CHAPTER FOUR NEW INSTITUTIONS FOR RURAL TRADE (C. 1350–C. 1450) 4.1 Introduction In January 1341 Count Willem IV of Holland was called upon to adju- dicate between two parties haggling over the Katwijk sea-fi sh market: the villagers from Katwijk, who insisted their fi sh market was the com- pulsory market for the region, and the people from neighbouring Noordwijk, who were equally determined in their claim that no such compulsion existed. A disagreement between two communities was common enough, but this one required special care because the lords of the two villages were also involved. Both actively supported the claims of their villagers; moreover, these were no ordinary local lords. Th e lord of Katwijk was Philip of Wassenaer, who had recently acquired the position of burggraaf (burgrave) of Leiden. Th is had made him a very powerful and affl uent man: the burggraaf owned various rights and properties in and around Leiden, the seignory of Katwijk among them. Noordwijk belonged to Jan of Beaumont, the count’s uncle and a man with great personal prestige and infl uence. Th e charter relating the count’s judgement in the confl ict states that investigations had shown Katwijk had possessed a fi sh market for a long time, although it had never had a compulsory character. Th e count ruled this situation was to be continued: Katwijk was to keep its fi sh market, but nobody was to be forced to visit it.1 In the second half of the 14th and the early 15th century some newly licensed fairs and weekly markets were established in the countryside. Many of the West-Frisian villages that acquired urban status in the early 15th century also received market rights, even though in most cases it is doubtful if these markets ever materialised.2 Schagen and 1 Van Mieris, Groot charterboek II, 619. For Philip of Wassenaer, see Van Gent and Janse, ‘Van ridders tot baronnen’, 14–15, 33–34; for Jan of Beaumont, see Waller Zeper, Jan van Henegouwen, 65–66, 208. 2 Th e West-Frisian ‘towns’ where offi cially licensed fairs or markets probably did take place around 1400 are as follows: Grootebroek, because of a reference in an early Jessica Dijkman - 9789004201491 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 12:13:04AM via free access new institutions for rural trade (c. 1350–c. 1450) 109 Purmerend, both in the north of Holland, received market licenses from their lords in 1463 and 1484 respectively; both went on to develop into small market towns.3 Th e villages Zuidland/Westenrijk (1439), Heenvliet (1469), and Oude Tonge (1473) on the islands in the south- west were also given market licenses by their lords.4 But most new rural trade venues emerging in the late 14th and early 15th century were not regular weekly markets or fairs providing facili- ties for local trade in a wide range of products. Instead, they focused on just one product in an expanding sector of the economy. Th ey were usually not licensed, but they were not illegal either: the authorities, local or central, knew these trade venues existed, usually supported their functioning, and in some cases also drew revenues from them. Connecting production areas to distant markets, the new rural trade venues refl ected the growth of interregional trade and at the same time stimulated it; for small-scale rural producers, in particular, they pro- vided easily accessible and low-cost marketing opportunities. Two categories of late 14th- and early 15th-century rural trade ven- ues will be discussed in this chapter. Th e aim is to discover which fac- tors stimulated their rise and shaped the way they were organised and to assess their contribution to the commercialisation of the country- side. Firstly, the rise of commercial sea-fi shing was accompanied by the emergence of fi sh markets in villages along the North Sea coast. Noordwijk was one of them: in 1417 the wardens of St. Catherine’s hospital in Leiden combined a trip to Noordwijk for other purposes with the purchase of fi sh in this village.5 Th e development and organi- sation of these sea-fi sh markets will be explored by looking at three factors that helped to determine the structure of these markets: the eff ects of seignorial control, the role of towns and urban merchants, and the contribution of the fi shing communities themselves. A com- parison with England will focus mainly on the fi rst of these three ele- ments, a comparison with Flanders primarily on the second. 15th-century by-law (Pols, Westfriesche stadrechten II, 270); Schellinkhout, because the charter of urban liberties explicitly mentions the market was held on Th ursdays (Van Mieris, Groot charterboek III, 773); and perhaps Niedorp, because the mid 14th-century comital accounts mention revenues from money-changing in Niedorp (Hamaker, Rekeningen grafelijkheid II, 270, 361). Th e acquisition of urban liberties by the West-Frisian communities is discussed below. 3 Bregman, Schagen, 18; Inventaris van het archief van Purmerend, summary no. 57. 4 Van Limburg Brouwer, Boergoensche charters, 50; ’t Hart, Historische beschrijving Heenvliet, 450; Van de Waal and Vervoorn, Beschrijving Goedereede en Overfl akkee, 412. 5 RAL AG, inv. no. 334–25 f 34. Jessica Dijkman - 9789004201491 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 12:13:04AM via free access 110 chapter four Secondly, parallel to the rise of dairy trade, village weigh houses emerged in the north of Holland. Th e factors contributing to the rise of these weigh houses and their eff ects on rural commercialisation will be analysed in the same way. Here we will focus on two elements: the role of towns and urban merchants, and the contribution of rural commu- nities. No direct equivalents to Holland’s rural weighing facilities were found in England or Flanders; as a consequence, the comparative ele- ment had to be curtailed. It will be shown that the absence of rural scales in England and Flanders is in keeping with institutional patterns noted earlier and with the diff erence in the balance in power underly- ing these patterns. 4.2 Seaside fish markets and the sea-fish trade Th e rise of commercial sea-fi shing In England the rich herring grounds off the eastern coast had been exploited for commercial purposes from at least the early 11th century onwards, stimulated perhaps by the growth of aristocratic wealth in combination with a wider adherence to religious dietary rules. Several Domesday Book entries on large herring rents payable to a lord or to the king bear witness to the existence of large-scale herring fi sheries.6 In Flanders the fi rst references to sea-fi sh trade date also from the early 11th century.7 Findings of bones of marine fi sh in inland towns sup- port the impression that commercial sea-fi shing must have begun around the year 1000. Not surprisingly, in Flanders the fast-growing urban population rather than the aristocracy is considered to have been the driving force behind the development of commercial sea-fi shing.8 In Holland, sea-fi shing emerged much later. In the 12th and 13th centuries, fi shing probably took place mainly in the waters of the river delta, which provided plentiful fi sh and off ered more safety than the open sea. Sea-fi sh, primarily salted herring and cod, did become part of the diet in Holland’s young towns, but most of it was imported from Scandinavia by Hansa merchants. Only in the late 13th century 6 Kowaleski, ‘Commercialization of the Sea Fisheries’, 177–178, 228; Salzman, English Industries, 259. 7 Degryse, Vlaanderens haringbedrijf, 72. 8 Ervynck, Van Neer, and Pieters, ‘How the North Was Won’, 232–233. Jessica Dijkman - 9789004201491 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 12:13:04AM via free access new institutions for rural trade (c. 1350–c. 1450) 111 local fi shermen began to venture out to sea in signifi cant numbers. As in Flanders, this was probably stimulated by a rising urban demand for fi sh.9 Around 1300 the herring shoals off the coasts of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suff olk were attracting fi shermen not only from England but also from abroad, the Flemish and Dutch among them. During the herring season, they regularly landed their catch in one of the English ports that had by then developed a lively herring trade. Th ere the fi sh was smoked, dried or salted, and then sold. Th e annual fairs of Scarborough and Great Yarmouth in particular, each lasting about six weeks in autumn, were visited by merchants from all over England and also from the continent.10 In 14th-century eastern England, off shore fi shery was based mainly in the port towns. Professional fi shermen from these ports fi shed for several fi sh species, each in the appropriate season, of which the her- ring fare was the most important. Following the herring shoals on their southward journey along the English coast, fi shing expeditions oft en took men away from home for long periods. Off shore fi shing was risky, and even in the early 14th century it required considerable invest- ments. Th is explains why fi shery and the fi shing industry was concen- trated in the hands of an urban elite of ship owners. Many owned more than one ship and hired skippers and crew for the season. In numerous villages along the eastern coast, sea-fi shing was also practised, but usu- ally in combination with agriculture or other occupational activities. Village fi shermen kept mainly to coastal fi shing, using small boats that could easily be drawn up on the beach.