Water Quality as a Key Factor in the Success of Świdnica Beer During the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period

Abstrakt

For centuries, water and its quality played a decisive role in both settlement patterns and beer production. In the area of present-day Świdnica, favourable conditions were created by the Bystrzyca River and its numerous tributaries, along which watermills operated from the early Middle Ages. This situation changed after the foundation of the chartered city in the first half of the 13th century on a post-glacial elevation and the Bystrzyca River terrace. In the late 13th century, a ducal castle and defensive walls were erected there. The city’s location required inhabitants to rely on deep groundwater sources, situated at depths of 15-16 m, as confirmed by 20th-century hydrogeological research. Founded under Magdeburg law, Świdnica developed from the outset as a centre of brewing, which rapidly assumed an almost industrial scale. This was enabled by legal privileges associated with the medieval tavern right (ius tabernae), commonly granted during the 13th-century colonisation process. Plots assigned to early settlers, known as “taverns,” supported the growth of commercial brewing. Due to the granite bedrock, wells had to be partially cut into rock and lined with stone. Archaeological excavations have identified over a dozen such wells, usually located at plot boundaries to allow shared access. Some were associated with breweries and malt houses, which initially operated within residential buildings of medieval Świdnica.