A. Lynn Martin

Origins and rise of the British distillery

Beginnings of distilling in Western antiquity the medieval spread of distilling renaissance developments and promulgation the Stuart era - distilling emerges as a profession the early market for British spirits foreign competition and the rise of taxation English distilling in transition triumph of the English distillers the growing market for British spirits apex of the British distillery the new temperance onslaught regulation and decline of the British distillery, conclusion and afterthoughts.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in Europe, 1300-1700: A Review of Data on Alcohol Consumption and A Hypothesis

This article attempts to integrate four separate bodies of knowledge. The first is modern medical understanding of the effects of alcohol on the unborn fetus, producing a condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome. One of the effects is a significant decrease in the weight of the fetus, leading to increased and significant perinatal mortality, that is, mortality during the last five months of pregnancy and the first month after birth. The second body of knowledge is the work of historical demographers that demonstrates a high level of infant mortality in pre-industrial Europe with one in four or even one in two children not surviving until the age of five. The third is the evidence that demonstrates women consumed large amounts of alcohol in pre-industrial Europe. Perhaps this drinking led to the development of fetal alcohol syndrome in the unborn, a development that could partially account for the high level of infant mortality. The fourth is contemporary beliefs about the effects of alcohol on the unborn; these beliefs demonstrate a recognition of the fetal alcohol syndrome long before the modern medical profession defined it.

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

Martin Scheutz, Review of Beat Kumin: Drinking Matters: Public Houses and Social Exchange in Early Modern Central Europe

Alehouses, Taverns, and Prostitutes

‘The adulterer and usurer desire to enjoy their sin alone, but the chiefest pastime of a drunkard is to heat and overcome others with wine that he may discover their nakedness and glory in their foil and folly.’ This was how, in his sermon ‘Woe to Drunkards’ dated 1622, Samuel Ward explained the propensity of drinkers to drink together.1 Drinking was a gregarious and sociable pastime in traditional Europe. Richard Allestree listed the main reasons for drinking in The Whole Duty of Man, published in 1678; at the top of his list were good fellowship and the preservation of friendship.2 Studies of modern drinking behavior have emphasized the masculine exclusiveness of such fellowship and friendship. The English pub, the French tavern, and the Greek cafe have been centers of male drinking rituals that have excluded females. As noted by Dimitra Gefou-Madianou, the insecurity of men in households and with feminine company led them to seek male solidarity in drinking establishments.3 Men fled feminine control by taking refuge with their fellow escapees in pubs, bars, taverns, cabarets, and cafes. The privatization of women that has been associated with the development of the modern family also applied to their consumption of alcoholic beverages; women drank by themselves, with other women, or with their families but usually in private and seldom in the public space of taverns and bars.4

Unruly Women and Violent Men

Studies of male drinking behavior in modern societies note that one of the reasons men drink is because of the feeling of power that alcohol gives them. In his article entitled ‘Drinking as a Manifestation of Power Concerns,’ Richard A. Boyatzis states that, ‘men drink alcoholic beverages to attain, or regain, a feeling of strength.’ Drinking makes men feel strong and important, and it makes them feel that they can dominate or influence others. This attribute of alcohol can have a detrimental effect on the other reasons men engage in drinking. After fleeing from the threatening and civilizing female presence in the home, men take refuge in male-dominated drinking establishments and engage in macho drinking contests with companions, colleagues, and neighbors. The fellowship of the drink reinforces ties of identity and solidarity. The jolly congeniality of such activity is misleading, because violence always lurks around the corner. Ties of identity and solidarity can be directed against outsiders, drunken jokes that make fun of a fellow drinker can become insults impugning his masculine honor, and the feeling of dominance and influence that comes from alcohol can lead to aggressive, assertive, and even violent behavior. What about women? According to Boyatzis, alcohol does not work that way for women. Drinking makes women feel more feminine, less assertive and aggressive, and less concerned with power.1 In traditional Europe, however, alcohol made women assertive and aggressive, and it made them challenge patriarchal power. Women drank to escape subordination. At least that was how men perceived drinking women.

Women and Alcohol

Late in the fourteenth century a citizen of Paris wrote a set of instructions for his young wife. The instructions reeked with patriarchal authority and included advice on managing the household and avoiding vices such as the sin of gluttony. Personifying gluttony was a woman who had trouble rising in the morning in time for church as a result of a hangover. ‘When she has with some difficulty risen, know you what be her hours? Her matins are: “Ha! what shall we drink? Is there nought left over from last night?” Then she says her lauds, thus: “Ha! we drank good wine yesterday evening.” Afterwards she says her orisons, thus: “My head aches; I shall not be at ease until I have had a drink.” ’1 The woman had the obvious symptoms of an alcoholic. Modern studies reveal that the rate of alcoholism is much higher among men than among women; in North America the rate for men is six times the rate for women.2 The instructions of the citizen of Paris do not indicate a higher rate for women in traditional Europe; he was intent on making a point to his wife. They do indicate that women consumed alcohol.

Husbands and Wives

In the fifteenth century Simone Prudenzani told the story of a husband determined to teach his drunken wife a lesson. After she had passed out during one of her binges, he shut her in a cabinet. When she awoke she believed she had died and gone to hell, and then she asked for a drink.1 Jean de La Fontaine retold the story in the seventeenth century and reversed the roles. The French wife was more enterprising than the Italian husband, for she put her husband in an actual tomb, disguised herself as a phantom, and awaited his awakening. ‘Who are you?’ he asked; ‘The cellarer of the kingdom of Satan,’ she responded, so he asked for a drink.2 The reversal of the roles illustrates that the drinking of both husbands and wives could create marital discord or worse. Ecclesiastical courts had long accepted habitual drunkenness by either partner as grounds for separation in marriage.3 To return to the reference to the kingdom of Satan, a drunken violent man married to a drunken unruly woman would be the archetypal marriage from hell.

Sex and Alcohol

As Mrs. Knowles complained to Dr. Johnson, ‘the mason’s wife, if she is ever seen in liquor, is ruined; the mason may get himself drunk as often as he pleases with little loss of character.’1 The ruin resulted not just from the liquor itself but from the association between liquor and sex. To preserve her honor a woman should never become drunk, better yet drink little, best of all never drink. In contrast to the effects of drink on the promiscuous woman, Bacchus never had power over the virtuous maiden in Chaucer’s ‘Physician’s Tale.’2 In short, two different images of women emerged that were dependent on the quantity of alcohol consumed: the good image of the woman who drank a little and the bad image of the woman who drank too much and as a consequence gained a reputation for unbridled sexuality.3 Studies of differential drinking in modern societies demonstrate the existence of a double standard in appropriate drinking behavior. Men suffer a loss of honor if they are poor drinkers, if they cannot hold their liquor, if they are easy drunks; they demonstrate their macho virility by consuming large amounts. Nonetheless, they do not lose as much honor as do women who drink a lot or become drunk. Such women gain a reputation for their lack of self-control, which leads to sexual promiscuity and in turn leads to the loss of respect.4

Galileo and the Church: Political Inquisition or Critical Dialogue? by Rivka Feldhay (review)

Each one of these well-written essays not only offers precious information but also thoughtful analysis and stimulating observations. In order presumably not to frighten the reader, the original footnotes have been changed to endnotes, but they are complete and offer many precious references.There is also a very useful index. Happily this republication marks a renewed interest in the field as a new generation of scholars has been following Neveus lead in this demanding but important path.We may hope to see in the future more works that will contribute to a better knowledge of Gallican scholarship and an assessment of its influence upon the European Republic of Letters.