Today, depictions of the proverbial drunkard are shaped by well-known images of a stumbling, bumbling, red-faced drinker. Appearing as a popular trope in cartoons, films, or in other mediums, we can often spot the 'drunkard' with ease. But how did such an image come into being? In this episode, we discuss some of the stories that left an enduring mark on the way people came to perceive who the drunkard actually was. This episode also digs into the history of alewives, or brewsters - the women responsible for brewing un-hopped ales, but instead came to face increasing vilification in literary tales. Through a study of literature and religious tracts, we can see the increasing association between the drunkard and the devil, and the ways the drunkard steadily turned into an unwanted outcast.

Sources:

An Act for repressinge the odious and loathsome synne of Drunckennes,” 1606. HL/PO/PU 1. The Statues of the Realm, 1586 to 1624, 1142. The Parliamentary Archives, London, United Kingdom.

Edward Buckler, The sin and folly of drunkenness considered (London: 1682).

Edward Bury, England’s Bane, or The Deadly Danger of Drunkenness (London: 1677).

Samuel Clarke and Samuel Ward, A Warning-piece to All Drunkards and Health-Drinkers (London: 1682).

Thomas Heywood, Philocothomista, or the Drunkard, Opened, Dissected and Atomized (London: 1635

William Langland, The Book Concerning Piers the Plowman, edited and translated by Donaled and Rachel Attwater (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc., 1957).

R.M Lumiansky and David Mills, eds, The Chester Mystery Cycle, Vol. I. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974).

Samuel Sewall, Diary of Samuel Sewall: 1674-1729, Volume 6 (Massachusetts Historical Society, 1879).

John Skelton, John Skelton Selected Poems, edited by Gerald Hammond (Manchester: Fyfield Books, 1980).

Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire: A philosophical dictionary, edited by Tobias George Smollett, John Morley, William F. Fleming, Oliver Herbrand, George Leigh (E.R. Du Mont, 1901).

Judith Bennett, Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).

John Bickerdyke, The Curiosities of Ale and Beer: an Entertaining History (London: Spring Books, 1965).

Peter Clark, The English Alehouse: a Social History, 1200-1830 (New York: Longman, 1983).

James Nicholls, The Politics of Alcohol: A History of the Drink Question in England (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011).

Richard W. Unger, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004).

Written and recorded by: Kenyon Payne

Theme music: "Southern Gothic" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Outro music: “D´vil,” anrocomposer

Additional featured music:

“Church Choir,” NNChannel

“Baroque Pop,” alanajordan

“Legacy Begins,” DayFox

“Medieval Dance,” Ebunny

“The Tavern,” Ehved

“Into the Darkness, Cello Version,” Onetent

“Steampunk Victorian Orchestra,” Luis_Humanoide

“Danse Macabre,” Saint Saens (version by Abydos_Music)

“Tavern Celebration,” Table Top Audio

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Viking mead, drinking horns, and fighting monks - oh my! In this episode, we are venturing into the tumultuous years that followed the end of Roman rule in the west. Moving into the medieval era, we will touch on some of the favorite drinks of those infamous raiders known as the Vikings, as well as what it really meant to be drunk as a monk.

The episode opens with a brief note about some audio issues that came through during the recording and editing process. Apologies for the quality, but here's to better recording days in the future.

Sources:

Information pulled from priory records and ledger books was accessed through British History Online (www.british-history.ac.uk).

St. Benedict’s Rule for Monks, provided online by the Abbey of Regina Laudis.

Mia Ball, The Worshipful Company of Brewers: A Short History (Hutchinson Benham, 1977).

Judith M. Bennett, Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 (Oxford University Press, 1996).

Mark Cartwright, “The Daily Life of Medieval Monks,” World History Encyclopedia (December 13, 2018).

Marianne Hem Eriksen and Brian Costello, “Bodies of Intoxication: Psychoactives in Viking Ritual Practice,” Ritual Performance in the Viking Age (2022).

Robin Fleming, “Monastic Lands and England’s Defence in the Viking Age,” The English Historical Review Vol. 100, NO. 395 (April 1985): 247-265.

Bernadette Giacomazzo, “The Fascinating History of the Drinking Horn, the Thirst-Quenching Vessel of Viking Legend,” edited by John Kuroski, ATI (July 21, 2022).

Barbara Harvey, Living and Dying in England, 110-1540: The Monastic Experience (Clarendon Press, 1993).

Anne Hofmann, “Drinking Horns in Old Norse Culture: A Tradition Under Examination,” Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia: Rituals in the Past, Vol. 10 (2015): 241-258.

H.A. Monckton, A History of English Ale and Beer (Bodley Head, 1966).

Philip Parker, “A Brief History of the Vikings,” History Extra (April 20, 2020).

Lyonel Perabo, “Drinking Customs of the Vikings,” Bivrost (February 9, 2015).

Rod Phillips, Alcohol: A History (University of North Carolina Press, 2014).

Lorna Price, The Plan of St. Gall in Brief (University of California Press, 1982).

Charles Riskeley, “Ceremonial Drinking in the Viking Age,” Master’s Thesis, (University of Oslo, 2014).

Richard W. Unger, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004).

Jereme Zimmerman, “Make Mead Like a Viking,” Fermentology (April 19, 2022).

Written and recorded by: Kenyon Payne

Theme music: "Southern Gothic" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Additional featured music:

“D´vil,” anrocomposer

“Gregorian Chant - Regina Caeli Prayer,” nickpanek620

“Cathedral,” TableTop Audio

“Vikings,” TableTop Audio

“The Hearth Inn,” TableTop Audio

“Cutpurse Pursuit,” TableTop Audio

“Viking Tavern,” TableTop Audio

“The Maddening Crowd,” TableTop Audio

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In this episode we will see how the drunkard became a sinner as we touch on the ways prominent monotheistic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam came to view alcohol and the sin of drunkenness, and how these perceptions proved immensely influential to the broader history of alcohol.

Sources:

“Drunkenness,” Jewish Virtual Library, Encyclopaedia Judaica (2007).

Ammianus Macellinus, The Roman History, “Roman Antiquities” (Book XXXI), c. 390 CE (Loeb Classical Library edition, 1930).

Priscus, “Dinner with Attila,” Reading in European History, translated by J.H. Robinson (1905).

Teresa Morgan, Popular Morality in the Early Roman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2007).

Charles Cosgrove, “Banquet Ceremonies Involving Wine in the Greco-Roman World and Early Christianity,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Vol. 79, No. 2 (April 2017).

Edward Gibbon, History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Vol. 3 (1782, revised edition, 1845).

N.S. Gill, “The Etymology of the Word Pagan,” ThoughtCo (June 25, 2024).

N.S. Gill, “How Did Attila the Hun Die?” ThoughtCo (October 29, 2019).

S.E. Hakenbeck, U. Büntgen, “The Role of Drought during the Hunnic Incursions into Central-East Europe in the 4th and 5th Centuries CE,” Journal of Roman Archaeology (2022).

Rod Phillips, Alcohol: A History (University of North Carolina Press, 2014).

W.J. Rorabaugh, The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1979).

Benjamin Sledge, “The Curious Case of Christians and Alcohol,” Medium (November 30, 2016).

Joe Thorn, “A Theology of Wine,” Doctrine and Devotion (February 14, 2017).

Written and recorded by: Kenyon Payne

Theme music: "Southern Gothic" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Additional featured music:

D´vil, anrocomposer

Godhaven, TableTop Audio

Arabesque, TableTop Audio

Abandoned Chapel, TableTop Audio

Oasis City, TableTop Audio

The Wild Hunt, TableTop Audio

The Steppes, TableTop Audio

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.