2 THE DUTCH GRAND FISHERY 



by the men of the Low Countries from fisheries conducted, 

 to a considerable extent, on the very coasts of Britain. 



Although it was not until the sixteenth century that the 

 inhabitants of Britain became alive to the magnitude of 

 the Dutch fisheries, the latter had been recognised in the 

 Low Countries as a great national concern at least since 

 the twelfth century. In 1177, Margaret of Alsatia, Countess 

 of Flanders, issued a regulation prescribing the manner of 

 salting herrings ; salted herring are also mentioned in a 

 charter of Louis VII. of France, dated 1179. 1 That the 

 Dutch fishermen were, even thus early, aware of the value 

 of the fishing off the coast of England and had already 

 extended their operations so as to include the fishing grounds 

 there, is evident from a proclamation of Edward I., issued 

 in 1295, to the effect that the many people from " Holland, 

 Zealand, and Friesland," who " come and fish in our sea 

 off Yarmouth, be treated civilly, and not molested, robbed, 

 or plundered by the king's subjects." 2 



By the fifteenth century Dutch cured herring had become 

 an important item in the food supply of the English army. 

 The salted herring referred to in the twelfth century docu- 

 ments already mentioned, were merely herring packed or 

 strewn with salt so as to preserve them for a short time, 

 but towards the close of the fourteenth century the art of 

 pickling and barrelling herring so as to make them a suitable 

 article of foreign trade was discovered, the Dutch soon 

 began to export herring, and found in England a good 

 market. The famous Battle of the Herring, fought in 1429 

 in France, is proof of the fact that salted herring were by 

 that time appreciated by the English as a convenient article 

 of diet for an army in the field. 



1 " The History of Dutch Sea Fisheries," p. 10. (Prize Essay by A. 

 Beaujon, International Fisheries Exhibition, London, 1883, printed in 

 the Fisheries Exhibition Literature, vol. ix.) 



- Beaujon's Essay, p. 9. 



