The inhabitants of Wien (Austria) have always been a fun-loving and sensual people and fully occupied Heurigen p ubs prove that this is still true today. In the 15th century it was common to enjoy considerable amounts of wine already in the morning. This also applied to women and the very famous Viennese physician Heinrich von Neustadt complained that Viennese women were already addicted to drinking in the early morning and did even worse than the men . The Viennese were also fond of other physical pleasures and some contemporaries complained of "gluttony and gluttony".
According to one document, 17 buckets of wine per capita and year were allegedly drunk in the medieval Wien. However, the exact volume of the measure is unknown. However, the exact volume of the unit of measurement is not known (one bucket = 30 to 75 l). It must also be mentioned that wine was often diluted with water. In any case, the clergyman Johann Rasch (1540-1612) condemned excessive alcohol consumption in his book in the chapter "Weinsucht - von der argen Sucht der Trunckenheit". At that time, the ancient custom of drinking to excess was banned in many countries. The famous preacher Abraham a Sancta Clara (1644-1709) also railed forcefully from the church pulpit against the bad habit of "boozing". On drunkenness and alcoholism he wrote the epistle "The Drunken Fool"
O drunkenness, thou heavy addiction, bringest many a man into great fornication.
From honour and property, into mockery and disgrace, from wife and child into foreign lands.
From art and wisdom into great folly, from a healthy body into great illness.
From joy and delight to the vale of tears, from food and drink to hunger and torment.
From peace and rest to fear and distress, from long life to death.
From the kingdom of God to eternal sorrow, all this comes from drunkenness.
Think well of your last hour, and you will not get drunk.
No jester's bells are so perceived as those which the drunken jester performs,
that makes himself conspicuous in all the streets, so that tomorrow the whole parish may discuss it.
That is rare - that is true - my drunken fool!
The glossary is a monumental achievement and one of the most important contributions to wine knowledge. Of all the encyclopaedias I use on the subject of wine, it is by far the most important. That was the case ten years ago and it hasn't changed since.
Andreas Essl
Autor, Modena