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Lady brewers of the Middle Ages
If you travelled back in time to the Middle Ages or the Renaissance and went to a market in England, you'd probably see women wearing tall, pointy hats standing in front of big cauldrons. But these women were no witches; they were brewers. When
water was often unsafe to drink, people turned to wine. But beer takes a lot less time to make, and is somewhat nutritious besides. Brewing beer is akin to cooking, so making beer became one of the household chores that women performed.
From the Stone Age to the 1700s, ale – and, later, beer – was a household staple for most families in England and other parts of Europe. The drink was an inexpensive way to consume and preserve grains. For the working class, beer provided an important source of nutrients, full of carbohydrates and proteins. Because the beverage was such a common part of the average person's diet, fermenting was, for many women, one of their normal household tasks. Some enterprising women took this household skill to the marketplace and began selling beer.
But then came the Reformation, a religious movement preaching stricter gender norms, and condemned witchcraft. Male brewers saw an opportunity. To reduce their competition in the beer trade, some accused female brewers of being witches and using their cauldrons to brew up magic potions. Women accused of witchcraft were often ostracised in their communities, imprisoned or even killed and by the 1500s some towns actually made it illegal for most women to sell beer, worried that young ale-wives would grow up into old spinsters.
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