How to Cite

Esch, Arnold and Schmugge, Ludwig: „Wir könnten uns zwar importiertes Olivenöl leisten, aber …“. Import, Konsum und Ablehnung von Olivenöl in Mitteleuropa im 15. Jahrhundert, in Menschen in ihrer Gegenwart: Die Fülle spätmittelalterlichen Lebens im Spiegel der Apostolischen Pönitentiarie, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2024 (Online-Schriften des DHI Rom. Neue Reihe: Pubblicazioni online del DHI Roma. Nuova serie, Volume 10), p. 265–274. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.1345.c18683

License (Chapter)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Identifiers (Book)

ISBN 978-3-96822-261-5 (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-3-96822-262-2 (PDF)

Published

04/04/2024

Authors

Arnold Esch

„Wir könnten uns zwar importiertes Olivenöl leisten, aber …“. Import, Konsum und Ablehnung von Olivenöl in Mitteleuropa im 15. Jahrhundert

Abstract Vegetable fats played an important role in the church’s rules for fasting because, unlike animal fats, their consumption was also allowed while fasting. Within the olive­growing area this was not a problem, but outside it was. The numerous requests for a relaxation of the fasting rules (on the grounds that the petitioner is old or sick or has a weak stomach) often have the further argument, when north of the Alps, that our region is too cold for growing olives, imported oil is difficult to obtain (or: too expensive, usually already rancid, etc.), and above all: it does not taste good and disagrees with us, makes us nauseous and ill, just as the local vegetable oils do (nut, poppy, linseed); we want the normal butter. Whole cities (such as Munich), entire regions request and receive this privilege. The article aims to show what this source, which is not at all economically oriented, can contribute to the question of imports from the South. Until the Reformation made this problem obsolete for much of Europe.