Binge drinking

Binge drinking is not a modern malady, instead, the problem was much more rampant in the 17th century.

A new study has indicated that binge drinking is not a modern malady. Instead, the problem was much more rampant in the 17th century, when it was actually made popular by the once religious Anglicans, in Europe.

HT Image

According to the study, titled 'Roaring Royalists and Ranting Brewers,' conducted by University of Warwick researchers, heavy drinking was a way of demonstrating their loyalty to the king during the Civil War for the religious Anglicans.

During the course of the study, researchers examined 17th century broadside ballads, pamphlets and court records. They found that drinking was a way of showing political allegiance as drink and song became linked with politics.

During that period, wine was the preferred drink as the ritual consumption of wine, or health drinking, was a common practice that was recognized as an expression of loyalty to King and Church. The practice was common amongst of the different political parties like the Cavaliers, Tories and Jacobites.

The study also reveals that the period saw the rise of the unpleasant practice of drinking your own blood as a tribute to your king. The archives record a case where royalists cut off their rumps and drank their blood instead of wine in a Bedfordshire alehouse. However, the game went horribly wrong when an inebriated drinker was overzealous in slicing his body.

In fact the habit of drinking was so rife in society that it also led to the rise of political differences between parties like the drinking Tories and the sober Whigs, as both the parties took a different stance on drinking.

During the period, Monday was referred to as 'Saint Monday,' because people were often not in a state to for work on Monday's due to their Sunday night revelry.

"Binge drinking is far from a modern problem. 'Saint Monday' was a phrase indicating the inability of people to work on a Monday because of the way they had entertained themselves after church the day before," said historian Angela McShane-Jones, who wrote the research.