Oceanic thirst? Food consumption in mediaeval Sweden

Abstract

The article explores data on food consumption in mediaeval Sweden and discusses the implications with regard to living standards. The key question is whether food consumption was more plentiful and/or more varied during the late mediaeval era than during the early modern epoch. Based on two mediaeval account books, from the castles of Nyköping and Stegeborg, respectively, three conclusions emerge. (1) Compared to mid-sixteenth century royal farms and other institutions, the mediaeval accounts suggest that food consumption was less plentiful but probably more varied. (2) Over time, the proportion of beer in the budgets tended to grow at the expense of meat. Late mediaeval landlords were pressed by diminishing farmland rents. Swedish as well as English data are consistent with the view that lords were able to shift food expenditure from high-cost to low-cost calories. (3) Conspicuous food consumption did not play a prominent role in defining social hierarchy at Stegeborg castle in the late fifteenth century. By the mid-sixteenth century this had changed. Low social rank now gave access only to cheap beer of a quality far below that which had applied half a century before.