranged from under 100 l. to over1,000 l. a year, with average daily figuresclustering around 1.5 l. in the sixteenthand 1 l. in the eighteenth century.16 Onthe other hand, of course, beer played avery minor role in areas like theMediterranean or the western Alps.17Whatever their precise requirements,early modern consumers certainly caredabout the freshness and taste of theirdrink: double beer was the popularchoice at Southampton and, in bothFrankfurt and Görlitz, patrons swiftlyshifted their allegiances if the quality of aproduct deteriorated (monopolies andcartels notwithstanding).The differentiation between production,retailing and consumption is a helpfulanalytical tool, but in actual practicethe spheres were inextricably inter-twined. All of the articles highlight closeinteractions between brewers, publicansand drinkers, with personal networks(revealed e.g. in wills and sureties) andmutual dependencies (above all throughthe prevalence of credit) both withinurban society and between town andcountry. Brewing was of the utmostimportance for the socio-economic andpolitical fortunes of these regions, despitevariations like the survival of small-scalerural production (in England), an earlyconcentration on specialized artisans (asin late medieval Bavaria) or restriction toa finite number of privileged premises(the roughly 100 Brauhöfe at Görlitz).18If we factor wine, viticulture and distill-ing into the equation, then drinks anddrinking were clearly 'big business' inpremodern Europe. Much remains to be discovered. What,for example, were the cultural attributes5Brewery History Number 135of different alcoholic beverages in thisperiod? Where consumers encounteredextensive choice, as in upmarket urbaninns, the more expensive (foreign) winesnaturally appealed to more prosperouspatrons, but what exactly did contempo-raries associate with specific beverages,why did they choose some rather thanothers on specific occasions and to whatextent did this choice affect the atmos-phere? Helpful impressions derive fromearly modern literary reflections, but canfurther clues be found in court recordsand diaries?19 Another worthwhile areaof investigation might be regions andperiods experiencing shifts in the promi-nence of certain beverages, e.g. whereviticulture became unviable during the'Little Ice Age' from the late 1500s orwhere growing market exchange andproto-tourism presented areas withunprecedented demand for unfamiliardrinks. Social and cultural approaches,therefore, promise valuable new insightsinto the history of beer and brewing, notjust for the early modern period. References1. For general references see the select bibliography included in this issue. Model surveys in Unger, R.W. (2004) Beer in theMiddle Ages and the Renaissance.Philadelphia: University of PennsylvaniaPress (focusing on economic and organiza-tional aspects) and Clark, P. (1983) TheEnglish Alehouse: A Social History 1200-1830. Harlow: Longman (retailing and consumption). 2. Vries, J. de (1984) EuropeanUrbanization 1500-1800. London: Methuen,esp. p.36.3. Blockmans, W. and Genet, J.-P. (eds)(1995-2000) The Origins of the Modern Statein Europe. 7 vols., Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress; Cameron, E. (1992) The EuropeanReformation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4. Crosby, A.W. (2003) The ColumbianExchange: Biological and CulturalConsequences of 1492. 30th edn, Westport:Praeger; Porter, R. (1990) TheEnlightenment. Basingstoke: Palgrave.5. Bennett, J.M. (1996) Ale, Beer andBrewsters in England: Women's Work in aChanging World 1300-1600. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press; Musgrave, P. (1999) TheEarly Modern European Economy.Basingstoke: Palgrave; Wrightson, K. (1981)'Alehouses, order and reformation in ruralEngland 1590-1660', in Yeo, S. and E. (eds),Popular Culture and Class Conflict 1590-1914. Brighton: Harvester, pp.1-27.6. Holt, M. (2006) 'Europe Divided: Wine,Beer, and the Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Europe', in idem (ed.), Alcohol: ASocial and Cultural History. Oxford: Berg,pp.25-40.7. Tlusty, B.A. (1998), 'Water of life, water ofdeath: the controversy over brandy and gin inearly modern Augsburg', in Central EuropeanHistory 31, pp.1-30; Ellis, M. (2004) TheCoffee House: A Cultural History. London:Phoenix.8. Unger, R.W. (2004) op. cit., chapter 12;an extreme case in Snow, G.E. (2002), 'Drinkhouses in early modern Russia', in Kümin, B.and Tlusty, B.A. (eds), The World of theTavern: Public Houses in Early ModernEurope. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp.191-204.6 Journal of the Brewery History Society9. Porter, R. (1985) 'The drinking man's disease: The "pre-history" of alcoholism inGeorgian Britain', in British Journal ofAddiction 80, pp.385-96.10. Clark, P. (1983) op. cit., p.263.11. Bogner, J. (1971) 'Die Taferne, Mühleund Badersölde in Erdweg', in Amperland 7,pp.124-130.12. Kümin, B. (2007) Drinking Matters:Public Houses and Social Exchange in EarlyModern Central Europe. Basingstoke:Palgrave, pp.29-31.13. Munich, Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv,GR 1551/2, no. 2, part 3, folder 6.14. Unger, R.W. (2004) op. cit., pp.218-9(general trend); for details on the rotation system see Lindenau, K. (2008) Brauen undherrschen: Die Görlitzer Braubürger alsstädtische Elite in Spätmittelalter und FrüherNeuzeit. Leipzig: Leipzig Universitätsverlag,esp. Part IV: 'Der Blick in dis Brauhof'.15. Tlusty, B.A. (2001) Bacchus and CivicOrder: The Culture of Drink in Early ModernGermany. Charlottesville, VA: UniversityPress of Virginia, chapter 7: 'Drinking andGender Identity'.16. Range of individual figures: Unger, R.W.(2004) op. cit., pp.128-9; estimates of typicalconsumption e.g. in Sandgruber, R. (1982)Die Anfänge der Konsumgesellschaft:Konsumgüterverbrauch, Lebensstandard undAlltagskultur in Österreich im 18. und 19.Jahrhundert. Munich: Oldenbourg, pp.182-9.17. Even at the end of the early modernperiod, excise records for the Swiss Republicof Bern record very modest beer sales, esp.in the countryside. In 1788, the collector ofone district accounted for 166 times as muchwine as beer: State Archives of Bern, B VIII595.18. Wrightson, K. and Levine, D. (1995)Poverty and Piety in an English Village:Terling 1525-1700. 2nd edn, Oxford:Clarendon, p.135 (brewing as a typicalincome source for the poor); Behringer, W.(1997) Die Spaten-Brauerei 1397-1997: DieGeschichte eines Münchner Unternehmensvom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. Munich:Piper, pp.48-57 (early professionalization).19. Taylor, J. (1637) Drinke and welcome: orthe famous historie of the most part of drinks.London; see also the contributions on 'politicised drink' in Smyth, A. (ed.) (2004) APleasing Sinne: Drink and Conviviality inSeventeenth-Century England. Woodbridge:Boydell and Brewer.7Brewery History Number 135Notes on ContributorsJames R. Brown is interested in thematerial venues of social exchange inearly modern England. He has written onthe parish church and his Ph.D. thesis on'The Landscape of Drink: Inns, Tavernsand Alehouses in Early ModernSouthampton' (University of Warwick,2008) is currently being developed as amonograph. He has served as facilitatorfor two Leverhulme Trust academicnetworks: 'Social Sites - ÖffentlicheRäume - Lieux d'Echanges 1300-1800'(University of Warwick 2006-8) and 'TheDocumentation of Individual Identity:Historical, Comparative and Trans-national Perspectives since 1500'(University of Oxford, 2008-). He is cur-rently co-ordinating the Mellon-fundedproject 'Cultures of Knowledge: AnIntellectual Geography of the Seven-teenth-Century Republic of Letters'based at the University of Oxford.Publications include 'Drinking Housesand the Politics of Surveillance in Pre-industrial Southampton', in Kümin, B.(ed.), Political Space in Pre-industrialEurope (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009).Beat Kümin, formerly a Research Fellowat Magdalene College, Cambridge, andthe University of Bern, is AssociateProfessor in Early Modern History at theUniversity of Warwick. His research inter-ests focus on social centres in localcommunities and the cultural history offood and drink. Publications include themonograph Drinking Matters: PublicHouses and Social Exchange in EarlyModern Central Europe (Basingstoke:Palgrave, 2007), the co-edited volume TheWorld of the Tavern: Public Houses in EarlyModern Europe (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002;with Tlusty, B.A.) and the edited collectionA Cultural History of Food: The EarlyModern Age (Oxford, forthcoming c. 2011).Katja Lindenau, who completed herPh.D. on the Görlitz brewing trade withinthe early modern section of theSonderforschungsbereich 537 at theTechnische Universität Dresden, is nowresearching the provenance of artworksat the Staatliche KunstsammlungenDresden. Her publications include themonograph Brauen und herrschen: DieGörlitzer Braubürger als städtische Elitein Spätmittelalter und Früher Neuzeit(Leipzig, 2007) and the co-authored vol-ume Berühmte Schlösser und GärtenEuropas. Veduten des 18. Jahrhundertsim Museum Burg Mylau/Vogtland(Dößel, 2007; with Raithel, A.).Tim Reinke-Williams is a Lecturer inEarly Modern History at King's College,London and a graduate of the Universityof Warwick, where he also studied forhis M.A. and Ph.D. He is the author of'Misogyny, jest-books and youth culturein seventeenth-century England', inGender and History 21:2 (August 2009)and his current research encompassesearly modern British social, cultural andgender history, with particular referenceto London.8 Journal of the Brewery History SocietyMasatake Wasa is completing his D.Phil.in Modern History at Brasenose College,Oxford, which focuses on the notion ofrights, equity and equitableness in earlymodern Brandenburg and SwedishPomerania with particular reference tobeer taxes and beer regulations. He haspreviously studied at King's College,London, and the School of Slavonic andEast European Studies / U.C.L., London.  AcknowledgementsThe guest editor and authors are grate-ful to all copyright holders for permissionto reproduce the illustrations featured inthis issue. They would also like to thankTim Holt and the anonymous refereesfor their help and suggestions duringthe production process.9Brewery History Number 135

Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World 1300-1600.

Alehouses, order and reformation in rural England 1590-1660',

Bacchus and Civic Order: The Culture of Drink in Early Modern Germany.

Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv,

Brown is interested in the material venues of social exchange in early modern England. He has written on the parish church and his Ph.D. thesis on 'The Landscape of Drink: Inns, Taverns and Alehouses in Early Modern Southampton' (University of Warwick,

Die Spaten-Brauerei 1397-1997: Die Geschichte eines Münchner Unternehmens vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart.

Die Taferne, Mühle und Badersölde in Erdweg',

Drinke and welcome: or the famous historie of the most part of drinks. London; see also the contributions on 'politicised drink'

Drinking Matters: Public Houses and Social Exchange in Early Modern Central Europe.

Europe Divided: Wine, Beer, and the Reformation in SixteenthCentury Europe',

European Urbanization 1500-1800.

For general references see the select bibliography included in this issue.

in the countryside. In 1788, the collector of one district accounted for 166 times as much wine as beer: State Archives of Bern,

op. cit., chapter 12; an extreme case in

op. cit., pp.218-9 (general trend); for details on the rotation system see Lindenau,

Poverty and Piety in an English Village: Terling 1525-1700. 2nd edn,

Press (focusing on economic and organizational aspects) and

Range of individual figures:

The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. 30th edn,

The drinking man's disease: The &quot;pre-history&quot; of alcoholism in Georgian Britain',

The Origins of the Modern State in Europe. 7 vols.,

Water of life, water of death: the controversy over brandy and gin in early modern Augsburg',

Brewing cultures in early modern towns : an introduction

http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/3364/1/WRAP_Kumin_-hi-141010-introduction_final.pdf

Brewing cultures in early modern towns : an introduction

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