CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE HERRING-FISHERY. 135 



ring is in 1030, in the Charter of the Abbey of St Catherine, 

 situated near Eouen, where it is stated that certain salt- 

 ivorks near Dieppe were to pay to that abbey five mil- 

 liers of herrings ; and in 1088, Eobert, Duke of Normandy, 

 by charter to the Abbey of La Sante Trinite at Fecamp, 

 gave permission to hold a fair one day during the con- 

 tinuation of the herring-fishery ; and Louis VII. of 

 France, in 1155, prohibited his subjects from buying any- 

 thing in the town of Estampes but mackarel and salted 

 herrings."* 



Philip II., King of the Romans, expressly mentions, 

 in a charter granted to the town of Liege, dated 1187, 

 the privilege of buying and selling fresh and salted her- 

 rings, f 



It is clear, therefore, that if Beukelsen had any merit as 

 an inventor, it must have been in the introduction of the 

 practice of gutting them ; in corroboration of this sup- 

 position, the " Kronikel van Holland" says, " This year 

 (1163) they commenced fishing herring in the Meuse, 

 and the first fishery was established at the Brielle. The 

 fishermen of Zurick Zee were the first to fish them and 

 pack them in barrels ; and those of Biervliet were 

 the first who invented the better method of preserving 

 them salted, by gutting and taking out those parts of 

 tlie herring which before caused them to spoil much 

 sooner. I 



On the coasts of Lower Germany, in the Baltic, it is 

 stated, that in the year 1236, the people caught such 

 great quantities that they then extracted oil from herrings 

 by boiling them.§ 



* Ord, des llois de France. 



t Louvrex Kecueil des edits et privileges du pays de Liege, ii. 234. 



f Kronik. van. Holland, i. 184. § Peringskiold Mouum. Uller, 89. 



