Medieval England had a thriving drinking culture long before beer became popular. For centuries, ale was the preferred drink, but during the fourteenth century a new beverage began arriving from the Low Countries. Its introduction, largely thanks to Dutch immigrants, would eventually transform English brewing.
The story of beer in medieval England is told by historian Milan Pajic in his article, “‘Ale for an Englishman is a natural drink’: the Dutch and the origins of beer brewing in late medieval England.” Pajic uncovered evidence showing that beer was being consumed in southeastern England as early as the 1350s, decades earlier than previous research had suggested.
Ale had been brewed in England for centuries and was regularly consumed by adults and children. Brewing was a widespread activity, often carried out by women. However, there was an important distinction between traditional English ale and the beer arriving from continental Europe: beer was brewed with hops, which gave it a more bitter flavour and helped preserve it for longer periods.
Hopped beer was already being produced in northern and eastern continental Europe, and during the fourteenth century it was becoming increasingly widespread in the Low Countries.
Beer Arrives from the Low Countries
A beer brewer uses a long ladle to scoop liquid from a brewing kettle, with a brewer’s star hanging overhead. From the Mendel Housebook, Nuremberg, 1506. Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg / Wikimedia Commons.
Pajic explains that Dutch immigrants played a central role in bringing beer to England. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, increasing numbers of people crossed the English Channel to settle in London and other towns, particularly in southeastern England. The England’s Immigrants Database contains records relating to more than 64,000 immigrants between 1330 and 1550, with the Low Countries being one of their main regions of origin.
These newcomers brought their drinking preferences with them. Dutch immigrants began importing barrels of beer, both for their own consumption and for sale to others in their communities.
Pajic discovered scattered references to beer in civic and court records dating back to the 1350s. One particularly interesting example comes from Great Yarmouth in 1358, when Margaret fan Outraght claimed in a lawsuit that she had left six barrels of beer at the house of Mace fan Rotterdame, only for them to go missing.
Other records reveal shipments of beer arriving from the Low Countries at English ports, including London, Great Yarmouth and Hull. Imports increased considerably during the second half of the fourteenth century. In 1380, for example, a consignment of 432 barrels of beer was shipped from Arnemuiden in the Low Countries to Newcastle.
By the final quarter of the fourteenth century, even native-born English merchants were selling beer. Pajic suggests that one reason for its growing popularity was the experience of English soldiers fighting in the Hundred Years’ War. Having encountered beer on the continent, some returned home with a taste for the drink.
Dutch Brewers Establish Themselves in England
A sixteenth century brewery depicted by Jost Amman
Although beer was increasingly available in England, it was initially imported from the Low Countries, where brewing had become a major industry. Hundreds of breweries were producing beer for export to markets elsewhere in Europe.
By the end of the fourteenth century, however, there is evidence that beer was also being brewed in England itself. Pajic explains:
The first evidence of someone brewing beer comes from 1398–9. Peter Woutersone, Ducheman, was fined for buying ‘wheat in the market in order to produce beer, to the great damage of the same market’. The very wording of the fine suggests that the authorities were not keen on allowing beer to be brewed. This is the earliest official evidence found so far of beer production in England, that is, slightly earlier than the previous studies have suggested.
During the fifteenth century, more Dutch men and women established themselves as brewers in English towns. Local records identify six beer brewers in Great Yarmouth and twelve in Colchester, while several brewers were admitted into London’s brewers’ guild.
The England’s Immigrants Database identifies 117 individuals recorded as beer brewers who came to England between 1350 and 1490, most of them originating from the Low Countries. Pajic notes that this figure rises to 333 when individuals whose surnames suggest they were brewers are also included.
For these immigrants, England offered an economic opportunity. Rather than relying on beer shipped across the North Sea, they could establish breweries closer to their customers and supply the growing English market directly.
How Beer Overtook Ale
The fifteenth century witnessed a steady expansion of beer brewing in England, but the arrival of Dutch brewers was not always welcomed. In 1436, tensions surrounding events on the continent during the Hundred Years’ War contributed to growing suspicion of Dutch residents in London. Accusations that beer was being poisoned led to attacks on several breweries, demonstrating how hostility towards immigrants could also affect their businesses.
Despite such incidents, beer continued to gain popularity. Over time, it moved beyond immigrant communities and became an increasingly familiar drink among the English population.
Pajic writes:
The diffusion of beer brewing in England and its rise in popularity was a relatively slow process. It took almost a century from the moment it was introduced as an imported commodity and consumed largely by immigrants, before it came to be produced on English soil and accepted by the natives. By the sixteenth century, beer had become an even more popular drink than ale and numerous Englishmen were engaged in its production.
What began as an imported drink consumed largely by immigrants eventually became a major part of English brewing. By the sixteenth century, beer had overtaken traditional ale in popularity, demonstrating how migration, trade and changing tastes could transform an everyday aspect of life in medieval England.
Milan Pajic’s article, “‘Ale for an Englishman is a natural drink’: the Dutch and the origins of beer brewing in late medieval England,” appears in the Journal of Medieval History. Click here to access it.
Top Image: A cellarer passes a drink to people in a tavern above, from a fourteenth-century manuscript produced in Genoa, c. 1330–1340. British Library, Add MS 27695, fol. 14r.
Medieval England had a thriving drinking culture long before beer became popular. For centuries, ale was the preferred drink, but during the fourteenth century a new beverage began arriving from the Low Countries. Its introduction, largely thanks to Dutch immigrants, would eventually transform English brewing.
The story of beer in medieval England is told by historian Milan Pajic in his article, “‘Ale for an Englishman is a natural drink’: the Dutch and the origins of beer brewing in late medieval England.” Pajic uncovered evidence showing that beer was being consumed in southeastern England as early as the 1350s, decades earlier than previous research had suggested.
Ale had been brewed in England for centuries and was regularly consumed by adults and children. Brewing was a widespread activity, often carried out by women. However, there was an important distinction between traditional English ale and the beer arriving from continental Europe: beer was brewed with hops, which gave it a more bitter flavour and helped preserve it for longer periods.
Hopped beer was already being produced in northern and eastern continental Europe, and during the fourteenth century it was becoming increasingly widespread in the Low Countries.
Beer Arrives from the Low Countries
Pajic explains that Dutch immigrants played a central role in bringing beer to England. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, increasing numbers of people crossed the English Channel to settle in London and other towns, particularly in southeastern England. The England’s Immigrants Database contains records relating to more than 64,000 immigrants between 1330 and 1550, with the Low Countries being one of their main regions of origin.
These newcomers brought their drinking preferences with them. Dutch immigrants began importing barrels of beer, both for their own consumption and for sale to others in their communities.
Pajic discovered scattered references to beer in civic and court records dating back to the 1350s. One particularly interesting example comes from Great Yarmouth in 1358, when Margaret fan Outraght claimed in a lawsuit that she had left six barrels of beer at the house of Mace fan Rotterdame, only for them to go missing.
Other records reveal shipments of beer arriving from the Low Countries at English ports, including London, Great Yarmouth and Hull. Imports increased considerably during the second half of the fourteenth century. In 1380, for example, a consignment of 432 barrels of beer was shipped from Arnemuiden in the Low Countries to Newcastle.
By the final quarter of the fourteenth century, even native-born English merchants were selling beer. Pajic suggests that one reason for its growing popularity was the experience of English soldiers fighting in the Hundred Years’ War. Having encountered beer on the continent, some returned home with a taste for the drink.
Dutch Brewers Establish Themselves in England
Although beer was increasingly available in England, it was initially imported from the Low Countries, where brewing had become a major industry. Hundreds of breweries were producing beer for export to markets elsewhere in Europe.
By the end of the fourteenth century, however, there is evidence that beer was also being brewed in England itself. Pajic explains:
The first evidence of someone brewing beer comes from 1398–9. Peter Woutersone, Ducheman, was fined for buying ‘wheat in the market in order to produce beer, to the great damage of the same market’. The very wording of the fine suggests that the authorities were not keen on allowing beer to be brewed. This is the earliest official evidence found so far of beer production in England, that is, slightly earlier than the previous studies have suggested.
During the fifteenth century, more Dutch men and women established themselves as brewers in English towns. Local records identify six beer brewers in Great Yarmouth and twelve in Colchester, while several brewers were admitted into London’s brewers’ guild.
The England’s Immigrants Database identifies 117 individuals recorded as beer brewers who came to England between 1350 and 1490, most of them originating from the Low Countries. Pajic notes that this figure rises to 333 when individuals whose surnames suggest they were brewers are also included.
For these immigrants, England offered an economic opportunity. Rather than relying on beer shipped across the North Sea, they could establish breweries closer to their customers and supply the growing English market directly.
How Beer Overtook Ale
The fifteenth century witnessed a steady expansion of beer brewing in England, but the arrival of Dutch brewers was not always welcomed. In 1436, tensions surrounding events on the continent during the Hundred Years’ War contributed to growing suspicion of Dutch residents in London. Accusations that beer was being poisoned led to attacks on several breweries, demonstrating how hostility towards immigrants could also affect their businesses.
Despite such incidents, beer continued to gain popularity. Over time, it moved beyond immigrant communities and became an increasingly familiar drink among the English population.
Pajic writes:
The diffusion of beer brewing in England and its rise in popularity was a relatively slow process. It took almost a century from the moment it was introduced as an imported commodity and consumed largely by immigrants, before it came to be produced on English soil and accepted by the natives. By the sixteenth century, beer had become an even more popular drink than ale and numerous Englishmen were engaged in its production.
What began as an imported drink consumed largely by immigrants eventually became a major part of English brewing. By the sixteenth century, beer had overtaken traditional ale in popularity, demonstrating how migration, trade and changing tastes could transform an everyday aspect of life in medieval England.
Milan Pajic’s article, “‘Ale for an Englishman is a natural drink’: the Dutch and the origins of beer brewing in late medieval England,” appears in the Journal of Medieval History. Click here to access it.
Milan Pajic is also the author of Flemish Textile Workers in England, 1331–1400, published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.
Top Image: A cellarer passes a drink to people in a tavern above, from a fourteenth-century manuscript produced in Genoa, c. 1330–1340. British Library, Add MS 27695, fol. 14r.
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