Mention of mead comes from many sources, throughout mankinds’ written history. Virgil and Plato mention it in their writings. It comes up in ‘Beowulf’ and the ‘Rig-Veda’. The Norse sagas are littered with mead references, as are many of the old Celtic tales. Looks like mead is indeed the stuff of legend!
Sir Kenelm Digbie, in his book “The Closet…..Opened”, written in the 17th century says: “The Meathe is singularly good for a consumption, stone, gravel, weak-sight, and many many more things. A chief burgomaster of Antwerp used for many years to drink no other drink than this and though he were an old man, he was of extraordinary vigour, had always a great appetite, good digestion and had every year a child“. There are many references in texts and literature the world over. Here is what we’ve found. If you know of others, please let us know.
Mead in Sacred Texts
- The Internet Book of Shadows
- The Rig Veda – Ralph T.H. Griffith, Translator. (1896)
- Ravenbok: The Raven Kindred Ritual Book – by Lewis Stead & The Raven Kindred
- The Sibylline Oracles – translated from the Greek into English Blank Verse by Milton S. Terry [1899]
- Enuma Elish – The Epic of Creation – L.W. King Translator (from The Seven Tablets of Creation, London 1902)
- The Golden Bough – by Sir James George Frazer [1922]
- Hymns Of The Samaveda – Translated with a Popular Commentary Ralph T.H. Griffith [1895]
Tales, Sagas and Books Which Reference Mead
- The Mabinongion – Translated from the Welsh by Lady Charlotte Guest (1849)
- Beowulf – Translated by Francis B. Gummere [1910]
- The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas [1907]
- The Story of the Volsungs – Translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson [1888]
- The Story Of Egil Skallagrimsson – Translated by REV. W. C. GREEN,[1893]
- The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge) – from “The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge” (1914) by Joseph Dunn, London: David Nutt.
- Cuchulain of Muirthemne, The Story of the Men of the Red Branch – arranged and put into English by Lady Augusta Gregory with a preface by W. B. Yeats [1902]
- The Poetic Edda – translated by Henry Adams Bellows [1936]
- Bulfinch’s Mythology: The Age of Fable or Stories of Gods and Heroes – by Thomas Bulfinch [1855]
- The Nibelungenlied – Daniel B. Shumway, translator [1909]
- Heimskringla or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway – by Snorri Sturlson (c.1179-1241) Samuel Laing (London, 1844), translator
- The Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus – From “The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus”, translated by Oliver Elton
- Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race – by Thomas Rolleston [1911]
- Gods and Fighting Men, The Story of the Tuatha De Danaan and of the Fianna of Ireland – arranged and put into English by Lady Augusta Gregory with a preface by W. B. Yeats
- THE KASÃDAH OF HÂJà ABDÛ EL-YEZDà – by Sir Richard Burton [1880]
- The Kalevala – The Epic Poem of Finland – translated into English by John Martin Crawford [1888]
- Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft – by Sir Walter Scott
- The Book of Were-Wolves – by Sabine Baring-Gould [1865] (Chapter V – The Were-Wolf in the Middle Ages)
- More Celtic Fairy Tales – by Joseph Jacobs [1892]
- The Divine Comedy of Dante – Henry F. Cary, translator (1888) (Canto XXIII)
- Oedipus at Colonus – By Sophocles, Translated by F. Storr
- The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson – Translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur [1916]
- Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland – Collected and Arranged by Lady Augusta Gregory with Two Essays and Notes by W.B. Yeats [1920]
- Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition – by Charles Godfrey Leland [1892]
- Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling – by Charles Godfrey Leland [1891] (Chapter VIII: Roumanian and Transylvanian Sorceries and Superstitions)
- Irish Fairy Tales – by James Stephens [1920]
- Heroic Romances of Ireland – translated into English Prose and Verse, with Preface, Special Introductions and Notes by A.H. Leahy
- Cath Maige Tuired – The Second Battle of Mag Tuired – Translated by Elizabeth A. Gray
- Woman, Church and State – By Matilda Joslyn Gage [1893] (Chapter 5 – Witchcraft)
- The Story of Burnt Njal (Njal’s Saga) – Originally written in Icelandic, sometime in the 13th Century A.D. Author unknown. Translation by Sir George W. DaSent (London, 1861).
Vicky Rowe has been active as a promoter and supporter of the mead industry since the mid-90's with Gotmead.com, and is totally serious about seeing the mead industry take its rightful place as a popular craft beverage on the world recreational drinking stage.
She is also an experienced marketing coach and consultant who has recently decided to focus her marketing expertise exclusively on the craft beverage market to help meaderies, cideries, breweries and distilleries expand their business and get more customers while doing what they love.
She is also an experienced marketing coach and consultant who has recently decided to focus her marketing expertise exclusively on the craft beverage market to help meaderies, cideries, breweries and distilleries expand their business and get more customers while doing what they love.
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