#mead

2025 / Related drinksRelated drinksПБП

The Sweet Heritage of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth: Honey and Mead in Gabriel Rzączyński’s Work

Mead had a centuries-old history in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and was regarded as a northern counterpart to wine. Drawing on Gabriel Rzączyński’s 1721 work, this article explores historical accounts of honey and mead from Lithuania, Ruthenia, Samogitia, Volhynia, Courland and neighbouring regions, with particular attention to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the lands of present-day Belarus.

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2025 / Related drinksRelated drinksПБП

Related drinks7 min

Honey Lakes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources describe extraordinary quantities of honey in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and neighbouring lands — including tales of honey-filled traps, bears, and a peasant rescued from a hollow tree by a frightened she-bear.

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2025 / Beer History / ResearchBeer History / ResearchПБП

Beer History / Research4 min

Our Beer and Mead in 17th-Century Medical Literature

This article examines three seventeenth-century medical sources that describe beer and honey-based drinks, their properties, and their effects on health. Particular attention is given to references to Lithuania and the eastern lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as regions associated with brewing and traditional mead making.

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2025 / Beer History / ResearchBeer History / ResearchПБП

Beer History / Research8 min

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

In a German edition published in 1554, the physician Ioannes Placotomus discussed Polish and Lithuanian beers and referred to excellent “Lithuanian honey” gathered from linden blossoms. This article examines what the Latin source actually says, what “Lithuania” meant in the sixteenth century, and why the evidence is relevant to the history of beer and honey-based drinks in the lands of present-day Belarus.

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