English and Hanseatic Trading and Fishing Sites in Medieval Iceland: Report on Initial Fieldwork

Trading and Fishing Sites in Medieval Iceland 385 English and Hanseatic Trading and Fishing Sites in Medieval Iceland: Report on Initial Fieldwork By Mark Gardiner and Natascha Mehler Schlagwörter: Islandª/ªEnglandª/ªDeutschlandª/ªSpätmittelalterª/ªFrühe Neuzeitª/ªHanseª/ªHandel, Tauschª/ Fischereiª/ªSchiffe, Booteª/ªHafenanlagenª/ªGewerbe-, Wirtschaftsbauten Keywords: Icelandª/ªEnglandª/ªGermanyª/ªLate Middle Agesª/ªEarly Modern Timesª/ªHanseª/ªexchange, commerceªª/ªfisheryª/ªships, boatsª/ªharboursª/ªcommercial, industrial buildings Mots-clés: Islandeª/ªAngleterreª/ªAllemagneª/ªFin du Moyen Âgeª/ªDébut de l’époque moderne antérieureª/ Hanseª/échange, commerceª/ªpêcheª/ªbateaux, piroguesª/ªinstallations, portuairesª/ªbâtiments artisanaux, commerciaux The Icelandic historian, Gunnar Karlsson has described the settlement conditions of his homeland appositely: ‘From a strictly physical point of view, it seems as if it would have been possible for iron-age pastoralists, such as the early Icelanders, to survive in the country without any trade with the external world’.1 Indeed, Viking Age and medieval Icelanders produced the most of the important foodstuffs, artefacts and tools in their own homesteads.2 Vigorous trading activity with Norway, Germa- ny and England opened the route to Iceland for goods which provided an improved standard of living. But trade also operated in the other direction. By the 13th century Europe to the south of Scandinavia had become aware of the existence of Iceland. Iceland was able to offer goods and natural products that other north European lands did not have, or did not have in sufficient quantities. The rich fishing grounds provided a natural resource of considerable importance for the European market, and together with other important export goods, such as wool, vadmál – a tightly woven and tough cloth – animal skins and fleeces, and sulphur formed the basis of a vibrant trade between Icelanders, the English, the Hanse, the Dutch and the Norwegians. Luxury items, such as walrus-ivory and falcons completes the repertoire of goods.3 The representation of Iceland in the Carta Marina by Swedish scholar Olaus Magnus, published in 1531, clearly summarizes the economic interests and perceptions of the north Europeans (Fig.ª1). The focus is on the peculiarities – the natural dangers, mer- chant ships off the south coast and export goods, such as fish and sulphur depicted stored near tents, which are perhaps seasonal trading posts. In 2006 an international research project began which over the next few years will investigate Iceland’s trade with England and the Hanse during the late Middle Ages.4 The period from about 1412 to 1602 is marked by the presence of English and Hanseatic merchants, fisherman and sailors, and thereby it is not only a history of 1 Karlsson 2000, 48. 2 Some authors have argued that Icelanders could not survive without trade with the external world because they lacked essential raw materials that were indispensable to life (see, for example, Ebel 1977, 3). This is certainly not true, as many archaeological excavations have shown; see Mehler 2007a. 3 Marcus 1957, 408. 4 See also introductory statements by Gardiner 2006 and Mehler 2007b. GERMANIA 85, 2007 386 Mark Gardinerª/ªNatascha Mehler Fig.ª1. One of the first maps of Iceland. Detail of the Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus, published in 1531. trade but also a history of culture and society, and the interaction of communities of different cultures. The project is undertaken by the Department of Archaeology of Queen’s University of Belfast, the Römisch-Germanische Kommission des Deut- schen Archäologischen Instituts, and the Icelandic Institute of Archaeology (Fornlei- fastofnun Íslands). The following paper provides both an introduction to the subject and a report on initial fieldwork undertaken in May 2006. It is necessary to present a historical background to the study to explain the history of trade in Iceland during the later Middle Ages and the state of current knowledge as the background to the project. Research history of trading sites Since the first settlement of Iceland trading and fishing has played a significant part in the lives of people of that country. There were, of course, good economic reasons for these activities, but they also had an important cultural significance. Good landing places for boats and ships were indispensable for Icelanders as they explored new ter- ritories, as well as maintained links within and beyond Iceland. The earliest studies of Icelandic trading and fishing sites were made not for historical reason, but for economic ones. The reports compiled during the period of the Danish trade monopoly (1602–1787) are of particular importance. During this period ports were divided into fishing harbours (fiskihafnir) and harbours for the export of meat, but there were also two harbours for the export of the much sought after sulphur Trading and Fishing Sites in Medieval Iceland 387 Fig. 4 Westfjords (Vestfirðir) Eyjafjörður Fig. 6 Akurvík Hrísey Kúvíkur Hrútafjörður Saurbær Húsavík Svínanesfjall Breiðafjörður Snæfellsnes Gautavík Fúluvík Berufjörður Djúpivogur Fig. 9 Borgarfjörður þingvellir Reykjavík Skálholt glaciers over 750m 500-750m Fig. 5 250-500m 100 km 100-250m Westman Islands 0-100m (Vestmannaeyjar) Fig.ª2. Map of Iceland with places mentioned in the text. See also location of detailed maps, Figs 4, 5, 6 and 9. – Scale 1: 4ª000ª000. (brennisteinshöfn), at Húsavík and Reykjarfjördur, and also a harbour for fish oil (l4sishöfn) at Kúvíkur (see below and Fig.ª2).5 In the 17th century the Danish historian, Peder Hansen Resen (1625–1688), drew up a list of Icelandic harbours which had been in use during the second half of the 16th century or had already fallen out of use by that time. Resen’s description of Iceland was not printed in his time but was even- tually published 200 years later.6 Subsequently, between 1775 to 1777, Ólafur Olavius (1741–1788), an Icelandic scholar, travelled around the coasts of Iceland to investigate the potential for economic development. As part of that work, he studied harbours and landing sites in the north to locate places suitable to establish fishing settlements. The results of his survey were published in 1780 and included a map of these sites.7 At the end of the 19th century German historian Ernst Baasch published a thor- ough study of the voyages of Hamburg merchants to Iceland during the period from the 15th to 17th centuries. His work was based on the many documents stored at the archives of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen, and using these he was able to present a German perspective on the extensive trade of that period. His book offered a detailed insight into the many types of traded goods, the historical background, and the quar- 5 A0ils 1971, 260. 6 The list was first published in Kålund 1879–1882, 376–378 and later in Hansen Resen 1991. 7 Olavius 1780. GERMANIA 85, 2007 388 Mark Gardinerª/ªNatascha Mehler rels and difficulties the sailors had to overcome. He also gives a list of Icelandic ports that were frequented by merchants of the Hanse. This remains an extremely valuable source for this subject.8 There have been numerous historical studies of trading sites during the 20th century and these have adopted a number of approaches (see below). The dissertation of Björn ﬁorsteinsson on the impact of English trade on Iceland in the 15th century was ground-breaking, and he introduced the concept of the ‘English Age’ into Icelandic historiography.9 He published several contributions on the subject of trade in the late Middle Ages,10 located the ruins of the trading site at Búdasandur (see below) and en- couraged his students to continue his work. It is also worth mentioning the research of the German historian, Else Ebel, who examined trade in Iceland in the period 950 to the mid-13th century. She used the evidence from the many sagas written down between the middle of the 12th and the mid-14th century, and the Grágás (the Grey Goose Laws), a collection of civil laws dating to the early 12th century.11 Ebel covers a period before the arrival of the English and the Germans, but the results of her research are also relevant to the later Middle Ages (see below). Trade in coarse cloth (vadmál) during the 13th and 14th centuries was considered in a doctoral thesis by Helgi ﬁorláksson. He also examined the role of trade in urban formation in Iceland.12 Other important doctoral studies are those by Jón Adils and Gísli Gunnarsson, examining the operation of trade in the period subsequent to that studied here, during the Danish trade monopoly from 1602 to 1787. Gunnarsson was able to show how the monopoly was not so much an entirely new measure, but had developed out of the increasing restrictions that the Danish crown had imposed upon foreign merchants operating in Iceland. He provides a list of ports which had to be used by Danish traders, all of which had been established since at least the period of Hanseatic and English commerce.13 The subject of fishing, particularly in the Middle Ages, has not generally received the scholarly attention from historians which has been accorded to trade. Studies of English fishing off Iceland by Wendy Childs and Evan Jones are particularly note- worthy in discussing the development and operation to foreign vessels, and Jones has contributed a useful study of the knowledge of fishermen of the geography and place- names of Iceland in the 17th and 18th centuries.14 Important studies have also been made on Icelandic fishing activity, notably those by Jón Jónsson. Although it is pri- marily a work of ethnography and concerned largely with a more recent period, the five-volume study of all aspects of Icelandic fishing by Lúdvík Kristjánsson contains a great deal that is of interest about traditional practices.15 Finally, an important study 8 Baasch 1889, especially the list of ports p.ª106ªf.

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