Law Gazette @museum.de

M: Ulrich, by the grace of God, Duke of Württemberg ... the first words of the "Decree against Blasphemy and Toasting", issued in 1515. The decree was meant to eliminate a very specific form of drinking and make it a punishable offence. Toasting, or drinking to someone's health, went like this ...

F: The first participant raised his cup and toasted the health of his neighbour at table. Then he emptied the cup in a single gulp. The one who'd been toasted was next, and also had to empty his cup in one go. A refusal would have been tantamount to a serious insult. And so it went on ... and on ... and on. No prizes for guessing how it all ended.

M: At the end of the Middle Ages, it was a very popular ritual, especially among the nobility. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, for example, 72 nobles are said to have drunk twelve hundred Franconian measures of wine in a single night – the equivalent of almost 17 litres or 32 pints each!

F: This fondness for tipple was probably linked to a change in table manners. In earlier times, only a single cup was passed around the table at court. In the 15th century, that changed and each member of the nobility was given a separate cup.

M: Also: more and more permanent royal residences were being established. The sovereigns no longer trekked from place to place, but stayed in a single location. Boredom threatened the lives of the nobility. So excessive drinking became a kind of pastime.

F: The toasting ritual was repeatedly banned – including in 1515 by Duke Ulrich of Württemberg. These prohibitions weren't issued on health grounds, however, but in fear of divine wrath. Syphilis, for example, which was rampant in Europe from the end of the 15th century onwards, was explained by the clergy as one such divine punishment.

M: Ritual toasting only came to an end in the early 18th century, with the introduction of more civilised table manners. In 1731, a traveller noted with relief that "the abominable welcome cups and all the boozing (...) have now been entirely abolished in Germany". Bottoms up!