Gambrinus
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Gambrinus (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) is a legendary European culture hero celebrated as an icon of beer, brewing, joviality, and joie de vivre. Typical representations in the visual arts depict him as a rotund, bearded duke or king, holding a tankard or mug, and sometimes with a keg nearby.
Though sometimes erroneously called a patron saint,<ref name="Rabin">Template:Cite book</ref> Gambrinus is neither a saint nor a tutelary deity. It is possible his persona was conflated with traditional medieval saints associated with beermaking, like Saint Arnold of Soissons. In one legendary tradition, he is beer's inventor or envoy. Although legend attributes to him no special powers to bless brews or to make crops grow, tellers of old tall tales are happy to adapt them to fit Gambrinus. Gambrinus stories use folklore motifs common to European folktales, such as the trial by ordeal. Some imagine Gambrinus as a man who has an enormous capacity for drinking beer.<ref name="Rabin"/>
Origin of Gambrinus
Gambrivius
In his magnum opus Annals of Bavaria, German historian Johannes Aventinus wrote that Gambrinus is based on a mythical Germanic king called Gambrivius, or Gampar, who, Aventinus says, learned brewing from Osiris and Isis. In 1517, William IV, Duke of Bavaria had made Aventinus the official historiographer of his dukedom. Aventinus finished composing the history in 1523; the work that he compiled, Annals of Bavaria, extends beyond Bavaria, drawing on numerous ancient and medieval sources. However, it is also a work that blends history with myth and legend.
Aventinus had derived this king Gambrinus from the writings of Annius of Viterbo, who had invented the character based on a legendary ancient German tribe, the Gambrivii, mentioned by Roman historian Tacitus.<ref>Wolfgang Stammler, Kleine schriften zur Literaturgeschichte des Mittelalters, p. 120-124.</ref>
Template:Multiple image European anecdote credits Gambrinus with the invention of beer. Aventinus attempted to reconcile this account with much older stories attributing its origin to Osiris' agricultural teachings.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Aventinus' chronicle, Gambrivius was the paramour of Osiris' wife and sister, Isis. It was by this association, he says, that Gambrivius learned the science of brewing (cf. myths of the theft of fire).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Aventinus' account of Gambrivius contributed to the reverence for Osiris and Isis held by 17th-century European scholars.<ref name="Hornung">Template:Cite book</ref> Perceiving Osiris and Isis as "culture bearers" enabled a willingness to see historical connections where there were none.<ref name="Hornung"/>
The 59th stanza of the English drinking ode "The Ex-ale-tation of Ale", written by Peter Mews, evidences a British appropriation of the myth: Template:Quote
According to Aventinus, Gambrivius is a seventh-generation descendant of the Biblical patriarch Noah. By incorporating earlier myths recorded by Tacitus, Aventinus reckoned that Gambrivius was the fifth son of Marso (Latin: Marsus),<ref name="Waldenfels">Template:Cite book</ref> who was the great-grandson of Tuisto, the giant or godly ancestor of the Germanic peoples whom Tacitus mentions in Germania. Tacitus alludes to an earlier source (Strabo) who lists tribes called the Gambrivii and the Marsi among the peoples descended from Tuisto:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the offspring or subjects of Gambrivius and Marsus, respectively.
Gampar claims new lands east of the Rhine, including Flanders and Brabant, and founds the towns of Cambrai and Hamburg.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The names of both these towns were theorized to be cognates of Gambrivius, as one of Hamburg's ancient Latin names was alleged to be Gambrivium.<ref name="Walsh">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Compte-rendu">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
One of Aventinus' sources was Officina (1503), an encyclopedia compiled by French scholar Jean Tixier de Ravisi. This work purported that Tuisto and Gambrivius were giants descended from Noah. But Jean Tixier had only catalogued and reported a conjecture made in the name of the Hellenistic-era historian Berossus,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> by the fraudster Annio da Viterbo (1498), who had previously used the same hypothesis to postulate an ancestry for the Gauls.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Some Francophone and Germanophone scholars reject the others' claim to Gambrinus as an appropriation of one of their own cultural heroes.<ref name="Compte-rendu"/><ref name="Gambrinal">Template:Cite journal</ref> Aventinus' account did not just establish a claim to Gambrivius, but to a glorious ancestry and heritage.<ref name="Gambrinal"/> The myths also reimagined Gambrivius as a catalyst for the enlargement of the territory of a Germanic people (the Gambrivii), and made him a divine conduit into Germania for the Egyptians' ancient beer lore.
In 1543, Hans Guldenmundt published a series of 12 broadside prints of "ancestors and early kings of the Germans". The series includes Tuiscon (Tuisto) and Gambrivius, Charlemagne, and other kings historical and mythological. The heading for Gambrivius translates as "Gampar, King of Brabant and Flanders". Aventinus' contemporary Burkard Waldis (c. 1490–1556) wrote a descriptive verse for each of the 12 kings in the series. The verses for Gampar and Tuiscon recapitulate what Aventinus recorded in Annals of Bavaria.
During the 16th century, the name 'Gambrivius' was corrupted into the form 'Gambrinus', as the legendary beer king would be known from thereon.
John I, Duke of Brabant
One of the persons erroneously theorised to be the basis for the Gambrinus character is John I (c. 1252–1294)<ref name="Reiber">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp of the Duchy of Brabant, which was a wealthy, beer-producing jurisdiction that encompassed Brussels among other cities.<ref name="Coremans">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Rabin"/><ref name="Jackson">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp In his 1842 article on Gambrinus, the Belgian political activist and historian Victor Coremans reported that references to Brabant and Flanders in Gambrinus legends seemed to be relatively recent. However, he also reports a similarity between the likeness of John I on his tomb and the faces in some illustrations of Gambrinus.<ref name="Coremans"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Erroneously, German 19th century amateur historians misinterpreted the name Gambrinus as a corruption of Jan Primus ('John the first' in a combination of Dutch and Latin). In reality such a phrase has never been attested in any historical document.<ref>Jan Grauls, ‘De legende van koning Gambrinus’, in: Terug naar de oorsprong, Hasselt 1966, p. 129-138</ref>
19th-century stories about Gambrinus
Short stories by Charles Deulin
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For his 1868 anthology Contes d'un buveur de bière (English: Tales of a Beer Drinker), French author Charles Deulin wrote a playful short story called "Cambrinus, Roi de la Bière" ("Cambrinus, King of Beer"), in which "Cambrinus" makes a deal with the Devil.<ref>A brief, and not quite accurate, synopsis of this story appears in Walsh, p. 117. It is a modification of a synopsis he wrote for an 1888 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine.</ref> Deulin was also a journalist, and drama critic who adapted elements of European folklore into his work.<ref name="Malarte–Feldman">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The success of "Cambrinus, Roi de la Bière" led to the 1874 publication of Contes du roi Cambrinus ("Tales of King Cambrinus"), a collection of short stories devoted to the character.<ref name="Malarte–Feldman"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
"Cambrinus, Roi de la Bière"
In this, the seminal Cambrinus short story, Cambrinus is an apprentice glassblower in the Flemish village of Fresnes-sur-Escaut, but he believes that he lacks the skill and upward mobility to succeed in glassblowing. He becomes smitten with the master glassblower's daughter, Flandrine. After she rebuffs him, he apprentices himself instead to a viol master, and learns the instrument. His first public performance goes excellently until he catches sight of Flandrine, and flubs his performance. The crowd turns on him violently, but when the case goes to trial the judge, Jocko, is against Cambrinus. When Cambrinus is released he considers suicide, but Beelzebub intervenes in exchange for the promise of his soul. Beelzebub announces, too, that he has killed the judge.
With diabolical help, Cambrinus wins a fortune in games of skill and chance, becomes an irresistible player of the carillon, and becomes the first mortal to brew beer. Cambrinus' music and beer make him very famous, and eventually the king of the Netherlands heaps titles of nobility on him: Duke of Brabant, Count of Flanders, Lord of Fresnes. But even after founding the town of Cambrai, Cambrinus prefers the villagers' honorary title for him: King of Beer. When Flandrine finally approaches him, he rejects her.
After 30 years, Beelzebub sends Jocko the judge for Cambrinus' soul, but Cambrinus thwarts Jocko by getting him drunk on beer, and thrives for nearly a hundred years more. When Cambrinus finally dies, Beelzebub himself comes for his soul, only to find that Cambrinus' body has become a beer barrel.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Gambrinus, King of Lager Beer
Some years after Deulin published Contes d’un buveur de bière, American playwright and blackface minstrel Frank Dumont wrote a loose variation on the story "Cambrinus, Roi de la Bière". In this musical burlesque, titled Gambrinus, King of Lager Beer, Gambrinus is a poor woodcutter to whom Template:Sic gives a recipe for an excellent lager beer. In Dumont's version, Gambrinus is joyfully reunited with his love, only to be taken from her by Belzebub.
The play was first produced in the US town of Jackson, Michigan on 21 July 1875, by a blackface troupe called Duprez and Benedict's Minstrels.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
May Day legend
In a very brief magazine piece, Deulin told a legend (possibly his own invention) in which Gambrinus and a host of ancient French (or, alternately, Franconian) kings gather each May Day for a midnight feast at a "Devil's table" (Template:Langx) near Grafenberg, Germany.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Brands
Because of Gambrinus' significance, breweries, pubs, restaurants, shops, and malt houses have appropriated the character or his name for their brands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
První akciový pivovar in Plzeň, Czech Republic, has been brewing a pale lager with the name Gambrinus since 1918. In 1932 the brewery merged with Pilsner Urquell Brewery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In Spain, the brewery Cruzcampo, now a subsidiary of Heineken International, premiered a Gambrinus-derived advertising mascot in 1902, and has kept it since. The character was designed by Leonetto Cappiello.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Between 1997 and 2009, Cruzcampo opened more than 250 Gambrinus pubs throughout Spain—starting with one in the Basque Country.<ref name="Schiefenhövel">Template:Cite book</ref>
Cerveza Victoria was the first beer commercially brewed in Mexico. Its brewer, Santiago Graf, started his brewery in Toluca during the 1880s. He eventually attracted some German investors, and incorporated the Brewery Company of Toluca and Mexico (Compañía Cervecera de Toluca y México) in 1890.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1907, the company changed the Victoria logo to an illustration of King Gambrinus.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Grupo Modelo bought the company in 1935, and has branded Victoria beer with at least two different Gambrinus logos. Today, Cerveza Victoria is marketed as a "Vienna-style" dark lager, and is distributed multinationally.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In Brazil, in the city of Porto Alegre, the oldest bar in the city, founded in 1889, is named in honor of the legendary king and patron of beer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
King Gambrinus, Legendary Patron of Brewing (1967), a statue commissioned by the Pabst Brewing Company in the United States,<ref name="SIRIS">Template:Cite web</ref> has been a point of interest in the city of Milwaukee for many years.<ref name="Jacobson">Template:Cite web</ref> The statue now on display is the third version created since 1857.<ref name="SIRIS"/> It was taken down in the late 1990s when Pabst moved to another city, but was repatriated to Milwaukee in 2011, on loan.<ref name="Jacobson"/>
About a dozen large zinc statues of King Gambrinus were sculpted in the 19th century by J. W. Fiske & Company for use as architectural statues on brewery buildings in the United States. Five are known to still exist, four of those are in museums.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Cantillon of Brussels brews a highly rated framboise lambic called Rosé de Gambrinus.<ref name="Jackson"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Battin of Luxembourg uses the character of Gambrinus as its logo and gives his name to its main brew.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
- Franco–Belgian patron saints of beer
- Amandus (c. 584–675), patron saint of brewers, wine makers, merchants, and landlords (i.e., innkeepers/bartenders)
- Arnold of Soissons (c. 1040–1087), patron saint of hop pickers and Belgian brewers
- Arnulf of Metz (c. 582–640), Frankish patron saint of brewers
- Veronus of Lembeek
- Tutelary deities
- Ceres (mythology), Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherly relationships
- Demeter, Greek goddess of the harvest, especially grains and the fertility of the earth
- Dionysus, Greek god of the grape harvest, winemaking, wine, ritual madness, and ecstasy
- Ninkasi, ancient Sumerian goddess of beer
Notes
Further reading
External links
- Ancestors and early kings of the Germans, a series of 12 German broadside prints at the British Museum
- Template:Cite web
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