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Water of Life, Water of Death: The Controversy over Brandy and Gin in Early Modern Augsburg

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

B. Ann Tlusty
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Extract

“It is good for those who are sad or down-hearted […] It brings one back to bodily strength, and makes one lusty and merry,” wrote Hieronymus Brunschwig of brandy in his Book of Distilling in 1532. Distilled liquors were was “wonder drugs” of the early modern period, prescribed medicinally both as prevention and cure for virtually every known malady, of the spirit as well as the body. According to Brunschwig, the capacity of brandy actually to lengthen one's life was the basis for its medieval appellation aqua vitae (water of life). The potential for the abuse of these “medicines,” however, was evident to medical and legal bodies alike; the “water of life” could become a “water of death,” as physician Sigismund Klose noted in 1697.

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Articles
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Central European History , Volume 31 , Issue 1-2 , March 1998 , pp. 1 - 30
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Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 1998

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References

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33. The title page of Brunschwig's sixteeth-centuy Small Book of Distilling, for example, depicts a botanical garden with distilling apparatus, in which men are operating the stills, and woman are gathering plants herbs.Google Scholar

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41. Laves, Die Entwicklung, 443.Google Scholar

42. SadtAA, HWA BWB, 1614, 1620, 1623; for tavern bills submitted for the quartering of soldiers during the Thirty Year's War, which include brandy as a part of the morning meal (although the soldiers often consumed large amounts of wine and beer during their eveing drinking bouts, the tavern-Keepers never repoted the use of brandy during the evening), see StadtAA, Militia nr. 59, Landquartierwesen 1639–1647. See also Strafamt, Protokolle der Zucht- und Strafherren, 1537–1631, recorded fines forillegal brandy sales overwhelmingly during the months; and Spoke, Alkohol, 70.Google Scholar

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46. A position of some prestige, although not equal to the elite patrician “small” council (kleiner Rat); StadtAA, HWA BWB; Mair, Chroniken, 163–64.Google Scholar

47. Based on tax records (StadtAA, Steuerbücher) for 1590, 1618 and 1645. Taxes for persons who identify themselves as brandysellers (Branntweiner) for these years range from 30 kreutzer to over 25 florins in addition to the minimum head tax, indicating an above average economic stasus:Google Scholar see Clasen, Claus-Peter, Die Augsburger Steuerbücher um 1600 (Augsburg: 1976), 9.Google Scholar

48. StadtAA, Schätze no. 179, Ungeltbuch 1459–1536; Strafamt, Strfbuch 1509–1526, fols. 70–71, records restrictions on brandy-drinking for individual drunkards in 1517; and StadtAA, Sshätze no. 16, Sammlung Städtischer Verordnungen und Erlässe, 26, records an undated decree controlling brandy-drinking that was copied in 1536 but probably in effect somewhat earlier.Google Scholar

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51. See n. 19.Google Scholar

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56. “der gemeiner Mann […] dardurch gleich am morgen frue erhitziget, vnd nachmittags sich in dem Bier abzukhülen verursacht wirdt…” StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1631.Google Scholar

57. “schmertzen seiner glid[e] erlitten”: StadtAA, Strafamt, Urgichten 1543–44, 10 April 1544.Google Scholar

58. Ibid. Block was arrested for cursing in the streets and insulting the city bailiff, and aferward insulting city authorities while he was locked in the fool's house (Narrenhaus), a cage located near the council house served asd a holding cell while exposing drunkards to public ridicule. Block was restricted to drinking wine and beer only in his own hone, which was typical for cases involving drunkenness; forbidding the use of brandy specifically was rare.

59. “Item dhweil der Prenntwein […] zu weiter füllerey anzündt…”; StsdtAA, Zuchtordnungen, Zucht und Policey Ordnung 1537; Staddt, HWA BWB, Policey Ordung, den pranntt Weyn beterffentt, Oct. 1555; ibid., 1631.

60. StadtAA, Schätze no. 16, fol. 26: Gebrannten wein betreffend (n.d., but transcribed in 1536). Ordinances controlling the production and sale of brandy in Augsburg tended to lag behind similar controls in Nuremberg, which was a larger producer of brandy in the sixteeth century. Augsburg brandy was imported at least untill 1587, primarily from Alsace. StadtAa, HWA BWB, Policey Ordnung den pranntt Weyn Betreffent, 1555; ibid., 1587.

61. StadtAA BWB HWA 1555, 1557, 1568, 1580–1588, 1614, 1623.Google Scholar

62. Ibid., 1557, 1568.

63. “…frembde hart arbeitsam Paurs Volckh…”: Ibid., 1580; “Vber das auch der gemanie hart arbeitende Mann […] so soch nur mit hartes vnnd grober speiß, Ja offt nur mit dem trocknen brot zu speisen, vnnd ausserhalb des Brantenweins mit lauttern Wasser zu trencken pflegen.” Ibid., 1588.

64. “…kain solch getranckh, derein vberflüssig zuzehren, sondern allein zur crafft, oder Artzney zugebrauchen.” Ibid., 1614; the limit was raised again to 12 kreutzer during the thirty years' War (1623), when inflation allowed brandy sellerss to clain the need to provide a cheaper alternative to eating and drinking in taverns; ibid., 1623.

65. StadtAA, Strafamt, Protocoll der Zucht- und Straffherren, 1589–1591. Ten of the 22 infractions were by male brandysellers, eight by male Huckers (samll shopkeepers) amd krämer (grocers), two by craftsmen's wives, two by widows (one a grocer's widow), and one by a Goldpinner. The Goldspinner's name appears 13 later in craft records as a brandyseller (Conrad Ebling, StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1613).Google Scholar

66. “Jedoch dass das nidersitzen nit mißbraucht…;”; StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1614.Google Scholar

67. “Demnach aber diser zeit die frembden Soldaten […] wann inen nicht nach iren begern geben vnnd aufgetragen wirdt, nun grosse vngelegenheit leibs vnnd lebens gefahr zuegewarthen, inmassen sie dann alsobaldt mit gantz betrolichen wortten kommen, dass sie die leuth beschedigen, erschießen, fenster einwerffen, die thüeren ein sprengen, ja gar hauß vnd hoff anzünden wellen…” Ibid., 1632. On the spread of spirits use during the Thirty Years' War, see August Jegal, “Ernärungsfürsorge des Altnürnberger Rates,” Mitteilungen des vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg 37 (1940), 73–199, 159.

68. StadtAA, Militaria Nr. 59 Lanquaritierwesen 1639–1647.Google Scholar

69. StadtAA, Strafamt, Urgichten 1541–1542, Sixt Röting, March 1542; Strafbuch 1633–1653, 327; Urgichten 1592c, Jacob Frantz, 30 September 1592; Urgichten 1592d, Felicitas Reischlerin, 30 September–1 10 1592; Recichsstadt Chroniken no. 27, Chronik von Augsburg bis 1697, 15 December 1600; HWA BWB, 1604, Anders Kölling; Strafamt, Urgichten 1595d, 29 December, Leonhartd seitz, which describes soldiers who engaged in a tavern drinking bout with brandy in the countryside.Google Scholar

70. StSBA, Lands und Policey Ordnung der Fürstenthumben Obern und Nidern Bayern, Munchen 1616; StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1688; StadtAA, Ratsbücher Nr. 83, 1686–1689; HWA, Bier und Weinwirte 1520–1811 1, 24 January 1737; ibid., 23 February 1745. Regulations by this time applied also to coffee houses.

71. “Parnntwein vß Waizen Bierheffen vnnd annderer besern materi […] so zu trinckhen an iren gesundt schedlich auch der Waitzen dardurch vnnutzlich verschwendt wirdt”; StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1570. Distilling “brandy” from beer yeast was forbidden in other cities at least as early as 1530; Rau, “Ärztliche Gutachten,” 8.Google Scholar

72. Ungeld was an excise tax collected on the production and sale of certain consumable goods, including wine, beer, brandy, wood, and honey, established in Augsburg in the thirteenth century. The Ungald Lords, appointed by the council, were responsible for levying the tax and controlling the sales of these commodities. see also Baer, Wolfarm et al., eds., Augsburger Stadtlexikon (Augsburg, 1985), 384–85.Google Scholar

73. “…der Pranntwein so auß obngedeuter falscher materi geprannt…” StadtAA, HWA BWB 1537–1698, 1570.Google Scholar

74. Ibid., correspondence from 1570–1674.

75. “…der gemeiner Mann […] sehr betrogen, dadurch gleich am morgen frue erhitziget, und nachmittags sich in dem Bier abzukhüelen, verursacht wirdt, dass Zechen auch so wohl bey tag, alls bey nacht,…” StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1631.Google Scholar

76. StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1589; Strafamt, Strafbuch 1588–1596, fol 37.Google Scholar

77. StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1589; Stadtarchiv Nuremberg, B15/IV Branntwein Ordnung, 1567.Google Scholar

78. Based on income estimates for the sixteenth century in Augsburg, from Dirlmeire, Ulf, Untersuchungen zu Enikommensverhältnissen und Lebenshaltunskosten in oberdeutschen Städten des Spätmittelalters (Heidelberg, 1978), 206–12.Google Scholar

79. “ein Zeitlang aus der Stat geschaft.” StadtAA HWA BWB, 1590; Strafamt, Strafbuch 1588–1596, fols. 94–95.Google Scholar

80. StadtAA, Urgichten 1602c, 15 July 1602.Google Scholar

81. StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1604, 1613.Google Scholar

82. Also called Wacholderbeerwasser. Schrick, von allen, fol. 10. Schrich's recipe appeared 50 years earlier than the first recipe for juniper-flavored brandy in the Dutch language, which has been cited as the “beginning of the history of gin.” See Austin, Alcohol in Western Society, 168; Forbes, A Short History, 159;Google ScholarRoueché, Berton, “Alcohol in Human Culture,” in Alcohol and Civilization, ed. Lucia, Salvatore (New York, 1963). Roueché attributed the “discovery” of gin the Dutch professor Franciscus Sylvius, whose major role in the growth of the gin industry was not its initiation, but its introduction in Holland from which it quickly spread to England.Google Scholar

83. “…darauff schlechten verstandt, also weing verstand, hat.” The Augsburg authorities claimed that hiding taste of the spirits with juniper was a means to “fool” the common man: StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1613. On the use juniper to mask the taste of grain alcohol, which was considered unpleasant, see Roueché, “Alcohol,” 173; Zedler, Grosses, 1088–89.Google Scholar

84. StadtAA, HWA, BWB, Conradt Ebling et al., 7 September 1613.Google Scholar

85. “Hab weder gerecht noch ungerecht brentwein nie getragen, [sondern] nur krametbeerwasser…” StadtAA, Strafamt Urgichten 1594d, Matheis Egkh, 17 December 1594; Strafamt, Strafbuch 1588–1596, fol. 224.Google Scholar

86. StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1623.Google Scholar

87. StadtAA, Collegium Medicum, Destillatores et Chymici, Deputierte über die Apoteckhen, December 1623.Google Scholar

88. StadtAA, HWA BWB, Branntwein Ordung 1623.Google Scholar

89. “…selbiger auch so weit erwachsen, dass schier an allen Orthen vnd gassen der Statt dergleichen Getranckh gebrennt,” ibid., 1631.

90. “…vnsere Wasser den menschen, wann er die, wie aale andere guete sadchen, mit mässigkeit gebraucht, nicht schädlich, sondern nutzlich sein […] vnsere gebrante wasser vil gesunder vnd heilsamer den menschen seiend, dann vnserer widerparth[en] gemeine vnd schlechten brantenwein…” StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1631.Google Scholar

91. Ibid.

92. On comparative prices, see Rau, “Ärztliche Gutachten,” 7; StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1637.Google Scholar

93. Austin, Alcohol in Western Society, 219; Forbes, A Short History, 103; stadtarchiv Nuremberg, B15/I Ordnung dess Brandtwein brennens, 1648; Stadtarchiv Nuremberg, A6/1677, Einschleichen des Brandweins 1655.Google Scholar

94. StadtAA, HWA BWB, 13–22 January 1637, Johann Schaur.Google Scholar

95. See for example StadtAA, Strafamt, Urgichten 1602c, Sara Ballier, 15 July 1602, who testified that she didn't know that producing grain spirits was illegal if she was dependent upon it to get by; on a subsequent arrest she noted that she didn't think the punishment would be serious since so many others were also selling the product (Urgichten 1603d, 20 October 1603).Google Scholar

96. “habe nit vermeint, dass so erschröeklich und heffig verbotten seye”. StadtAA, HWA BWB, Anna Thomain, 1643.Google Scholar

97. Ibid; StadtAA, Strafamt, Strafbuch 1633–1653, 271.

98. StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1674.Google Scholar

99. StadtAA, Einnehmerbücher, 1510–1680; see also Tlusty, “The Devil's Altar,” 172–83.Google Scholar

100. “…hierdurch gemainer Statt am Ungelt schaden […] verursacht” StadtAA, Strafamt, Strafbuch 1633–1653, 271.Google Scholar

101. StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1574.Google Scholar

102. StadtAA, HWA BWB, Hans Martin Eberlin, 1676.Google Scholar

103. StadtAA, Alphabetisches Register über die Namen in dem Musterungsregister von 1615; Alphabetisches Register über die Beschreibung der Stadt Augsburg von 1645; Strafamt, Strafbuch 1654–1699 fol. 662.Google Scholar

104. StadtAA, Ratserlasse, Policey- Zierd- Kleider- Hochzeit- Kind Tauf- und Leich- Ordnung, Augsburg, 1683, 30.Google Scholar

105. StadtAA, HWA BWB, Johann Jacob Weissens, 1688. The 1688 decision allowing brewers to distill their own “brandy” for sale in beer taverns (noted above) was almost certainly referring to spirits from beer yeast, although the language is not explicit: StadtAA, HWA BWB, 1688; StadtAA, Ratsbücher no. 83, 1686–1689, 312.Google Scholar

106. StSBA, 4° Cod.Aug.1020, Ordnungen I Abt. 99, Brandewein Brenner Ordnung 1746.Google Scholar

107. Forbes, A Short History, 132, 159. William Hogarth's socially critical etchings of the mid-eighteenth century, Beer Street and Gin Lane, illustrate not only the disorderly effects of the abuse of the inexpensive spirits, but also the threat Hogarth believed gin posed to the economy as it surpassed beer in popularity. Similar concerns were voiced in Germany during the eighteenth century: Medick., “Plebejische Kultur,” 203–4; StadtAA, Ordnungen und Statuten, Karton 3 no. 114, Brandewein-Brenner Ordnung 1746.Google Scholar

108. Medick, “Plebejische Kultur,” 187.Google Scholar

109. For another model of the negative affects of competitive infighting on the alcohol trade, see Gutzke, David W., Protecting the Pub: Brewers and Publicans against Temperance (Wolfeboro, N.H., 1989).Google Scholar

110. Van Dülmen, , Entstehung, 208–9; Michael Stolleis, “‘von dem grewlichen Laster der Trunckenheit,” 177–91.Google Scholar

111. Warner also notes the lack of literature addressing the social history of alcohol during the early modern period; “In Another City,” 485–86.Google Scholar