- ARTHURIAN CULTURE
- ARTHURIAN ITEMS
- Feasting and Hospitality
- General Arthurian Tradition
- Source | De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae
- Source | Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
- Source | La Tavola Ritonda
- Source | Lancelot, or Le Chevalier de la Charrette
- Source | Le Morte Darthur
- Source | Perceval, or Le Conte del Graal
- Source | Prose Tristan
- Source | Vulgate Lancelot
- Source | Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal
Wine
A prized luxury throughout Arthurian literature, associated with hospitality, feasting, medicine, and occasionally deception.
Introduction#
Wine appears frequently in Arthurian romance, where it is served at feasts, offered to guests, and sometimes used in enchantment or plots. Although often taken for granted in the romances, wine was a valuable commodity in Britain and was associated with wealth, noble households, and international trade.
Wine in Arthur’s Britain#
If Arthur was a historical figure of the fifth or sixth century, wine would have been an imported luxury rather than an everyday drink.
Archaeological evidence shows that post-Roman Britain continued to receive wine from continental Europe and the Mediterranean world, particularly through elite centers such as Tintagel. Access to imported wine was therefore a mark of status and wealth.
By the High Middle Ages, when most Arthurian romances were written, wine had become a familiar feature of aristocratic life throughout Western Europe.
Wine in Arthurian Romance#
Wine is commonly associated with:
– feasting and hospitality
– royal courts
– celebrations and tournaments
– healing and medicine
– enchantment and deception
Characters frequently offer wine to guests as a sign of welcome, while kings and nobles display their wealth through lavish banquets. Whether served at a royal feast or used in a magical plot, wine is a recurring feature of the social world depicted in Arthurian romance.
Drugged Wine#
Arthurian literature contains numerous examples of drugged or enchanted wine.
Potions, sleeping draughts, and magical substances are often mixed into wine because it is readily accepted as a noble drink. Such episodes frequently lead to enchantment, captivity, mistaken identity, or romance.
The famous love potion consumed by Tristan and Isolde is perhaps the best-known example of a magical drink in Arthurian tradition.
The Wine of Beaune#
Some romances praise the wine of Beaune in Burgundy, France, one of the great wine-producing regions of medieval Europe.
References to Beaune or Bayonne wine suggest that certain varieties were recognized for their quality and prestige. Such mentions reflect the growing importance of regional wines in medieval culture.
Sources#
Le Morte Darthur | Sir Thomas Malory, 1469-1470
Perceval, or Le Conte del Graal | Chrétien de Troyes, late 12th century
Lancelot, or Le Chevalier de la Charrete | Chrétien de Troyes, late 12th century
Prose Tristan | 1230-1240
Vulgate Lancelot | 1215-1230
Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal | 1215-1230
La Tavola Ritonda | 1325–1350
De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae | Gildas, c. 540
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum | Bede, 731
