THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 25 



laid before Our Gracious Lady Margaret of Savoy, then 

 Governess of the Netherlands, in the name of the Emperor 

 She, however, declined to enforce the new prohibition in 

 the province of Flanders, upon which the towns of Delft 

 and Schiedam likewise refused to observe it, which the 

 other fishing towns of Holland and Zealand were content 

 to do by way of an experiment* The question was again 

 moved in May, 1528, between the delegates of Holland, 

 Zealand, Brabant, and Flanders ;f but no agreement was 

 come to, and herring fishing appears to have gone on 

 both before and after St. James's, until the Emperor pro- 

 hibited the former by a placard dated June 24th, 1536, { 

 and thereby sanctioned the principle that no early herring 

 was to be caught or sold by Dutchmen, which has since 

 been religiously observed as a fundamental fishery law. It 

 should be noted that initial dates for herring fishery have 

 been frequently shifted. About the period now spoken of, 

 a Burgundian law prohibited herring to be salted, i.e. to be 

 caught, before August 24th. A period of liberty as to the 

 date came next; it was fixed at July 25th, in 1536, and 

 shifted more than once in latter years, until definitely 

 appointed on June 24th. Variations in the annual migra- 

 tions of the herring shoals must have occasioned these 

 several alterations of laws. 



Besides the edicts just now referred to, police regula- 

 tions for fishing vessels were issued by Charles V. on 

 August 4th, 1545, and July 9th, 1546, and renewed by his 

 son Philip on the same day of the year 1564. This edict, 

 which was afterwards re-edited by the States, in the King's 



* Res. Holland, in Aert van d. Goes' Register ; pp. 38, 39. 



f Ibid. p. 80. 



\ Twecde Memoriaelboe&s Hofs van Hollant, fol. 43. 



E. 8. D 



