TO THE READER 



No one who studies national economics of 

 past centuries can fail to be impressed by evi- 

 dences of the close connection between the 

 foreign policy of England and her national 

 trade interest, though during the nineteenth 

 century that connection was growing looser, 

 and, in the two or three decades just before 

 this war, had begun to disappear. Wool and 

 herring in the period covered by the twelfth 

 to the seventeenth centuries were what would 

 now be called key industries. It was on them 

 our national policy may be said to have largely 

 turned whenever the rulers of England entered 

 upon discussions, peaceful or warlike, with 

 other nations. Further, our political action, 

 whether in respect of domestic or foreign 

 policy, was silently but ultimately based upon 

 that national system of economics which was 

 for the most part represented by the words 

 wool and herring. 



Norwich and Yarmouth, the two sister trade- 

 centres of my native county, were so intimately 

 identified with the one and the other that any 

 investigation of the archaeology of Norfolk 

 brings the student face to face with these 

 industries in their various aspects ; I was 



