2. Misreported Fact: Medieval People Drank Alcohol Instead of Water
One of the most commonly misreported “facts” has it that people in centuries past only drank beer and wine instead of water, because water was too often contaminated with deadly pathogens. That is untrue. In the Middle Age, for example, water was the most popular drink. The same as it was throughout all of humanity’s existence, for that matter, for a simple reason: water was free. It is true that until relatively recently, most people did not have the kinds of modern water purification treatments that the water coming out of our faucets nowadays usually goes through. However, while contamination was a problem, people in the Middle Ages – like all humans since our species first walked upright – knew how to spot and avoid obviously contaminated water.
People throughout history had enough common sense and common knowledge to not drink swampy, muddy, and cloudy water. In the Middle Ages, health manuals and medical texts praised the health benefits of water – so long as it came from good sources. Indeed, the authorities back then went to great lengths to supply people with drinking water. For example, London constructed ‘The Conduit’ in the 1200s, which used lead pipes to bring fresh water from a spring outside the city walls to the London’s center, where people had free access to it.
