A blog about mead definitely needs a post about
the history of mead; so here it is!
In ancient mythology mead was drunk by the gods
and by men. It was drunk to refresh and stimulate as well as having magical and
sacred properties, therefore all things associated with mead, including honey
and bees, were held in high regard in mythology. In Aryan mythology there was
even a belief that in heaven there was mead coming from a spring. Mead in
general was considered magical in one way or another throughout ancient
history. Among its qualities mead was made for strength, virility, length of
life, and it also had re-creative powers. It may even be where we get the word honeymoon from, as the ancient Gothics
would feast on mead during a marriage and for a month afterwards. Mead was used
as a love-stimulant and aphrodisiac as well!
Mead, along with wine and beer, were the three
most popular fermented beverages in ancient Europe. It is suggested that the
fermentation process was “found” accidentally after leaving certain foods out
for extended periods of time which allowed for the accidental fermentation,
especially milk, fruits and honey, but also to a lesser extent malt cereals
(beer). Mead is generally associated with Northern Europe where the populations
appeared to be much less picky about what intoxicants they drank; although evidence
of it has recently been found further south in the Mediterranean where mead was
suggested to have been known to the Greeks (who appear to be much pickier about
their choice of intoxicant) before wine. The origin of the word “mead” may even
be Indo-European. The Greek word for “intoxicant” is methu, (which is related to the English word “mead”) and the
Sanskrit word for “mead” is madhu,
which leads back to an Indo-European origin médhu.
The epic poem Beowulf
describes mead halls in great detail. These mead halls were used as places where
the chieftain and his retainers would meet to drink together, with the mead
used as a reward for battling for the chieftain. Although the epic poem does
not describe in a ton of detail the food and drinks that they ate and drank in
the mead hall it does describe the importance of the act of drinking itself,
and that it was intoxicating and was drunk communally. Interestingly enough
intoxicants were used and produced later in Europe by the monasteries. The
intoxicants were also given in small doses to those who were sick or injured as
a type of medicine or cure.
The biggest reason for the decline of mead seemed
to be due to the decrease in availability of honey and the increase in the
price of honey. The decrease in honey was caused by the increasing amount of
deforestation and other forms of land manipulation. This decreased and
destroyed the bees’ homes, which of course means less honey. Although this is
but one of many reasons for the decline of mead. One other big reason was the
change from dry to sweet wines throughout Europe. The peasantry were the last
ones who produced mead regularly. Once the change to modern beehives there was
no leftover honeycomb from which they could make their own supply of mead after
selling all of their honey. In the present day mead is quite hard to come by
and quite pricey.
During this last summer I attended the Slavs and
Vikings Festival in Wolin, Poland where I found one stall that sold mead. They
sold two kinds, as best as I could understand one was made from honey that was
made from the pollen of different flowers and the other one I believe was made
from the pollen of one type of flower. I tried them both and they had very
different distinctive flavours which I found very interesting as I assumed they
would be very similar to each other. So the mead used by Vikings and other
Europeans may have all tasted quite different as different flowers grew in
different regions of Europe.
Bibliography
GAYRE, G.R., 1948. Wassail! In Mazers of Mead. London: Phillimore and Co. Ltd.
NELSON, M., 2005. The Barbarian’s Beverage: A History of Beer in Ancient Europe. London:
Routledge.
