medieval-atlas/economic-development/257

Transcription

Overseas trade: the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century Herring had been fished in great quantities in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but during the Wars of Independence the sea fisheries seem to have collapsed. One theory is that the herring shoals migrated in the fourteenth century to the mouth of the Baltic; another possibility is that the Scots were forced to abandon the fisheries because of frequent English attacks. The Dutch revived the North Sea fisheries in the mid-fifteenth century but, although duty was levied from the 1420s, Scottish customs returns are insignificant until the 1470s. Duty was, however, doubled from 6d to 12d a barrel early in the 1480s; by then herring had become the main growth area of the export trade with large cargoes being sent to France and Brittany from both Forth and west-coast ports. Exports rarely exceeded Irvine 1 0 .... 300 200 100 2 Values too small to register on bar chart

  Transcribers who have contributed to this page.

None