What is Cupbearer?
[[File:Wiertz Musikalische Unterhaltung.jpg|thumb|right|200px|{{Center|A cupbearer serving his lord}}]] A '''cupbearer''' is [[tradition]]ally the person who fills the [[cup]]s and serves the [[wine]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cupbearer |title=cupbearer |publisher=Merriam-Webster, Incorporated |access-date=January 27, 2017}}</ref> In a [[medieval]] [[court (royal)]], the cupbearer brought his [[lord]]'s [[ale]] or [[wine]] and tasted it to make sure it was not [[poison]]ed.<ref name=Adamson163>Melitta Weiss Adamson, ''Food in Medieval Times'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004), p. 163</ref> The cupbearer was often a person of high rank. It was a distinct honor to be a cupbearer to a king.<ref name=Fitzpatrick-McKinley186>Anne Fitzpatrick-McKinley, ''Empire, Power and Indigenous Elites: A Case Study of the Nehemiah Memoir'' (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2015), p. 186</ref> In the [[Bible]], [[Nehemiah]] was cupbearer to the [[Artaxerxes I of Persia]].<ref>Katherine Harris, ''Nelson's Foundational Bible Dictionary'' (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 511</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Personal service occupations]]