Mead
Sources from Literature:
"Drank of the mead seven bumpers; his spirits rose, (and), exultant, Glad was his heart, and cheerful his face"
- Epic of Gilgamesh
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Columella De re rustica: 60 BCE.
“Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius of this water with a [Roman] pound of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rainwater, then boil spring water.”
Mabinogion, Beowulf and the Brythonic writings of the Welsh poet Taliesin - Kanu y med or “Song of Mead
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Y Gododdin - 7th to early 11th century:
VIII.
The heroes marched to Cattraeth, loquacious was the host;
Blue mead was their liquor, and it proved their poison;
XI.
The heroes marched to Cattraeth with the dawn;
Feelingly did their relatives [96d] regret their absence;
Mead they drank, yellow, sweet, ensnaring;
XIII.
The hero [98d] marched to Cattraeth with the day;
Truly [99a] he quaffed the white mead on serene nights; [99b]
XV.
When the tale shall be told of the battle of Cattraeth,
The people will utter sighs; [102c] long has been their grief on account of the warriors’ absence;
There will be a dominion without a sovereign, [102d] and a smoking land.
The sons of Godebog, an upright clan,
Bore the furrower [102e] on a long bier.
Miserable [103a] was the fate, though just the necessity,
Decreed for Tudvwlch and Cyvwlch the Tall; [103b]
Together they drank the bright mead by the light [103c] of torches, [103d]
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Sir Benet ap Hywel Guto’r Glyn states:
Medd, cwrw, nis maddau Corwen,
20Mêl cwyraidd mal y carwn.
Mead, beer, Corwen does not forego them,
honey like wax of the kind I would like.
Guto praises Rhys ap Dafydd of Uwch Aeron for his fresh mead:
Glasfedd i’w gyfedd a gaf
Gan hwn, llawer gwan a’i hyf.
I get fresh mead to drink
from this man, many a weak one drinks it.
Hywel Dafi accused Guto of overpraising the medd glas:
Medd ef, myfi a ddyfod
I’r medd glas ormodd o glod,
Says he, I declaimed
too much praise for the clear mead,
In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – The Miller’s Tale, mead is described as the draught of townfolk and used to court a fair lady. Chaucer also makes mention of spiking his claret with honey.
“He sent her sweetened wine and well-spiced ale
And waffles piping hot out of the fire,
And, she being town-bred, mead for her desire
For some are won by means of money spent
And some by tricks and some by long descent.”
Bibliography:
Heritage Daily - History of Mead - March 11, 2022 : https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/03/history-of-mead/126299
Guto's Wales: The life of a poet in fifteenth-century Wales: http://www.gutorglyn.net/gutoswales/gwledd-diod-medd.php
M. Haycock, ‘Where cider ends, there ale begins to reign’: drink in medieval Welsh poetry (Cambridge, 1999).
P. Brears, Cooking and Dining in Medieval England (Totnes, 2008), 107.
Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (Caerdydd, 1950-2002), s.v. meddyglyn, and ‘The Oxford English Dictionary’, s.v. metheglin.
Y Gododdin: Wikipedia: 28, July 2022: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Gododdin#cite_note-14
Y Gododin: A Poem on the Battle of Cattraeth, by Eneurin, A Welsh Bard of the Sixth Century, with an English Translation and Numerous Historical and Critical Annotations by The Rev. John Williams Ab Ithel, M.A. 1852, The Project Gutenberg eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9842/9842-h/9842-h.htm
Mead Lore: Mountain Dragon Mazery: Fine Honey Wines: http://www.mountaindragonmazery.com/meadlore.html