Honey - Ancient Britain

Honey - Ancient Britain


Pliny quoted the reports of ancient voyagers, who found in the present BRITISH ISLES a honey-brew which was freely consumed by the Islanders. This was long before the Roman conquest of the Islands, so the assumption that bee culture was introduced into England by the Romans is erroneous. Undoubtedly, apiculture was of vital importance in the Roman Empire, because its triumphant armies, when invading foreign territories, carried their beehives with them. The Britons must have broadened their knowledge of bee-craft during the Roman invasion.

That bee keeping was an outstanding pursuit among the Britons is illustrated by Tickner Edwardes' graphic account in his delightful book, The Lore of the Honey-Bee. "Among the Anglo-Saxons the beehives supplied the whole nation, from the king down to the poorest serf, not only with an important part of their food but with drink and light as well. . . . Britain was known among the early Druid bards as the Isle of Honey." (The Honey Isle of Beli was another bardic name for Britain.)

"British History begins"—Edwardes continues—"with the record of the first voyage of the Phoenicians, who adventuring farther than any other of their intrepid race, chanced upon the Scilly Isles and the neighbouring coast of Cornwall and thence brought back their first cargo of tin. The whereabouts of the Phoenician 'Barat-Anac', The Country of Tin, remained a secret probably for ages, jealously guarded by these ancient mariners, the first true seamen that the world had ever known. They were expert navigators, venturing enormous distances overseas, even in King Solomon's time, and that was a thousand years before the advent of Caesar. In all likelihood, they had been in frequent communication with the Britons, centuries before the Greeks took to searching for this wonderful tin-bearing land, and still longer before the name Barat-Anac became corrupted into the Britannia of the Romans. And it is hardly to be supposed that a people of so ancient a civilization, and of so great a repute in the sciences and refinements of life, as the Phoenicians—a people from whom the early Greeks themselves had learned the art and practice of letters—could remain in touch, century after century, with a nation like the Britons without effecting in them enormous improvement and development in every way that would appeal to so high-mettled and competent a race."

Honey must have been abundant in the British Isles, another veritable land of milk and honey. The Welsh and Celtic legends teem with references to sparkling mead and honey drinks. The chief Irish God, Manannan, praised the island-paradise (Isle of Man), where:

Rivers pour forth a stream of honey
In the land of Manannan, son of Lêr

Abundant there are honey and wine,
Death and decay thou wilt not see.

Tributes were paid with mead and honey and the laws fixed the amount which had to be delivered to the chieftains. The measures which the laws mention (Brehon Law Tracts) prove that honey must have been plentiful: A milch-cow measure of honey could be lifted by an average individual up to his knees; a large heifer measure of honey one could raise to the waist; a small heifer, to the shoulder; and a dairt, over one's head. The shell of an egg was also used to measure smaller quantities of honey; twelve of these equaled about a pint.

There is frequent mention that the ancient Britons used honey for cooking and baking. Meat and fish were often cooked in honey, and they mixed their porridge with it. The principal use of honey was, however, in the preparation of alcoholic drinks.

From most ancient times merrie England was drenched in ale. Unquestionably it was their national drink. The ale-wife, depicted with two cups in her hands, so gloriously immortalized, was the symbol of old English inns. (Plate V.) Ale was considered a wholesome liquor which supported the natural heat and moisture of the body and "there is no drink which conduceth more to the preservation of one and the increase of the other than Ale." While the English drank ale they were strong, brawny and able men and "could draw an arrow an ell long but when they fell to wine and beer, they were found to be impaired in strength and age."

The old Saxon ale or mead was not a malt liquor but "made from honey or the washing of the honeycombs." The name ale came into the English language during the Danish invasion of England and was derived from the Danish word "81". The mead or meth of the Norse and Teutonic forefathers was made of honey. The big and burly gods with prodigious droughtiness and appetite indulged in a copious supply of strong mead which never failed. The Valkyries, the tall and beautiful maidens, were the modern barmaids.

Mead held its sway in old England at least for a thousand years. The Anglo-Saxon forebears indulged generously in mead, a habit they seem to have inherited from the Teutonic heroes. These chieftains were accused of gluttony and drunkenness and of going to battle drunk with mead, "bringing about the ruin of Britain."

"Hop-drinks" were introduced into England by the Flemish immigrants. Hop was considered for a long time as an adulterant and the "wicked weed" was checked by legislation, even prohibited because it not only '"spoilt the taste of the drink but endangered the lives of the people." A century of industrial progress in manufacturing beer undoubtedly improved its quality. Wine always was, and still is considered the "beverage of the rich." The whiskey of the Irish and the Scotch invaded England only at a very late date.

The Saxon "beor" meant mead (beo = bee) and the term "beer" was undoubtedly derived from it. On many old English inns we find the sign of a beehive often accompanied by some rhyme. (Plate V.) At Grantham, which boasts of a three hundred foot high steeple, there is a real beehive set up before the inn with the following inscription:

"Stop! Traveller, this wondrous sign explore, And say when thou hast viewed it o'er, Grantham, now, two rarities are thine, A lofty steeple and a living sign."

Before a Birmingham inn there is the verse:

"In this hive we all are alive, Good liquor makes us funny! If you be dry, step in and try The value of our honey."