Richard W. Unger

Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

This comprehensive history of brewing in Holland follows the changes in technology and extensive government regulation which created a thriving industry before the Golden Age, a declining one in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and then a revival in the era of industrialization.

Economy, Technology, and the State

A History of Brewing in Holland, 900-1900

The beer of today—brewed from malted grain and hops, manufactured by large and often multinational corporations, frequently associated with young adults, sports, and drunkenness—is largely the result of scientific and industrial developments of the nineteenth century. Modern beer, however, has little in common with the drink that carried that name through the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Looking at a time when beer was often a nutritional necessity, was sometimes used as medicine, could be flavored with everything from the bark of fir trees to thyme and fresh eggs, and was consumed by men, women, and children alike, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance presents an extraordinarily detailed history of the business, art, and governance of brewing. During the medieval and early modern periods beer was as much a daily necessity as a source of inebriation and amusement. It was the beverage of choice of urban populations that lacked access to secure sources of potable water; a commodity of economic as well as social importance; a safe drink for daily consumption that was less expensive than wine; and a major source of tax revenue for the state. In Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Richard W. Unger has written an encompassing study of beer as both a product and an economic force in Europe. Drawing from archives in the Low Countries and England to assemble an impressively complete history, Unger describes the transformation of the industry from small-scale production that was a basic part of housewifery to a highly regulated commercial enterprise dominated by the wealthy and overseen by government authorities. Looking at the intersecting technological, economic, cultural, and political changes that influenced the transformation of brewing over centuries, he traces how improvements in technology and in the distribution of information combined to standardize quality, showing how the process of urbanization created the concentrated markets essential for commercial production. Weaving together the stories of prosperous businessmen, skilled brewmasters, and small producers, this impressively researched overview of the social and cultural practices that surrounded the beer industry is rich in implication for the history of the period as a whole.

Images of Noah the Shipbuilder

The Art of Medieval Technology

Robert Gardiner

9780851775609:Synopsis coming soon.......

The Sailing Ship, 1000-1650

Cogs, Caravels and Galleons

Cogs, Caravels and Galleons traces the development of seagoing vessels from the traditions of late antiquity to the all important emergence of the three-masted ship, undoubtedly the most significant innovation in the history of shipping before the steam engine. Without the three-masted ship the European age of exploration and expansion is almost inconceivable and there is no doubt that the subsequent evolution of the world would have been markedly different. In recent years much original research has been done in this field, based on both documentary sources and archaeology, but this is the first overall synthesis of the new material now available. The main chapters are devoted to the principal ship types, explaining the latest thinking on the characteristics of cogs, caravels, hulks and so forth that have caused scholarly debate for decades. There are also more general sections on essential background subjects like construction and guns and gunnery, as well as pertinent essays on the evidence - from documentary sources, contemporary illustrations and archaeology. All the contributors are the foremost experts in their fields, but in presenting the fruits of their research at an approachable level, Cogs, Caravels and Galleons is a pioneering work in this area of maritime history.

Cogs, Caravels, and Galleons

John B. Hattendorf

Ernest J King Professor of Maritime History Chairman Maritime History Department and Director Naval War College Museum John B Hattendorf

The role and characteristics of armed force at sea in western Europe and the Mediterranean prior to 1650.

Richard W. Unger

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