Full Description
This important book looks at the entire history of distilling in the Middle East and Europe from the earliest experiments by the Pythagorean alchemists of Ptolomaic Egypt in the fourth century BC to the commerical production of spirits to drink in the British Isles to the year 2000. It is important because Ms Wilson has explored byways of early history that have been little noticed by previous scholars. She links the art of distilling to alchemical practice; to the Dionysian cults of ancient Greece and Rome; to the development of the art by the Gnostic mystic Christian sects (who greatly influenced the Coptic church in lower Egypt and Ethiopia); to the researches of the Persians and Arabs; to the preservation of the art by various heretic cults in western Europe such as the Bogomils and Cathars and, of course, the Templars; then into more mainstream development by the medieval and Renaissance alchemists; before comparative relaxation into the domestic history of distilling in England for the manufacture of strong liquor and the making of medicinal and perfumed waters by members of the landed gentry. This is Dan Brown and the "Da Vinci Code" but written by a scholar and dealing with real-life matters not soft brain-candy. There are twelve chapters divided into three sections. The first is 'The Ancient and Early Medieval World'; 'The Eastern Mediterranean Region'; 'The Later Middle Ages'; 'Western Europe'; and 'From Early Modern Times to AD2000: The British Isles'. While treating extensively of the mystical, cultish and religious origins of distilling, as well as its links to early science, Ms Wilson looks closely at all forms of distilling in the British Isles. This work includes the manufacture of spiritous liquors such as whisky, gin, and others and the central part played in country house domestic life by cordial waters and other distillations manufactured with great skill by generations of housewives as home medicine and perfumery. The book does not treat, at any length, the history of spiritous liquors, including brandy, on mainland Europe.
Contents
WINE-DISTILLING AND THE FOUR ELEMENTS 1. The earliest wine-distilling recipe 2. The early experimenters in Egypt 3. The elements: Pythagoras and Plato DIONYSUS AND DISTILLING 1. Sophisticated stills and their predecessors 2. Dionysus at Delphi 3. Dionysus in Thrace and Macedonia 4. Dionysus at Athens 5. Dionysus at Rome and Pompeii WINE-DISTILLING RITUALS AMONG THE EARLY GNOSTICS 1. Water, fire and 'living water' 2. Wine-distilling rituals and Christian Gnostics 3. The three baptisms 4. 'Living water' in the early Middle Ages DISTILLING IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES: BYZANTINES, PERSIANS AND ARABS 1. How distilling passed to the Persians and Arabs 2. The Romano-Byzantine Empire to the time of Heraclius 3. Greek fire 4. Arabs and alchemy THE LATER MIDDLE AGES: WESTERN EUROPE BURNING WATER AND HEAVENLY LIGHT 1. Paulicians, Bogomils and Cathars 2. Early western wine-distilling recipes 3. The Holy Grail 4. The Templars AQUA VITAE AND THE EYEWATER OF PETER OF SPAIN 1. The physicians of Bologna 2. The origin of the aqua vitae treatises 3. Eyewater among the three waters BURNING WATER AND AQUA VITAE; THE WONDER YEARS 1. Distilling and alchemy 2. John of Rupescissa and the Quintessence 3. The fading of the heavenly fire BURNING WATER AND AQUA VITAE: PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN LATE MEDIEVAL EUROPE 1. Supply side 2. Trials and errors 3. Methods and recipes FROM EARLY MODERN TIMES TO AD 2000: THE BRITISH ISLES DISTILLING IN THE BRITISH ISLES IN TUDOR TIMES 1. Herbal waters in English gentry households 2. Aqua vitae in English gentry families 3. Independent distillers in England, Scotland and Ireland 4. Potable gold 5. Water of Life: new materials and a new method DISTILLING IN THE BRITISH ISLES IN THESEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1. Family stillhouses and their equipment 2. Domestic distillers and their recipes 3. Sir Walter Raleigh and the great cordial 4. Apothecaries, distillers and their trade 5. Water of Life in Scotland and Ireland; and England's 'British brandy' DISTILLING IN THE BRITISH ISLES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1. The amazing expansion of the distilling trade 2. Home-distilled cordial waters in fashion 3. Home-distilled cordial waters in decline 4. The distilling trade of the later eighteenth century, and distilling in the wider world DISTILLING IN THE BRITISH ISLES IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES 1. The earlier nineteenth century 2. Vogues and fashions in spirit-drinking, 1800-1918 3. Alcohol in pharmaceuticals, perfumery and other industries 4. The fall and rise of spirit-drinking, 1918-2000
