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.” ? 
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.) 
2 Beaujon’s Essay, p. 9. 
