Fishing in medieval England

Summary

ABSTRACT. The growth of sea-fishing in medieval England was favoured by the country's long coastline, but also reflected socio-economic and cultural factors. Increased consumption of fish after c. 1000 AD was linked to the rise of commercial herring, cod and other fisheries and was reflected in the prosperity of many ports, first on the east coast and then on the south and west coasts. However, local inshore and estuarine fisheries remained important into the later medieval period.

RÉSUMÉ. L'essor de la pêche maritime dans l'Angleterre médiévale est favorisée par la longueur des côtes, mais est aussi la consequence de facteurs socio-économiques et culturels. La croissance de la consommation de poisons après l'an Mille est liée à l'essor du commerce du hareng, de la morue et d'autres pêches, et se manifeste dans la prospérité de nombreux ports, d'abord sur la côte est, puis sur les côtes sud et ouest. Toutefois les pêches près de la côte et dans les estuaries restent importantes à la fin du Moyen Âge.

INTRODUCTION

The history of sea fishing and of marine fish consumption in medieval England can be broadly divided into two phases. Before c. 1000 AD consumption of sea fish appears to have been largely restricted to coastal communities, to elite groups with access to coastal resources, and to a few urban or proto-urban communities. After the turn of the millennium, marine fish consumption increased markedly in the growing urban sector of the population, while retaining its importance in aristocratic and ecclesiastical diets, extending to communities inland which had no direct links with fishing, and even appearing as an element of consumption among some rural peasant communities. These changes in the scale and geographical and social penetration of fish consumption were associated with changes in the organisation of sea and coastal fishing, the exploitation of deeper waters, and the rise of a major trade in preserved fish. However, coastal fishing, using fixed fishing weirs and traps as well as nets and small boats, continued to be important throughout the medieval period and beyond. Fishing further offshore (and eventually in much deeper and more remote waters) at first supplemented and then greatly augmented coastal and estuarine fishing, but never replaced it.