Wilhelm IV Grants the Degenberg Wheat-Beer Privilege

On August 3, 1548, Bavarian Duke Wilhelm IV granted Hans VI von Degenberg the privilege to brew and sell white or wheat beer in northeastern Bavaria. Hans served as Wilhelm’s senior court official in Lower Bavaria, and the privilege centered on the Degenberg family’s ancestral seat at Schwarzach. The family produced wheat beer at three breweries in Schwarzach, Zwiesel, and Linden. The privilege created an important exception to the Bavarian territorial ordinance of 1516, which specified barley for ordinary beer production. When Duke Albrecht V prohibited the brewing of white beer throughout the duchy in 1567 because of its consumption of wheat, the Degenberg family remained exempt under its privilege. Exclusive access to the growing wheat-beer market became one of the family’s most important sources of income and established Schwarzach as a central location in the development of modern Bavarian wheat beer. After Hans Sigmund von Degenberg, the family’s last male descendant, died in 1602, Duke Maximilian I reclaimed the privilege and took control of the Degenberg wheat-beer breweries. Their transfer to the Wittelsbach ruler formed a crucial step toward the ducal wheat-beer monopoly that subsequently expanded across Bavaria.