Honeybee Histories

Hives and Wild Honey in the Domesday Book

What does the Domesday Book tell us about Hives an wild honey hunting in England, in the eleventh century?

The Leader of the Hive Part 11 – The Queen and the Drone

When agricultural writer John Mills wrote about bees in 1766, he accepted the arguments of Jan Swammerdam and other recent discoveries, showing just how accepted the idea of the Queen Bee had become

The lazy drone in De Universo of Rabanus Maurus

Writing in the 9th century, Rabanus Maurus cemented the idea that the drone was lazy and thus sinful. This would prove to become a popular motif during the medieval era.

Thomas Hill – Chapter 8 – The King Bee

Part 15 in a semi-regular series of essays examining the 1568, A Profitable Instruction of the perfect ordering of Bees, written by Thomas Hill.

Bees and Honey in the Ancient Laws of Britain and Ireland Part 4: Paying Taxes in bees and honey

Some of the most important knowledge we have about beekeeping in the early medieval era comes from the laws that were made to protect and control beekeeping.

Shall we have a General Report? Beekeepers reactions to the Long Winter

Part 4 of an irregular series about 19th century beekeeping expert and supplier, G.L. Tinker