Bees, Beekeeping & Apiculture

A verse work of agricultur al advice written by a 16th century English farmer. An enlarged edition of his work, Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie , was published in 1573.

The first official mentioning of bee-keeping dates from about 2400 BCE, in official lists of apiarists. The kind of hives depicted in reliefs are still seen in the Sudan today: woven wicker baskets covered with clay.

Illustrati ons of beehives, including depictions of skeps and tile hives.

Demonstrat es the making of period-sty le bee skeps, clothing of 16th and 17th century beekepers, and other interestin g notes on the history of beekeeping .

Answer questions about beekeeping in Anglo-Saxon/Norman England and in our world today, looking at who kept bees, what they kept bees in, how they cared for them, and how they harvested honey and wax.

A modernized English version of the section on bees and beekeeping from an animal husbandry book (Cheap and Good Husbandry) published in 1614.

For centuries, beekeepers have used skeps, carefully designed domed baskets, to house their hives. Learn how to make one.

Notes on medieval beekeeping from the Geoponika, a 10th-centu ry Byzantine work on farming.

A collection of more than 150 beehives and other accessories relating to the history of apiculture.

Do you keep bees? Interested in doing so? In the SCA? You've found the right place!

This excerpt is Chapter X of the book The Histori of Bees, written by Charles Butler, published by William Turner, Oxford, 1634. The book is a general work on beekeeping, going into enormous detail on all aspects of the subject. This excerpt is the final section, which concerns the use of the hive -- the making of wax, mead, preserves and medicines using honey.

Covers the design of bee-skeps in England up to the 16th century.

The Zeidler Guild connects SCA beekeepers. There is a database of SCA beekeepers and articles on the site.