T.
Trin. Coll. Dublin.
NASHE'S "TERRORS OF THE NIGHT."
(Vol. v., p. 467.)
Mr. Eastwood's quotation from Nashe's Terrors of the Night regarding the use of ale for the sacrament in Iceland, may have some light thrown upon it by the following passages from the Icelandic sages and the learned editors of the Historic Memorials of Greenland. We doubt if Nashe was correct in saying that ale was granted for that purpose by the Pope in preference to wine, on account of the "incessant frosts there;" for, in truth, the Icelanders of the present day, as well as in former times, have no difficulty in protecting liquids much more congealable, such as milk, from the winter's frost. The abundance of warm springs, and the volcanic fires throughout the island, render the temperature of the inhabited districts of Iceland much warmer in winter than would be supposed from its high northern latitude. The word "red emayle" no doubt means "red enamel," an apt simile enough, and well understood in the writer's days. We do not find any mention of "ale" ("öl") being ever used in Iceland for the celebration of the eucharist; but a wine seems to leave been prepared from the Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), as is shown by the following extract from Bishop Paul's Saga, a nearly cotemporary history; for the Saga in question is believed to have been written by Bishop Magnus Gissurson (1215-1237), who succeeded Bishop Paul in the see of Skalholt:—
"In Bishop Paul's days came Bishop John from Greenland to Iceland, and remained during the winter in the eastern fiords; but afterwards he journeyed late in Lent (langaföstu, long fast time) to Skalholt to meet Bishop Paul, and he came there on Maunday Thursday (Skírdegi-Skjærtorsdag), and these two bishops consecrated a large store of Chrism, and had besides many confidential and learned conversations. Bishop John taught the people to prepare wine from the crowberry (krækiberium), as he himself had been instructed by King Sverrer. But it so happened that the next summer few berries grew in Iceland; but a man called Erick, who lived on a farm called Snorrastade, near Skalholt, prepared a small quantity of the wine from these berries, which succeeded well that summer."—Pp. 186, 187.
We confess that we are much inclined to agree with the learned Eggert Olafsen's doubts as to the practicability of manufacturing a wine, to suit at least our palates, from the acrid fruit of the Empetrum nigrum. It is said that Boerhaave, gives a receipt for this purpose, and we have accordingly found it in his forty-second Process of the Elementa Chemiæ, but this relates to the general mode of producing wine from fruits; and Olafsen (p. 172. vol. i.) tried it in vain with the crowberry when in Iceland in 1753. Still a species of subacid drink, such as still prepared from this fruit by the Icelanders, may have been dignified in olden times with the name of wine; but Olafsen was certainly in error when he stated that Bishop Paul brought over to Iceland, according to tradition, a native of the Canary Isles, to teach the art. The Canary Isles were not then (A.D. 1203) known to Europe.
About the year 1186 King Sverrer forbade the importation of wine into Bergen by the German traders, on account of the scenes of drunkenness and riot that ensued therefrom; and he is said to have turned his attention to the preparing of a home-made wine from the crowberry, as a substitute for the foreign liquors he had forbidden. The learned editors of the Historic Memorials of Greenland, in a note on the passage above quoted in Bishop Paul's Saga, remark, that this was probably the kind of wine which is traditionally said to have been used for the sacrament in Iceland when the true juice of the grape could not be obtained. Huidtfeldt, in his Chronicle, positively states that the Northmen in 1250 and 1290 sought and obtained permission from the Pope to use mead, "mjod" (mulsum), and other similar liquors, in the celebration of the sacrament, in consequence of the great scarcity of wine in those countries. The editors further state that "within our own times, during the disastrous war with England, it was proposed to employ wine made from bilberries for the same purpose in Iceland."
The Synod of Roeskilde, according to Pontoppidan, Annal. Eccles. Dan. ii. 329. and iii. 538., forbids the use of any liquor but pure wine in the sacrament in the following words:—