In the Sixteenth Century, Our Beer and Mead Were Praised in German Lands

A German Book of 1554 and an Unexpected Reference to Lithuania

Fifteen years before the Union of Lublin, another edition of the Latin collection De tuenda bona valetudine — “On Preserving Good Health” — appeared in Frankfurt am Main in 1554. It was printed by Christian Egenolff, identified on the title page as Apud Chr. Egen. An earlier Frankfurt edition from 1551 is recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, while the 1554 edition is catalogued by the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The volume is based on a work by the German humanist and Neo-Latin poet Helius Eobanus Hessus (1488–1540). His text is accompanied by extensive commentary by the physician Ioannes Placotomus (Johann Brettschneider, 1514–1577). Hessus was a humanist and Neo-Latin poet, while Placotomus was a physician, apothecary and educator who became professor of medicine at the newly founded University of Königsberg in 1544.

Of particular interest for the history of drinks is a separate work by Placotomus included in the volume:

De natura et viribus cerevisiarum et mulsarum —

“On the Nature and Properties of Beers and Honey-Based Drinks.”

It contains short sections on Polish and Lithuanian beers and, later, a discussion of the celebrated “Lithuanian honey.” The treatise De natura & viribus cerevisiarum, & mulsarum is explicitly listed in the bibliographical description of the 1554 edition.

What Did “Lithuania” Mean in the Mid-Sixteenth Century?

An important clarification is necessary here.

When a sixteenth-century author uses words such as Lituanicae, Lituanicas or Lithuanicum, they should not automatically be understood as references to the territory of the modern Republic of Lithuania.

In 1554 there existed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a large polity encompassing lands that today belong to Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and parts of several neighbouring countries. In 1569 the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania concluded the Union of Lublin and formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

This distinction is especially important for the history of Belarus. By this period, most of the territory of present-day Belarus formed part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Academic studies note that the authority of the Lithuanian grand dukes extended over most of what is now Belarus.

Belarusian historical tradition also commonly identifies Navahrudak, now in Belarus, as the first capital or first political centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The question of the earliest permanent capital is, however, disputed in scholarship: the evidence for the thirteenth century is limited, and some modern historians argue that the early monarchy did not yet possess a permanent capital in the modern sense; Vilnius is securely documented as the capital under Gediminas.

The term “Lithuanian” in a sixteenth-century source should therefore be understood primarily in the historical and political context of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania rather than mapped mechanically onto present-day national borders.

This makes Placotomus’s testimony directly relevant to the history of the lands of modern Belarus as well.

Polish Beer

The treatise first contains a short section entitled De Polonicis — “On Polish [beers].”

Placotomus writes:

Poland is especially distinguished by its white beers. It has many and excellent varieties: they nourish well, “produce good blood,” and quench thirst remarkably well, especially those whose flavour is even and pleasant and which embrace the palate.

The terminology of the period requires some care. The Latin albae cerevisiae literally means “white beers.” It should not automatically be equated with any single modern beer style.

Likewise, the phrase about “good blood” belongs to the medical worldview of the sixteenth century. Placotomus discusses beverages as a physician of his period, in terms of their presumed effects on nourishment, blood, digestion and health. Translating the phrase as “produce good blood” therefore preserves the historical meaning more accurately than a modern formulation such as “improve blood composition.”

Lithuanian Beer

Immediately afterwards comes the section De Lituanicis — “On Lithuanian [beers].”

Placotomus states:

In the same way, I hear Lithuanian beers very highly praised; however, I have not yet tried them myself in order to investigate their nature.

The statement is brief, but highly revealing.

First, the author distinguishes Polish beer from Lithuanian beer as two separate geographical categories.

Second, Placotomus explicitly acknowledges the limits of his personal experience. He describes Polish varieties directly, whereas concerning Lithuanian beer he says that he has heard it strongly praised, but has not yet investigated it himself.

The source therefore does not allow us to claim that Placotomus personally drank Lithuanian beer. It does show, however, that a favourable reputation for such beer circulated within the intellectual milieu to which he belonged.

For the history of the lands of present-day Belarus, this is particularly significant when viewed in the historical geography of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

“Heavier” and “Lighter” Beers

Elsewhere in the treatise Placotomus distinguishes beers according to their “thickness” and the amount of grain used.

He writes:

Heavier beers, because they contain more grain, provide the body with more abundant nourishment — such as Danish and Hamburg beer. Lighter beers, by contrast, nourish less because of the smaller quantity of material used: these include Brunswick and Einbeck beers and, among the white beers, certain Polish and Lithuanian varieties.

Again, this terminology should not be transferred mechanically into modern brewing technology.

Crassiores and tenuiores literally mean “thicker/heavier” and “thinner/lighter.” Placotomus connects the distinction primarily with the amount of grain and the perceived nutritional value of the drink. This is a sixteenth-century medical and dietary classification, not a modern categorisation based on original gravity.

What matters for the present study is the geography: Polish and Lithuanian varieties appear in the same broader European list as Danish, Hamburg, Brunswick and Einbeck beers.

“Excellent Lithuanian Honey”

Perhaps the most intriguing passage for the history of our region occurs not in the section on beer but in Placotomus’s discussion of mulsa — honey-based drinks, or what in Eastern European terminology may be called “drinking meads.”

Placotomus writes of linden trees:

“from whose blossoms that excellent Lithuanian honey is gathered”
(ex quarum floribus Lithuanicum illud praestans mel colligitur).

This is an entirely explicit designation: Lithuanicum … mel — “Lithuanian honey.”

A curious problem then arises. Placotomus refers to the Roman agricultural writer Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella and claims that Columella regarded lindens as harmful to bees:

“But lindens alone among all [trees] are harmful…”

From this Placotomus formulates an objection: if the bees’ forage is bad, how can good honey be produced from it, and how can a good honey-based drink be made from bad honey?

He then rejects the objection on the basis of experience.

According to Placotomus, linden blossoms do not harm bees and were instead regarded as beneficial. He then turns directly to the drink itself:

This kind of honey-based drink is not only extremely familiar to the inhabitants of these regions, but, in the judgment of those who drink it, holds the foremost place. Long experience, stronger than any authority, bears witness that it is wholesome and agreeable to nature.

Two Latin terms must be distinguished here.

Mel means honey itself. It is the honey that Placotomus explicitly describes as Lithuanicum — Lithuanian.

Mulsa is a drink made with honey. The familiar expression “Lithuanian drinking mead” conveys the general idea to a modern reader, but it is not the literal phrase used by the source. A more exact formulation is: Lithuanian linden honey and the honey-based drink made from it.

Why Does Placotomus “Misquote” Columella?

Comparison with the surviving text of Columella reveals another intriguing detail.

In the modern text of De re rustica, Book IX, Chapter 4, Columella includes linden among trees suitable for bees and identifies yew as harmful:

…cedrus ac tilia. Solae ex omnibus ut nocentes taxi repudiantur.

In the modern reading, the sense is approximately: “…cedar and linden. Of all the trees, only yews are rejected as harmful.” This is the reading given by PHI Latin Texts.

At first sight, Placotomus appears simply to have made a mistake.

The situation is more complicated.

As early as 1529, Helius Eobanus Hessus quoted Columella in his annotations on Virgil’s Georgics in precisely this form:

At tiliae solae ex omnibus sunt nocentes, taxi repudiantur.

That is: “But lindens alone among all [trees] are harmful; yews are rejected.”

This is almost the same wording later used by Placotomus. The CAMENA electronic edition confirms both the wording and the bibliographical details of Hessus’s edition: Haguenau, Johann Setzer, 1529.

It is therefore more accurate to speak not of a simple error by Placotomus, but of a difference between an early-modern printed textual tradition and the modern critical reading. Placotomus was using a reading that genuinely circulated in the learned literature of his time.

For the history of the book, this makes the passage even more interesting.

What Does the Source Ultimately Tell Us?

The 1554 edition does not allow us to claim that German society as a whole knew and valued Lithuanian beer. A single author, even an educated physician and professor, cannot serve as evidence for the opinion of an entire society.

The source does, however, allow a more precise conclusion.

In the German-speaking publishing and scholarly milieu of the mid-sixteenth century, information circulated about Polish and Lithuanian varieties of beer. Placotomus described Polish beers in some detail and reported that he had heard Lithuanian beers highly praised.

The testimony concerning honey is even more explicit: he refers directly to “excellent Lithuanian honey” gathered from linden blossoms and to a popular honey-based drink made from such material.

For the history of Belarus, this source is particularly significant. A large part of the lands that make up modern Belarus belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1554. The “Lithuanian” gastronomic tradition described in a sixteenth-century source therefore forms part of the historical context of those lands, just as it belongs to the history of modern Lithuania and other regions once included in the Grand Duchy.

At the same time, the source does not identify a specific town, estate or district where the beer or linden honey was produced. The most precise conclusion is therefore that by the mid-sixteenth century, Western European scholarly literature already preserved a favourable reputation for beer and honey products associated with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

This testimony predates the Union of Lublin of 1569, after which the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.