The great medieval water myth (2013)
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The great medieval water myth (2013)
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Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#2Was there ever a serious belief that nobody drank water? That seems a bit much.
I can think of a fiction book that rather heavily pushed the idea, but it seems like a few minutes of thought would show that there's no way to produce/transport/store enough beer-type liquid for people working on a farm.
Conversely, an aristocrat/noble who travelled to a different continent might conceivably attempt to only drink beers/etc.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#3Was there ever a serious belief that nobody drank water? That seems a bit much. I can think of a fiction book that rather heavily pushed the idea, but it seems like a few minutes of thought would show that there's no way to produce/transport/store enough beer-type liquid for people working on a farm. Conversely, an aristocrat/noble who travelled to a different continent might conceivably attempt to only drink beers/e…
The more common version of this, which I do remember hearing in history courses in college, was that people in the Middle Ages frequently mixed beer or wine with water. Whether that was done purely for taste, or in the belief that it would make potentially unsafe water safe, and what the details of making water safe to drink by mixing beer or wine with it actually are, I don't know. The author himself makes this point repeatedly, that water was frequently mixed with wine (at which point people are drinking watered wine).
It's like there are two parallel arguments:
"Medieval Europeans exclusively drank alcoholic beverages, because the water was so bad." And,
"We currently over-estimate the degree to which people in the Medieval-era consumed alcohol, and under-estimate the degree to which they drank pure water."
The author seems to conflate the two willy-nilly, claims the first to be widely held, and that he has disproved it (while, among others, citing Classical rather than Medieval sources).
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#4I always thought it quite weird that somehow by virtue of being in beer, that the water somehow becomes sterilised.
If you've ever tried home brewing, you'll know that non-sterile conditions lead to foul rancid filth due to all the bacteria etc.
I'd find it odd if the people then knew to sterlise the water and equipment to make beer, but then not do the same to drink it.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#5I always thought it quite weird that somehow by virtue of being in beer, that the water somehow becomes sterilised. If you've ever tried home brewing, you'll know that non-sterile conditions lead to foul rancid filth due to all the bacteria etc. I'd find it odd if the people then knew to sterlise the water and equipment to make beer, but then not do the same to drink it.
I always understood the myth as: "When you traveled somewhere and didn't know about the water-quality, you drank beer instead".
Not that beer is immune against making you ill, but chances are random beer in some random village is better than random water in some random village, since the village people would use the good water for the beer.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#6I always thought it quite weird that somehow by virtue of being in beer, that the water somehow becomes sterilised. If you've ever tried home brewing, you'll know that non-sterile conditions lead to foul rancid filth due to all the bacteria etc. I'd find it odd if the people then knew to sterlise the water and equipment to make beer, but then not do the same to drink it.
I always understood the myth as: "When you traveled somewhere and didn't know about the water-quality, you drank beer instead". Not that beer is immune against making you ill, but chances are random beer in some random village is better than random water in some random village, since the village people would use the good water for the beer.
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Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#7Was there ever a serious belief that nobody drank water? That seems a bit much. I can think of a fiction book that rather heavily pushed the idea, but it seems like a few minutes of thought would show that there's no way to produce/transport/store enough beer-type liquid for people working on a farm. Conversely, an aristocrat/noble who travelled to a different continent might conceivably attempt to only drink beers/e…
The more common version of this, which I do remember hearing in history courses in college, was that people in the Middle Ages frequently mixed beer or wine with water. Whether that was done purely for taste, or in the belief that it would make potentially unsafe water safe, and what the details of making water safe to drink by mixing beer or wine with it actually are, I don't know. The author himself makes this poin…
Part of it I think was also that wine, but also likely beer was somewhat expensive. So adding water meant there was more liquid.
Mass production and transportation of everything at scales we have is very recent. So adding water to wine made it last longer.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I always understood the myth as: "When you traveled somewhere and didn't know about the water-quality, you drank beer instead". Not that beer is immune against making you ill, but chances are random beer in some random village is better than random water in some random village, since the village people would use the good water for the beer.
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Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#9I always thought it quite weird that somehow by virtue of being in beer, that the water somehow becomes sterilised. If you've ever tried home brewing, you'll know that non-sterile conditions lead to foul rancid filth due to all the bacteria etc. I'd find it odd if the people then knew to sterlise the water and equipment to make beer, but then not do the same to drink it.
The idea is by making it beer you keep safe water safe for longer. It doesn't sound particularly weird to me (I don't know if it was really a common practice in medieval Europe.)
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#10I always thought it quite weird that somehow by virtue of being in beer, that the water somehow becomes sterilised. If you've ever tried home brewing, you'll know that non-sterile conditions lead to foul rancid filth due to all the bacteria etc. I'd find it odd if the people then knew to sterlise the water and equipment to make beer, but then not do the same to drink it.
As someone who until recently had believed this myth and had never tried home brewing, the theory was that the alcohol kills the bacteria