‘Mead from Riga’: The Trade and Consumption of a Hanse Cultural Good in the Late Medieval Baltic

Abstract

Abstract This article represents the first study of the trade and consumption of mead, the alcoholic beverage brewed by fermenting honey with water, in the late medieval Baltic. Focusing on the Teutonic Order and the Hanse settlements in the region, the article argues that the consumption of mead was culturally embedded in German-speaking communities, heightening the status of the beverage, turning it into a vital resource in the exercise of power and influencing the government and administrations of cities and lordships. From a broader perspective, a close study of the drink underlines the cultural and economic significance attached to bee produce in the later medieval period, with ecology and cultural practice combining to make honey and its pre-eminent product, mead, a distinctive international export that enjoyed high esteem and significant demand across Hanse trading networks.