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The practice of beekeeping in the Middle Ages involved the commercial collection of honey from wild or semi-wild bee colonies, carried out by beekeepers. The term comes from the Latin 'excidere' ('to cut out') via the Old High German 'zeideln' ('to cut honey'). It is called cutting because, unlike today, the entire honeycomb was harvested; the survival of the bee colony was of secondary importance. Honey and wax could be immediately utilized and processed further. Coniferous forest areas were extremely beneficial, if not essential, for beekeeping. Important locations for beekeeping in the Middle Ages included regions in the Fichtel Mountains and the Nuremberg Imperial Forest. In Bavaria, for instance, evidence of forest beekeeping dates back to the year 959 in the area of Grabenstätt. There were also extensive beekeeping activities in what is now Berlin, particularly in the much larger Grunewald at that time. In the surrounding areas of Nuremberg, there are still numerous indications of the once-thriving beekeeping tradition, such as the Beekeeper's Castle in Feucht. Honey was important for the production of Nuremberg gingerbread; the Nuremberg Imperial Forest ('The Beekeeper's Garden of the Holy Roman Empire') provided enough of it. The German place name Zeidler in present-day Brtníky, Czech Republic, traces back to the historical forest beekeeping there. Zeidler is also the name of a former municipality in the district of Fördergersdorf in the Saxon town of Tharandt near the Tharandter Forest. This volume is illustrated with 4 black-and-white plates. It is a reprint of the original edition from 1894.