People in the Middle Ages Did Not Drink Beer Instead of Water
You might have heard or read 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 medieval era, for example, water was the most popular drink. Just like it was throughout all of humanity’s existence, for that matter, for a simple reason: it was free. It is true that people of centuries past did not have the kinds of water purification treatments that the water coming out of our faucets nowadays usually goes through. While contamination was a problem, medieval people – like all humans since our species first walked upright – knew how to spot and avoid obviously contaminated water.
In short, people back then had enough common sense and common knowledge to not drink swampy, muddy, and cloudy water. In medieval days, health manuals and medical texts positively praised the health benefits of water – so long as it came from good sources. Indeed, the authorities 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.
