Beekeeping in the Middle Ages

Speaker:  Dr Alexandra Sapoznik

Dr Alexandra Sapoznik is Senior Lecturer in late medieval history at Kings College, London, and is the leader of a research project into “Bees in the medieval world”. We all know that beeswax was much more valued than honey in those times, but the facts will astound you! Beeswax was an important commodity, with trading routes crossing religious divides and spanning Europe from the far north to the southern coasts of the Mediterranean. Despite the effects of climate change, the Black Death and the Reformation, the value given to beeswax seems to have been remarkably constant. Honey was not unimportant, of course, and Alexandra will go into the economic, environmental, cultural and social aspects of beekeeping.

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